The Inscrutable Japanese?(English brush-up Version 2p0, by Colin Anderson, 27 May 2010)

Preface It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to Yokohama. On this special occasion of

your visit to Japan, I hope you to enjoy Japan and its culture.

You can enjoy your visits to foreign countries effectively if you have learned a few

key words. For example, in France, you should learn such words as “bonjour”,

“merci”, “tres bien”, and “s’il vous plait”.

What are some of the words of this kind in Japanese? I would like to explain one of

them to you − a magic word, “sumimasen”, meaning “I am sorry.”

Of course you can use “sumimasen” in the situation in which you wish to say “I am

sorry” or “excuse me”.

But you can also use “sumimasen” when you want to say “thank you”.

Why does “sumimasen”, or “I am sorry”, mean “thank you” in Japan?

In the Japanese mind, “thank you” is “thank you very much, but I am very sorry to

bother you for my interests, which are not your responsibility.”

“Sumimasen” is the sign of deep appreciation. We prefer “sumimasen” rather than

“arigatou” or “thanks”. “Sumimasen” expresses more appreciation than simply saying

“thanks” or “arigatou”.

Sumimasen can also be used for “please” when you want to invite somebody. Then

it means “I am sorry, it is not so wonderful, but please help yourself.”

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You can, of course, use “sumimasen” when you are requested to do something and

you cannot reply affirmatively; namely when you want to say “No, I cannot.” You

often say, “No, I cannot. I am very sorry.” So, it is very natural to say “sumimasen” in

such a situation.

Surprisingly, however, you can also say “sumimasen” in the opposite situation −

when you want to say “Yes, I can”. Whenever the Japanese say “Yes, I can”, in their

mind it is always “I am sorry, I am not as competent as you expect; but I can do

something for you.” Therefore, in short, you can say “sumimasen” when you wish to

say “Yes, I can.”

I think in Japan President Obama should say “sumimasen, sumimasen, sumimasen”,

instead of “Yes, we can”.

Thus, in almost any case, you can say “sumimasen” to the Japanese and they will

understand you, while in the western world you should clearly say “yes”, or “no”.

You do not need to say much in Japan, and you should not say much. To most

Japanese people, “silence is golden.” And the talkative are always disliked as “fine

words, butter no parsnips.” People understand others without hearing words. This is

one of the characteristics of the Japanese culture and language.

“Sumimasen” could be used almost anywhere in Japan, but be careful! There is one

case I can imagine where you should not say “sumimasen”. That is when you wish

to kiss your girlfriend. She may slap you if you said “sumimasen”. My advice here is

to simply “say nothing”.

A Brazilian staff member of the ITU told me that she expects every morning to hear “I

love you” from her husband when he leaves his home, and to hear “I love you” every

night. She said it is the confirmation of love, and without it she feels nervous.

I told her that in Japan it is the very time when husbands are having affairs with other

women that they say “I love you” to their wife. Silence is really golden in Japan !

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It is stressful to do business with foreigners, because you sometimes misjudge

people. Especially the Japanese are often said “inscrutable”. They react differently

from what you expected. You sometimes misunderstand them, and you are often

misunderstood by them.

I would like to try to explain today something fundamentally different between the

Japanese and western cultures, which I have learned from my experiences in the

international community.

SurveyI conducted a small survey at the ITU concerning national characters.

I categorized basic human behaviors in two dimensions: long-term or short-term

interests, and individual or group interests. Typical characteristic behaviors are well

placed in this diagram.

I asked some of my staff members to evaluate a number of nationalities in

accordance with this categorization. “If you think the Japanese are very progressive

then give ten points, if not progressive at all, then 5 points. Maximum 10 points,

minimum 5 points to each characteristic behavior”.

日本人のユニークさを図で説明をする

This is the evaluation on the Japanese behaviors by my Spanish assistant.

by Brazilian Deputy very similar

Europeans by my assistant Italian and German

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This is the result of evaluation by 14 staff members of ITU. The Japanese are

evaluated as more inclined to group interests rather than individual interests, and

more to long-term interests rather than short-term interests.

For the people who are thinking of their own interests as a priority, it is sometimes

difficult to understand those people who are thinking group’s interests first.

When I took the office of the Secretary General of the ITU, a decade ago, I sent a

message to all staff members to invite their proposals to improve the ITU. It is a

common practice in Japan to encourage workers to submit improvement proposals to

their boss. However at the ITU, many considered that the new boss was

encouraging a tip-off, to inform secretly to the boss something wrong with their

colleagues. And the staff association got angry and held an extraordinary meeting to

discuss my message.

