日本研究 (Japanese Society)
Chris Burgess (1号館1308研究室、内線164)
cburgess@tsuda.ac.jp / http://edu.tsuda.ac.jp/~cburgess
さい はっけん
“Rediscover Japan” (日本再発見) Boom…
Yomiuri 2015/03/23
Japan News 2015/04/04
Japan as Unique/Special/Different…
praise)
せ
っ
さ
ん
（
えいゆうてき=heroic
But similar incidents also occurred abroad…
Commuters Push Train to Save Passenger
in Japan, Woman Escapes Uninjured
• The dangerous occurrence is similar
to an incident earlier this month in
Atlanta, Ga., when 50-year-old
Kenneth Hunter fell onto the tracks
at the MARTA Five Points Station.
In that case, commuters formed a
human chain to help him to safety,
and one man even jumped down onto
the tracks to push him upward as the
train was approaching.
Christian Post,
July 23, 2013
１．Warm-up: Brainstorming
日本また日本人というと。。。
(When you hear the word Japan or
Japanese what comes to mind?)
Images of Japan
Reinforce
Self-images
Foreignimages
Reality of Japan
Q.1 Japanese Words that Foreigners Know
(外国人が知っている日本語)
国立国語研究所などによる国際調査1999年
１）
２)
３）
４）
５）
サヨナラ
ありがとう
すし
こんにちは
さけ
６）
７）
８）
９）
１０）
さむらい
はらきり
げいしゃ
かみかぜ
ぶしどう
N.B. Does not include more recent words like tsunami, anime, manga, otaku, karaoke etc nor
brand names (e.g. Toyota) or place names (e.g. Mount Fuji)
Q.2 外国人が知っている日本語:
Recent (post 1999) additions
tsunami
karaoke
manga
anime
otaku
karoshi
hikkikomori
perseverance, stoicism, toughing it out
gaman
Sympathy for Japan and
Admiration
But the Japanese people themselves were truly
noble in their perseverance and stoicism and
orderliness. There’s a common Japanese word,
gaman, that doesn’t really have an English
equivalent, but is something like “toughing it
out.”
March 11, 2011
Japan, a unique survivor, needs to
re-invent itself
• Everywhere one goes inside Japan, there are two
words gaman and gambare which one often hears and
reads. The combination of these two national
characters defines Japan's uniqueness and the
determination that has enabled it to cope with all
diversities throughout history
April, 2011
Gaman: Unique to Japan?
The British “stiff upper lip”
Keeping a lid on things: daily life in the Blitz; Stephen Fry in 'Jeeves and Wooster';
Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in 'Brief Encounter'
“the idea of a Japanese spirit originally came
from bushido…[it] has been put forward as an
ideology of behaviour for the nation as a
whole…but the Japanese do not seem
particularly persevering…the English, on the
other hand, are an extremely tenacious
people…forming an orderly queue
at a bus stop, for example,
waiting as long as half an hour or
more for a bus that never comes.”
Prof. Brian Moeran, British Images of War (1990: 34/35)
Crafting the Image…
“The samurai may have been defeated in
the late 19th century, but their virtuous
and noble image has been carefully
molded ever since.”
新渡戸 稲造
Modern bushidō (especially the
“bushidō boom” of 1898-1914)
formed within the framework of
Japanese nation-building in the late
19th and early 20th centuries
1899
Crafting the Image…
"It's an idealized image that's been
pushed onto the entire Japanese
people…It's built into the education system
and the armed forces, so that everyone who
goes to war sees himself in some sense as a
Samurai. It's a tremendous public relations
job. Samurai images are brought out again
and again.” H. Bolitho, Prof. Japanese history, Harvard U.
社会の侍化。。。
‘Elite’ Samurai values such as loyalty,
perseverance, and group-orientation were
extended to cover all Japanese.
e.g. 温情主義 as an organisational principle
for industry
This helped to control the population in the process of
modernisation: bushidō ideology was an important
factor in Japan’s success as a modern nation
Box office receipts for The Last Samurai were higher in Japan
than the US….
