Things About Japan: Individualism

AKA: Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You...

You may have gleaned it from my entries or from your own past learning, but Japan is very much a collective culture. A great example of this is seen from a set of idioms. In America, we say:

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

If a wheel didn't squeak, we wouldn't think to grease it. In short, don't be afraid to speak out.
In Japan, however, it's this:

"The nail that sticks up will be hammered down."

A nail that sticks up out of the woodwork is a problem. If you stick out, you will be forcibly put back into place.  

I knew of these differences before I came and thought I was set - I knew that I should be careful to not appear proud or full of myself. What I didn't think of, however, was what this would mean for my classes.  Students are ridiculously unwilling to volunteer, for example. In elementary school, games that require choosing a side ("I like ~" vs. "I don't like ~," for example) usually involve students switching sides at least once, having originally gone with their opinion and then amended to fit better with the majority of their friends. Still, the worst experience I had with this, by far, was with one of my higher-level 3rd years (9th graders) last year.

Megumi was one of my speech contest girls - she lived in the States for 5 years (from age of 5 to 10), and her grasp on English is amazingly strong. As a 9th grader, she was testing in at a college level of English. Her accent was American and flawless. She was more than fluent and was striving to push her limits even further. Yet, in class, if Megumi was called upon to answer a question, she would answer (1) only after much protesting ["Me? Why me?"] and (2) with a very strong, Japanese accent ["Ai see za TEMpuru ovaa zeeaaa" instead of "I see the temple over there"]. Why? To keep from sticking out. Everyone knew that Megumi lived in the States for a long time, but so long as she kept up the act that she was just another 9th grader being forced to take English, it didn't matter.

While I consider these examples to be obvious problems, collectivism definitely has advantages over individualism. Japan is much cleaner than America, though there are fewer trash cans to be found - this is in large part, I feel, because there is greater respect for public property in a system that encourages one to think about others over one's own convenience. In classes, students rarely lie about having completed a goal/activity, even when a reward is involved, because betraying the group in order to further one's individual goals isn't worth it. Theft rarely seems to be a problem here, both for individuals and for stores. And these are only a few examples of how the collective attitude "wins" over its counterpart.

All and all, collectivism is an interesting study for a girl who was taught, both by family and society, the values of "standing on her own two feet."