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Stereotypes ’R’ Us

By Katherine Pitts

TOKYO —

Expats in Tokyo seem to believe that Japanese culture has few redeeming qualities. Not only are the men sexist and the women moronic, even their fellow expats aren’t worth talking to. But if all these stereotypes are true, why are we here? I mean, we put up with a lot to live in this culture. Is Japan really such a terrible place?

All people believe in stereotypes to some degree or other, because they conveniently reduce situations and people to their most basic components. This makes it easier not to think. The problem starts when we stop questioning these stereotypes and their connection with actual situations. That’s why I think it’s time to re-examine some of the usual complaints about Japan.

Perhaps the most pervasive cliché is that Japan is a sexist country, especially in the workplace. As a Western woman, I definitely deal with sexism and xenophobia at my job. Do I deal with it more in Japan than in any other country? To be honest, I don’t know. Yes, I have had Japanese co-workers ignore my opinion because I am Western. But to be fair, Japanese people ignore the opinions of anyone who is not in a senior position. Remember, most Japanese aren’t allowed to have opinions until they are 50 years old.

Actually, by far the worst “professional dis” I have ever received was by a prominent foreign women’s professional group in Tokyo. Go figure.

So, do I personally find Japanese men sexist? Well, yes, but I can think of many sexist men in my home country, and in some parts of the world women are burned alive for receiving an education. This is not to dismiss the need for social change in Japan, but merely to suggest that we would be better off maintaining some perspective.

Then there is the charge that Japanese women are materialistic imbeciles salivating at the latest brand-name designs. While the seeming mindlessness of young Japanese women is understandably disturbing, let us Americans remember that we are the culture that made Paris Hilton a celebrity. What was that about glass houses?

Expats have their stereotypes about Japanese people, and Japanese people in turn have their stereotypes about Westerners. The most appropriate analogy I can think of is the “talking dog” phenomenon. If you came upon an English-speaking dog in the street, you wouldn’t admire its eloquence, you’d simply think, “Wow! It’s a talking dog!” Likewise, many Japanese people feel a similar sense of wonder when they see a Caucasian person speaking Japanese or attempting to perform any daily life function. Thus, often well-intentioned Japanese people will ask obnoxious and patronizing questions like, “Can you eat sushi?” or “Can you use chopsticks?”

While these and other questions could make the Guinness Book of Asinine Comments, we should be more generous. In this culture, we are talking dogs — we get to be superstars for learning simple vocabulary words. This, obviously, can also be frustrating, but there is nothing we can do about it. Caucasian people in Japan feel like they are the only ones singled out, but I can say with authority that there are significant numbers of Chinese and Koreans who are almost completely unintelligible in Japanese as a second language. So, in reality, many Japanese people really are impressed that Johnny Blue-Eyes can order water by himself.

Finally, we come to everyone’s favorite complaint: Charisma Man. He’s the man we all love to hate. The loser who comes to Japan and discovers how to finally meet women. Does it help that the women here are perhaps less aware of Western standards of attractiveness? Probably. Does the language barrier help stifle the offensive offal usually spewing from Charisma Man’s mouth, thus making him tolerable to non-native English speakers? Most likely.

I can’t help but wonder, though, why we care if Charisma Man is finally getting laid? Regardless of how much we like to speculate, his sex life is absolutely none of our business.

Doesn’t all this fretting and fussing really indicate an inferiority complex on our part? I mean, if we were truly satisfied with our own lives, would we really feel the need to focus on the lives of others so much? Do these things really bother us, or is it just that we are overseas, away from familiar social networks, with a lot of free time to whine? Often, the more we adamantly embrace these stereotypes, the more personally miserable we become—as if we were voluntarily shutting ourselves into an ideological prison. We should all keep in mind that, if things truly bother us, we can go home anytime we like.

Katherine Pitts is an English teacher currently living in Kanagawa. This commentary originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (http://www.metropolis.co.jp).

Latest 15 of 65 Total Comments Show All

  • GW at 02:11 PM JST - 17th June

    motytrah

    Scotch is pretty damn cheap here, no need to worry about paycuts

  • frontandcentre at 06:37 PM JST - 17th June

    bottchef - don't worry, this is a great place to live, especially if you are happily married and able to make a decent living.

    Most of the people you hear bitching are those who realise that they are stuck in a dead end job, or are attention-seeking "writer-cartoonist-cultural observer" types (a.k.a. an English teacher trying to persuade him / herself that he / she has more purpose in life than simply teaching housewives basic phrases) or those who are simply unable to hold down an adult relationship.

    The rest of us just enjoy the place, grumble occasionally with our friends and get on with business, life and love...

  • theworldofm at 07:21 PM JST - 17th June

    Reading this post reminds me of something that I have always used to describe Japan. It is a land of extremes. Yes stereotypes, but on the extreme poles. usually a country would have one type of stereotypes, and for the benefit of not getting bombarded for a silly comment, I shall leave out the typing of these stereotypes since they are usually derogatory.

    A land of extremes, Japan is where you would find the most cringe-worthy people walking among the most polite people in the world. You'd also find extremely stupid materialistic girls who shop in the same places are practical smart women. It is a land of neon signs, but full of tradition spanning centuries, even millenia. Then you have the image of a hip, electronic world, but also has been known for the record breaking amount of citizens celebrating their centenary.

    Schizo? Hypocritic? No true self image? perhaps.

    I love Japan for what it is, and I prefer to call it a Land of (cool) extremes

  • efftta at 08:45 PM JST - 17th June

    Reading this post reminds me of something that I have always used to describe Japan. It is a land of extremes.

    Absolutely agree with you. After living here for a month or so, I started calling it the Land of Contradictions - for exactly the same reasons you've listed.

  • GW at 07:27 AM JST - 18th June

    F&C

    I am pretty much in agreement with yr above comment & when on JT we tend to like to let off steam so here is where a lot of us rant a little, ok sometimes a lot ha ha. But hey JT cherry picks the kyodo "news bites" & with usual poorly written commentaires what else can we do except oblige them & give them the hits they desire!

  • Spider at 09:33 PM JST - 18th June

    To the author of the original piece:

    Please stop refering to non-Japanese as 'Caucasian people' or 'Johnny Blue-Eyes' you silly American person! Not every non-Japanese is white.

  • chardk1 at 01:44 PM JST - 19th June

    Perhaps the most pervasive cliché is that Japan is a sexist country, especially in the workplace. As a Western woman, I definitely deal with sexism and xenophobia at my job. Do I deal with it more in Japan than in any other country? To be honest, I don’t know. Yes, I have had Japanese co-workers ignore my opinion because I am Western. But to be fair, Japanese people ignore the opinions of anyone who is not in a senior position. Remember, most Japanese aren’t allowed to have opinions until

    http://career.jp.msn.com/article2/kakutoku/001_1.htm

    Average earnings for Japanese women who work full time remain constant from age 25-39 and drop after age 40, significantly after age 50. Their male counterparts on the other hand can expect a consistent increase in earning power from age 20 to 54, peaking between ages 50-54. By middle age, men working full time make almost three times as much as women working full time.

    Here is data from research in Japan showing even though there are more women than men attending university, 97% of Diet members, 92% of lawyers, 90% of all corporate managers and 85% of doctors are men:

    http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/women2004/statistics/s01.html

    If sexism is just a stupid cliche in Japan, how do you explain these statistics? Oh, but you have ANECDOTAL evidence as a foreigner that you don't feel that disrespected! Well, that certainly trumps everything else.

  • PrinceskaNo1 at 10:41 PM JST - 19th June

    The whole article is one big cliche

  • VoXman at 12:28 AM JST - 20th June

    Does it help that the women here are perhaps less aware of Western standards of attractiveness? "Talk about some offal. Charisma Man exists to be sure, but so doesn`t Chip-On-Her-Shoulder Western Woman who sees herself outdone by the more attractive/enjoyable Japanese women. This must be the Pitts for all you high-and-mighty Western women."

    Out -frickin standing comment......You are my hero Pathat. It never occurs to these western femaliod types that some men find these Japanese women far more attractive than them. And why does Pitss think this way? Because deep inside, all western women think they are the highest evolution of womanhood, and all others, particularly Asian women are beneath them. Some have even had the gall the say that Japanese women marry westerners for a Visa?!? Like they are ecaping crushing poverty. Talk about sterotyping............

  • KitsuneYoukai at 03:25 AM JST - 20th June

    VoXman...I have heard such stereotypical comments like the "visa" thing but that is something stemming fromt he past and particularily not Japanese but other Asian women. Why? because it is a true statement relative to past experiences. I knwo a few myself through my firends, basically, their mothers did just that. From Chinese to Vietnamise to Korean to Taiwanise. Stereotypes have some truth. And the whole Asian women and shopping weill that too. I don't think I've ever met an Asian woman who doesn't go crazy over a sale and the way I saw them in Shibuya, well I rest my case. However, since some westerners probably do not have too much experience with knowing many Asians and the ones they meet are like this then that's why they generalize. I personally do not like to generalize but I do acknowledge that stereotypical type comments have some truth. Call it bad or not, it is what it is. They have some of these qualities but they also have a lot of splendid qualities.

  • seimei at 02:18 PM JST - 20th June

    Fantastic article.

    Chalked up my 31st year in Japan this year and in that time Japan has changed a lot. We have romaji signs on railway stations, western toilets, macdonalds.

    One thing that most "visitors" forget is that this is Japan. No it's not another American state or a small country in Europe, it's Japan. Therefore we can all fret as much as we like about what Japanese people think of the visitors and what the visitors think of the locals, but it really doesn't matter.

    What does matter is some basic human interactions like "equal before the law" and "kindness to others" etc and there have been some landmark events in recent years that aim to prove that yes, we are all equal before the law.

    We all seem to go out of our way to point out the differences. Yes there are differences. Differences in education, politics, religion, upbringing, economy, values etc. Most of the time, for the person new to Japan, these are fun to explore. These are the excitement and the adventure that makes coming to Japan, a seemingly closed society, very interesting indeed.

    As Katherine points out, guys are able to meet girls seemingly more easily and I know several foreign women who are completely idolized by their Japanese men. Not a bad thing at all.

    Sure, every time I go into a hotel it's "good morning" not "ohayougozaimasu" but hey, do I care? No. Either is fine. My friends mothers fret that I won't like something particularly Japanese like "uni" or "umeboshi", but it doesn't bother me. It's kind of cute.

    Katherine points out issues within the workplace and yes I can see how this can happen. Mostly this can be solved with patience, hard work and good results. Once the CEO invites you out for dinner because of your outstanding performance, these issues normally fade away.

    I'm not saying that it's all easy going and fun fun fun. Like any country there are things that will get on your nerves, but in the end, the very things that make this country different are the things that make it interesting.

    Enjoy!

  • Damax6 at 08:51 AM JST - 21st June

    kudos to seimei, ive been here 20yrs, and has been through volumes, BUT, i love it here, its my home now, though i pissed off time to time, i still love and enjoy my time here. Too many grumpy gaijins wanna change Japan to suit them. Grow up or if you dont like it ....LEAVE!!!

  • Himajin at 01:17 PM JST - 22nd June

    Average earnings for Japanese women who work full time remain constant from age 25-39 and drop after age 40, significantly after age 50. Their male counterparts on the other hand can expect a consistent increase in earning power from age 20 to 54, peaking between ages 50-54. By middle age, men working full time make almost three times as much as women working full time.

    Here is data from research in Japan showing even though there are more women than men attending university, 97% of Diet members, 92% of lawyers, 90% of all corporate managers and 85% of doctors are men

    You leave out the the equation free will and choice. What are these women doing with their college educations? My son's med school class is about half women, let's see where they are in 20 years.

    No co-ed university in the US will refuse admission on the basis of sex. If you can make the grade you can get in. Why are there not more female engineers? Women in the sciences? They don't choose those fields. So even in a less sexist society women make similar choices. Can you say for sure it's absolutely sexism that is "keeping women out" of politics etc??

  • Blue_Tiger at 11:52 PM JST - 22nd June

    I've actually found Japan, in many respects, to be no different than anywhere else I've been in the world, with regards to her people. Yes, some of the men here are sexist, and some women pretty stupid.....but name a country where such ISN'T the case.....

  • an531 at 04:08 AM JST - 23rd June

    When I first arrived in Tokyo, at the beginning of an 8 year stay, I had a date that same evening with some white guy who asked me out when he saw me standing in the lobby of the Kimi Ryokan. I had a marriage proposal from a handsome and well-educated Australian a couple of months later, and a member of the French mafia working with the Yakuza tried to recruit me into porn movies after I ran into him at the Yurakucho tourist information center.

    I don't consider myself "hot" - in fact, I've got a pretty big inferiority complex, and as a female I'm larger on the average than most American women, so most of the time I felt like the incredible hulk in Japan. Maybe it's my double d's that were attracting all the attention - I don't know.

    I've run into plenty of "charisma men". I could have cared less if they were dating or not, but a lot of them would tend to get into my business by parading their date in front of me as if to say "Ha ha! I'm getting some (finally?) and you're not." These imbeciles are seen all over Asia. Some of them are dead ringers for John Mark Carr, with some pretty creepy baggage in addtion to not knowing how to dress (e.g. waistbands pulled up around their nipples.) And I'd see these guys dating on occasion some very attractive local women, and wonder just what the hell the women were thinking. The charisma dudes seem to have a complex about who they go out with - usually only a razor thin arm-charm will do, and some of these guys were noticeably gay and using the girl as a "beard".

    If the truth be told, it was pretty easy for me to find a guy in that country. What I found annoying was the attitude of some of these charisma losers who seemed to want to make getting a date some sort of competition. Luckily, there were more than a couple of "normal" guys that I worked with who had settled down with the local women who did not engage in this adolescent behavior. The other guys at work seemed to be keeping tabs on my social life while at the same time saying how much they despised "ugly western women". Talk about bruised male egos!

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