Lesson Transcript

Hi everyone this is dr. Aurora Tsai in this
lesson you'll learn about Japanese
attitudes towards foreigners focusing on
those from North America and Europe
we'll cover the following first I'll
introduce some of the common stereotypes
of foreigners held by Japanese people
then I'll provide a brief overview of
some key historic events where a
Japanese interacted with the West
including the opening of Japan the years
preceding World War two and the Japanese
post-war economy by the end of this
lesson you'll be able to do the
following one recognize key historical
events or Japan interacted with Western
culture and adopted parts of foreign
cultures to explains some of the reasons
why Japan holds certain stereotypes
about Western cultures three understand
and used the term ethical duty to
describe a Japanese cultural practice
and four reflect on Japan and your own
cultures histories values and behaviors
to think about how Ito code oda works
similarly or differently in your own
culture to begin our lesson i'd like to
introduce some of the modern-day
stereotypes that japanese people tend to
hold towards foreigners this will help
us develop a better understanding of
current japanese views which we will
then try to connect with historical
events where japanese interacted with
foreigners when i did a google search in
japanese for what types of personalities
do westerners have the results were
quite interesting several japanese
websites described americans as having
the following traits being diverse
cheerful positive starting many lawsuits
valuing originality having many
expressions for expressing one's
feelings liking to communicate not
liking to admit when they're wrong and
liking to return things for example
buying a dress and keeping the tag on
when you go to a party so that you can
return it the next day canadians were
described as being kind having positive
feelings towards Japan being
well-mannered
modest and willing to use simpler
English to communicate if it's your
second language also it mentioned that
they don't return things as much as
Americans less information was written
about other countries but here are a few
so British were described as caring
about their family line and heritage or
nobility caring less about originality
and more about logic and calm demeanor
and also caring about formalities French
were described as liking to do fun
things being interested in Japanese
anime manga and subcultures and being
very fashionable Germans were described
as being very formal liking Japanese
Sami and Panasonic companies and
Italians were described as being very
good communicators when I started typing
in the Google search box Google used
autocomplete and started feeling in the
end of my sentence with the most search
questions and the most search questions
showed up as why are Americans obese why
are Americans fats and why are Americans
teeth lights when I typed in why are
foreigners in the search bar the
autocomplete came up with why do
foreigners come to Japan why are
foreigners so good-looking and why are
foreigners so tall so Google gives us a
small glimpse into Japanese views and
attitudes towards foreigners however
it's also good to keep in mind that many
Caucasian looking foreigners have found
themselves mistaken as english-speaking
Americans whether or not they're from
Britain France Russia Australia or any
other country if you happen to fall
outside of the common stereotypes like
Americans always eat hamburgers or our
blue-eyed blonde or don't know how to
use chopsticks then there can be
situations where has actually met with
disappointment and our confusion from
Japanese people but overall Japan has an
extremely positive
towards Westerners especially Americans
and foreigners who can speak English so
what do you the viewers think do you
agree with the stereotypes and
generalizations that Japanese people
have of Westerners why do Japanese
people hold these images and positive
attitudes towards Westerners to answer
the second question it is helpful to
understand some of Japan's history of
interaction with Western cultures
Japan's first major interaction with
Western countries happen during the Edo
period in 1603
Yasu Tokugawa was appointed Shogun and
established the Tokugawa government in
Edo or modern day Tokyo he was the first
Shogun of the 8'o period which is the
last period before the modernization of
Japan during the times of feudalism and
Bushido or the samurai way of life in
Japan the samurai were the ruling class
and the only ones allowed to carry
swords they lived in castle towns
next-in-line where the farmers then the
artisans and then the merchants below
this for the outcasts called the Henan
or non human who were in charge of
cleaning and other undesirable jobs each
class had strict rules by which to live
and all activities were highly regulated
and controlled a lot of influence came
from Confucianism as a model for this
hierarchy during this time Japan was
also under sakoku
the famous closed-door policy that
isolated Japan for over two hundred and
twenty years from trade with most
Western countries and also banned people
from leaving or entering the islands
however in 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry
forced the Japanese government to open a
number of ports for trade the Japanese
were caught off guard by the powerful
fleet of gun ships he brought and upon
recognizing the superiority of Western
weapons decided to submit without
resistance during the years before
Matthew Perry came Japanese social order
was already beginning to break down as
merchants started to become wealthy
people that other levels are becoming
desaad
