Dunkirk101
04-30-2007, 05:24 AM
This was a rather interesting ariticle (although I shamefully admit that the last paragraph made me chuckle a little) :)
SHAME IN THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL CULTURE
The Japanese right wing suggests that Japan needs to unshackle itself of “shame” imposed by foreigners. In order to rid themselves of this shame, Japan must become a normal country (with the full right to resort to wars as a means to resolve political disputes). Perhaps they feel some shame for the defeats in WWII, the US written constitution. And perhaps it is the fear of shame that they are unwilling to fully acknowledge the atrocities committed against POWs and against the citizens of the conquered territories.
Shinichi Yanaka (NYT Dec. 7, 2003: Japan’s Samurai Past Thunders Into the Present) defines three pillars of the Japanese ethical code: obligation, shame and the environment. In Japan, doing something bad is not necessarily breaking the rules but doing something that society does not permit. What role does shame play in Japanese history and culture?
The Japanese word for shame is “Haji”. The US is said to have a “guilt” culture while the Japanese have a “shame” culture (Benedict, 1946), at both private and public realms (Sakuta, 1967; Inuoe 1977). Shame plays such a significant role in the Japanese culture and psyche that it is regarded as playing a important role in the development of other mental disorders (pathogensis) including social phobia, dysmorphophobia, paranoia, and depression (Uchinuma, 1983). This cluster together with hypersensitivity (e.g., shyness) and hypochondria is called “shinkeishitsu”. A widely accepted therapy for shinkeishitsu, Morita Therapy (Morita, 1960) proposes that the Japanese should recognize and accept the symptoms and learn to live with them as a part of their existence. It accepts the disorders as being chronic and irreversible. People should live with it.
This very stoic attitude towards shame is reflected many Japanese attitude towards the Imperial atrocities during WWII and colonial occupation before and after. The Japanese accept that evil can co-exist with the good and strive to live with it. This is probably another reason that the Japanese are so unwilling to fully admit their imperial wrong doings. The atrocities are excused as just one of the results of war.
By contrast, US approach to shame is to attempt to eradicate the suspect disease. In contrast to the Morita Therapy, the preferred approach in the US to the problem of social phobia (one of which could be the fear of shame) is cognitive therapy: The negative cognitive processes which lead to social phobia are examined, then replaced with positive cognitive processes. Alternatively, those suffering from it may be put into a regimen of gradual desensitization whereby they are exposed to the stimuli controllable amounts until normal responses are obtained.
Why won’t the Japanese consider ridding themselves of their chronic culture of shame? The reason appears to be that the culture of shame in Japan has been created and nourished as an instrument of social control. Rather, the Japanese promote their pseudo-sociophobic culture of shame (I, 1991) where low (subclinical) level type of shame such as shyness, secretiveness, embarrassment, and sense of inferiority are socially promoted via awareness of the possibility of befalling into shame in onself or others (Okano, 1994).
Traditionally, in the ethos engineered by the Shogun, it is said that a publicly shamed samurai was as good as a dead samurai. In this anecdote one sees the control exercised on the samurai: The samurai obeys the local lord according to the strictest codes of ethics, skill, and bravery (the Bushido) – otherwise he will be shamed. Conversely, the samurai is compelled to reinforce this control system and the social hierarchy. Should a peasant shame him by perhaps forgetting to bow low, the samurai owes himself to slit the peasant’s throats. Shame strictly maintains the Japanese social hierarchy.
Additionally, shame is actually promoted actively to reduce friction in social relationships. Okano (1994) says that the Japanese shame culture reducse “envy-ridden” competitive behaviors between individuals. The alternative interpretation of this view is that social harmony is often matinained by punishing individual exceptionalism. In Japan, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, often fatally.
The culture of shame continues to be an instrument that drives the conformance based society. The Tokugawa Shogunate utilized it to keep the society peaceful under its control. Post Meiji Restoration Japanese Empire utilized to heighten the militarist fervor. Hierarchy is still alive in the modern samurais – the salarymen (Garon, 1997).
