The Japanese are often portrayed as workaholic people lacking individuality. One symbol of that stereo-typed figure would be EREBE－TA－GA－RU: Lift girls.
Those entering a large department store, for example, will usually be accorded a crisp greeting from a well- heeled young man or women, situated just inside the door for that very purpose. Lift attendants wearing the same uniform utter information about floors in such stilted tones that they might almost be machines, (pp.86-87)
However, Hendry‘s sees them in terms of ‘the company wrapping’. Individual human beings are ‘well wrapped’ by uniforms and the apparently unfriendly atmosphere and figures only remind people, particularly Westerners, of robots. Regardless of this, the layers of uniform and the atmosphere help in establishing a work environment which does not require interpersonal exchange. It shows that focusing on the function of wrapping can help intercultural understanding.
If we consider culture to be so much wrapping, trying to take off those wrappings to see the intimate part of a society is not necessarily the best way. Instead, people have to examine their own layers thoroughly in the first instance, in order to understand those factors which interfere with mutual understanding. These factors include prejudice, bias and overly strong patriotism.
The real intention of the Japanese person is wrapped up sometimes. It means that they do not like to or does not need to express their thoughts directly. They may act in a totally opposite manner from their real intention to covey their message more effectively, but there must be a lot of clues in order to know their intention. These include indirect words, expressions on the face or particular behaviours, so the best way to achieve a good relationship is to try to read those clues. This means not tearing up the layers of wrapping but trying to see the intention. Hendry’s views would seem to have a potentially wide application in the twenty first century, particularly in the region of inter-cultural encounters.
Posted on February 9th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Japan itself is wrapped too. It is well known for its economic power, high technology, motor vehicle industries, Manga and Anime all over the world; however, it is still wrapped with geographical, historical and political ‘packaging’ which is difficult to decode or even ‘unwrap’.
Japan is a small island country off the coast of the Eurasian continent. From an early stage of its history it was subjected to enormous influences from the continent, but the relationship has diminished over time. Moreover, Japan was once closed to the world for over two hundred years from the seventeenth to the middle of nineteenth century, a measure aimed at prohibiting the entry of foreign power’s into Japan. The seclusion worked effectively that the Japanese traditional arts were re-vitalised from within. The people, on the other hand, became relatively ignorant of affairs outside of the country. At the same time, homogeneity had increasingly developed, enabling many invisible rules and common practices to take root in Japanese. As a result, mutual understanding without non-verbal communication became a key in Japanese culture. Even after it was opened to the world and the Japanese started learning and digesting things from European and American cultures (and transforming them into peculiarly Japanese things), the homogenous nature of Japan remained intact. For these reasons, it became very common for Westerners who undertook a social and cultural analysis of Japan to generalise or categorize or interpret Japanese behaviours in the light of their own concepts and cultural values. For instance, Ruth Benedict, a social anthropologist from the United States wrote “Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture” under the commission by the U.S. Government during the Second World War. It is a good book in the way in which it uncovers many cultural themes about Japan, some of which were influential within Japan itself. At the same time, however, many Japanese ended up reading the text with a lasting sense of displeasure because of her sometimes inaccurate portrayal of Japanese culture.
It is never an easy task to describe other cultures, as their own cultural wrappings appear to hide the core. However, Hendry points out that the layers of wrapping are not really ‘covering up’ or ‘rolling up’ to conceal the inside, but that the interpreter must carefully examine that society in order to understand it better, peeling away to quicken comprehension.
In the first two chapters of Wrapping Culture, Hendry looks at Japanese gifts and analyzes the purpose, meaning and value of its wrapping. In Britain and in many other countries, for example, wrapping is simply the way to present a gift. The wrapping can protect the gift from outside impurities and can also give the receiver the enjoyment of guessing what’s inside or a surprise upon opening. In addition to those more mundane meanings, wrapping in Japan, TUTUMU, contains ritual and sacred meanings. To wrap involves the important role of expressing the giver’s heartfelt respect for the person to whom they are presenting the gift. Therefore, there are many particular rules and customs of wrapping, pertaining to the types and patterns of the paper, the direction of the paper’s motif and ways of wrapping. These add auspiciousness and a message to the gift.
Hendry considers the most common gifts, towels, to expound on the function of wrapping and also to highlight a characteristic part of Japanese thinking. The reason why the custom of giving towels became widespread is not only their necessity in everyday life. Towels and the way they are wrapped and unwrapped have deeper meanings within Japanese society. For example they attach an importance to the relationships with neighbours; also, to the use of things until their value is fully utilized. The fact that the purposes of towels in Japan have changed from the Western conception (their practical use) is evidence of the Japanese habit of absorbing and changing cultural imports. The examples she uses to expound upon her thesis not only introduces the culture but also shows the significance of the anthropologic approach inter-cultural understanding. Only a deep analysis of one aspect of culture, such as a presentation of towels, can extend the understanding of a people’s thoughts and beliefs. It demonstrates that there is no need for categorising and defining people in order to understand them.