side with the system and emerging
leaders wanted to restore the Emperor to
power this led to the Meiji Restoration
in 1868 after Emperor Meiji 's
restoration of power until his death in
1912 Japan was exposed to considerable
outside influence Japan sought to
establish a role alongside other major
world powers and sent new leaders to
travel abroad learn about European
models and establish trade a number of
other modernisations were also carried
out Japan established a postal service
railroads and open schools throughout
the country with the introduction of
Western technology came factories
industrial plants buildings vehicles and
Western clothing the traditional class
system was abolished and all people were
considered equal in the eyes of the law
attempts were made to civilize the I
knew and Okinawans into Japanese
citizens and political systems and
parties were established and a
constitution was promulgated in 1889
based on German and French models the
system was created with a two chamber
Parliament a House of Representatives or
sugan and house of councilors
or Sangan a powerful army and navy were
also established this was a
nationalistic period for Japan national
identity developed as Japan became more
influential the country gained
self-confidence as a major power upon
success in wars with China Korea and
Russia Japanese attempted to colonize
and expands the Japanese Empire
following suit with Western countries to
promote a national identity
Shinto traditions were taught in school
and people were encouraged to think of
themselves as related to their ancestors
and to the imperial family samurai
values of inner strength self-denial
were held as ideal qualities in pursuit
of Confucian ideals of loyalty and
filial piety
after Japan was defeated in World War
two it's thought to learn again from its
evidence superiors who were in this case
mostly American in doing so Japan
surprised Americans by cooperating with
demilitarization and democratization a
new constitution was drawn up and the
education system was revised with the
aim of eliminating propaganda and
harmful nationalistic elements the state
branch of Shinto was abolished labor
unions were legalized women were allowed
to vote and the suffrage age was lowered
from 25 to 20 harsh economic times
followed as overseas soldiers returned
there was a post-war baby boom that put
more demands on the country's depleted
resources in the following years Japan
drew on their cultural strengths and
consolidated imported values with
Japanese ones Japanese innovation and
invention eventually led to economic
growth which was also attributed to high
education levels good working habits and
a large reservoir of experienced
technicians industrialists and
businessmen this led to the bubble era
of the 1980s when the Japanese economy
prospered during this time many Japanese
scholars and academics proposed theories
about the special qualities of Japan and
Japanese people that contrasted with the
rest of the world often referred to as
Nihon genome or cultural nationalism
these theories were meant to explain the
rapid success of Japan however rather
than thinking of Japanese as having some
inborn special qualities it's helpful to
think about the cultural values and
practices in Japan that bolstered its
success one reason Japan was able to
modernize so quickly is because of its
long tradition of adopting elements of
foreign cultures often referred to as
Ito code or a broken down in a literal
way Ito code OD means good part take but
in a more natural way it means taking
the good parts from foreign cultures the
origin of this traditions
from Japanese religions of Shinto and
Buddhism where Japanese were able to
adopt practices from both religions
without conflict in Shinto deities are
found in aspects of nature such as trees
waterfalls mountains and typhoons Shinto
practices also include the worship of
ancestors
unlike judeo-christian traditions Shinto
does not contain any absolute sense of
values such as the word and rules of God
however they do believe that their
Emperor is descended from the Shinto
gods Izanami and Izanagi and their
daughter
Amaterasu or the goddess of the Sun in
the 6th century Buddhism started to
spread in Japan this was potentially a
religious and political problem because
Buddhism would deny the Emperor his
imperial line at the time Prince toku
who was regent 2m per Suika allegedly
solve this problem by propagating this
metaphor Shinto is the trunk Buddhism is
the branches and Confucianism is the
leaves in this way the religions were
able to peacefully coexist and religious
opposition disappeared to this day
people in Japan often believe in two or
more religions simultaneously here's
some example when I interviewed my
Japanese friends and relatives about
their religious practices most told me
that they did not have a religion
however when I asked more questions I
found out that despite claiming no
religion most of them participated in
Shinto traditions such as going to
shrines on holidays especially Osho got
Zoo or New Year's and buying talismans
or omadi to bring them good favor most
also participated in Buddhist ceremonies
such as at funerals and annual visits to
cemeteries called Oaxaca mighty to honor
the deceased this is very typical in
Japan in fact many Japanese homes
contain a Buddhist altar to honor
deceased relatives or butsudan in
addition to a Shinto altar or tommy
Donna to
Shinto gods we will go into more depth
on religion in another lesson but for
now it's helpful to understand how
Japanese religions help shape Japanese
cultural traditions of ethical duty an
example of otaku durian Japan is their
adaptation of Western technology in 1868
the Tomioka silk factory imported a new
spinning technique from France copying
not only the machine but also the
factory layout desks chairs and
employing French technicians for 40
years
Japan copied and improved upon the
French model until silk became Japan's
number one export in this way ito
Kothari helped Japan modernize rapidly
we can also observe ethical duty in the
way many Japanese houses have both
traditional japanese-style rooms with
tatami mats in addition to western-style
rooms with carpeting another example is
Japanese food throughout history
Japan has imported foreign cuisines such
as Indian curry and Chinese noodles and
adjusted them to suit Japanese palates
today we often think of lamin and curry
lysa
or curry rice as Japanese dishes rather
than Japanese versions of foreign dishes
this is also clearly a trend with
Japanese bakeries and pastry shops as
everything is made to look very
beautiful or very cute if you travel to
Japan you will probably notice many mama
toddy or bikes for mothers with small
children he can ride in the front and/or
the back this was also a Japanese
innovators adapted Western technology to
suit the needs of Japanese people in
this case the center of gravity of the
bikes was adjusted to be lower and less
cumbersome and electric motors were
installed to make riding less burdensome
now these bikes have gained
international attention even being sold
in London and Tanzania even the Japanese
language itself is a prime example of
ito codori lacking a written script
Japan started borrowing characters from
China in the 5th century they took the
meaning of
characters but gave them both Japanese
and Chinese readings that were easy to
pronounce within the constraints of the
Japanese phonetic system originally they
use Chinese characters to represent
sounds so that the word America looks
like this the system was called manual
Ghana however they eventually simplified
the characters into phonetic alphabets
use today hiragana and katakana hiragana
is used for Japanese words while
katakana is used for Western loanwords
during the occupation of Japan after
World War two Japanese started to
incorporate many foreign loan words such
as tabooed table today B television
compute the computer or medical milk
however in modern day Japan the influx
of foreign loan words especially in the
medical field is so high that some are
worried that older Japanese people will
have trouble understanding borrowed
medical terminology such as trauma
trauma oratory the mental treatment
benefits of ethical duty such as
advances in technology and the peaceful
coexistence of different beliefs but as
you might notice there are some possible
consequences as well for example Japan
imported and improved upon many aspects
of Western technology without thinking
about the environmental impacts in
addition since Ito Kaduri is so common
sense in Japan a Japanese person who has
strong absolute beliefs might be viewed
as a little bit strange for example I've
been told that while Western Christians
are okay because they are foreigners
Japanese people who choose to be devout
Christians are thought of is a little
bit weird by other Japanese people you
might find this surprising but actually
it makes sense since Japanese people are
usually raised to be open-minded to
different thoughts and values what are
some takeaways from this lesson first
over history Japan has had many negative
and positive interactions with foreign
cultures for example after Commodore
Perry forced Japan to open for trade or
during the occupation after world war ii
ii upon interaction with foreign
cultures japan is adopted and improved
upon foreign practices foods and
technologies in a way that sits japanese
lifestyle and these technologies often
became popular abroad third modern japan
tends to hold positive attitudes towards
foreign countries especially in the US
and to foreigners in general this is
partially due to their key role in
modernizing japan and their economic
partnerships fourth japan still holds
foreigners to a different standard than
japanese citizens and often do not
expect foreigners to understand japanese
customs this may partially be due to the
spread of Nihon genome this idea that
Japanese culture is somehow unique or
special or simply that many Japanese
people still do not have much experience
traveling abroad or interacting with
foreigners for homework you are highly
encouraged to integrate what you've
learned from this lesson with your own
prior now
experience on the topic this lesson did
not cover many items such as recent
historical events in Japan Japanese
education or Japanese work life in
addition you may have some personal
experiences in Japan
or with Japanese people that you can
reflect on therefore please refer to
both the lesson and your prior knowledge
when answering the following questions
one were you surprised
any of the stereotypes Japanese hold
towards foreigners do you agree with
them why do you think that they've
developed these attitudes and
stereotypes to please describe three
major events in Japanese history where
Japan used ito called OD to achieve a
particular goal 3 does your own culture
have anything similar to ito code OD if
so please explain if not why do you
think this is four would eat a plethora
be considered a positive practice in
your own country why or why not please
write two to three paragraphs in
response to the question that you find
most interesting for the other questions
please write at least one paragraph I
hope you enjoyed this lesson and thanks
so much for watching
master kundo see you in the next lesson

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