Another typical misunderstanding was the case of the report on my official visit to

India. I found that Indians were making big efforts in manufacturing switches suitable

to hard environmental conditions in developing countries. I reported it in one of the

messages which I occasionally sent to the staff to improve communication. I simply

wanted my staff members to know the fact because they were in charge of the

development of telecommunications especially in the developing world.

However, they took my message as if I was accusing them by saying that Indians

were industrious, while ITU staff members were not.

Those misunderstandings, in my opinion, started from the differences in one’s

concerns. Their primary concerns were their own interests in the short-term.

Therefore, it was very natural that they had mistakenly assumed that I also had been

thinking of my own interests − that is, from their view point, to make them work

harder.

Thus, the new Japanese boss was quite incomprehensible to the staff members of

ITU, and in turn, they were in fact quite incomprehensible to me.

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There are many differences between western people and the Japanese. One of the

most remarkable ones is that in western society you should speak out and request

proactively, while in Japan you should wait until it will be given to you. In the western

world:

“Ask, and it shall be given to you;

“Seek, and ye shall find;

“Knock, and it shall be open unto you.”

But in Japan, “All things come to he who waits”.

In the Japanese society, you should not request too much. You must wait until you

are given.

This contrast can be exemplified by comparing popular legendary tales in both of the

cultures. One of the most popular fairly tales in Japan is “Shitakirisuzume”, which

goes as follows:

ShitakirisuzumeOnce upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman. The old man was kind

and gentle, but his wife was mean and greedy. One morning, as usual, the old man

left for work in the mountains where he cut wood, plowed the earth, and worked in

the field.

This morning, he went deep into the mountains to cut firewood. While he was

working, he heard the voice of a sparrow crying. When he looked down, he saw an

injured young sparrow trapped under a dead branch. "Oh, you poor thing," the old

man said as he gently picked up the sparrow. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you.

You'll be fine in no time. Let's go to my house," he said.

When they arrived, the old man bandaged the sparrow and fed it some rice. The old

woman didn't like this at all, and became angry. "Why are you wasting our precious

rice on that bird?" she exclaimed. But the old man paid her no mind, and worked

hard to nurse the young sparrow back to health.

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One day, as the old man went back to work in the mountains, he asked the old

woman, "Take care of the sparrow, please." "Yes, yes, I know," the old woman

snapped; but she didn't care about the bird and had no intention of feeding it. She

left the sparrow at home and went to the river to do the washing.

While it was left all alone, the little sparrow became hungry. It found a bowl of starch

that the old woman had made. Because the sparrow was so hungry, it began to

nibble at the starch, and without thinking ate it all up. Then the old woman returned

from the river, ready to starch the linens. She noticed that the starch was missing

and asked the sparrow what had happened. "I'm so sorry," the sparrow said. "I was

hungry and couldn't help eating it." The old woman flew into a rage. "You thief!" she

thundered. "I'll fix you so you'll never be able to do anything like that again," she

said, and she cut the little sparrow's tongue with a pair of scissors. The poor little

sparrow flew back into the mountains, crying the whole way.

When the old man returned from the mountains, he noticed that the sparrow was

gone. "What happened to the little sparrow?" he asked the old woman. "That bird

ate my starch," she replied, "so I cut its tongue and chased it away."

The old man was stunned. "Oh, forgive me little sparrow. It must have hurt you so

much," he said with tears streaming down his face. The old man then went back into

the mountains to search for the sparrow.

The old man went here and there in the forest, calling out "Little sparrow, come

back!", but the sparrow was nowhere to be found. But then the old man

remembered, "I've heard that the sparrows have an inn. If I go there, perhaps I can

find him."

As he was walking further into the mountains, three sparrows appeared before him.

"Oh, sparrows. Where is your inn?" he asked them. "This way, this way ... chirp,

chirp," the sparrows said, and they led the man through a bamboo grove even further

into the mountains. Suddenly, in front of him was a splendid mansion with many

sparrows lined up in front of the gate.

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"Welcome," one of them said, "We've been expecting you."

"Have you seen my little sparrow?" the old man asked.

"He's waiting for you inside," the sparrow answered and led the old man into a parlor

in the back of the mansion.

When he entered the room, the little sparrow came running up to greet him.

"Oh, you poor dear. Are you okay? I was so worried," the man said, delighted to see

the little sparrow again. The sparrows brought out trays of delicious food for the old

man and began to sing and dance for him.

After the old man had enjoyed himself for some time, he got up and said to the

sparrows, "I wish I could stay, but I must be getting home. My wife will be worried."

With this, the sparrows brought out two wicker baskets, a big one and a small one.

"As a gift, please take whichever one you like," one of the sparrows said.

Although he had no desire for a gift, he accepted the small basket. "I'm sorry. I'm

old, so I guess I'd better take the small one," he said, and he made his way home.

When the old man reached home, he called out to the old woman, "I'm home. I met

the little sparrow. I even got a gift. I wonder what's inside."

The two of them opened the basket, and to their surprise, the basket was filled with

gold, silver, fine cloth, and other valuables.

"So that's why it was so heavy," the old man said. "It's a good thing I took the small

basket."

"What? There was a big one?" the old woman shrieked. "The big one must have

even more valuables! Okay, I'll go and get the big basket," and no sooner had she

said those words, than she was out the door and running to the mountains, overtaken

by greed.

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When the old woman reached the sparrows' inn, she called out to the little sparrow.

"Little sparrow! Little sparrow! I'm here," she said with a forced smile, and the little

sparrow came out to see her. "Little sparrow," the woman began, "I took care of you

didn't I? I'm not hungry, so just hurry up and bring out the baskets."

The sparrows were disappointed, but brought out two baskets anyway. "Choose

whichever one you like," they said. The old woman did not hesitate, "I'll take the big

one. I'm strong enough to carry it."

As she was on her way out, one of the sparrows said to her, "Don't open the basket

until you get home," but she paid it no mind, and ran home as fast as she could.

On the way back, the woman could no longer contain her greed. She desperately

wanted to see her valuables, so she stopped and opened the basket.

When she did, smoke came out along with one-eyed goblins, giant snakes, and other

monsters. The old woman was so shocked that she threw the basket down and tried

to run away. In her haste, she slipped and fell, rolling all the way down the mountain.

Lessons from Fairy Tales Here in this Japanese children’s fairy tale are fundamental virtues of Japanese

society:

love for the nature;

kindness to others;

humbleness;

not to be greedy;

to wait until be given;

etc.

We are told such stories in Japan repeatedly, from our childhood.

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On the other hand, in western countries, you hear such fairy tales as “Jack and the

Beanstalk” and “Little Red Riding Hood”. In these stories, Jack got a fortune by

killing the giant; and Little Red Riding Hood was deceived by the wolf.

The stories are totally different from those common in Japan. You are told to take

risks, and you are told not to be deceived. In Japan we are told to wait, to be

modest, to be humble, and to be kind to others.

Geopolitical Differences What are the factors leading to these differences?

The differences in my opinion come mainly from geopolitical differences.

Japan is a mountainous island country, separated from the nearby continent. The

island country enjoys a climate, whose particular rhythms of four distinct seasons,

color both Japanese thinking and behavior. It is said that human nature in Japan is

an extension of nature itself.

People live on rice which is produced at rice paddies cultivated by multiple

generations. They have lived together with their neighbors, helping each other to

survive with very small amounts of habitable land. Since cultivatable space was so

scarce, intensive farming was inevitable.

The productivity of farming depends upon the cooperation of community members,

as well as their knowledge and experience of farming. Therefore, maintaining

peaceful relationships with the other members of the community in order to have

good mutual cooperation was essential to survive with the available land.

Respecting experienced and knowledgeable elderly people helped to keep higher

productivity by retaining valuable agricultural know-how in the community.

To encourage these behaviors was a natural consequence of the need to survive.

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In this way, the preference of group interests rather than individual interests, and

long-term interests rather than short-term interests was a wise and valuable strategy

for survival in Japan.

But the Japanese situation is different from the competitive societies with vast land

resources and frontiers in most of places on the globe. They had land to expand for

cultivation; and they had environmental opportunities and potentials to expand, while

in Japan we did not.

In western societies, the strongest were the most successful. But on the other hand,

in Japan good coordinators who could maintain order were the most successful.

BuddhismAlthough I believe the geographical environment was the most decisive factor for

curving the peculiar Japanese behaviors, I cannot ignore the Buddhist influence, as it

was also an important factor.

Buddhism was adopted in sixth century by Japan’s rulers, primarily to establish social

order and political control. Buddhism was accompanied by the arrival of countless

artisans and scholars from Korea and China. Buddhism brought new theories on

government, a means to establish strong centralized authority, a system of

philosophy and ethics, and advanced new technologies for building, painting and

sculpture.

What is Buddhism? Since Buddhism is a very complicated system of thoughts and

philosophy, it is difficult to describe it in simple terms. However, I understand it in

essentially the following way.

Buddhism teaches that one lives according to the universal law that governs both the

physical and moral order of the universe. Your body, actions and thinking are just a

part of the universe. It regards the world as transient. Even those things that seem

most intimate − for example, one's thoughts and emotions − are just transient states

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that come and go. Good deeds result in positive consequences, and bad deeds lead

to negative results.

Buddhism looks at the everyday world − love, hatred, money, power, etc − as a

source of suffering for those who remain attached to it. To break this attachment is

the way to bring an end to suffering.

Once you have reached the enlightened state of this wisdom, you can get rid of great

burdens. The clamoring ego with its desires and disappointments is silenced. When

a person gains this wisdom, a deep and lasting sense of peace and contentment

replaces selfish craving and gratification.

There is optimism about human nature in Buddhism, for it was committed to the

belief that all human beings had the potential to attain the wisdom that brings an end

to suffering. There is also an ultimate optimism about the world itself, since it

teaches that once human attachments are discarded, the world takes on a new and

positive significance.

To reach this state of enlightenment, a sect like Zen believes that one must practice

meditation. This will give the calmness to gain understanding of the true nature of

existence.

Making a pilgrimage is also widely believed as one of ways to grasp this

enlightenment.

A sect like Jyodosyu believes that worshipping Amida Nyorai, a Buddha, is enough.

And simply repeating his name, “namiamidanbu”, takes you to the world of Amida

Nyorai, a Buddhist heaven.

It is very easy, isn’t it? By the way, I am very happy because my family, the Utsumis,

belongs to this easy-going sect. I can go to the heaven in the easiest way.

Then, what is this enlightened state of wisdom?

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In my opinion it is to understand and feel from the bottom of your heart that you are

just a part of the universe, in four dimensions, in geometrical space and in time

space.

When I say “in time space”, it means that you yourself, your mind and body, are a

consequence of the past, and an origin for the future.

When you really feel this, what you were suffering from looks very very small.

At the beginning Buddha was just a man who practiced asceticism, but he attained

spiritual enlightenment and established Buddhism. He was later regarded and

worshiped as an eternal existence like a God.

Some of his colleagues and disciples, those who reached at the level of Buddhist

wisdom (如来) as well as those who were practicing and yet in the process of

reaching the wisdom（菩薩）were also later regarded as eternal existences. They

were all worshiped.

Buddhism is polytheistic and absorbs everything. In the process of spreading to the

East from India, it absorbed Hindu Gods as well as local Gods of central Asia. They

are regarded mostly as guardians of Buddhism.

Buddha SculptureThere are four types of Buddha sculpture to be worshiped in Japan.

如来

Nyorais are Buddhas who have attained the stage of enlightenment. They are all

considered as eternal beings, like Gods. There are thousands of Nyorais. Each

Nyorai is in his own heaven, which means that there are thousands of heavens in

Buddhism.

The most popular one is Amida Nyorai.

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菩薩

Bosatsu are disciples who are practicing to reach the stage of enlightenment. They

are considered to have super powers to save people, and are worshiped as if they

were Gods.

The most popular one is Kannon Bosatu.

明王

Myoho is an incarnation of Dainichinyorai, a Buddha who commands the entire

universe.

天

Tens are Gods and Goddesses of Hindu and Central Asia. They are considered as

guardians of Buddhism.

The fundamental difference between the western and Japanese cultures is the

difference between monotheism and polytheism. As mentioned above, in the

Buddhist universe, there are thousands of Buddhas, and each Buddha has its own

world. They coexist with each other. The Buddhist universe is totally different from

the one of a single absolute God, believed in by Christians or Muslims.

Thus, in Buddhism, different beliefs can coexist side by side, and we are taught to

avoid polarization. We are usually inclined to extremes in our ways of life: war or

peace; yes or no; white or black; intellectualism or materialism; absolutism or

relativism; and so on. This kind of polarization at first seems inevitable.

However, in Buddhism it is taught that this should be avoided as much as possible;

we are recommended to be harmonious with opposing ideas and interests. Since

everything is the result of the Law of Cause and Effect, there should be no absolute

eternal option.

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“The flow of the river is ceaseless and its water is never the same. The bubbles that

float in the pools, now vanishing, now forming, are not of long duration:  so in the

world are men and his dwellings.”

Foreigners visiting Japan for the first time are likely to think that it is a completely

secularized country. The majority of the Japanese seem to be indifferent to religious

matters, except on special occasions such as festivals or funeral services.

Particularly when young Japanese are asked about their religious beliefs, they tend

to reply with an expression of astonishment or to smile uncomprehendingly.

In most Japanese homes, a Buddhist altar and a Shinto shrine which are both

believed to protect the house and family, stand side by side. When people buy a car,

they usually hang a charm in it. The charm may be one blessed by a Buddhist priest

or by a Shinto priest.

According to the statistics, there are 95 million lay followers of Buddhism in Japan.

When the 95 million Buddhist followers are added to an estimated 106 million Shinto

followers, the total exceeds the total population of 127 million Japanese. This

discrepancy may make little sense when analyzed in Western religious terms.

However, it is not at all unusual for a Japanese person to belong to the institutions of

Buddhism and Shintoism at the same time. Most Japanese people get married in a

Shinto ceremony, and hold Buddhist services for a funeral ceremony.

The variety of Japanese religiosity cannot be comprehended as an “either A or B”

selection, as in the case of Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, but rather as an “as well

as” approach.

This all-embracing nature, the fundamental teaching of Buddhism, has permeated

Japanese life so deeply that the Japanese take the position of “as well as” in almost

every aspect of their life. This behavior often makes them incomprehensible to

western people, and so the Japanese look “inscrutable” to them.

Bushido

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The strategies for survival in an island country, which I have mentioned before,

together with the teaching of Buddhism and Confucianism, developed, in Japan, a

strong sense of responsibility called Bushido. It is loosely analogous to the Western

concept of chivalry or noblesse oblige. Bushidō is the code of conduct and moral

principles which the samurai were required and instructed to observe. More

frequently it is a code unuttered and unwritten.

Bushidō stresses benevolence, especially to lower ranking people; honesty to

anyone, justice, honor, loyalty, rectitude, frugality and self-sacrifice.

Under the bushidō ideals, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor, he could regain it by

performing hara-kiri (ritual suicide). The honor was more valuable than a life.

Those virtues stressed (honesty, honor, self-sacrifice, benevolence, etc) were, in my

opinion, all oriented to the interests of the community which one belonged to.

Thus, for centuries in Japan, among upper class people, individual interests were

almost discarded and the virtues effective to maintain the community were praised.

Although the people who belonged to the samurai class were only 10% of the total

population, and there are no longer the samurai class in today’s Japan, the Japanese

people still admire the bushido ethics. Episodes describing the bushido ethics are

very much loved and often romanticized in Japan today.

By the way, there had been no real concept of individualism in Japan until it was

imported only 140 years ago from the western world.

Nowadays the bushido ethics are rapidly disappearing among the Japanese and they

tend to behave selfishly. However, compared with western people, as the survey I

showed you, the Japanese are still inclined to behave more for group interests, and

to disregard self interests.

Closing

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I hope you can now understand and appreciate to some extent the background of the

so called “inscrutable” Japanese.

Why can a word like “sumimasen” be used everywhere? Why don’t they show their

sentiments and thoughts much?

I hope you can answer; “Because it is not the distinction or identification of yourself

from others, but harmonization with others that the Japanese people consider to be

the most important.”

Why do they choose group interests rather than individual interests? You can now

answer: “Because, it was the wisest strategy for survival in the past, and present-day

culture is influenced by that past.”

The Japanese do not talk much. Do not claim much. Do not show their sentiment

much. They wait until they are given. But they think very much, and they take care

of others. Only when they judge the situation is matured do they take action.

They stand up after they have pondered for a considerable time. When they decide

to take actions, they will carry out their duties perfectly because they are very serious

and industrious.

Through the globalization, the Japanese people are changing, especially the younger

generations. You may see, on the streets of Yokohama, young boys and girls who

are shouting shamelessly in a loud voice, who have dyed hair, and are wearing

untidy dress. Nevertheless, I think you will find a strong tendency toward the

inscrutable Japanese behaviors in every Japanese person you see.

I hope that the Japanese are somewhat more comprehensible to you now.

Thank you very much.

END

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