blog#2

1.       One scene where I saw aimai as a virtue was when the school administrator was first telling the teacher about how parents were complaining about Noguchi’s desk. Instead of arguing with the school administrator the teacher remained quiet and remained ambiguous. This was virtuous because instead of voicing his opinion and causing disruption, he maintained harmony between the school administration, him, and the students’ parents.

2.       The scenes with Sonobe, Noguchi, and the other bully show ambiguity. For example, when Sonobe is talking to Noguchi (in his memory), Noguchi is saying “No” and begging not to have to steal; however, he is doing it with a forced smile and forced laughter.  This shows aimai on the part of Noguchi because he was reluctant to sternly say “No”, and this gave Sonobe the opportunity to ignore his pain.

3.       In America bullying usually involves name-calling, pranks, public humiliation, and violence. In Japan bullying is more hidden. Japanese bullying is caused by people using other people’s desire to be uchi to manipulate them; whereas, American bullying is caused by people’s physical and verbal violence.

4.       Noguchi’s desire to be uchi caused his to not stand up for himself. And it was the other students’ desire to establish soto that caused them to bully. This can be seen with the bullying that occurred when a female student sent out and email telling everyone not to talk to another female student. The bullied student did not take a stand against the group because she wanted to be with the group, and the bullies treated her this way because they wanted to make a clear distinction of who was soto.

5.       In the film it seems as though the male students were socially dominant to the female student. This can be seen in with the boy who constantly stole the notebook of the bullied girl. The girl barely fights back and the boy establishes his dominance, which is the patriarchal dominance of Danjyo Kankei.

6.       The second set of reflection papers were more honest and showed that the students knew that they made a mistake. For example, Sonobe directly addressed Noguchi and explained to him why he was going to remember his faults. In Sonobe’s first letter he was writing it for the school; therefore, did not use meaningful language and wrote the letter so that he could forget the situation.

7.       The stuttering teacher challenged the students not to resort to bullying. Their first instinct was to make fun of the teacher; however, many of them then learned the need to “ listening earnestly,” as the teacher would say.

8.       The 3^rd person listed on Noguchi’s suicide note was “and everybody else.”

9.       The teacher told Sonobe that bullying is when you trample on somebody and refuse to see their pain.

10.   I like the quote “Starting over is cowardly”. This is an important life lesson topic that is ignored in American culture. 

Blog#1: Family, Gaijin,Marriage,Japanese-ness

Family

                “…husbands are superior to their wives and that wives should always be at the home to obey husbands.” I found this quote interesting because it relates to America in the 1950’s. However, instead of deriving from Confucianism, the patriarchal ideal for American family came from Christianity, In the 50’s women were expected stay home, wear a dress, raise the kids, cook dinner, and to the housework. This is similar to Japanese culture.

                “ … in Japanese families there still tends to be a strong distinction between family members and others.” This shows a difference between American culture and Japanese culture. America has a wide variety of families and lacks clear family traditional values. This is partly due to the increase in single parent families and divorce. American families are more diverse and it is nice that Japanese families hold a sense of unity.

Gaijin

                “These divisions reflect a basic dichotomy in the Japanese way of thinking” It is interesting that Japanese culture makes clear distinctions between insiders and outsiders and yet they also admire ambiguity.

                “… call people from other country gaijin no matter how long they have lived in Japan or how well they speak the language.” Immigration seems to be a big issue for both American and Japanese culture. Here the problem comes mostly from illegal immigration. This big political issue often leads to discrimination. This is ironic because America is a county of immigrants. Japan, on the other hand, is geographically secluded; therefore, it makes sense why they have clear distinctions between insiders and outsiders.

Marriage

                “Tying together families together by marriage for political power.” Even though this occurred during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods I am curious to know what influence this has on current Japanese culture. This reminds me of the cliché to “marry rich”. I wonder if there is this same cliché  mentality, in Japanese culture, that to be happy all you need to do is marry a rich man or women. 

Japanese-ness

                “inability to criticize others openly” I am a painter and a huge part of being in the art field in having your worked critiques in a public setting; therefore, I find it hard to understand a culture that does not criticize. In the past decade of so the contemporary Japanese art market has exploded and I am curious to know if this lack of criticism extends to the art community. If it does I would like to know how art is taught there.

                “Silence indicates deep thinking or consideration” This has been the opposite of my experiences. In American culture silence is uncomfortable and awkward. I remember a couple years ago it was a popular joke to say “awkward turtle” when there was a long pause in a conversation. At the same time however, the people I am most close too are people that I can be around silently and not feel awkward. In America it seems as though sharing silence indicates a certain level on intimacy.