🚀 go-pugleaf

aki@mel.toshiba.CO.JP (Yoshiaki Kohno) writes:

...

>Though I haven't received Mr Rikitake's posting yet, I agree with him.
>I don't see any point in saying that Japan is a homogenous country or
>something like that.  My guess is that such a illusion is convenient
>to those who govern the people: "Harmony is the essence of OUR
>culture. So do not disturb it no matter what you think about the
>society. It's your fault to feel uncomfortable, ignored, isolated,
>and/or segregated here. Look, silent majority support existing
>system, why can't you change your mind that way?", nosense, isn't it?

From having watched the glazed look that come over people faces
when they say "Japan is a homogenous culture" I suspect that there
is some kind concensus trance going on here. IMHO, similar to
what happens when Americans say "America is a free country".

>As for the original question:
>I don't want unifor society, because it will be a boring society. 
>I don't want to say "We Japanese", because there were/are/will be no
>such thing anywhere in the world expcet for someone's head.

In my experience, it takes a long time before someone can even stop
saying the words at least 3 years of having somebody question them
everytime they say We Japanese, "For example, who?" 

> >  I suppose Japan is well-segmented into "Mura".  It's a symbol of
> >segmented, homogenized and exclusive society.
>
>And the members of most Mura have a illusion that "Our Mura is THE
>typical community", and stop thinking any further.

Yes, I think so. But I don't think it's limited to Japan. Many
people consider the world of their particular experience to be
the world at large.

>By the way, though the topic of this thread may be suitable to
>soc.culture.japan or whatever in soc, I have no access to soc
>newsgroups. Therefore, I support life-in-japan NG. 

Not that it's so interesting (mostly non-Japanese discussing things
Japanese and/or telling Japan how it should be :-) But I'm curious,
you don't get all the regular USENET newsgroups? 

Dave

--
Dave McLane  davidg@aegis.or.jp
You're free to copy/quote/translate as long as credit is given. 
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087