A new and better Social Darwinism - this small theory was really only born just the other day, but it has gestated for a net total of 10 months, and a gross total of more like 10 years.
10 months? 10 years??
---10 years is the amount of time (thereabouts) that I have spent studying all things Japanese - language, customs, culture, etc. etc.
---10 months is the amount of time I have spent, in a concentrated dosing, if you will, living here in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. the lessons are a mile a minute and every damn minute at that, too! I am still catching up, and will spend the rest of my life catching up with this and all the other experiences I will go through from here on until eternity. Such is life.
And now I share with you the latest of the latest:
What has been moth a bone of contention and discussion, as well as a major personal pain in my arse and thorn in my side, is the general way that the average working stiff in Japan must live their life. That sentence you just read is LOADED with meaning, and I will try my best not to tangent off into oblivion trying to catalogue it all now. Suffice it to say, at least for the next few minutes, that I used the words "mustlive their life" because one of the most blaring aspects of it all is this unacknowledged, yet universally known "fact" that we simply "must" do things a certain way. Some people call this "fact" "culture". What is Culture? I'm not going to answer that question right now (controlling the tangents! staying on track for once!), but I will probably answer it one day, just for a laugh!
But let me get more specific now. Given my as yet narrow perspective on the world (... or maybe "unbroad" is a better way to describe it, because it's approaching broadness as we speak), I must base all my observations on comparisons between what I know about my own culture, and what I am seeing here in Japan. "Culture shock" so so fucking cliched it ain't even funny any more, so I'm not going to mention that phrase again. And I may indeed have some rose-tinting on my perspective of Back Home - I haven't been there in 10 months, and that sort of perspective distortion/transformation/evolution is bound to happen. But I am writing this now, so I will tell you what I have now.
The Japanese work, a lot. A LOT!!!! They work so damn hard that I don't think any of them really know any other way of life. I am going to touch on this more in the future, too. But for now, let's stick with this general fact. When you ask any given Average Jap, "what did you do last weekend?" the answer is invariably "work" with a somewhat poorly hidden disdain or sorrow in one's voice. But heaven be damned if they are going to complain about it!
No no no, no complaints!
((((((((to be continued in Part 2 - so the smaller attention spans of my readership can go have a rest and come back))))))))
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment