If you quote William Gibson's analysis of Japanese society as authoritative or insightful, you already lose. Gibson's social commentary has always had a strong element of pseudointellectual profundity masquerading as depth.
In terms of tech adoption, Japan may have been ahead of the USA in some respects, but in terms of how their society is structured they're still a few decades behind. Their treatment of women, in particular, would strike an American as archaic and quaintly Mad Men at best, and at worst barbaric and abusive. But the expectation of men -- to attach oneself to the underbelly of some company and be taken care of for life in exchange for labor and undying loyalty -- also comes, in the American perspective, from a long-bygone era.
Younger Japanese (age 40 and below) tend to be more worldly and cognizant of other cultures, and understand that the social structures which served their parents and grandparents are keeping Japan held back and isolated, economically and socially. But because of deeply ingrained Confucian cultural values about submission to elders, there's little they can do about it. The gooey nougat of the hikikomori phenomenon is, it's sort of a quiet rebellion against the complicated and restrictive social protocols that are part and parcel of being Japanese. It is the same with otaku: however trivial their interests may be, they are determined to follow their own interests and choose their own path, rather than simply do what is expected of them.
Is it possible for mainstream Japanese society to evolve to be more flexible and accommodate more individuality, yet still remain distinctly Japanese? We don't know that yet. They haven't tried.
> If you quote William Gibson's analysis of Japanese society as authoritative or insightful, you already lose...In terms of tech adoption, Japan may have been ahead of the USA in some respects, but in terms of how their society is structured they're still a few decades behind. Their treatment of women, in particular, would strike an American as archaic and quaintly Mad Men at best, and at worst barbaric and abusive.
I am reminded of a recent discussion on 4chan of, amusingly enough, this very essay, where a 4channer reading the appendix noticed that I wrote "mediums" instead of "media", and outraged, wondered how anyone could take seriously anything I had ever written since I could not even use the word correctly.
At the risk of outraging you still further, can't it be true that "the future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed"? Can't it be possible that in some respects Japanese society is further ahead on a trend than the USA, and in other respect behind?
> Younger Japanese (age 40 and below) tend to be more worldly and cognizant of other cultures, and understand that the social structures which served their parents and grandparents are keeping Japan held back and isolated, economically and socially.
I wonder... Not very long ago, I finished reading my first 'visual novel', one called _Umineko_. The patriarch of the protagonist's family is what one might almost call a Western otaku - English-speaking, European-literature-loving, contemptuous of all things Japanese, and a few spoiler things as well - and the novels themselves are heavily influenced by Western murder mysteries & a bit of philosophy too. I was struck by how old-fashioned this preference seemed in the character. Similarly, I have spent a lot of time on Gainax & Hideaki Anno, and one thing that comes across is how much old Western SF and television Anno & other Gainaxers must have consumed, given the pervasiveness of the references in their work. But younger directors and anime industry figures seem to reference Western materials much less - I would be very surprised to see a _Babylon V_ or _Firefly_ reference in any anime I watched, whereas Anno would freely throw in allusions to Anderson's _Thunderbirds_ TV series and now-obscure Western works like that. I've also seen claims by occasional Japan-related writers that actual English proficiency has declined, which certainly might reduce Western exposure, given how much of it would be in English. All of which makes me wonder what objective metrics there could be for 'more worldly and cognizant of other cultures' and what they would show over the past 3 or 4 decades in Japan?
I would say that the average Japanese is more worldly not because of their own insight but more because of the rigidity of the culture and the import/export of American/European (Western) culture into the country.
Every Japanese essentially grows up in the same exact manner as his/her peers:
* primary school (elementary, middle, high school)
* higher education (university/college)
* full time work
There is some variation between the sexes but generally that is how it goes for most Japanese. The difference with western culture is that generally each level of school beyond the previous is harder and more worthy than the previous level. In Japan there is an exception: high school is actually harder than college/university.
The university system in Japan is pretty much as backwards as you can get. Admissions is the most important aspect of Japanese University. Graduation is pretty much guaranteed and companies hiring new employees fresh out of college base their decision on the name of the university, not based on the individuals accomplishments during university. This means University entrance exams basically become the standard to which all Japanese are judged. As such once a Japanese student reaches his final year in High School, 100% of their effort is devoted to studying for college entrance exams and nothing else.
Oddly, after entering a university, most Japanese will treat college as an "extended vacation". The reason behind this is: companies will only pay attention to your university's name (so your employment has already basically been decided upon admission), graduation is basically guaranteed regardless of performance, and Japanese work place ethic enforces overtime as standard not optional. So most Japanese students will take university time as their "time off" and allow themselves to be consumed with all things fun Japanese and non-Japanese.
One major way of extending the extended vacation is the option of foreign exchange schools. Many Japanese will use this opportunity as a temporary escape from Japanese culture. But while they may learn a thing or two about other cultures, most foreign exchange students have no other intention other than extending their time away from the pressures of Japanese culture and their own leisure.
The other thing I'd like to address is the notion of the Japanese being "ahead". They are only ahead in the following categories:
* land-use and transit efficiency
* conforming society norms
In nearly every other metric they've fallen behind or are behind. The main reason for this is again the rigidity of Japanese culture and the refusal to experiment. There are several reasons for this but the biggest on is in a society where being unique is punished while the conforming act is never punished, it is always a safe move to conform. This means all employees will attempt to take the path with least resistance (conforming path) even if it is the least optimal.
The second compounding issue is the notion of "ganbare". Ganbare is a conjugation of the Japanese verb ganbaru which means to "try one's best". In Japanese culture ganbare is valued more than outcomes. That is a person that tries his hardest is more valuable than a person that uses little effort but is still successful. This basically authorizes the use of unpaid overtime in order to overcome shortcomings in business. Workers will "ganbare" by putting in more hours in order to overcome any challenges--and usually in this act, they feel supported by society and management. The problem is that we have data that shows that prolonged overtime causes burn out and thus productivity actually decreases despite more hours worked. But when your entire society is basically burned out you're not going to get any risk takers or even any insightful ideas. You instead have a zombie workforce.
I do think Japan can turn around because there are signs of concern and insight among the top ranks in Japan (both government and business) that the status quo is not sustainable. The real question is whether or not they can change some of their core cultural values to adjust to the changing times quick enough.
I wonder what the relationship is between the seemingly negative results you cite from praising hard work and the popular claim lately (and one backed by some studies, e.g. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130212075109.ht...) that children who are praised for effort rather than skill are , in fact, more likely to be successful.
Praising children for effort rather than skill encourages them to work towards goals rather than attempting to rely on some sort of innate ability that adults have convinced them that they have (i.e. never putting effort towards learning good study habits because you're 'smart').
In the case of 'the Japanese,' putting in long hours at the office is the only metric that they use to measure effort. This also affects sleeping patterns, which affects performance. Children aren't working 80+ hour weeks that could be mostly unproductive and losing valuable sleep.
[ Also, you have to be cognisant of the fact that adults are different than children. If a 4-year-old worked for hours on a project unproductively, you acknowledge that they put in a lot of effort, but you accept that they are still a child. If a 40-year-old is beating their head against a wall unproductively for hours, and continues to do so, you may look on their problem-solving skills poorly. ]
Exactly my reaction. I think what it boils down to is that the effort has to be real effort [whatever that actually means...]. From what teek delineates it seems to me that "the Japanese" see long hours equal to effort and thus do not pay any further attention concerning what they're actually doing.
I did not realize/know that there were so many parallels between the Japanese education system and the Indian one. Thanks for the education (no pun intended)
> Younger Japanese (age 40 and below) [..] understand that the social structures which served their parents and grandparents are keeping Japan held back and isolated
I don't know where you're getting this from. Decline of those old structures is roughly equated in the public mind with the decline of Japanese society as a whole. Holding the country back? From what? From being like America? Neoliberal economic excess is not viewed positively in Japan. Go and watch any finance-related drama (Hagetaka, Hanzawa Naoki) to understand the cultural norms better.
