Negotiating Identity In Contemporary Japan by Pang

Author:Pang [Pang]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Ethnic Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136178122
Google: KXV7I4cYKd0C
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-10-02T03:40:19+00:00

Culture-acceptance (C)

ABROAD

family life (H)

JAPAN

(f)

school life (S)

(j)

Level of development (D)

CS= f [(Aj.Dj) (Af.Df)] A=C, H, and S

Source: Takahagi 1982: 67

The culture shock scale, advanced by Takahagi (1982) consists of three major elements including culture content (c, h, and s), level of development and the two settings of Japan and foreign country. If a returnee lives by the content (c, h, s) of the foreign country and that of Japan, s/he is highly vulnerable and prone to a culture shock. In other words, the juxtaposition of the two cultures, Japanese and non-Japanese is impossible, ambivalent, contradictory and might cause mental health-disturbances, the so-called ‘conflict within’ (Horoiwa 1987). Certain age groups are especially vulnerable for a difficult re-entry or ‘re-entry shock’ (fukki shokku). According to Minoura (1984: 168) children older than nine most likely experience such re-entry problem. This age is in her theory crucial and therefore has been termed ‘the nine-year-old wall’ (kyuusai no kabe). It is contended that children beyond that age have the capacity to absorb cultural elements of the host society. The ‘consciousness of being a Japanese’ (Nihonjin de aru to iu ishiki) or the Japanese cultural grammar (bunka bunpoo) gradually decreases to the increase of the foreign cultural grammar. In her study she contrasts the Japanese cultural grammar with the American cultural grammar. The major difference between the two systems lies in the point of reference: in the former case the point of reference is the other and in the latter case the self. Given the incompatibility of these two cultures, one can either live by the Japanese cultural grammar or by the American cultural grammar. As the formation takes shape and solidifies in the age range from nine to fifteen, Japanese youngsters, who have lived in those crucial years in the States, are said to be particularly vulnerable to re-entry difficulties.

Apart from the age-linked factors, the duration of an overseas sojourn also has an impact on culture shock occurrence. Those, who sojourned abroad for more than five years are especially susceptible to a return shock (Minoura 1984: 87). Since the overseas experiences are considered a handicap in Japanese society, re-entering in this kind of reasoning implies the process of ‘peeling off the foreign-ness’ (gaikoku hagashi). It has also been called the subtraction model (kezuritorigata) (Horoiwa 1987). As the term already reveals, one has to discard or ‘subtract’ the experiences and ideas acquired overseas.

From the 1970s onwards education of kikokushijo both in terms of content and method has been singled out as the foremost urgent research topic. The main objective of these studies was therapeutic. The main concern was how to dispel the ‘foul-smell-of butter’ (bataakusasai) and to transform these children into Japanese, behaving like a Japanese (nihonjinrashiku). Certain anthropological findings (White 1988) even go further and claim that they have been socially ‘polluted’ by going overseas as they have left the boundary of the Japanese cultural realm and therefore susceptive of exclusion from mainstream Japanese society. White (1988: 106) explains,

When Japanese leave Japan, their membership is suspended.

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