日本研究 (Japanese Society)

Chris Burgess (1 号館 1308 研究室、内線 164)cburgess@tsuda.ac.jp 　 / 　 http://edu.tsuda.ac.jp/~cburgess

“Rediscover Japan” (日本再発見 ) Boom…

さい　はっけん

Yomiuri 2015/03/23 Japan News 2015/04/04

Japan as Unique/Special/Different…

えいゆうてき =heroic

せっ

さん

（praise)

Commuters Push Train to Save Passenger in Japan, Woman Escapes Uninjured

• The dangerous occurrence is similar to an incident earlier this month in Atlanta, Ga., when 50-year-old Kenneth Hunter fell onto the tracks at the MARTA Five Points Station. In that case, commuters formed a human chain to help him to safety, and one man even jumped down onto the tracks to push him upward as the train was approaching.

Christian Post,July 23, 2013

But similar incidents also occurred abroad…

１． Warm-up: Brainstorming

日本また日本人というと。。。

(When you hear the word Japan or Japanese what comes to mind?)

Images of Japan

Self-images

Foreign-images

Reinforce

Reality of Japan

１）２ )３）４）５）

６）７）８）９）１０）

Q.1 Japanese Words that Foreigners Know ( 外国人が知っている日本語 )

サヨナラありがと

うすしこんにち

はさけ

かみかぜぶしどう

さむらいはらきりげいしゃ

国立国語研究所などによる国際調査 1999 年

N.B. Does not include more recent words like tsunami, anime, manga, otaku, karaoke etc nor brand names (e.g. Toyota) or place names (e.g. Mount Fuji)

Q.2 外国人が知っている日本語 :Recent (post 1999) additions

tsunami

karaoke

manga

anime

otaku

karoshi

hikkikomori

gamanperseverance, stoicism, toughing it out

Sympathy for Japan and Admiration

But the Japanese people themselves were truly noble in their perseverance and stoicism and orderliness. There’s a common Japanese word, gaman, that doesn’t really have an English equivalent, but is something like “toughing it out.”

March 11, 2011

Japan, a unique survivor, needs to re-invent itself

• Everywhere one goes inside Japan, there are two words gaman and gambare which one often hears and reads. The combination of these two national characters defines Japan's uniqueness and the determination that has enabled it to cope with all diversities throughout history

April, 2011

Gaman: Unique to Japan?

Keeping a lid on things: daily life in the Blitz; Stephen Fry in 'Jeeves and Wooster'; Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in 'Brief Encounter'

The British “stiff upper lip”

“the idea of a Japanese spirit originally came from bushido…[it] has been put forward as an ideology of behaviour for the nation as a whole…but the Japanese do not seem particularly persevering…the English, on the other hand, are an extremely tenacious people…forming an orderly queue at a bus stop, for example, waiting as long as half an hour or more for a bus that never comes.”

Prof. Brian Moeran, British Images of War (1990: 34/35)

Crafting the Image…

“The samurai may have been defeated in the late 19th century, but their virtuous and noble image has been carefully molded ever since.”

1899

Modern bushidō (especially the “bushidō boom” of 1898-1914) formed within the framework of Japanese nation-building in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

新渡戸 稲造

Crafting the Image…

"It's an idealized image that's been pushed onto the entire Japanese people…It's built into the education system and the armed forces, so that everyone who goes to war sees himself in some sense as a Samurai. It's a tremendous public relations job. Samurai images are brought out again and again.” H. Bolitho, Prof. Japanese history, Harvard U.

社会の侍化。。。‘Elite’ Samurai values such as loyalty, perseverance, and group-orientation were extended to cover all Japanese.

e.g. 　温情主義　 as an organisational principle for industry

This helped to control the population in the process of modernisation: bushidō ideology was an important factor in Japan’s success as a modern nation

Box office receipts for The Last Samurai were higher in Japan than the US….

Based loosely on historical reality…

• 1877 　 Satsuma Rebellion ( 西南戦争）– Katsumoto = 　西郷隆盛 (committed harakiri)

• Japan did use surplus U.S. military equipment

• The Meiji Emperor was young (25) and under the control of his advisors

さいごうたかもり

Question 1: What is wrong?

Question 1: What is wrong?

• Fluffy white rice was the food only of the very rich

• Rural samurai would have more likely eaten rice gruel ( かゆ ) 、 and other grains like barley 　 ( 大麦 ), millet 　 ( キビ ), and buckwheat noodles ( ソバ )

Question 2: What is wrong?

Question 2: What is wrong?

• Many Japanese men did help with the housework– In Tokugawa, husbands & wives shared labour &

child-rearing: the sexual division of labour ( 性分業） was a Meiji invention

• ‘Japanese’ would not have referred to themselves as a collective, especially culturally, in 1876

Question 3: What is wrong?

Question 3: What is wrong?• By 1877 very few ordinary people would have

been particularly frightened of samurai and would not have bowed en masse.

• Most samurai lived in large urban areas, some unemployed, others working for local and national government as police, teachers, bureaucrats, military officers etc.

The Last Samurai: Movie Myth or History?

National Geographic News 2003/12/02

IMAGE: strong and courageous warriors, schooled with swords, loyal ( 忠義な ), virtuous ( 有徳の ), noble ( 高潔な ), and persevering ( 辛抱強い )

REALITY: Elitist and (for two centuries) idle class that spent more time drinking and gambling than cutting down enemies on the battlefield.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1202_031202_lastsamurai.html#main

To sum up: the Question is...

• How well do such images…– capture the ‘essence’ of Japanese men (women?) or

society/culture? – influence contemporary foreign stereotypes of the

Japanese?– influence how the

Japanese see themselves?– block a proper understanding

of Japanese society?

Does “national character” ( 国民 　　 性 ) even exist?

Homework: Images of Japan

• Who is a ‘typical’ Japanese?

• What kind of characteristics does the ‘typical’ Japanese have?

COURSE OUTLINE

Powerpoints now available off-campus too at <http://edu.tsuda.ac.jp/~cburgess>!

Hand in name slips before you go…

…and don’t forget to pick up the reading!

日本研究 (Japanese Society)

Chris Burgess (1 号館 1308 研究室、内線 164)cburgess@tsuda.ac.jp 　 / 　 http://edu.tsuda.ac.jp/~cburgess

Journals (* = in library **=full text available online!)

Social Science Japan Journal** http://www.ssjj.oupjournals.org/Journal of Japanese Studies* http://depts.washington.edu/jjs/Critical Asian Studies*http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14672715.aspJapanese Studies (Australia)**http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10371397.aspJapan Forum (UK)** http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09555803.aspAsian Studies Review (Australia)** 　http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10357823.aspJapan Echo (Online)** http://www.japanecho.co.jp/Japan Focus** http://japanfocus.org/Social Science Japan Newsletter** http://newslet.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/EJCJS** http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/People’s Plan Japonesia** http://www.ppjaponesia.org/

ted

“Paving the way to a tourism nation”

Sayonara, Samurai…

• ‘Koizumi: A Modern Day Samurai’ (Asia Times)

• ‘In Japan, the samurai election’ (Herald and Tribune)

• ‘Koizumi, the privatization samurai’ (Division of Labour)

• ‘Samurai Koizumi rides again’ (Yahoo)• ‘Latter-day samurai could transform politics’

(Guardian)• ‘How a lowly samurai inspired Koizumi to put

rebels to sword’ (Times)

Foreign Wrestlers Rapid Rise to the top Division

Wakata: First Japanese Commander of International Space Station

Yomiuri 2013/11/08 p.3

Japan News 2013/11/9p3