Hecter, G. (2011). A geek in Japan: Discovering the land of Manga, Anime, Zen, and the Tea Ceremony. Tokyo: Rutland: Tuttle Publishing
Do (道)
-Many names for Japanese traditional arts include the character Do. Do words express some psychological or religious knowledge.
-The Japanese dictionary contains hundreds of entries with the character Do.
-"The character as a whole in Japan is a whole philosophical concept and a way of life that has been deeply rooted in Japanese thinking for centuries."
Origin of Do
Do originated in China five or six centuries before Christ. Laozi (Lao Tzo) who developed tao and dao the Chinese pronunciation of 'Do'.
-"He wrote about the importance of following a way, a doctrine, a code to unite man and nature, to unite sky and earth. According to Laozi, there is a tao or do that is a sort of universal spirit with which we can come into contact just by following the way."
-Strict systems and mediation have developed from the teachings of Buddhism. The learning system has influenced different aspects of Japanese life and survived to the present day.
The apprenticeship system
Discipline following the tao/do-zen philosophy consisting of three steps:
1- establishing a series of patterns, models, or forms known as kata.
2- repeating the kata for many years
3- Perfecting and searching for beauty in the kata, "joininjg" them in a sort of enlightenment.
-The system of repeating was introduced into some traditional disciplines such as the tea ceremony. It takes many years to master the all of the tea ceremony's kata.
-The method of repetition without thinking in a strict, systematic and perfectionist way has spread throughout into daily routines of the Japanese.
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Soto Uchi
The dichotomy that reveals the level of familiarity and trust a Japanese person has with you. If you belong to the group of family and friends, they will treat you as uchi, and if you don't belong to it they will treat you as soto.
-"In Japanese thinking, there is a big difference between the way you treat your family and circle of friends (uchi) and the way you treat other people (soto)." This is the same across the world where people don't treat people who are close to us the same way we treat those we don't know that well.
-"Becoming part of a group you don't belong to, no matter how much effort you put into it, is almost impossible if they don't accept you."
Degrees of soto and uchi
-"uchi and soto and the differences between them can fade into one another quite a lot. At the first uchi level we find our family unit, followed by families "connected" to us. Then we have friends, followed by our company, and last we have our country. Thus, foreigners in Japan are about as soto as you can get; that's why they say that, no matter how long you live there, you will always be treated as a gaijin. The Japaneses will treat you as soto simply because they unconsciously believe you are some sort of threat to their uchi harmony, and that is one of the reasons Japan is such a closed country."
Integrating into Japan
-"being treated as soto doesn't mean they treat you badly. They will probably be more attentive to you than your western friends. The problem is, you feel as though there is some sort of barrier. This comes through in the use of both verbal and non verbal cues, which clearly denote whether you're entering their uchi or not."
-"They say that making friends with a Japanese is difficult, but if you do, he or she will become a true friend who will never fail you."
Delights of Japanese Cuisine
-"Around the world, sushi is Japan's most famous dish. But, as with all things 'typical', people tend to think that's the only thing Japanese eat."
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Sake
"When you arrive in Japan, you realize that sake means 'alcoholic drink' in general. Thus, if you drink a beer, you are drinking sake; if you drink whiskey, you are drinking sake; and if you drink rum, you are drinking sake."
-There's more than one kind of sake in Japan.There are hundreds of varieties of nihonshu, shochu and other drinks in a tradition that go back thousands of years. If you're a tourist and want to make an impression when you go to a restaurant instead of ordering sake, you should order nihonshu or shochu.
-"Over time warming liquor has become customary, and there are specific words to indicate the temperature you prefer."
-Atsukan= 50 degrees celcius
-Narukan= 40 degrees celcius
-Hiya= don't want it warm
-"Nihonshu is used in shinto purification rituals. It is considered the drink of the gods, and even children drink it in religious rituals and in special celebrations."
Where to next:
-I think we need to find some methodology - an overarching technique to apply theories from the project. E.g. we could do Semiotics(we would have to choose a topic within semiotics) but not sure how we would use that, I think ethnography is one (field research -interviews or surveys) so we could use that. Let me know what methodology. Also, are you still thinking of interviewing, if so what kinds of questions?
A map of cultural expectations and stereotypes.
https://cornishkylie.com/2014/10/11/an-expat-state-of-mind/
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