Re: [tlug] (OT) The enigma of Japan (was: UNIX jobs on TLUG)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Martin Killmann writes:

 > Of course it is possible to learn how to speak Japanese fluently, of
 > course Japanese will speak fluently to you.

But not in the same way that they speak it to each other.  The flow is
different.

Sure, you can order a hamburger and get directions to Gion "without
thinking about it too much", but you won't be qualified for politics,
whether of the national or office level.  Not until you can speak
keigo as well as Taro Aso.  And that's very hard, for a non-Japanese,
for the reason I gave.  BTW, it's not impossible to get into politics;
there's Mr. Tsurunen, of course, and a friend of mine just got elected
to the Tsukuba City Council.  But they're not playing the same game as
the Japanese officials; that's why they get elected.  The same is
going to be true for gaikokujin seeking employment in Japan.  As
pointed out, there is often a technical requirement (eg, frontline
customer support) for a fairly high level of skill in Japanese.  But
you can often work around that by entering a job that doesn't require
customer contact.  What you can't avoid is office politics, though,
and that is extremely difficult to participate in on equal footing.
You have to play a different game.

You will also learn, once you've been here for a while, that because
of lack of language skills even native-speakers are systematicly
discriminated against (and sometimes for) in many areas such as school
entrance and employment (I'm referring to "kikoku-shijo," of course).

 > But if you plan to stay in Japan for longer than 5 years learning
 > Japanese properly is essential. Otherwise there will always be a
 > barrier between you and what's happening in the country.

That's certainly good advice.  However, if you've done the same in
another culture before, you will discover that in Japan important
parts of the barrier remain in place even after you've become
"fluent".

 > As for Wolferen's book, that one was introduced to us in class with
 > the words: "He was in Japan for 12 years and he still didn't speak
 > Japanese".  (the worst insult in Japanese Studies)

So much the worse for Japanese Studies, then, if it teaches how to
insult people but not to read their works.

 > If you want to get an understanding of Japan that leads to
 > practical insights, stay away from all books that try to sell Japan
 > as "unique", "mysterious", "better than $COUNTRY" or "worse than
 > $COUNTRY".

Well, what's the problem then?  If you've read the book, you know that
"Enigma" does none of those things, right?<wink>

But feel free to recommend something better, that explains equally
well the current "kangae-shiburi" that characterizes Japanese national
politics, for example.

The fact is, I see the patterns that van Wolferen describes in his
book in action pretty much every day: in the news, in the classroom,
in meetings, and in the "nayami" of my Japanese friends (and, second-
hand, my wife's friends).  Even in my daughter's classroom (sad to
say, since Take-Higashi is about as good as it gets in Japanese public
schooling).