Japan Chapter 2. The Society and Its Environment
Family crest using plum blossoms (ume), a
sign of beauty and imperviousness to late winter weather
JAPAN IS KNOWN throughout the world for its economic
successes,
yet Japanese society remains an enigma to many outside its
borders.
Those people who stress the nation's uniqueness, including
many
Japanese, often overlook the common human traits that make
crosscultural communication possible and rewarding. Those who
stress
Japan's convergence with the West miss the deeper
differences that
have allowed Japan to chart its own path through the
unknowns of
the postindustrial period.
Geography and climate do not determine social
organization or
values, but they do set parameters for human action.
Leaders of
this island nation historically have exerted close
political
control over their people and have limited foreign
influence to
degrees not possible elsewhere. Mountainous terrain and
wet-rice
agriculture fostered--but did not ensure--attitudes of
cooperation
within the social unit and a sense of separateness from
the
outside.
Extending nearly 3,800 kilometers from northeast to
southwest,
Japan has a generally mild, temperate climate with a rich
variety
of local habitats. This expansiveness resulted in regional
variations in culture and economic development
historically, but
these differences decreased in importance (or were
relegated to
tourist attractions) in the twentieth century. With 77
percent of
the population living in urban areas and a large majority
of farm
families earning most of their income from nonfarm labor,
regional
and rural-urban differences in life-style are minimal. The
large
and stable national population, with low fertility and
mortality
rates, is aging rapidly.
Japanese society underwent great social changes after
1945.
Families became smaller, women increasingly participated
in paid
labor, and urban life replaced the rural community as the
common
environment in which children were raised and human
interaction
took place. The changes brought new problems, such as
industrial
pollution, the entrance examination "hell," and social
anomie. The
government responded with new policies, and ordinary
citizens
utilized traditional customs to give meaning to the
present.
Japanese cities in the late twentieth century are
convenient and
safe. Surface prosperity masks an unequal distribution of
wealth
and discrimination against those perceived to be
"different."
Films, television, nightlife, and comic books
(manga),
sometimes garish and violent, offer an escape from the
pressures of
contemporary life. Categorization of social problems as
medical
syndromes tends to focus attention on personal-problem
solving and
away from societal-level causes, such as poverty, gender
roles, or
the lack of assistance in caring for ill elderly
relatives.
The pace and rhythm of life in Japan should seem
familiar to
Westerners. Yet the Japanese approach them with a
worldview
eclectically derived from a variety of religious and
secular
traditions, emphasizing human relations. Many Japanese are
willing
to delay rewards, to put forth their best efforts for
their teams,
and to avoid open conflict. The outside world is an arena
of
intense competition. Family, neighborhood, and workplace
represent
ever-widening circles of social relations to which
individuals
adjust and through which they grow as human beings.
Japan, with the world's second largest gross national
product
(GNP--see Glossary)
and seventh largest population, played
an
increasingly important part in world affairs. As the
government
embarked on a policy of internationalization, individual
Japanese
creatively combined elements from their own history with
foreign
influences and new inventions as they adapted to the
postindustrial
world.
Data as of January 1994
|