Based loosely on historical reality…
• 1877 Satsuma Rebellion (西南戦争）
– Katsumoto = 西郷隆盛 (committed harakiri)
さいごうたかもり
• Japan did use surplus U.S. military
equipment
• The Meiji Emperor was young (25) and
under the control of his advisors
Question 1: What is wrong?
Question 1: What is wrong?
• Fluffy white rice was the food only of the
very rich
• Rural samurai would have more likely eaten
rice gruel (かゆ)、and other grains like
barley (大麦), millet (キビ), and
buckwheat noodles ( ソバ)
Question 2: What is wrong?
Question 2: What is wrong?
• Many Japanese men did help with the
housework
– In Tokugawa, husbands & wives shared labour
& child-rearing: the sexual division of labour
(性分業） was a Meiji invention
• ‘Japanese’ would not have referred to
themselves as a collective, especially
culturally, in 1876
Question 3: What is wrong?
Question 3: What is wrong?
• By 1877 very few ordinary people would have
been particularly frightened of samurai and
would not have bowed en masse.
• Most samurai lived in large urban areas, some
unemployed, others working for local and
national government as police, teachers,
bureaucrats, military officers etc.
The Last Samurai: Movie Myth or
History?
National Geographic News 2003/12/02
IMAGE: strong and courageous warriors, schooled
with swords, loyal (忠義な), virtuous (有徳の),
noble (高潔な), and persevering (辛抱強い)
REALITY: Elitist and (for two centuries) idle
class that spent more time drinking and
gambling than cutting down enemies on the
battlefield.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1202_031202_lastsamurai.html#main
To sum up: the Question is...
• How well do such images…
– capture the ‘essence’ of Japanese men
(women?) or society/culture?
– influence contemporary foreign stereotypes of
the Japanese?
– influence how the
Does “national
character” (国民
Japanese see themselves?
性) even exist?
– block a proper understanding
of Japanese society?
Homework: Images of Japan
•
Who is a ‘typical’ Japanese?
•
What kind of characteristics does the
‘typical’ Japanese have?
COURSE OUTLINE
Powerpoints now available off-campus too at
<http://edu.tsuda.ac.jp/~cburgess>!
Hand in name slips before you go…
…and don’t forget to pick up the reading!
日本研究 (Japanese Society)
Chris Burgess (1号館1308研究室、内線164)
cburgess@tsuda.ac.jp / http://edu.tsuda.ac.jp/~cburgess
Journals (* = in library **=full text available online!)
Social Science Japan Journal**
http://www.ssjj.oupjournals.org/
Journal of Japanese Studies*
http://depts.washington.edu/jjs/
Critical Asian Studies*
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14672715.asp
Japanese Studies (Australia)**
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10371397.asp
Japan Forum (UK)** http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09555803.asp
Asian Studies Review (Australia)**
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10357823.asp
Japan Echo (Online)**
http://www.japanecho.co.jp/
Japan Focus**
http://japanfocus.org/
Social Science Japan Newsletter** http://newslet.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
EJCJS**
http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/
People’s Plan Japonesia**
http://www.ppjaponesia.org/
ted
“Paving the way to a tourism nation”
Sayonara, Samurai…
• ‘Koizumi: A Modern Day Samurai’
(Asia Times)
• ‘In Japan, the samurai election’ (Herald and
Tribune)
• ‘Koizumi, the privatization samurai’ (Division
of Labour)
• ‘Samurai Koizumi rides again’ (Yahoo)
• ‘Latter-day samurai could transform politics’
(Guardian)
• ‘How a lowly samurai inspired Koizumi to put
rebels to sword’ (Times)
Foreign Wrestlers Rapid Rise to
the top Division
Wakata: First Japanese Commander of
International Space Station
Japan
News
2013/11/9
p3