Adaptation from a Multiethnic to Monoethnic Society: My treatment towards the Japanese majority.
This is a potentially offensive post. But it's my reality. It's also my initiative to figure out how to best adapt to Japan in a manner that I can be proud of for myself and for others to accept me as well.
I can't help but feel that I treat Japanese people differently than I would treat anyone back home. I suppose that's natural, since we have a cultural, societal, and language barrier between us. But there's something more to it than just that. I've met other foreigners before who did not share the same language as me, and though I may have treated them differently, it wasn't to the same extent that I treat the Japanese. So this feeling that I had of my treatment towards Japanese left me a bit perplexed, to the point where I decided to do a bit of research to attempt to uncover what I was feeling.
Maybe my imagined treatment began in the classroom and how I dealt with Japanese English Language Learner students vs. Hawaiian Language Arts students. My first search included the keywords, "diverse", "pedagogy", and "monoethnic society". It was at that moment I had my "a ha!" moment. I treat Japanese people differently here because Japan is; compared to Hawaii, America, and possibly a majority of the outside world, an extremely monoethnic and homogeneous society. (Many Japanese will disagree with that statement, but I don't care. They are homogeneous in comparison to where I am from. I'll talk about this point in much greater detail in the future.)
In my apartment complex in Iizuka, a small city about an hour outside of Fukuoka, there are 8 foreigners living there. We are all in the JET program, that's how and why we are living in Japan. So luckily for me, I'm able to interact with native English speakers and befriend individuals who share more common interests and lifestyle choices. But since we are not located in a major city, it's possible that we are the only resident foreigners in Iizuka and it's also quite possible that the only foreigners that ever pass through Iizka are JETs. I realize that this is a terrible assumption to make, but the reactions that my students, teachers, and random individuals that I pass by make, would suggest that the spotting of a foreigner is a rare occurrence. On top of that, it's probably even more rare to spot a foreigner in a small city such as Iizuka. Again, this could be a poor assumption on my behalf, but I say this in response to the reactions I have received thus far in my almost 3 month stay here.
So how do I act towards Japanese? It's strange because I can't seem to pinpoint anything in particular that I do differently nor can I definitively state what it is I do different. But, I suppose what I do different is that I am more gentle. By gentle I mean, or at least I think I mean, I am nicer and kinder to the Japanese. Why am I like this? I think it's because Japanese cannot handle the truth. Yes, they are very rigid when it comes to education and work. You work hard and there's little time for fun. But Japanese people are very polite. Almost too polite [though I'm not sure I can justify my criticism of Japanese politeness]. It's true however, that Japanese are so polite where they beat around the bush to tell you what they want to tell you. A common example is for foreign women. It's no secret that Japanese are very conservative in the way they dress, so mundane women clothing in America may be too scandalous or revealing for Japan. The problem now is that Japanese people won't say something along the lines of, "Your attire is inappropriate, please wear something that covers yourself more next time." They'll instead say, "You must be cold", in reference that you are showing too much skin. Now, I know this is truth because they'll even say it during the summer where temperatures rise in the 90s and humidity levels are in the 90s as well. Surely you cannot be cold even if you were shirtless in those conditions. The truth is that Japanese people are very non-confrontational and are a low contact society, there's no denying that fact.
There in lies the reason why I may actually treat Japanese people differently. They're polite, they're kind, they're non-confrontational. What's not to like about a whole society of people who act that way? They don't try to cheat you, they don't try to ruin your life. They're even apologetic for absolutely minor disturbances, if I can even call them that. For example, when they have to pass by you, they make a slight apology for disturbing you, even if there's no disruption at all. So yes, I do treat Japanese people differently, I treat them how they would like to be treated. We have to adapt to our surroundings whenever we go or experience somewhere new. We try to assimilate ourselves into their society so as to not cause our own disturbance.
But something still isn't right. Something still feels weird about the way I act. When I visited India, I reluctantly adapted. I reluctantly began to treat the people as they treat one another and I say reluctantly because I'm possibly disinterested towards their society. I say this because the way they treat each other would be considered rude by the majority of global standards. Nevertheless, that's the reality of India and thus I had to adapt. When I did finally adapt to the Indian way of daily life, I felt okay with my actions. I wouldn't say I felt like I was a part of them, but I felt like no one cared about me and it was nice to feel invisible. Even though I received some stares and looks in India, I didn't feel like I was being judged. If anything, I feel that while in India, the local people were more concerned about me judging them.
Maybe then, I only feel uncomfortable because I'm having to treat people so nicely. That's probably terrible of me to have a feeling like that, but I don't think I've ever lived my life where I had to treat everyone politely on a constant basis. I feel fake. Every morning I enter the office and am forced [I say forced because everyone else does it] to say good morning. I've said this before, but the Japanese say it in an almost robotic sort of manner. I don't know if the greetings are genuine, but regardless, it is said. This greeting extends further than just good morning, but also "hello's", "goodbyes", and even "pardon me". I'm not impartial to this societal norm, but I think it factors in to my treatment of the Japanese. Since they are robotic in their greetings, maybe I treat them as robots as well. I recite what needs to be recited and expect the same back in return.
But above all, the main reason surely must be the language barrier. It's difficult to communicate with anyone if languages clash. How can understanding be created if people are not able to achieve communication. When I speak I end up getting blank stares. Since I get those blank stares, it's disheartening. It's strange to not have people react to the words you say and at times, the gestures you make. So maybe due to my lack of Japanese proficiency, I am alienating myself from an entire country. My lack of Japanese has caused a failure in understanding and I then assume that since there is no reaction, Japanese people have no personality.
When all is said and done, it really comes down to one very difficult and large goal that I need to attain to assimilate myself into this country...I need to learn Japanese. It's a shame my personal second language acquisition skills are lacking. My consecutive years of achieving a D in High School Japanese 1 and 2 would support my case. That makes it quite possibly inappropriate that I am here for the sole purpose to assist in second language learning. However, my ability to help others is likely much more productive than my ability to help myself.
I can't help but feel that I treat Japanese people differently than I would treat anyone back home. I suppose that's natural, since we have a cultural, societal, and language barrier between us. But there's something more to it than just that. I've met other foreigners before who did not share the same language as me, and though I may have treated them differently, it wasn't to the same extent that I treat the Japanese. So this feeling that I had of my treatment towards Japanese left me a bit perplexed, to the point where I decided to do a bit of research to attempt to uncover what I was feeling.
Maybe my imagined treatment began in the classroom and how I dealt with Japanese English Language Learner students vs. Hawaiian Language Arts students. My first search included the keywords, "diverse", "pedagogy", and "monoethnic society". It was at that moment I had my "a ha!" moment. I treat Japanese people differently here because Japan is; compared to Hawaii, America, and possibly a majority of the outside world, an extremely monoethnic and homogeneous society. (Many Japanese will disagree with that statement, but I don't care. They are homogeneous in comparison to where I am from. I'll talk about this point in much greater detail in the future.)
In my apartment complex in Iizuka, a small city about an hour outside of Fukuoka, there are 8 foreigners living there. We are all in the JET program, that's how and why we are living in Japan. So luckily for me, I'm able to interact with native English speakers and befriend individuals who share more common interests and lifestyle choices. But since we are not located in a major city, it's possible that we are the only resident foreigners in Iizuka and it's also quite possible that the only foreigners that ever pass through Iizka are JETs. I realize that this is a terrible assumption to make, but the reactions that my students, teachers, and random individuals that I pass by make, would suggest that the spotting of a foreigner is a rare occurrence. On top of that, it's probably even more rare to spot a foreigner in a small city such as Iizuka. Again, this could be a poor assumption on my behalf, but I say this in response to the reactions I have received thus far in my almost 3 month stay here.
So how do I act towards Japanese? It's strange because I can't seem to pinpoint anything in particular that I do differently nor can I definitively state what it is I do different. But, I suppose what I do different is that I am more gentle. By gentle I mean, or at least I think I mean, I am nicer and kinder to the Japanese. Why am I like this? I think it's because Japanese cannot handle the truth. Yes, they are very rigid when it comes to education and work. You work hard and there's little time for fun. But Japanese people are very polite. Almost too polite [though I'm not sure I can justify my criticism of Japanese politeness]. It's true however, that Japanese are so polite where they beat around the bush to tell you what they want to tell you. A common example is for foreign women. It's no secret that Japanese are very conservative in the way they dress, so mundane women clothing in America may be too scandalous or revealing for Japan. The problem now is that Japanese people won't say something along the lines of, "Your attire is inappropriate, please wear something that covers yourself more next time." They'll instead say, "You must be cold", in reference that you are showing too much skin. Now, I know this is truth because they'll even say it during the summer where temperatures rise in the 90s and humidity levels are in the 90s as well. Surely you cannot be cold even if you were shirtless in those conditions. The truth is that Japanese people are very non-confrontational and are a low contact society, there's no denying that fact.
There in lies the reason why I may actually treat Japanese people differently. They're polite, they're kind, they're non-confrontational. What's not to like about a whole society of people who act that way? They don't try to cheat you, they don't try to ruin your life. They're even apologetic for absolutely minor disturbances, if I can even call them that. For example, when they have to pass by you, they make a slight apology for disturbing you, even if there's no disruption at all. So yes, I do treat Japanese people differently, I treat them how they would like to be treated. We have to adapt to our surroundings whenever we go or experience somewhere new. We try to assimilate ourselves into their society so as to not cause our own disturbance.
But something still isn't right. Something still feels weird about the way I act. When I visited India, I reluctantly adapted. I reluctantly began to treat the people as they treat one another and I say reluctantly because I'm possibly disinterested towards their society. I say this because the way they treat each other would be considered rude by the majority of global standards. Nevertheless, that's the reality of India and thus I had to adapt. When I did finally adapt to the Indian way of daily life, I felt okay with my actions. I wouldn't say I felt like I was a part of them, but I felt like no one cared about me and it was nice to feel invisible. Even though I received some stares and looks in India, I didn't feel like I was being judged. If anything, I feel that while in India, the local people were more concerned about me judging them.
Maybe then, I only feel uncomfortable because I'm having to treat people so nicely. That's probably terrible of me to have a feeling like that, but I don't think I've ever lived my life where I had to treat everyone politely on a constant basis. I feel fake. Every morning I enter the office and am forced [I say forced because everyone else does it] to say good morning. I've said this before, but the Japanese say it in an almost robotic sort of manner. I don't know if the greetings are genuine, but regardless, it is said. This greeting extends further than just good morning, but also "hello's", "goodbyes", and even "pardon me". I'm not impartial to this societal norm, but I think it factors in to my treatment of the Japanese. Since they are robotic in their greetings, maybe I treat them as robots as well. I recite what needs to be recited and expect the same back in return.
But above all, the main reason surely must be the language barrier. It's difficult to communicate with anyone if languages clash. How can understanding be created if people are not able to achieve communication. When I speak I end up getting blank stares. Since I get those blank stares, it's disheartening. It's strange to not have people react to the words you say and at times, the gestures you make. So maybe due to my lack of Japanese proficiency, I am alienating myself from an entire country. My lack of Japanese has caused a failure in understanding and I then assume that since there is no reaction, Japanese people have no personality.
When all is said and done, it really comes down to one very difficult and large goal that I need to attain to assimilate myself into this country...I need to learn Japanese. It's a shame my personal second language acquisition skills are lacking. My consecutive years of achieving a D in High School Japanese 1 and 2 would support my case. That makes it quite possibly inappropriate that I am here for the sole purpose to assist in second language learning. However, my ability to help others is likely much more productive than my ability to help myself.
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