🚀 go-pugleaf

   Ex-There's-only-one-truth-ism, part2.  Many lines omitted to avoid
   this article too long, designated by [...].

>>I wrote:
>>>>    Someone mentioned (elsewhere in the news) that you declared 
>>>>you don't understand Japanese language.  Then you must have rich
>>>>experience in it.  How did you manage to get over the barrier when
>>>>you ask questions to Japanese people?  And I would like to know why
>>>>you don't use Japanese, inevitably a best tool for communication in Japan.
>>>>    For you it should be a FAQ, but this is the first time for me to
>>>>ask this.  Thanks in advance.
>>Dave writes:
>>>Yes, it must seem strange. And it isn't easy to give a short answer.
[...]
>>>and I came to the conclusion that Japanese may not in fact be
>>                   ~~~~~~~~~~ !
>>>the best tool for communcation. That may sound strange, but to get
>>>the idea of what I'm talking about, ask those you know who speak
>>>Japanese as a second language how many people they have interesting
>>>and frutiful conversations with those who are not 1) members of the
>>>same office/company, or 2) spouse/{girl|boy}friend. When I took this
>>>informal kind of survey, the answer was none!  And in fact many
>>>people I met here in the kansai complained that they never could
>>>have anything more than a polite, on-the-surface tatemae conversation. 
>>    It's rather depressive conclusion, anyway.  Though I admit it,
>>I do believe it depends on us native speakers' efforts to improve 
>>Japanese language as more effective tool for communication.  
>Why depressing? It's one of the great parts of living here. Some of
>the happiest times of my life have been in the mountains all by
>myself except for a few people I met along the trail. Living in
>Japan is something like that. Very peaceful. 

>And I presume that Japanese like any other language can be used for
>various purposes. But if you ask Japanese (outside of the net, of
>course :-) how many people they speak with who are not members of
>their company or family in *Japanese*, I think very few or none at
>all. Little to do with the language, lots to do with Japanese-style
>social life. 

>>    This is part of the reason I am now absorbed in the net-news where
>>some people are fighting to find the way we make discussions in demo-
>>cratic manner to reach to effective agreements.  

>I'm not sure that democracy is the main event for the net. Instead
>maybe it's something like 'multiple interpenetrating reality
>systems'. An awful expression I know but what I mean is there are
>many different kinds of discussions by different kinds of people
>operating under a convention of "If you don't like it, don't read
>it." But democracy tends to ask everyone to do the same thing after
>voting on it. Here, voting on a newsgroup only means more people
>voted for it than against it so the outcome is only relative...

    It's not an easy problem.  Sure, it's too peaceful to understand 
    what it is going OUTSIDE world.  The insensitiveness to OUTSIDE-JAPAN
    matters is I think the disease of the Japanese society.  It's not
    a language problem but a problem of the mind of Japanese people, 
    as you said elsewhere.  However, language reflects the speakers' habit,
    thought, belief, and everything.  There often is the case that 
    a concept easily said and done in certain culture is hardly possible
    in the other culture, in which the language have no word corresponding
    to the concept.  In this context, the concept I mean is "democracy",
    a concept Japan has not been achieved.  

    Under the name of democracy, modern Japan (inculding the days of the
    great Japan empire) has been doing things what a few people having
    money and power wants to do, as a result.
    It can be said that it comes from the lack of discussion or 
    communication between those belonging to different hierarchies, and that
    it comes from the structure of the language e.g. a word corresponding 
    to "you" is never used to a man who has to be respected because the
    age, the hierarchy, and alike are higher.    

[...]

>It's not only that I don't like to spend a lot of time in
>on-the-surface conversation with Japanese, it's with anybody :-) But
>I have found it easier to do outside of my native country ("Oh, I'm
>sooo sorry, but I don't understand xxxxx"). And since people in the
>U.S. tend to be Christian, the ideas we've talked about here are
>pretty foreign to a lot of them. As you've probably guessed I'm not
>only Christian: I feel that 'wisdom' or whatever you want to call it
>has arrived in human societies in various forms over the ages. They
>all have something so say, yet non save everything.... 

    Yes, I could believe that you are not only Christian, and that's 
    why I enjoy writing many articles stimulated by your postings. 
    On the least consensus alike, you can communicate to every one in 
    the world, otherwise you can communicate to limited number of people.
    In that sense, I can accept any opinion as it is said, then it doesn't
    matter your opinion is for or against my opinion.  

    Only thing I am not satisfied is that you spent far less time in 
    writing English articles :-)
    My complaint about Japanese government not aggresive in supporting
    language education overseas became serious after I knew that you 
    did not have chance to learn Japanese before you came here.

--
 Masahiko Tachibana	          E-mail:  mtachiba@rkna50.riken.go.jp
 Lab. of Organometallic Chemistry,   Tel:  +81-48-462-1111 ext.3513
 The Institute of Physical and       Fax:  +81-48-462-4665
 Chemical Research (RIKEN), Wako-shi, 351-01 Japan.