Posted on February 8th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Hello. I am going to introduce to you a book I like. I read and wrote an essay when I was studying Social Anthropology in London. It is a good book to understand Japanese culture. I will write 3 posts using the essay. Here, the first one starts.
WRAPPING CULTURE
POLITENESS, PRESENTATION AND POWER IN JAPAN AND OTHER SOCIETIES
By Joy Hendry Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 1993
Wrapping Culture, by Joy Hendry, has two primary goals. The first, as the title suggests, introduces various aspects of contemporary Japanese culture using the notion of “wrapping” as a clue or tool of discovery. It scope includes a wide range of cultural issues, from Japanese ways of thinking, rituals, architecture and space. The second goal is to provide a new view which would smooth out frictions in intercultural encounters. Hendry suggests a way to eliminate ‘limitations in Western analysis of other peoples’ (p.5) in the process of understanding Japanese culture. She expounds on Japanese culture with many illustrations and anecdotes based on her field work as a social anthropologist in Japan. The explanation itself would not be anything new to Japanese readers but they would be astonished to see the points she sheds lights on because they are unique and relevant. In addition, it’s remarkable that this book doesn’t contain sections that would offend Japanese sensibilities, as many books in this field are guilty of offending in this respect. The author sees Japanese culture as a “wrapping culture”. The concept of ‘wrapping’ in this book does not only mean the wrapping of materials. Japan has an elaborate custom of wrapping gifts but it also includes the wrapping of the human body, the wrapping of language and the wrapping of Japan itself. One such example is the KIMONO, where the body is covered up with more than three layers of garments and tied all over with a long, wide sash called an OBI. The Japanese language, on the other hand, has three levels of politeness: SONKEI-GO as ‘respect language’, KENJYOUGO as ‘humble language’ and TEINEIGO as ‘polite language. Hendry expresses those forms of the language as ‘language wrapping’ and explains the function of the layers of language using the function of gift wrapping metaphorically. In just the same way as wrapped gifts manifest the occasion or the level of intimacy between the donor and the recipient outwardly, similarly, the level of formality of the language used in a conversation works as an indirect message to show and to confirm the relationship between two people. In addition, Japanese speakers can manipulate the use of levels to express exclusive attitudes indirectly. It is very difficult for a non-speaker to get a clear idea of this function, but the metaphor she uses enables any reader to comprehend it with relative ease.
Posted on February 7th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Sometimes, perverted man came to Information Desk, only to have a conversation with girls in uniforms. Maybe we seem attractive to those who loves cosplay (costume-playing ). Well, it is no problem, because we know how to get rid of them.
Here is my first experience of those perverts. One day, a man in 30s came close to me and said looking at my name tag,
“OO-san, please shake hands with me!”
“OO-さん、握手してください!”
He looked like a nerd, but was still so scary and I did not know what to do. Immediately, my experienced co-worker helped me out saying
“We don’t have shaking hands service here.”
“こちらでは握手のサービスは致しておりません.”
and the man said OK and ran away. I thought it was a very clever answer; we can deny it in very politely, even without offending him. We have several more good answers for those situations.
For example, a stockings fetish comes and say
“Is your stockings 80 denier? or 60 denier? I think you look better in 40 denier.”
(denier=a unit of measurement of linear density of textile fiber mass)
“We answer to ANY question relating to our store, sir. Do you have any questions?”
“お客様、店内の事でしたら、どんなことでもお答え致します。 何かご質問はございませんか？”
Usually those strangers run away when we say this back.
Customers are Gods in Japan, so we are not supposed to say anything bad to our customers. Sometimes it is frustrating that we can not show “annoyed face” , of course, we are supposed to be smiling all the time, even to annoying customers. However, once you learn how to answer to those questions, it is fun to try and see how those weirdo react.
Well, here is one exception. We still don’t know how to get rid of those who pretends being blind and ask us to take to a section they want to go holding onto staff’s arm. Some people really need this help, and we are always happy to take them and help them shop in the big store. However, some of them can obviously see things!! It is sooooo frustrating that we can not say
“Hey! You can see things, right? Liar!!!”
Posted on February 1st, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »
おはようございます！(Ohayogozaimasu)
いらっしゃいませ！(Irasshaimase)
Good morning!
Welcome to our store! (with high pitch voice)
My days start with this robot-like greeting at my department store. I call this ‘robot-like’ because I say this again and again bowing every time somebody goes past near me for 7 minutes. What is more, NOBODY greet back to me, mostly they don’t even look me. This clearly shows the status of customers and department store. Customer stands much more higher than sales clarks.
I have heard that crews who work at Tokyo Disney Land say こんにちは(Konnichiwa/Hello!) instead of いらっしゃいませ (Irasshaimase) to sound more friendly to customers. It works because people can greet back saying hello.However I can not think of words to say back to いらっしゃいませ(Irasshaimase/welcome).
By the way, when I finish work and I get changed from my uniform and go to my department store for shopping, I suddenly become a customer and everybody greets me very politely. Even those who know I am an employee, they serve me as a customer. I think it is funny.
Posted on January 19th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »