20060528
Coming To The End of DaysI have just finished packing, and ready to leave my home-stay, thus; I only have just over one week left in Japan. I have been to Japan before, this is my fourth time. Now I am not trying to blow my own horn here what I mean is that this may be the first time that I have a really hard time leaving. My former expeditions in Japan have all been wonderful and rememberable. Trip after trip with completely unique experiences, perhaps the only two binding factors are that, 1. I was in Japan for them all, and 2. it was relatively easy for me to part ways with my Japanese life.
My erstwhile adventures were engaging and enlightening. I utterly enjoyed them up until then end and then returned with no scheme to return. In my heart I knew I would but had nothing in-particular in mind. I resided to take what I experienced and then move on with my life.
This present odyssey could not be any more divergent from the past. As I pack my belongings away into my backpack I am struck for the first time in all my journeys with a feeling that I have never experienced before. The Japanese word for it is "Ochikomu," a kind of sadness or small depression. There is know way to really know what causing this feeling but I can conjure an appropriate reason. Year 2006, trip number four, and the first time that I have genuinely gotten to know someone, to become involved. A casual meeting that grow into an infatuation has now blossomed into a significant endearment, if not more for this person. This is the one time where I have left my "fortress of solitude" and let someone inside.
I know what kind of world we live in now and how easy it is to stay in contact with people around the world. But I have this feeling that the discourse given over http and what not is not even rival that of real person to person contact. More over it is a wait of two years. At this point two years 'is' a long time. This is a deplorable situation. What would I do. Break it off, and save the pain? (If I do that what was the point in starting the relationship and what did the last 4 months mean) Not think about it and just enjoy the last week? (The what, we all know denial never works) Or do I take that gamble enjoy the last week and try to make it work across an ocean for two years. (I think that is asking allot of the gods of fate) As I see it, that is the only choice that there really is. I don't think i could make any other choice.
Now one may ask, am I just blowing this all way out or proportion. That may well be, this could be just part of my life education. I'm just taking part in my wonderful adolescence. I know this but it does not make it any easier to deal with, but writing it all down has been a bit of a cathartic exercise. I guess you will all have to take me out for a beer to console when I get back (^_^)
PS. I will be landing in the great white north at 12:30 on June 8th. Don't really want to leave but it will be nice to see you all again.
20060512
Japanese Education System and "The Group"The Japanese society is largely orientated around the group. In most situations the group is placed at a higher importance then the individual, because of these there is great important to train Japanese at a young age to become sensitive to the needs of the group. The Education system is geared to this type of training very well. From the early stages of Yochien and Hoikuen all the way up to Junior High school, all place great importance on the group and the individuals place within it. Weather it be through teachers allowing student to solve their own disagreement in Yochien or to the Han groups in regular school. Through out the schooling system there is a strong weight placed on the importance of the group. The best way to illustrate this stressing of the importance of the group and how one reacts with it would be to look at two of the more important stages of education, the kindergarten (Yochien or Hoikuen) and the regular schools.
Japanese socialization is based on a frame rather then attribute, according the Nakane Chie (1970: 1-22). It is an “Us” against “Them” way of thinking. The child may have this internalized but on a very small scale, only with their close family. It needs to be expanded into a larger group to be more useful for daily life; they need the “Us” against “Them” feeling with a group larger then just their family. Then the question becomes how do we introduce the child to this larger frame, this is where the kindergartens play a large part in the development on the child. The kindergartens introduce the child to larger frame and lay the groundwork for how they should relate to the group. “Komatsudani: a Japanese Preschool” (Tobinn, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson 1989; 12-44) demonstrates how this integration is done. One of the first steps is the uniform. This piece of clothing play a very large role in expanding the child’s frame it “identify(ies) him to the outside world, to his classmates, and to himself as a preschooler and, more important, as a member of a particular preschool, a special group” (Tobinn, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson 1989; 40). Once the child is in a Kindergarten they are also part of a distinct class, eg. The Red class or the White class est., making sure that in side the kindergarten everyone is not in the same group but that there is still a “Us” and “Them.” “Komatsudani: a Japanese Preschool” goes on to mention how inter class competitions a used to further encourage this group identity and pride (Tobinn, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson 1989; 41). Expanding the frame is not the only thing that the kindergartens do.
The way these kindergartens are set up makes participating in the group very easy and enjoyable. One example of this in “Komatsudani: A Japanese Preschool” is the morning exercise routine, since all children “participate” from babies to the oldest students in the class it is very hard to nail down what is participating, which makes it also hard to say what is “not participating.” This makes the group activities very attractive. The child will want to stay in the group at all times, thus the threat of exclusion from the group one of the only things necessary for discipline (Tobinn, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson 1989; 43), something that the child will keep with them through out their schooling.
“Komatsudani: A Japanese Preschool” also demonstrates another group interaction skill that the children learn in kindergarten, that is how to solve problems with in the group (Tobinn, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson 1989; 18-26). If one child is disrupting the class, or fighting, other children are encouraged through the guidance of the teacher (or what may appear as the teacher doing nothing) to solve the problem them selves. This helps the child to learn to that if something is not right within the group they may personally have to take the initiative to fix it. This will be further developed in the regular school system when it is coupled with school rules and a deep sense of group solidarity.
One other import reaction to the group that children learn in kindergarten is the importance of the members of the group; they develop a true caring for each other. If the threat of being excluded from the group fails the usual next step is to say some thing to the child that conveys the idea that they will be just left there. In most cases other member of the group who understand the shame of the left child will plead them to come back before its to late as shown in “Komatsudani: a Japanese Preschool” (Tobinn, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson 1989; 43). The Kindergarten is a forgiving environment, it is almost never to late for the child to come back to the group before being left behind, but this is done for a reason. Children need the relaxed safe place to get a basic idea on how to interact with the group for once the move into the regular school system they have to deal with a far greater load of responsibility.
When the child leaves kindergarten and enters the regular school system to become a student, they leave behind that carefree forgiving environment and enter one where they are forced to take responsibility for their own and the group’s actions. Greater awareness to their small groups, class, and school will be needed from this point on. The schools will help develop the relationship between the individual and the group with the help of things like Han groups, disciplinary actions taken by teachers, and clubs.
Once the student enter school, they entered into a Han group, which is a type of “duty” group, that may have such duties as cleaning some part of the school. What makes being in this group so important is that the student will begin to fully understand how he is connected to the group. If for any reason something does not get done the group, the whole group fails it (Fukuzawa 1988: 252). Here again the teacher will usually not get directly involved, but will encourage the students to apply the pressure them selves, as discussed by Fukuzawa (1988: 253). By not getting directly involved the students further develop their solidarity and keeps the importants of the group at a paramount. A problem is found in the group, the group then takes action to fix it and thus the problem is fixed.
Disciplinary procedures in school also have a focus in them to draw attention to the importance of the group. The school rules in them selves further the importance of the group and one’s membership in it. Often when a student breaks a rule one of the most common actions is to have them right a Hanseibun or a reflection essay. This is where the student has to think back on how their action not only affected them but also the group that they are a part of, that they no longer one person, but a representation of a group. Group solidarity of disciplinary actions can also be seen in how errant members of a club are handled. “All club activities were suspended for a week,” (Leterndre 1996: 279) the whole group had to pay because of the action of the few.
Clubs are a large part of Japanese school. According to Letendre “clubs are crucial to guiding student in learning the adult norms of conduct in socially stratified situations” (1996: 278). He further goes on to explain how because the student will continue to leave in a group the club helps them learn how to function in a chain of command in a group setting. This is done through the Senpai Kohai (senior junior) relationship. The junior has to obey the orders of the senior with out question, which comes from a sense that a senior has more experience and can pass that onto the junior. This skill can then be adapted to what they will encounter out in the work place.
It is “us” against “them,” the group over the individual. With such an importance placed on the group, one must have to trip skills and training to work with in one. This is where the Japanese education system coming into play. Large aspects of it have been geared towards helping students excel in the group. From the early kindergarten stages where they become accustomed to the large group at are allowed to self discover some of the dynamics of the group. Students enter clubs that introduce students how to work within a hierarchical situation. The discipline is done through the group to increase solidarity, or how the student is made realize how his actions affect that of the whole. The Japanese education system as a whole works to bring the group to the attention of the individual.
References
Nakane Chie “Ch. 1: Criteria of Group Formation” (pp. 1-22); ”Ch. 2: Interna; Structure of the Group” (pp. 23-43), from Japanese Society, Berkeley: U of California Press.
Tobin, J.J., D.Y.H. Wu and D.H. Davidson (1989) “Komatsudani, A Japanese Preschool,” from Pressschool in Three Cultures, New Haven: Yale U. Press, pp.12-44.
Fukuzawa, Rebecca (1998; orig. 1996) “The Path to Adulthood According to Japanese Middle Schools,” in Education and training in Japan, Vol. II, T Rohlen and C Björk, eds. New York: Routledge, pp. 239-260
LeTendre, Gerald (1996) “shidô: The Concept of Guidance,” in Teaching and Learning in Japan, T.P. Rohlen and G.K. LeTendre, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, pp. 275-294
20060511
Shyashin (^_^)More pictures up, so have a look.
20060510
New Pass TimeSo I was sitting in the MacDonaldｓ with Mariko, I look over and see something that I have not seen in a while. Two white guys, (Now that is no that unusual in Kyoto but keep reading) both with short sleeve white shirts, a tie, a 3/4 part close cut hair style, and a name tag that read "Elder ..." Can any one guess what I saw? That right, I found some Mormons on there mission. (-_-)
I have seen them before, sometime discussing the how the donuts in Japan taste different from the ones back home. (besides the fact that there are so many other better things to eat in Japan the Mr. Donuts donuts, I have traveled to what I think is a few different countries, and I have on occasion eat some donuts. But a donut is a donut is a donut, no matter where you go. That is unless you are eating something like a curry donut (which I think you all should try some time), but then that is not a donut any more it’s a curry donut.) Quite a few in the area of Hirakata and Kyoto. I'm not really sure why, I would think it has something to do with the large number of foreigners here, but really don't know.
So I lean over ask Mariko if she knows what those people are, see looks at them, then asks, "Are they out job hunting?"
"Nope" I replay, "there Mormons."
"What's that?"
Taking in to account certain language difficulties, that being her level of English and mine of Japanese I say "They're like extreme Christians"
"I don’t understand" is all she could say.
"Well as far as I know they are not allowed to have fun. They can't drink, coffee, tea, alcohol, or smoke. There are alot of other rules to like having to go to church every sunday, and where formal closes when they do, really weird and strange wedding practices," then it hits me "They're almost like a cult."
"Waaa, that's weird," is all you could say.
During this first introduction the pair that was in MacDonalds was also trying to brainwash, no wait perhaps I should use the term "convert" some poor Japanese fellow. This was an education fro me two. I could not hear what they were saying, but I was taken aback when the Mormon brought these laminated little picture like things of the universe and placing them around the table. I was very interesting, I really have not idea what its about.
So Mariko and talk about them then and siｎce they are so easy to spot it has become a most a bit of a game with use. When we meet sometimes it the first them we have to say. "Guess what on time train today I saw two Mormons," that’s about all it is.
There really in no real point to the entry but you guys want some thing to read, and I provide. If you don’t like, well just try and stop me, it the internet, A hahahahah.