September 26, 2019
I got to Fukuoka by flying from Tokyo, and taking a subway and a train from there to Kurume, the south of Fukuoka, where I lived for long. Every time I climbed up the stairs lifting my heavy trunk, so many overtook me. This was Japan.
It was not that I needed help, I am a man, but if someone supported it from below, I would feel light. Basically, most of Japanese do not help a person who was not related to him to avoid getting into trouble. He fears that people think he is strange and that he is stand out from crowd―from shyness, timidity and embarrassment. That is similar to bully in that Japanese dose not help a victim: if you save him, you might be a victim too. They seemed to serve advantage rather than the goodness and justice prevailing in the world. There is no benefit to say “may I help you?” so it is better to pretend not to see anything.
In all the chaos of the days I traveled in the world, I knew that some people committed a kind of emotional justice―no one can take away from them―to the vulnerable. If someone is treated unfairly, they protect him at the cost of themselves. You might lose your castle that you built over the years. You might lose your job. You might lose your money. Still they fight for their beliefs that they have to do so.
In Japan, there is a lot of pressure to conform what the majority or the influential persons thought; if what is called black is put into what is called white, even if it is not logical, most Japanese who want to stay in a company will assume that is the right thing.
When my company was acquired in 2016, I had a new boss and colleagues, so one in power promoted a new system―a tremendous setback―to consolidate her position. I was completely shocked to find that she started to shift from a digitalized process to a “paper-based” one.
Which is ridiculous, but it had happened. She was the stereotype of the middle-aged and did not know the world, but she knew enough if she left here, no one would hire her. For Japanese companies, more important than experience is youth. This big woman thought she was an ace at doing paper work and was so proud of it. Although the world accelerated digitization, she worked diligently to let “paper-based” process penetrate; believing that doing overtime or on holidays is an excellent example of the good worker.
One day, the big woman gathered the executives and my team member in a room. My intuition told me of conspiracy against me. She shouted at me. “I’ve been working so hard, but you’re talking all kinds of shit about me.” This monster kept shouting and shouting, the executives nodding like they understood, the goddam chickenheads. Almost simultaneously, I realized that my existence had annoyed her because I was an old-timer and had earned the trust from my colleagues, and that this was not where I belonged anymore. “Tomorrow, I’ll give notice,” I said and left the room, deep down I fooled them. The rumor that I was punished as a warning to others flew around.
Pity she does anything she can to build her castle. However I felt sad that everyone behaved as if nothing had happened. Interestingly, most of the eighty employee obeyed her way because they came to learn that it was the right thing. They were always at something.
Japanese live in a narrow circle of acquaintances, not society as a whole. They are willing to take care of insiders who share the same values, however, and ostracize outsiders who try not to assimilate into their world. It had taught me that in Japan it is easier to do the same thing as everyone does. I just wonder what it is good for.
When disasters such as earthquakes occur, Japanese unite and help victims with a kind of virtue or hypocrisy that everyone is doing good things. Either way, it is just that people copy what the other do. It is like a woman likes “ARASHI” because everyone around her likes it. Also, celebrities, to get “likes” on Instagram, post some photos of their visit to the stricken area. The real man never thinks of it that way because there is nothing special. A catastrophe never experienced in the past would reveal the true nature of the Japanese, which they had been protecting them from.
