Japanese Communication: Language and Thought in Context

20 Toward a New Awareness

221 20 Toward a New Awareness Given the complexity of cross- and intercultural problems surrounding Japanese ways of communication, what solutions, if any, can we find? Relationality, the theme of this book, can help us here. Relationality is not unique to Japan. Recall the samurai and the cowboy: Both are relationally committed to society, although with different emphases. Both are ambivalent in their commitment. The definition and expression of relationality in each language and society differ , yet cultures have much in common when looked at from the perspective of human existence. I would like to make this point clear because discussing differences can give the wrong impression, that differences overpower similarities. We discuss differences because they require our attention. And differences are not absolute ; they vary in degree and intensity. Over the last thirty years there has been much interest in Japan and Japanese culture, especially among Japanese, who have been developing the notion of a Japanese cultural identity. One result of this interest is the emergence of nihonjinron. Nihonjinron, which literally means ‘discussions of the Japanese,’ refers to the literature that Japanese elites have produced to define Japanese culture by its distinctiveness, especially from the West. Nihonjinron explains everyday occurrences in Japan in terms of a cultural ethos considered peculiar to the Japanese. Nihonjinron has been criticized, most notably by Ross Mouer and Yoshio Sugimoto (1986) and by Peter N. Dale (1986). Critics of 222 Japanese Communication in Global Context nihonjinron in general point out the lack of a rigorous methodology. Nihonjinron often relies heavily on convenient examples from personal experience and on everyday anecdotes. Many nihonjinron writings are not scholarly in nature, but are written as commercialized essays. Nihonjinron became popular in Japan in the 1970s and has remained so. When nihonjinron is presented carelessly in its promotional scheme, it overemphasizes differences while almost ignoring the commonality of human experience. This is a pitfall I would like to avoid. There is no doubt, however, that profound differences exist between Japan and America. How to handle the similarities and differences between these two (and other) cultures is of critical importance . For this purpose, let us reexamine the concept of deOrientalizing Japan, on the one hand, and reevaluating the West, on the other. These perspectives can play beneficial roles in enhancing our understanding of Japanese communication in a global context. De-Orientalizing Japan The term “Orientalism,” as used by Edward Said (1978), refers to the western attitude of superiority and condescension toward nonwestern cultures. In an Orientalizing view, the Orient is placed at the polar opposite of the Occident. The Orient is exotic, fundamentally different, and forever “other” in the eyes of the West. At the same time it is viewed as an underdeveloped West, a civilization in historical limbo. According to Harumi Befu (1992), the field of Japanese study has itself suffered from Orientalism. As a result of its historical relationship with Japan, the West, including the United States, continues to Orientalize Japan. The philosophical background for Orientalism is the theory of modernization, “which comfortably and happily placed the West above Japan in terms of application of rationality and hence in terms of modernity and evolutionary development” (Befu 1992, 7). Japan has been, and continues to be, viewed as a country that can and should be evaluated by western standards. An Orientalizing approach often portrays differences as something that ought to be changed to resemble the West. In many ways Japan is like the West today, yet it continues to differ in many other ways. The different relational directions, from-society-to-self and from-self-to-society, do not represent developmental stages. Em- Toward a New Awareness 223 phasis may change both in Japan and in the United States over time, but the differences are simply differences, and they will continue to exist. It is important to avoid viewing cross-cultural differences as things that will be eliminated eventually through the process of modernization. An awareness that differences are not to be “resolved” by cultural evolution or cultural colonialism is an important one. This awareness can decrease, if not stop, the tendency to Orientalize Japan. Japan will not be the other that is opposite to the West or on its periphery, or grudgingly permitted to become a member of the West when it conforms satisfactorily. De-Orientalizing Japan promises to give rise to a new image of Japanese culture as one that resembles yet differs from...