Something Completely Different

Elementary School Children in Uniform

I realize that there are dozens of topics related to traveling that I could write about in this post (ranging from the physical to the metaphysical), but what I found most interesting was the culture that K experiences at home in Japan. K is a native to Japan, so he overlooks aspects of his culture that mystified me at first. To be more specific, I am referring to the scene in which his married lover calls him to a supermarket to help her out of a sticky situation. I was horrified when he entered the security room to discover not only the lover, but her son as well. I thought that everyone would assume that the two were having an affair, because that is what I would have assumed. I was even more perplexed when none of the characters saw the oddity of the situation in the slightest. Why didn’t anyone else think it was weird that a teacher was called to a store to discuss a student’s shoplifting? Didn’t anyone find it odd that the mother called his teacher for help instead of her husband? How was it any of his business?

With a bit of research, I discovered that it is not uncommon in Japan for teachers to intervene in disciplinary actions outside of the classroom. Teachers are, according to a website on Japanese school culture, “particularly concerned about developing the holistic child” and even monitor their students’ “personal hygiene, nutrition, and sleep”. It is the Japanese belief that a whole village should be involved in the raising of a child, a belief that stems from the society’s group-conscious culture. Each Japanese citizen takes it upon himself to teach morals to a misbehaving child. For example, it is customary for each school to have a different uniform, not to promote school pride, but instead for easy identification in case a student is caught misbehaving. In the event that a child decides to skip school, ordinary people will take it upon themselves to notify the school of the infraction. The Japanese take child rearing very seriously and personally, so it wasn’t unusual for a teacher to be called in to punish a child after an incident like shoplifting.

This seems bizarre to me, but it broaches an interesting topic involving cultural differences and the traveler: how bizarre is my culture? Are there aspects of my own life that I accept as normal, but might be construed by a visitor to be peculiar? I could probably list off a hundred things that might seem odd to foreigners, but I feel as if that topic was adequately addressed in A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary. I will, however, say that I think societal differences are my own personal reason for traveling. I find it refreshing to see other cultures, note differences, and consider how an outsider might view my world. I feel as if I am not so much alienated from my own culture as simply curious about the cultures of others. Maybe I’m not as deep as the people we have read about this past semester, but I could just be more content with my life. And that is something I think a lot of people never get. People can spend so much time searching for the elusive “good life” that they forget to spend time appreciating what they already have. As a general rule, I never want to become blasé about my own culture; it’s a lot more fun to look at ordinary things and see the extraordinary than it is to see nothing at all.

Location