speaking of the sheer insanity of certain aspects of Japanese culture…

… and in a more serious note, here goes another major example, with plenty of food for thought.

The issue links up with this one, on whether the Japanese have any consciousness of human rights or the rights of the individual altogether. I even venture to suggest that all too often they only seem to become aware of their human rights defensively — against the non-human other (=foreigner).

It is, once again, the workings of the proverbial Japanese clannishness, exclusionism, and xenophobia in their full splendour, and which account for a great deal of Japan’s infamous recent (and not so recent) history.

Read the full article here — and readers’ comments on Debito’s blog.

For the sake of Japan’s future, foreigners deserve a fair shake
Debito Arudou
The Japan Times, Dec. 6, 2011

These past few columns have addressed fundamentally bad habits in Japanese society that impede positive social change. Last month I talked about public trust being eroded by social conventions that permit (even applaud) the systematic practice of lying in public.

This month, let’s discuss the lack of cultural value invested in “fairness.”… The point is, you are simply less human in Japan without Japanese nationality, and institutional practices back that up.

One reason these practices can be perpetuated is that the Japanese public tacitly (and not so tacitly) acquiesces to them, instead of reflexively helping foreigners fight against them. I believe the root cause is how little cultural value is generally assigned to “fairness.”…

Only an ironclad guarantee of “fairness,” a cornerstone of liberal societies and held in as high regard as “Do unto others . . .” will ensure equal opportunity and essential civil, political and human rights. One has to believe this, and have it promoted constantly in the public arena to raise awareness, until it too becomes an unquestioned given….

That’s simply not the expectation in a society as rigidly hierarchical as Japan’s, hard-wired to see shades of superior and subordinate in just about every possible interaction (down to the linguistics).

Thus anyone who’s not seen as belonging to Japanese society, deserving equality and a fair shake just as a human being, is at an insurmountable disadvantage.

~ by Enigma on December 9, 2011.