Japan

The pressures of harmony.

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By far the greatest task that each Japanese person faces is the need to maintain harmony within the group. Known as wa, it is the widespread belief that people should keep good relations with everyone so that there are only good feelings all round. If there are differences of opinion between two people, then they should do what they can to smooth over those differences. If one person is at odds with everyone else in the group, then it is up to that one person to do what he can to restore a harmonious relationship.

Given that there are billions of people on this planet with billions of opinions on every subject, it seems unrealistic to say the least to expect everyone in a certain group to feel exactly the same way regarding everything. One might argue that harmony comes from a healthy ability to tolerate and respect differences among people. It is true that the Japanese do have tremendous tolerance for those people outside whatever their group is at the particular moment, but within their group, there is great expectation that everyone will think and do as everyone else. That expectation is vaguely narcissistic, it’s probably unhealthy, it’s certainly monotonous -it’s Japan.

The desire for wa does not just trump individual opinions regarding, say, a serious matter such as a particular company’s future direction. It also manifests itself in the smallest ways as well.
A lot of the pressure to maintain harmony comes from the fact that others in one’s group are determinined to enforce harmony. Those who suppress their own individuality are free from abuse. Those who insist on thinking and doing as they like must constantly endure the petty tyrannies of the group.

It’s easier to conform.
There is a saying in Japan that goes, ‘The nail that sticks up gets hammered down’. It goes a long way to explaining why no one wants to be different. No one wants to get hammered time and again, and those who do stand up and express themselves are very brave individuals indeed. Either that, or just a bit odd.

Pressures Up and Down
Like other Asians, Japanese customarily show respect for their superiors, and expect as much from their inferiors. Within the family, children address their mothers as okaasan and Their fathers as otousan; it’s a bit like calling one’s parents ‘Mrs Mom’ and ‘Mr Dad’.
At school, students go along with rules laid out by senior class men. The fact that some people may actually find their parents or school-mates unworthy of respect is irrelevant. The very form of respect, whether genuine or artificial, is necessary to maintain a harmonious relationship.
This perpetual division of people into two groups, one older than oneself and the other younger, carries over to the office. One never has colleagues per se in a Japanese office; one’s co-workers are either seniors (sempai) or juniors (kouhai). Seniors are almost always older, both in actual age and in terms of service to the company-these two factors go hand in hand-while juniors aren’t. Even for co-workers who are the same age and were hired at exactly the same time, the smallest gradation can still exist-whoever has the earlier birthday is technically the more senior person.

Many psychologists have studied this interdependence between older and younger people in society and have found patterns similar to the ‘parent-child’ relationship known as oyabun-kobun. In this scenario, the older person (a parent, a boss, a teacher) must establish a strict atmosphere to accomplish whatever task is at hand, but there must also be occasional intervals during which he demonstrates his indulgence and allows the younger person time to cavort or complain. In turn, the younger person must show complete respect, as well as unlimited endurance in doing what the older person asks of him.
In its most extreme form, this becomes abusive and/or violent, as senior people will treat their juniors very badly indeed.

Pressures In and Out
Certainly there are many hierarchical elements in Japan that can be found throughout Asia: respect for one’s ancestors (particularly the dead), the tradition that children support their parents when they get older, and the importance of continuing the family name. What is most surprising, however, is how companies can exploit the obligations normally rendered to one’s family. Companies demand, and routinely receive, a loyalty from their workers that would be unimaginable almost anywhere else. They can do this because of the shifting curtains between ‘in’ and ‘out’ known as uchi and soto.
In its basic form, uchi refers to a family and denotes those members who are part of the family. Soto means those who are outside the family. Within the family one can show emotion and argue; in front of outsiders, however, one must smile and show that ‘everything’s great’; to do otherwise would be a tremendous embarrassment. Moreover, this pattern of in-and-out relationships is carried over to other groups, demarcating the line between host and guest, Japanese and non-Japanese, Toyota employees and Nissan employees, even between departments within a company.

Of course there are times when the two duties conflict; does one attend the graduation of one’s child, or go to work as always? In Japan, feudalism still reigns and the company is held in higher esteem than the family. Ninety-five per cent of family members watching a child’s graduation are female.

This division between in and out exists in parallel form with regards to people’s feelings. Tatemae are the words that people express in public; honne are the words that express people’s true feelings. It often requires a thorough acquaintance with a Japanese person before you can be satisfied you have correctly understood his or her feelings on an important matter-you have to be trusted as an insider. Generally speaking, younger people are more open than older ones, and women more so than men.

The Pressure of Keeping Face
Face is an important concept in Asia, and Japan is no exception. No man likes to admit he was wrong in front of his subordinates, and no one wants to be shown up by a competitor. A lot of men (and women too) have an inability to confess mistakes and will continue to plough ahead to the point of complete destruction. Of course, there’s no one in life who likes to say he screwed up, but in Japan it definitely seems to be taken to extremes.

It is very important when dealing with Japanese people that, even if you are 100 per cent right and the other is 100 per cent wrong, you find a way for the other party to gracefully claim some honor while conceding. Do not demonstrate your total superiority and rub your opponent’s nose in it. It makes great sense to behave magnanimously since it is quite possible that your paths will cross again. If you act imperiously, however, you will only engender resentment and, few things pervade Japan’s literature through the centuries as much as themes of revenge.

Pressures of Duty and Feeling
Two concepts that are forever at war with each other are duty (giri) and human feelings (ninjou). The average Japanese lives in a world in which, from the moment he wakes up until the time he goes to bed, he is drowning in duty: to his spouse, to his boss, to his colleagues, to his club, to his community, to his country. Since all of those groups have a multitude of rules, and since it would be shameful to be exposed as being weak and unable to meet the requirements of any one of them, many people will simply exhaust themselves trying to keep up with them all. Obviously, it can be simply overwhelming to please everyone, and in fact some people do crack because they feel their responsibilities so deeply that they are literally unable to function.

Which is why, when a person in a superior position steps forward to show compassion for an inferior’s situation and perhaps bend the rules a bit, the lower-ranking person is positively grateful. To be relieved of his burden, however fleetingly, is all that many people ask in life. As it stands, though, some people will try to avoid all of their responsibilities if given the chance. The result is that conservatives argue Japan should return to an ancient ethic of bone-crushing duty because that’s all that will keep people in line.

The Pressure to Be Social
It’s hard to get away in Japan. The average working Japanese person has to spend long hours every day in close proximity with his co-workers. He has to spend his nights drinking with people he may not really care for. He is crammed into trains with everyone else. Life is a succession of lines and crowds and commitments to others, all of which must be borne with good grace.

Understandably, there is a limit as to how much people can stand. So, in public, people seem to switch off. They don’t notice things around them if they don’t have to.

The Pressure to Do Something Now
Great religions and moral codes arise as a reaction to a culture’s excesses. If Zen, with its emphasis on meditation and inner peace, was able to reach full flower in japan, it is probably because Japanese life is full of duties that must be attended to immediately, if not sooner.

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© 2007 Japtard.