Essay by Saya

[Mr.Jason]

Lifestyle of the Japanese by Saya

Read at:
http://hanami.ath.cx/lifestyleofjapanese.html
Lifestyle of Japanese
Preface
What do you imagine when you think of Japanese people? There was a stereo
type image once, such as, Fuji-yama , Geisya , Harakiri, etc.. The people
from another countries surprised some of Japanese; because they still
believed that Japanese have still Ninja (Japanese Spy) or Samurai.

Until couple hundred years ago, Japan didnêt have diplomacy with other than
a few countries; China, Korea, and Netherlands. However, after World War II,
there are so many international business, or cultural exchanges in all over
Japan with many people from another nations. Besides, there are many
Japanese go abroad for business or studying. In this rapid changing, it
seems many people are interested in Japanese Culture, Life style, Food,
History, etcÄ

Today, Jason who is good friend of mine gave me an opportunity to write
about my country, and he was interested in Japanese Life style, I will
introduce our life style. Beforehand I want to mention about one thing. I
will show some of Japanese Life styel in my note, but as you know, this is
not common for all Japanese. I will try to show you most popular style of
our living and its social problem. I hope you will enjoy this page, and I
really appreciate for Jason's kindness for giving me this wonderful
opportunity.

[Marshall Price]

Post by Mr.Jason
What do you imagine when you think of Japanese people?

I have quite a collection of books about Japan, especially older, used
ones. Gradually, as I became familiar with them, I acquired two
contradictory attitudes; but it took awhile before I realized what was
going on.

The writers of these books, I believe, tend to organize their thoughts
around themes, and those themes tend to be either favorable or
unfavorable towards Japan - that is, they tend to be judgmental of the
Japanese and their culture, and from obviously Western perspectives. In
most cases, I don't think it's motivated by any intrinsic prejudice,
just by the desire to have a core around which to collect opinions.

(Incidentally, I found Western condemnation of public nudity in Japan to
be disgusting, and the fact that the Japanese authorities sided with the
blue-noses a terrible mistake. I'm sure it's not licentiousness or
prurient interest on my part; it's prudishness and narrow-mindedness on
theirs. But I'm a bit of a curmudgeon, a Miniver Cheevey. I wish I
could have adventured with those nineteenth-century free-thinking
explorers who saw Japan through clear eyes, unclouded by Victorian
missionary prejudice or xenophobic notions of Occidental supremacy.)

I found myself forming impressions of Japan as a marvelous heaven on
Earth, and of the Japanese as perfect angels, while at the same time
getting quite upset at the horrible exceptions to the rule: bullying in
schools, management practices that failed to yield success and
happiness, neighborhoods that weren't perfectly delightful, the
horrifyingly dreadful yakuza, and so on.

To sum up, all I can say for sure is that my imagination, fueled by lots
of contradictory nonsense, is wildly imaginative, but utterly
unreliable. Great for manga; lousy for understanding!