***Here is my biggest rant.  As those who have read my
posts, had me pre-read (when I had the time) or something
know that I'm not big on grammar and spelling.  I
generally suck at it and would die without a spellchecker.
 What I concentrate on are the characterization and
cultural things.  I often get told "you don't know what
the hell you're talking about... I read all the books in
the library on Japan...so you can't know more than me."
Or "my 50-60 year old Japanese neighbor told me..."  Come
on now.  First... how much is modern day America like
America 10 or 20 years ago?   Well.. Japan is a living
society so stuff does change.  So that middle age to
elderly person you're asking who has lived in the US for
10-20 years has no idea what's going on.  Visiting once
every year or so is not enough to make up.  Ask a Japanese
person... returnees are not considered the same as them.
Those books you read... even if it was published in 2000,
the data is two years older than that at least.  So you
are using 1998 data in your argument.  Real current stuff,
huh?  Again... try asking on the list... I know that there
are some people who at least live in Japan on the list, if
not also have degrees related to it as well.

    I find this section particularly curious.  Mr. Jourdan
makes a point in the first half of his rant only to offer
conclusive evidence to the contrary a few lines later.
    He argues that research is worthless unless you live in
Japan.  Even conversing with a Japanese expatriot is worthless
as such information is so dated.  Of course, further down in
his rant he states "...returnees are not considered the same
as them."  Why does he suppose that is?  Because those returning
Japanese don't know the latest fad in Tokyo?  Could this reaction
be a cultural thing left over from the early Tokugawa era where
any who left Japan for any reason were declared 'polluted' and
quickly executed upon return, lest they 'infect' the pure Japanese
society?  The current treatment of returnees as 'different' is
just the modern, more humane method of maintaining the ethnic
'purity' of their race.  There is Japanese and then there is
everyone else - regardless of what fad is sweeping the country.
These are a people who's cultural character has been forged by
centuries of conditioning.  To suggest that such cultural makeup
is worthless because of whatever amusement is currently popular
in that country is curious at best.

    The point both Mr. Noakes (in a parallel post) and Mr. Jourdan
makes here about the current cultural scene is interesting but
I think begs clarification.
    I certainly hope neither person is suggesting that the entire
culture, the things that make Japanese people Japanese, totally
turns over every 20 years or so.  What both have described can
best be described as masks.  Yes, the mask we see does change
with the generations, based on what's happening outside Japan
as much, or more so, than what's happening at home.  To suggest
or even hint that the ties that bind the Japanese people together,
the elemental facets that make up this society - their fundamental
character, have warped out of existence to be replaced with some
new, odd tribal behavior is just plain wrong.
    I deal almost daily with college-aged Japanese that have been
in this country for less than a year.  I have seen first hand
how they revert to their most basic behavior patterns when faced
with situations they don't understand or in which they feel
uncomfortable.  This behavior pattern is the culmination of
centuries of conditioning - imprinting on them the basic
behavioral patterns that make their society work for them.
    Yes, they play 'dress up' and go to 'hip hop' clubs.  They
also dress up as Anime characters, 50's rockers, cowboys, (the
list is endless), but that does not suggest underneath their
costume and put-on attitude their character has fundamentally
changed overnight with whatever fad happens to be popular at
the time.  These are still masks, masks they wear to amuse
themselves, not something that irrevicably changes their
national character.  They are still Japanese and that transends
everchanging superficial fads.

    If I understand correctly what Mr. Jourdan was trying to
say, I take strong issue with him on the topic of research.  As
I said above, the fundamentals of their culture is NOT an
evolving thing in the sense that it is evolving with the speed
of the latest fad.  Good research, on whatever subject you wish
to write, does NOT have to include living the life you're describing.
Yes, in some cases, such is helpful but not absolutely necessary.
Just as one does not accurately perceive the forest and its
mechanisms by pressing one's nose against a single tree.  Only
with multiple sources, constant research, even to the point of
making yourself a pest, can one even begin to approach understanding
an entire culture - even if it's just the Tokyo regional culture.
Suggesting only when one lives in a society (where that person is a
gaijin and treated like an outsider to begin with) can one
understand the deepest intricacies of that society and its
interpersonal relationships is terribly misguided.  On issures of
elements that make up the national character, you're unlikely to
get much more than a superficial answer even from a Japanese
in Japan - if they choose to answer at all.  (I've gotten the
feeling when dealing with these people that often they may not
even know the 'whys' themselves.  It's just the way things are -
perhaps, the way things have always been.)

    So don't abandon the library.  Don't avoid talking to that
Japanese neighbor.  Just understand that some of their current
information on what fads are popular - the current 'mask' of
Japan - is probably dated.  But, if they are willing to discuss
the whys and wherefores about the deeper aspects of their culture,
listen carefully.  It may be the only source of real information
you're likely to get - gaijin residents of Japan included.

 Please forgive me if this comes across as a bit harsh.  I do not
mean to suggest that those gaijin living in Japan have nothing to
offer.  On the contrary, they are as imursed in the society as
their hosts will allow.  That gives them certain insights into
what's happening around them and glimpses of what daily life is
currently like in Japan.  Just don't throw away your own research
in favor of a single person's opinions or local observations when
it comes to the cultural foundations of Japan.


    - Greg






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