Consider this: After their release from captivity in Iraq, three Japanese former hostages did not receive a hero’s welcome at Narita (NY Times, April 23, 2004 – “Japanese Hostages Come Home to Much Criticism and Blame”). For ignoring the government’s advisory against visiting Iraq, on their return, they were greeted with hostility which forced them into hiding. In addition, the Japanese announced that it would bill them $6,000 for the return trip home. Some have pointed out that they may have been better off if they died at the hands of the Iraqi insurgents
link: http://prometheus-5.org/blog/?p=16
SHAME IN THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL CULTURE
The Japanese right wing suggests that Japan needs to unshackle itself of “shame” imposed by foreigners. In order to rid themselves of this shame, Japan must become a normal country (with the full right to resort to wars as a means to resolve political disputes). Perhaps they feel some shame for the defeats in WWII, the US written constitution. And perhaps it is the fear of shame that they are unwilling to fully acknowledge the atrocities committed against POWs and against the citizens of the conquered territories.
Shinichi Yanaka (NYT Dec. 7, 2003: Japan’s Samurai Past Thunders Into the Present) defines three pillars of the Japanese ethical code: obligation, shame and the environment. In Japan, doing something bad is not necessarily breaking the rules but doing something that society does not permit. What role does shame play in Japanese history and culture?
The Japanese word for shame is “Haji”. The US is said to have a “guilt” culture while the Japanese have a “shame” culture (Benedict, 1946), at both private and public realms (Sakuta, 1967; Inuoe 1977). Shame plays such a significant role in the Japanese culture and psyche that it is regarded as playing a important role in the development of other mental disorders (pathogensis) including social phobia, dysmorphophobia, paranoia, and depression (Uchinuma, 1983). This cluster together with hypersensitivity (e.g., shyness) and hypochondria is called “shinkeishitsu”. A widely accepted therapy for shinkeishitsu, Morita Therapy (Morita, 1960) proposes that the Japanese should recognize and accept the symptoms and learn to live with them as a part of their existence. It accepts the disorders as being chronic and irreversible. People should live with it.
This very stoic attitude towards shame is reflected many Japanese attitude towards the Imperial atrocities during WWII and colonial occupation before and after. The Japanese accept that evil can co-exist with the good and strive to live with it. This is probably another reason that the Japanese are so unwilling to fully admit their imperial wrong doings. The atrocities are excused as just one of the results of war.
By contrast, US approach to shame is to attempt to eradicate the suspect disease. In contrast to the Morita Therapy, the preferred approach in the US to the problem of social phobia (one of which could be the fear of shame) is cognitive therapy: The negative cognitive processes which lead to social phobia are examined, then replaced with positive cognitive processes. Alternatively, those suffering from it may be put into a regimen of gradual desensitization whereby they are exposed to the stimuli controllable amounts until normal responses are obtained.
Why won’t the Japanese consider ridding themselves of their chronic culture of shame? The reason appears to be that the culture of shame in Japan has been created and nourished as an instrument of social control. Rather, the Japanese promote their pseudo-sociophobic culture of shame (I, 1991) where low (subclinical) level type of shame such as shyness, secretiveness, embarrassment, and sense of inferiority are socially promoted via awareness of the possibility of befalling into shame in onself or others (Okano, 1994).
Traditionally, in the ethos engineered by the Shogun, it is said that a publicly shamed samurai was as good as a dead samurai. In this anecdote one sees the control exercised on the samurai: The samurai obeys the local lord according to the strictest codes of ethics, skill, and bravery (the Bushido) – otherwise he will be shamed. Conversely, the samurai is compelled to reinforce this control system and the social hierarchy. Should a peasant shame him by perhaps forgetting to bow low, the samurai owes himself to slit the peasant’s throats. Shame strictly maintains the Japanese social hierarchy.
Additionally, shame is actually promoted actively to reduce friction in social relationships. Okano (1994) says that the Japanese shame culture reducse “envy-ridden” competitive behaviors between individuals. The alternative interpretation of this view is that social harmony is often matinained by punishing individual exceptionalism. In Japan, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, often fatally.
The culture of shame continues to be an instrument that drives the conformance based society. The Tokugawa Shogunate utilized it to keep the society peaceful under its control. Post Meiji Restoration Japanese Empire utilized to heighten the militarist fervor. Hierarchy is still alive in the modern samurais – the salarymen (Garon, 1997).
Consider this: After their release from captivity in Iraq, three Japanese former hostages did not receive a hero’s welcome at Narita (NY Times, April 23, 2004 – “Japanese Hostages Come Home to Much Criticism and Blame”). For ignoring the government’s advisory against visiting Iraq, on their return, they were greeted with hostility which forced them into hiding. In addition, the Japanese announced that it would bill them $6,000 for the return trip home. Some have pointed out that they may have been better off if they died at the hands of the Iraqi insurgents
link: http://prometheus-5.org/blog/?p=16