HISTORY (from chapter 1)

No history of individualism instead Confucianism: family, position in family, eventually government with emperor as ultimate family figure Started Matrilinial Yamato Sun line: emphasized family or simulated family connections with divine right (from Amaterasu) Heian Era with Fujiwara family classical period; dominance from family solidarity Samurai alternate between banding together and warring great cultural moment including Gempei War Ieyasu Tokugawa unifying shogun, closes Japan to the West, rigid class system, ie (ee-eh): three-generation property-owning household, law only recognizes families and disempowers individuals

Nevertheless, the reality of the generations is contentious when it comes to Mariko resentful of her lazy mother, drunk father, and social climbing brother, who refuses to take care of the parents
Rebel samurai overthrow him and bring in emperor Meiji public education, supposedly abolishing class, bring ie into civil code, government ascends to high social control through familial metaphor Americans enter after WWII and try to top-down reform to focus on the individual (constitution that removes ie, children inherit equally, marry as they like, equal rights for women) this is only partially successful

TIDBITS
2

Bullying epidemic as a result of children not smart enough to enter private school having no
future

Effort culture
Seeming success of the Occupation Japanese blamed the war on their leaders, not themselves, and detached from the previous ideas/guilt/responsibility, and they thought democracy had helped defeat them, and that it therefore must be better Perhaps the Occupation never entirely made Japan democratic (alternately, Japan may have been partially democratic all along) 3

Work:
Japanese no longer want three-k jobs (ks start the Japanese words): dirty, dangerous, and hard become understaffed because theyre unwilling to hire foreigners (its also illegal, but both of these rules come from the same place xenophobia/nationalism on the part of govt and business owners) Neither more business, which causes pressure and stress, nor a lull, which causes boredom and claustrophobia, are any good (5) Japanese get the option of ~2 weeks of paid vacation a year, but dont want to take them in case they will produce or seem to produce less work overall; also dont like to be seen as dispensable

Businesses dont directly compete with each other the government awards the contract before the official appearance-conscious bidding even begins, and small companies negotiate with each other about whose turn it is to go up for a job 5: Japanese farmers campaign against exported foreign produce (oranges, beef), and despite the fact that American goods are cheaper, leaner, and use fewer pesticides, the Japanese remain loyal to Japan Those who travel internationally usually stay in a huge Japanese group in foreign lands also valuable to travel in Japan, however Baseball in the country vs. in the US more concentration, training, and dedication where players play for honor even if they are injured. Stands for the spirit of youth, which is why people watch high school championships in particular.

yakuza:
Despite being smaller-sized than it used to be, Japanese gangs/mobsters still maintain high incomes (from illegal activities like drugs, gangling, prostitution, protection, extortion) and tight control over the business world During WWII, the police allied with them to put down the Communists; since then the police have looked the other way when it comes to their activities (yet this agreement allows them to keep tabs, which is better than in the US system) Talk (and social lore) > walk all they have to do is show up and they get their way/deter other criminals (shopkeepers pay the yakuza to help them against those the police are to weak to defeat. I.e. yakuza > other criminals > police; police are quite ineffective). This makes them difficult to prosecute. Bosses claim the gangs help the weak against the strong. Hypothesis that they are replacing lawyers in terms of settling domestic and property disputes through case payments Still practice violence against one another Very conservative when it comes to gender roles

FEMINISM (chapter 2)**

Mostly superficial, nominal reforms higher college graduation rates (but these are for junior/2year college), jobs in the business world are as non-career office ladies who wipe up and serve tea, women in Parliament only token following 1989 (The Year of the Woman, when a socialist woman rallied and took the house, then a woman was appointed head of the opposition cabinet in retaliation) Home still > work Marriage, although no longer arranged, is duty > love and common answers to why the marriage occurred are because I liked him, because I believed he would make me happy, and because he fulfilled my income and education requirements Lots of women just ignore their husbands (they are basically single parents hiring help, even if you are rich enough, is embarrassing because it signifies that you cant do it yourself/are neglectful; hiring foreigners is also frowned upon; teens are too busy with entrance exams to babysit, youd have to clean up after them, something terrible might happen that you could never live down, theres no need, since you arent going out socially) Women think they like life at home/are satisfied with the squo: Men are married to their jobs (they carry a burden) and only get to do one thing, whereas women have more social contacts and therefore get to have more experiences, think American women try to do too much and then become unhappy just because theyre trying to fulfill an abstract goal/prove a principle

(and the Japanese dont need American sympathy?) Japanese women can do motherhood, work, hobbies, and community service in different combinations (but they are restricted by time work before and after kids, and only when theres economic boom with immigration resistance), husbands turn their paychecks over to women, who give them back allowances (although still, without the man, there would be no money to give any which way) [from chapter 3: it is pretty common for these men to take after-work before-home mistresses, though] However, theyre making up excuses to be satisfied because of the Japanese idea that you shouldnt complain, and, probably, some of the deep rooted family unit/ie stuff Other obstacles to feminism: happening mostly at universities, but women werent represented there during the protest time (Vietnam War), they were taught to be non-confrontational, no sympathetic press coverage from women (none in media) or otherwise, no head figures Pink-helmet women try to legalize birth control Those women who do succeed in work usually cant simultaneously succeed at home they have stay-at-home husbands, hired help, mothers-in-law (usually the mother lives with the son) Work their way up through patience, doing a good job, and not complaining (although they are against traditional roles/status quo, they do things about it instead of being vocal) including serving tea, classic activity signaling subordinate status Top successful women cannot reach the same level as top successful men or, same level, but a more crucial/important/challenging job (symbolize that women still arent trusted/are mostly a face). One possible reason is because they go home earlier in the night because they arent allowed to stay longer or because they have to watch the kids; these prevents them from building more valuable businesses connections (a lot of these are also made over drinking, and they dont usually do this)

** book published 1995

DRINKING (chapter 3)
Drinking is necessary to bond, share honestly, and get ahead in Japanese culture Public intoxication is common/even, along with being a heavy drinker, a source of pride They think the US is much worse about it; suspect this lowers productivity, but per capita figures are moving closer (as of 95) and Japan is expected to eclipse the US Hard to tell for certain Japanese underreport/minimize social problems, define alcoholism only as physical dependency and include children in babies in the per capita denominator, and are taken only by hospitals (where Japanese will only go if in serious trouble) Asians are often flushers, meaning they drink little per capita being as high as it is means the top portion of drinkers drink A LOT Maybe theres no ! subways instead of cars when drunk, go to work anyway (lowest absentee rate)

RELIGION (chapter 4)
[anecdote] Buddhist festival of the dead to bring souls who have past back to enjoy the summer (August; but they might be summoned early by burning incense and building an alter in July)

Many Japanese are actually atheists and neither loyal to Buddhism nor their local religions (eg Shinto) can combine Prayers are just requests without procedure Making wishes at shrines can never hurt, even though Mariko isnt sure they will help just afraid not doing it will harm her/the family/their health superstitious (fear about holidays and stuff) Indegenious folk beliefs most are born into: Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism Some more structured religions, like Rissho Kose Kai and Soka Gakkai (followers get enlightenment simply by repeating a chant) they used to be for the underprivileged, as an organized alt to Communism, and the religions still attract these people, although theyre now heavily powerful in business [Apparently the Buddists run cram schools to fund their temples. Seems decidedly un-Zen] Souls occupy bodies, become spirits for < 50 years if properly preserved by family, then become gods Rituals were soothing even without meaning

EDUCATION (chapter 5)
Strengths: Illiteracy < 1%, more high school graduates, higher performance on math and science examinations, arent required to spend as much Why?: Supportive two-parent homes with parents who have graduated (because education was ingrained through multiple generations), more days of school (+60/year = +2 years from elementary through high school), mass standardization which raises everyone to some baseline, but few above (qualified, but not extraordinary) Weaknesses: not creative, fewer Nobel Prizes

