12-05-2014, 04:44 AM
Japan is a collectivist Confucian culture that values social harmony, and consequently frowns upon people standing out or creating "meiwaku" (trouble) for people around them. (Hence the Japanese adage: "The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.") This social norm has its advantages, something I enjoyed very much living, studying and working there for 10 years.
As much as I love Japan, it also has its disadvantages, as the individual is expected to subordinate all personal desires for what's deemed "the greater good", a cultural expectation that can, in extreme cases, stifle creativity and freedom of speech. ("Polite lies" are commonly employed to keep the harmony.)
Interestingly I see some of those tendencies here in Hawaii (albeit to a lesser degree), although our island's diversity makes it difficult to paint all locals with the same broad brush stroke. (And yet, even local Japanese are markedly different than their cultural cousins in Japan.)
My guess it that most Americans wouldn't want to trade in their individual freedom and freedom of speech for a harmonious, boom-box-free society. We like to give our opinions and "speak the truth"--even if it means occasionally tolerating loud boom boxes, and opinionated blowhards like me.
JMO...
Thank you bananahead.
As much as I love Japan, it also has its disadvantages, as the individual is expected to subordinate all personal desires for what's deemed "the greater good", a cultural expectation that can, in extreme cases, stifle creativity and freedom of speech. ("Polite lies" are commonly employed to keep the harmony.)
Interestingly I see some of those tendencies here in Hawaii (albeit to a lesser degree), although our island's diversity makes it difficult to paint all locals with the same broad brush stroke. (And yet, even local Japanese are markedly different than their cultural cousins in Japan.)
My guess it that most Americans wouldn't want to trade in their individual freedom and freedom of speech for a harmonious, boom-box-free society. We like to give our opinions and "speak the truth"--even if it means occasionally tolerating loud boom boxes, and opinionated blowhards like me.
JMO...Thank you bananahead.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius