アメリカと日本の贈り物文化・American vs. Japanese gift giving culture

昔々、アメリカから日本に友達にプレゼントが入っている箱を送った。お返しに、友達もプレゼントを送った。

面白いことは、僕は大きい３、４個のものを送ったけど、友達は小さい１０個ぐらいのプレゼントを送ってくれた。その時、アメリカと日本の贈り物文化の違いが興味深いと思ったので、日記でその話について書いた。

その違いは、今年も出てきたんだ。１ヶ月前、彼女に誕生日のプレゼント５個とカード１枚を贈った。猫のマグネットと猫のマグと猫の靴下と猫の枕と猫の毛布を贈った。彼女は猫が好きだ。

そのマグと毛布は具体的に使えて、毎日のように使えるやつだから、一番いいプレゼントだったと思う。僕はただの飾りのプレゼントより、具体的なプレゼントの方が好きだ。彼女と一緒に買い物をしていた時に、彼女はいつももふもふのものを触るのが好きだということに気づいたので、もふもふものを買わないといけないと思った。そのもふもふ毛布は完璧だった。

とにかく、１ヶ月後、１４日に彼女と一緒の僕の誕生日を祝った。僕のプレゼントに対して、彼女はカード１枚と箱３個の中に数個のプレゼントを贈ってくれた。手袋やキチンのスプーンやスリッパーを贈ってくれた。その箱の外には小さいメッセージが書いてあったカードもつけた。

なんか面白いアメリカと日本の贈り物文化の違いだけだ。

***

A long, long time ago, I sent a package from the US to a friend in Japan with some gifts in it. In return, my friend sent me a package.

The interesting thing that happened then was that I sent a few big things, while my friend sent a lot of little things. I wrote about it at the time because I thought it was an interesting difference between Japanese and American culture.

Well, that difference came up again this year. A month ago, I gave my girlfriend a card and five gifts for her birthday. I gave her some small cat magnets, a cat mug, cat socks, a cat pillow, and a cat blanket. She likes cats.

The mug and blanket were the best because they are useful things she can use everyday. I really prefer practical gifts over decorative gifts. I had gone shopping with my girlfriend and noticed that she really, really liked to touch soft clothes, blankets, etc. so I knew I had to get something soft for her. That blanket seems to hit the spot.

In any case, a month later, I celebrated my birthday with my girlfriend on the 14th. In contrast to my gifts to her, she gave me a card and then three boxes of many small items. Gloves, a neck warmer, slippers, a big kitchen spoon, etc. She also put small cards with little messages on each of the boxes.

Just an interesting difference between American and Japanese gift giving.

自由へのラブレター・A love letter to freedom

先日、進撃の巨人の漫画を読んだ。その漫画について書いたことがある。僕はアメリカにいる間に新刊が発売されたけど、数日前まで忘れていた。

この漫画は結構暗いけど、なんか楽観的なところもある。新刊の中には人類は巨人と重要な戦いをしている。その戦いに負けたら、人類はもうおしまいだ。子供の頃からずっと恐れている悪夢に出てくる怪物に四方八方に取り囲まれている。３人の巨人は特に強くて1人か2人で町を壊滅したやつだ。この残酷で重要な戦いの時、巨人のリーダーは巨大な岩を手で取って、干した泥の塊のように潰して、振っている巨大な腕で潰した岩のかけらを投げた。隕石のように戦場を通って人類の一番イリートの戦士の団体を一瞬で全滅した。もう何人しか残っていないベテランの戦士と新米の戦士は家の陰で隠しているけど、巨人のリーダーは振っている腕でそれらの家をどんどん消している。人類の鎖はどんどん絞めていく。

それから地獄の日が浴びている側と日の海の側の間に囲まれている戦士の隊長はもう巨人の真実がもう少し手に入れそうなのに、できないようになったことに気づく。人類はただ一つの希望がある：隊長は新米を必ず訪ねる死へ連れて、自由のために、1つだけの捧げられるものを捧げる。

逆側、エレンという戦士は親友と一緒に火の海の中で一匹の超大型巨人を相手にしている。その巨人は人類に巨人の恐ろしさを思い出させた奴だ。ある日、同時に守ってかごにする壁の中に穴を開けた。その日、エレンは自分の母が巨人に食われていた姿を見たことで、巨人に燃えている嫌悪を抱き始めた。