Public Elementary:
WWII occupation remembered as terrible in tragic stories about purposefully starving the zoos elephants so they wont die in a bombingt and about scarcity (only one more) during the war period + a father leaving and never coming back The students are mostly untouched by these stories (heard it before/trying just to learn to read Chinese kanji), but can answer semi-detailed questions about metaphor and the characters emotions things we would view as critical thinking here, and at an early level At the same time, the Japanese do not take responsibility for the Chinese ethnic cleansing attempt at Nanking, which many compare to the Holocaust (which they partially backed during WWII?) and still honor those the rest of us consider war criminals They see themselves exclusively as victims when it comes to Hiroshima/Nagasaki as well (and the concentration camps? This is not explicitly addressed) Teacher teaches everything, including gym and a current events discussion conducted over lunch Makes $20,000 more than her American counterpart Blessings and cooperation over cleaning at lunch HEAVY involvement of parents: provide support at home, participate in PTAs and school boards the Americans thought would be good to implement (ultimately the education reverted to being totally standardized, however), quizzing and discussion in the home Morals is an exercise in working together in a cooperative spirit students pick dodgeball teams without any guidelines. Four team captains emerge by unspoken agreement, but then instead of merely picking strong players one by one until they are picking among weak players, they decide they need to split the strong players exactly fairly. But who is strong? They could self-nominate, vote, recommend individually but it was all quite time consuming, so they might randomize, but they knew no basic rules for randomization

There are also cram schools for kindergarteners, where they practice cutting, placing stickers within the lines, and some logic questions about topics like dissolving salt into different sided glasses of water, and people of different sizes displacing different amounts of water when entering the bathtub. Some of the harder exams feature beading or knotting rubber-bands in certain color patterns called out by examiners, tearing along dotted lines with their hands, or having their mother-daughter relationship scrutinized. The goal is not literacy (children do not have to know how to read to enter private elementary), but close following of the instructions.

Cram School [for the jr high aged]:

Sterile, somewhat life-less aesthetic appearance Teachers are more colloquial and better paid One teacher says his cram school does not push students, like the gang says they are not the one that does bad things in America we might refuse to acknowledge the whole problem, whereas in Japan everyone just believes themselves to be the exception Japanese recognize the stress culture surrounding cram schools, but feel negligent if they do not try their best to give their children good futures Its impossible to get into good high schools without going to cram school only 1 student in 10 years was admitted on one particular elite school without attending cram, and that was because his mother was the cram school Sometimes possible to get into feeder schools by studying earlier on BUA-style Waseda and Gakushuin, where pre-college exams still have to be taken, but are much easier and there is more margin for error

Private High school:

Contradicts the rosy-tinted egalitarian meritocracy idea pay more, get better prepared for the exams, get farther in life Increasingly narrow specialization, and in hierarchical tiers: smart students do general studies, which lead to politics or law; lesser students to commerce, with more of an accounting focus, and eventually study commerce, education, or social science (versus US, which is focused on thinking and liberal arts) One extracurricular per person Lecture style focused around the teacher as a central figure delivering facts (Japanese graduate without knowing how to discuss or be original) to students who all look the same Study exclusively what is on the exam high schoolers learn English, but only the grammatical structures for the test. Very few are at all conversant, and the texts read are dry and not meant to be absorbed for content at all. They also dont pay attention to interesting tangents about Hitler or the Holocaust, because they will not be covered on entrance examinations. No explanations when covering American history of the principles of freedom and democracy, only objective military history and dispassionate economic reasoning. Teachers are not supposed to present interpretations, evaluations, or value judgments, even on Gandhi or Stalin. School refusal syndrome has beset overstressed kids, and, Bumiller thinks, is another example of a tightly-run system crumbling at the fringes Once in college, what you do there is not important around half do not even attend class, they are so burnt out

POLITICS (chapters 5, 7)
Political leaders not very outspoken aversion to speaking about important things in public; prime ministers become seen as no energy

Liberal Democrats in power at the time not corrupt by our standards, but favor trading when it comes to business and government People remain loyal because theyre the party under which Japan became an economic superpower and raise their standard of living (low crime, high literacy) However, these SoL upgrades dont really spill over to ordinary people Socialist and Communist parties are alternatives, but Socialists organize only lackluster efforts also City council ward masquerades as an open discussion but features route speeches and disingenuously detailed planning (everyone knows what everyone will say ahead of time, and responds robotically and in an overly politically correct way) In the book, a woman brings up the need for more part-time job advancement, and a resource for women returning to work from childbirth that no one knows about everyone responds by repeating the problem, talking around the issue, and not doing anything. The council members claim it is for clarification. Most council members wield very little power and are just playing at politics they take ultimate direction from the city of Tokyo and the officals there Regular residents rarely, if ever, attend these unproductive meetings. Later, a budget hearing turns out to have nothing to do with the budget and everything to do with allocating money to citizens absurd (and disconnected from any understanding of how politics works) projects, which people claim will be looked into, but never will be