Hadataru to Najimu- "Hedataru means 'to separate one thing from another, to set them apart,'... a relationship between two persons without hedatari means they are close. On the other hand, najimu means 'to become attached to, become familiar with, or used to'" (pg 109). Distance has a huge role in Japanese relationships; the book talks about how samurai would sit near their lord, but at 90cm away from their shadow, more than a swords distance away. When the lord felt comfortable enough with the samurai, they could say come closer, signifying the strengthened relationship between the two and the samurai would move closer. When people meet they start off as acquaintances and develop Najimu as that develops. I would say this is pretty similar to American culture where we have people we just met, but as we hang out with them and experience them more they become friends and move closer in the circle. The big difference I see between American culture and Japanese culture is that 1, we don't hold a distance away as much as they might, or the significance of distance isn't as prominent. The second thing is the book talked about how when a new member joins the group, they remain silent or quiet until they are accepted as Najimu, where as in America, I feel like we get to be friends by speaking up more and participating in conversation and the activity at hand.
Shudan Ishiki- Or Japanese group conscience is really a recurring topic in these vocabulary/topics. "In Japanese society, people are primarily group-oriented and give more priority to group harmony than to individuals" (pg 195). We've seen this come up several times in topics like Kenkyo or Aimai, these efforts of the Japanese people to not stand out from one another, to be one group, is really a big deal to them. I would say that any group of people, for the most part, generally likes to be a part of the group and will do things in order to maintain those friendships, but, in America especially, people I think will generally speak their mind about something, but in Japan, they are ambiguous, they keep to their group because the group is everything.
The Do spirit- "Many Japanese expressions contain the kanji do, and these words reflect a wide range of meanings, from the mundane to the profound" (pg 71). The spirit of Do finds its way into many aspects of the Japanese culture, we saw it before with the samurai and the Bushido way of life. It finds its way into other aspects as well and seems to encompass a vast array of meaning. The origins of Do found their way through Buddhist culture, in temples monks practiced forms repeatedly until mastery of everyday chores or tasks. This eventually spread out from their as the teachings became wider and more used by the common person. Eventually, this mindset stuck that in everyday tasks, you should go above and beyond the call of duty. To give an American phrase, you should give 110% in everything, and that's what the Japanese did, for a very long time. But, as the book points out, "... the spiritual and aesthetic values of Japanese culture, which are reflected in the spirit of do, are rapidly being lost, and nowadays even the kata are disappearing, with nothing being created to replace them" (pg 78).
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