The generation you're talking about who are more worldly (roughly, the shibuya-kei generation) rose on the back of those old structures, and fell with them, too. The current generation is as inward-looking as ever, perhaps more so.
> But because of deeply ingrained Confucian cultural values about submission to elders, there's little they can do about it
So submission to elders prevents them from voting, is that what you're trying to say? Rubbish, if so. If not, I don't know what you're trying to say.
Your depiction of otaku culture as headstrong rebels determined to do their own thing, damn the criticism, is the inverse of reality as I know it. And if the hikikomori phenomenon is a pure reaction to a restrictive social culture, where was it 20 years ago? Nowhere, of course - hikikomori is an internet-enabled phenomenon, and it is everywhere, not just Japan.
For someone who criticised Gibson for his pseudo-intellectual pontifications, you're spouting quite a bit yourself.
> If you quote William Gibson's
analysis of Japanese society as
authoritative or insightful, you already
lose. Gibson's social commentary
has always had a strong element of
pseudointellectual profundity
masquerading as depth.
Could you point out some specific flaws in this or other Gibson's essays?
I can't speak for his Japan chops or essays, but in Zero History it certainly felt like all his forced and abundant name checking of NY places (I live in NY) felt like he was using vocabulary to indicate knowledge/expertise rather than actual insights. I really liked Pattern Recognition, but I was forced to put down Zero History in frustration about half-way through as the name checking made the novel feel like one poorly constructed long form rap lyric.
Conversely the name checking worked fine for me as I don't know much of New York past what you see in films, so I wouldn't be able to key to it in the same you would.
Not sure about barbaric and abusive, but in gender equality terms, Japan was most recently (2012) ranked 101 out of 135 countries by the World Economic Forum [1], compared with 18 and 22 for the UK and US respectively. The index purports to:
benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria
> hikikomori phenomenon is, it's sort of a quiet rebellion against the complicated and restrictive social protocols that are part and parcel of being Japanese. It is the same with otaku: however trivial their interests may be, they are determined to follow their own interests and choose their own path, rather than simply do what is expected of them
> The gooey nougat of the hikikomori phenomenon is, it's sort of a quiet rebellion against the complicated and restrictive social protocols that are part and parcel of being Japanese. It is the same with otaku: however trivial their interests may be, they are determined to follow their own interests and choose their own path, rather than simply do what is expected of them.
I thought Zen was the quiet rebellion before it got stratified/institutionalized. I feel that the other phenomenon are more emergent, and they emerge from the mainstream not cracking down on them ,or not being able to..
In terms of tech adoption, Japan may have been ahead of the USA in some respects, but in terms of how their society is structured they're still a few decades behind. Their treatment of women, in particular, would strike an American as archaic and quaintly Mad Men at best, and at worst barbaric and abusive. But the expectation of men -- to attach oneself to the underbelly of some company and be taken care of for life in exchange for labor and undying loyalty -- also comes, in the American perspective, from a long-bygone era.
Younger Japanese (age 40 and below) tend to be more worldly and cognizant of other cultures, and understand that the social structures which served their parents and grandparents are keeping Japan held back and isolated, economically and socially. But because of deeply ingrained Confucian cultural values about submission to elders, there's little they can do about it. The gooey nougat of the hikikomori phenomenon is, it's sort of a quiet rebellion against the complicated and restrictive social protocols that are part and parcel of being Japanese. It is the same with otaku: however trivial their interests may be, they are determined to follow their own interests and choose their own path, rather than simply do what is expected of them.
Is it possible for mainstream Japanese society to evolve to be more flexible and accommodate more individuality, yet still remain distinctly Japanese? We don't know that yet. They haven't tried.