Japanese people....aah, what a broad topic to write about. I could say so much about my impressions of Japanese people, but I decided to start with this photograph of Japanese women cleaning the streets. They were sweeping up leaves and collecting them in bags as other people were pruning the gardens which surround this area. I included this photo, which I took recently when I visited Osaka castle because ever since the first time I came to Japan, I noticed how incredibly CLEAN things are here. Coming from the 4th largest city in the United States, I am quite used to seeing clutter and mess around the city. In all honesty, I was blown away by how clean the subway stations are here and the streets in general. In fact, the first time I came to Japan I was in a station in Nagoya and saw an old man meticulously cleaning the stairs with a hand-held vacuum cleaner which was strapped to his back. I was totally in awe because the stairs weren't even dirty! I simply couldn't believe the dedication to cleanliness here. In all honesty, this was one of the reasons I decided to return to Japan. I am not saying that this is always the case; in fact, recently when I was in Tokyo I discovered an area in Shinjuku station in which the floors were almost completely covered with homeless people and trash. This was quite shocking to me as it was in stark contrast to what I have seen elsewhere. Still, in general I am impressed by the drive that the Japanese people have to keep their city streets clean and orderly. No doubt this is a necessity when living in such a compact area. 
On the same trip to Osaka castle, we encountered this guy; an interesting character indeed....
I decided to include this photo because I feel like this proves another point about Japanese people that I have thought since the first time I came here (and even before that really): Japanese people are UNIQUE. I think from a Western point of view, we tend to sometimes think that because the island of Japan is relatively small and was for a long time cut off from the rest of the world, that somehow they (Japanese people) all have the same basic characteristics because they have such tight-knit communities. However, this is actually couldn't be farther from the truth; everyday that I go out to visit some interesting new place, I am always taking note of the variations of people, like this man for example. In front of him him was three cans, each for a different amount of money. Depending on which can you put money into, he would play a song and the songs got more complex the higher the amount of money you deposit. After the song was finished, he would return to a frozen posture, waiting for the next person to deposit money.
I've decided that there is really no way to categorize Japanese people other than their nationality, and to do so would be missing something. Beyond nationality, it is really open ended as to how each person will choose to express themselves, and you can never be sure of what you will encounter next. But, of course, this should not come as any big surprise, since in reality this holds true for all places on planet earth. Of course 'Japanese people' do have some common qualities, but with these commonalities also comes great diversity.
** At Osaka castle I took a video of this man who was entertaining the crowds with his unique skill....check it out. **
2 comments:
Our topic this week is "Japanese People," or more specifically how we as anthropologist go about representing a group of people. So what I get from you is that the Japanese are clean individuals... I have been surprised by the many students who have commented about how clean Japan seems to be to them. There are plenty of dirty places in Japan. But I wonder if the rest of the world has become dirtier while I have been here...
Street performers seems like an interesting approach to examining Japanese people and individuality. This would be a good topic for future study. But of course the question that begs to be answered is: are the performers acting like individuals or does their act showcase their individuality?
hello,
i am from spain, visited japan some time ago, and sometimes look for things related to it.
Have to say that totally agree with the comments of this entry as i have been in many countries in europe and abroad and even live for a while in some...
and would like that spain was as clean as japan is.
Dont know when was the last time you were in "the rest of the world"....
But think you need to travel some more and spend time and get more info of other countries before commenting like that, sure that experience change your view and make you more humble....i think you really need it, because your comment actually reflects some ignorance of what really is going on in the rest of the world. I could kindly help you telling things about europe.
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