Thank you Earl,

I think this is a proper criticism to shake us all and I know many feel the same though may not have the courage to say the things so openly and clearly. Yes, foreigners here have a very open space to criticize and complain and remark on different aspects of life and institutional ideologies and yes, there is no doubt a frustration that people bring from home and maybe even unconsciously express it here (though I believe it is mostly very conscious).
On the other hand, I think this is also one of the things Japanese expect us to do. I met several different people during my life in Japan - in both business and academic environments - who very openly said the role of foreigners is to say all the things Japanese cannot say since they are bound to the rule of "harmony above all". I participated in meetings where foreigners were directly asked to help in meetings and new ideas since the Japanese members cannot do it in any official forum where other Japanese are present. In addition, I see there are changes that are being made based on such debates and critical commentary.
Therefore, maybe like in every marriage (and divorce), let's try to rebalance somewhere in the middle and remember that there are always two sides. Your commentary is a good wake-up call to remind us who we are and that we should keep a certain boundary. After all, we are welcome and well accepted, and many of us have a pretty good life here. On the other hand, let's not forget there is another side who needs what we do and we have to continue in the open, preferably with better self-edited commentary.

Thank you,

Mary
From: ssj-forum-bounces@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp <ssj-forum-bounces@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp> on behalf of SSJ-Forum Moderator <ssjmod@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Sent: Friday, October 4, 2019 04:14 PM
To: ssj-forum@cal.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp <ssj-forum@cal.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
Subject: [SSJ: 10857] Re: Climate strikes and Green politics in Japan


From: Earl Kinmonth <ehkuso@gmail.com>

Date: 2019/10/03


Speaking as a Japanese national and immigrant, I have to say that I find
discussions such as this one both amusing and tiresome because a large
fraction of what is being said involves non-Japanese trying to carve out
a niche in which they can assert cultural/institutional superiority vis
a vis Japan and the Japanese.

In the course of teaching "Japan in the Foreign Imagination" at Keio and
other universities, I came to the conclusion that the bulk of foreign
writing on Japan is really intended to make foreign writers/readers feel
good about not being Japanese.

It is particularly tiresome to read prescriptions for Japan by foreign
nationals who have no proven track record of achieving reform in their
own countries.

It is even more tiresome to read generalizations about Japanese
universities by people who do not have my twenty years of teaching
experience from Todai down to off the radar private colleges.

In both Japanese and English articles, I have suggested that for some
this is sublimation. People incapable of achieving significant or any
reform in their own countries sublimate their frustration into telling
the Japanese how to run Japan.

Others write like secular missionaries or people who wish they had been
born earlier so they could have participated in the American Occupation
of Japan.

As someone who has two decades of teaching in Japan primarily in
Japanese on top of comparable experience in the US and the UK plus two
teenage sons who are in or who have gone through generic Tokyo public
schools, I find some of the statements about Japanese education
cartoonish at best and as I said racist at worst.

Racism as I use the term is cultural racism or what might be called
Racism 2.0 where assertions of cultural/institutional superiority have
replaced claims about physiology, the kind of racism John Dower took up
in his War Without Mercy.

"Cultural racism" does not seem to be particularly well known among
Anglophones although there are some seminal essays on the subject in
English.

To understand what I am getting on about, compare Anglophone writing
about corporate corruption or bullying in Japan with writing about the
same subjects for the US/UK. It is a rare article about Japan that does
not cite Japanese culture. In contrast, it is a rare article about the
US/UK that cites US/UK culture.

This has led me to the conclusion that "Americans [and Brits] ain't got
no culture."

Same for Germany. I've compared English language treatment of German
corporate corruption with treatment of Japanese corporate corruption.
Few references to German culture, many references to Japanese culture.

Again, "German's ain't got no culture."

I see more than a little of the culturalizing or othering of Japan in
some of the postings here.

Japan has its problems and warts but overall it functions rather well
especially compared to the US and more recently Britain.

Before this Japanese accepts foreign criticism and prescriptions, I want
to see our self-appointed pro bono advisors sort out their own
countries. Once you've done that, you will doubtless get many lucrative
consulting contracts in Japan.

EHK