エレンは巨人に変化することができる。人類の最後の希望は超大型の巨人と一対一に立ち向けたけど、一瞬で蹴っ飛ばされて、巨人化したエレンの潰された体が二つの戦場の間に立っている壁の上に置かれた。エレンの親友はエレンを起こすために行く途中で、エレンが言った言葉を思い出す。

「何でか知らねぇけど　俺は自由を　取り返すためなら　力が湧いてくるんだ」

親友は、エレンを起こす準備している間に、「僕は　なぜか　外の世界を考えると　勇気が湧いてくるんだ」と自分に言う。

その時から、力と勇気は支配者に立ち向ける。

自由にとってエレンが言ったことは心の中に深いところを触る。僕にエネルギーをくれる曲や、僕をインスパイアしてくれる物語や、ワクワクしてくれる哲学的な考えもそのところを触る。人に作られた概念の中に、一番好きなのは自由だ。Dragonforceというバンドは自由に接する曲がいろいろある。僕が持っている政治や哲学に関しての考え方に大きい影響を与えた本は「自由の道徳」という本だ。そして、このずっと前読んだ話の中に、最も自由の複雑さを思い出させてくれる話は進撃の巨人だ。

自由は同時に美しくて、難儀だ。自由は暴力や窃盗の脅しをしたりされず、なんでもしたり、どこにでも行ったり、誰でもになったりする能力だ。自由になったら、本当に、恐るべきものは恐れ自体のみだ。その恐れを乗り越えると、自分の可能性が無限だ。自由は自然と人間性を発見する能力だ。

自由は責任でもある。強烈に保って、次世代に渡すべきの宝物だ。自由はなんでも出来る能力であるけど、自由にたくさんの選択技でしびれられる可能性がある。自由は選択できる可能性を作るけど、選択する責任もなる。皮肉なことに、自由は解放し、奴隷にすることだ。成長して、親が何も無理やりさせないようになると、肩から親の選択の負担がなくなるけど、指導する手の温かさも感じなくなる。親、雇い主や政治に奴隷にすることは強い者に支配的、弱い者に解放的なことだ。

それらの複雑な所々は、人間は矛盾な行為の原因になる。一方、男性は独身生活を楽しむけど、もう一方自分が世話にしたり、自分の自由な魂をかごにしたりする女性を一生懸命探す。

自由って、支配者を選ぶ能力だと言えるだろうな！僕はスリムで、いいお尻をしていて、大学卒業者である支配者が欲しいな。笑　まあ、お尻は交渉の余地があるけどね。脳に交渉なし。

1つの人生の目的は自由の美しさを他人に教えることだ。過去に、ホリウードの映画とかのメディアから道徳を思い知らせることが変だと思ったけど、テレビや映画の話に自由とかのテーマについて考えらせてもいいと思ってきた。

実は、日本語で自由という概念は英語の自由と違う。英語の自由は支配されないという意味が入っている。誰にも責任がなくて、なんでもできるという意味で独立しているという意味も入っている。

一方、日本語で、自由って、狭いところに囲まれないという感じが入っている。海辺で寝たり、高速道路で車を運転したり、山の頂上に立ったりしたら、自由という感じがする。以前も英語母語の人と日本語母語の人が言論の自由に関しての考え方の違うところについて書いたことがある。それは自由に関して、英語母語と日本語母語の人の違うところの一例になる。

いつの日か、日本には、僕とエレンの思っている自由の美しさを認めさせることができると嬉しいな。

＊＊＊

The other day, I read a manga called Attack on Titan. I've written about it before. A new volume in the series was released while I was in the US, but I was reminded about it only a few days ago.

This manga is very dark, yet also optimistic in a strange way. In the latest volume, humanity is fighting a key battle against the Titans. If they lose this battle, it's over for humanity. They are surrounded on all sides by nightmare monsters that have haunted their lives, that they’ve grown up fearing. Three of them have destroyed entire cities. During this brutal, key battle, the leader of the titans has taken massive boulders, crushed them in one hand like pieces of dried mud, then with swinging, long arms has thrown the smaller boulders. Blazing along the battlefield like meteors, the boulders wiped out all of the most elite squadrons of humanity’s warriors. There are only a few remaining veterans and a squadron of new recruits left hiding behind the buildings in a small village, but the titan leader is quickly erasing them with each swing of his arm. The chains of man’s bondage dig deeper into his flesh.

With hellfire falling from the sky on one side, and a sea of fire on the other, the leader is faced with the reality that he will never be able to learn the truth of the titans, though it is just within reach. Only one option remains for humanity: he must lead the new recruits to certain death, giving the only thing they have left to give for the cause of liberty.

On the other side, a soldier named Eren faces one of the two giant titans in the sea of fire together with his best friend. This is the titan that reminded humanity of the horrors of their slavery to the titans. That day, it opened a hole in the great wall that both protects and imprisons humanity. It’s that day that Eren witnessed his mother being gruesomely eaten, and the day that his burning hatred for the titans was born.

Eren himself can turn into a titan. Humanity’s last beacon of hope tried to face the massive titan one-on-one, but was quickly kicked aside, his titan “suit” left mangled at the top of the wall between the two battlefields. As his friend comes to wake Eren up, he remembers something Eren said once before.

“I don’t know why, but when I think of taking back my freedom, my heart fills with strength.”

His friend, about to wake Eren from his daze, says, “When I think about going to the outside world, my heart fills with courage.”

From then on, strength and courage face their slave master.

What Eren said, about freedom, really reaches a deep place within me. All the songs that I draw energy from, all the stories that inspire me, all the philosophies that excite me, they’re the ones that speak to that deep place. More than any other single idea that man has ever conceived, the one I love the most is freedom. Dragonforce has several songs that touch on that idea (Wings of Liberty, A Flame for Freedom, Once In A Lifetime). One book that really shaped my political and philosophical ideas was a book called The Ethics of Liberty. And it’s Attack on Titan that, more than any other story I’ve read in a long time, that reminds me of the multifaceted nature of freedom.

Freedom is both beautiful and burdensome. It’s the ability to do anything, go anywhere, and be whoever you want to be without other’s stealing from you or threatening you with violence. When you are free, the only thing you truly have to fear is fear itself. If you can overcome that fear, your potential is unlimited. Freedom is the ability to discover the wonders of nature and humanity.

Freedom is also a responsibility. It’s a treasure that needs to be fiercely protected and passed on to the next generation. It’s the ability to do anything, but it can also paralyze us with the choices it gives us. Freedom is the ability to choose, but is also the responsibility to choose. Ironically, freedom is both freeing and enslaving in that way. When we grow up and our parents no longer tell us what we can or can’t do, we no longer feel the burden of their choices on our shoulders, but we also don’t feel the comfort of their guiding hands. Slavery to our parents, employer, or our government is oppressive to the strong and liberating for the weak.

It’s that complex nature of freedom that makes humans act in strange, contradictory ways. On the one hand, men enjoy the freedom of bachelorhood, but simultaneously they work hard to find someone they can be responsible to, someone that can cage their free spirit once again.

I guess you could say that freedom is the ability to choose one’s slave master! I’d like my slave master to be slim, have a nice butt, and a college degree. lol I’m willing to negotiate on the butt, though. Brains are non-negotiable.

One of my life goals is to help others understand the beauty of freedom. In the past, I always thought it was a strange to draw lessons from popular media like Hollywood movies or TV shows, but I think that it’s good to use movies and TV shows to stimulate some internal meditation on different topics like freedom.

Actually, in Japanese, the concept of freedom is quite a bit different from the one used in English. “Freedom” in English has the connotation if being free from oppression. It also connotes “independence” in the sense that one isn’t accountable to anybody, so you are free to do whatever you want.

On the other hand, in Japanese, freedom implies both the feeling of being independent and a feeling of not being enclosed. One feels free while lying on the beach, driving a car on the open highway, or standing at the top of a mountain. I’ve written about the differences in thinking related to freedom of speech between English speakers and Japanese speakers before. That’s a good example of how Westerners, especially Americans, think of freedom differently from Japanese.

Maybe someday I can help Japan appreciate the beauty of freedom as I and Eren see it.

家族の時間と批判的思考法・Family time and critical thinking

夕食時間に家族と一緒にテレビを見る？最近、日本人と結婚しているイギリス人の男の話を聞こえた。彼らは奥さんのご両親と一緒に東京に住んでいる。夜に彼女とご両親は一緒にテレビを見るのを楽しむ。しかし、イギリス人の男は楽しまない。日本のテレビがつまらなくて（僕は同感）、一緒に夕食を食べたら、テレビを見なくて、話したいと彼は言った。

妙な話だが、奥さんの家族は一緒にテレビを観て俳優さんについて話す時間を大切な時間と考えている。ある夜、彼らはテレビを観ていた時、彼はスマホで彼に興味のあることを見てみたけど、奥さんのご両親にスマホを使わないでと言われた！それを読んだ時、僕はつい爆笑してしまった。
僕の家族の中で、父は「夕食を食べながらテレビを観ない」と言った。家族と一緒に晩御飯を食べて互いに話し合う時間が大切だと思った。僕も心底から同感している。家族は互いに知るのが大切で、そのために話し合うしか方法がないと強く信じる。学校、仕事、政治、趣味、などなどについて話すのは親にとって、子供の成長を確認して、指導する機会を与える。父親にとっては、子供から離れて仕事をするので、話す時間が特に大切だ。父親は気をつけないと、気づかないで、子供がだんだん変えていて、どんなように変えているか知らないだろう。

技術はどんどん変えていくけど、親にとっての課題はあまり変わっていないな。僕の子供の頃、父はテレビを消した。今、責任ある親はテレビとスマホも消すと思う。残念ながら、家族と一緒に話す時間の大切さがわからない親が多い、アメリカでも日本でも。夕食時間、そのイギリス人の家族は彼の赤ちゃんの娘さんを見て、「ほら、テレビを観ている！かわいい！」と言う。彼らはかわいいと思うけど、彼は怖がっている。

もう一つの話だが、彼は奥さんと「日本文化」について口論した。細部を覚えていないけれど、奥さんは悪い年齢になったので、神社に神主に祝福するのを頼みたいと言った。イギリス人の男性はなぜ悪い年齢なのかと聞いたけど、奥さんは「そう言われるから」と答えた。彼は祝福が入らないと言ったけど、彼女は「もういい」や「日本文化だからわからなくても仕方がない」と言うことで、会話を止めた。

夕食の時間に子供と話さないことのもう一つの不都合な点は子供が親から批判的な思考を学ばないことだ。僕は両親と宗教や政治のことについて議論することが多かった。父は簡単な質問で僕を批判的に考えさせた。それらの議論は１０代にも大学校の頃にもそれらの議論は僕の精神的な成長に非常に大事な影響を与えた。

イギリス人の男性の奥さんは家でも学校でもそういう経験が全然なかったので、自分の価値観や行為を批判的に考えさせられる場合があったら、できない。脳は筋肉で、批判的に考える部分が萎縮した。

正直に言えば、僕は子供っぽく行動したり、「もういい」ということで相談を止める日本人の女性から離れたことがたくさんある。大事な会話を止めさせる人を許さない。僕の家族の中に、母は父の変な議論にイライラになったことが多かった。そんな場合、母は「はい、わかった」と言って、父は「なぜイライラしているの？」と聞いた。笑　僕もイライラしたことが多かったけど、「もういい」や「はい、わかった」ということがなかった。父が馬鹿じゃないかと父に言ったことがあったけど、議論を止めさせてみなかった。

僕はそのイギリス人の男性が将来に難しい会話をおくさんと一緒にすると思う。奥さんが育てられたように自分の子供を育てたくないみたいなので、彼は自らを主張することに気をつけないとダメだ。今、幸せだそうなので、家族と一緒に生活のチャレンジに向けて、これからも幸せになると嬉しい。

＊＊＊

Do you watch TV with your family and dinner time? I recently have heard the story of a British man who is married to a Japanese woman. They live with her mother and father in Tokyo. At night, his wife and her family enjoy watching TV together. However, the British man doesn’t. He says that Japanese TV is very boring (I agree), and that when he eats dinner with them, he wants to talk, not watch TV.

Strangely, his wife’s family considers time watching TV and commenting on the celebrities to be important family time. One night, while they were watching TV, the man tried to use his smartphone to look at things he was interested in, but his wife’s parents asked him to put his smartphone away! When I read that, I couldn’t help but laugh.

In my family, my dad said, “No TV at dinner time.” He felt it was very important for our family to sit and spend time talking with each other. I wholeheartedly agree. I believe strongly that it is important for family members to get to know each other, and the only way to do that is to talk. