People often talk about cultural collectivism and Japanese people placing emphasis on the group over the individual. Do you agree with this? What examples can you think of social behaviors or systems that reflect this idea in Japanese society? I have a Japanese friend who is living in Singapore for over 10 years and she mentioned how little she thinks about public perception as compared to when she was in Japan. curious of everyone’s thoughts on this…
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I’m sure this will be a fair, well balanced discussion.
Yeah, when’s your assignment due? it might help speed up answers and get more upvotes!
but seriously, people often feel less inhibited when residing in other countries cos they are not as bound to the intricacies in their “home” social context.
In university, I studied anthropology, specifically focusing on collectivism vs individualism in European societies and East Asian societies. I state that to say that I came to Japan with a very open mind and a will to observe cultural differences and the desire to adapt to local norms.
One memory I have after returning to live in Japan a second time is that two acquaintances from my first time here were leaving. I came by their house to receive various things they would no longer need. They had lived in Japan for more than half a decade at that point.
While walking on the sidewalk to a nearby bicycle shop to register the sale of a bicycle to me, I noticed that a Japanese person was on a bicycle behind us, presumably wanting to pass us. I mentioned this, expecting that they would then make room to allow the person to get by. They both turned and acknowledged my observation and continued as they were, no attempt to allow the person to pass.
I am not making any judgment with this story. I believe that in general, people from individualist cultures expect that people will figure out their own shit, solve their own problems. People from collectivist societies are more tuned in to making the small things easier for strangers, working together as a society to smooth over the rough edges of sharing public spaces.
But then I go to a supermarket and my theory falls entirely apart, so IDK really.
I’m not one to judge a culture but a simple observation might be that there is a point where too much emphasis on the group can be detrimental to the individual (e.g. hikikomori).
I think the masking is a good example. Everyone is too shy of getting death stares so people wear masks even though they don’t want to. I base this on some NHK bit I saw where people were interviewed on the street why they still wear masks.
This is a hard discussion to have without setting off multiple people but one angle I have found that works is to focus on media and design in the cultures. Take for example the hero vs monster design in Ultraman and then compare that to Marvel. In Ultraman the hero characters tend to be of homogeneous design, while the monsters are all varied. This extends out to Kamen Rider or whatever franchise you pick. A side by side picture of the Marvel hero characters vs the Ultraman hero characters is a good discussion starter. Another one you can do is Japanese manufacturer car design vs European car design. If you take the badges off the cars it’s pretty easy to tell a BMW from a Mercedes or an Audi, but if you do the same for Toyota vs, say Honda, it’s a more challenging exercise.
It’s not really going to be possible to have a discussion on “group over individual” without ruffling some feathers but you can use the above two examples to prompt indirect discussion on the topic then ask the leading question whether the observed results could be an insight into the underlying cultures.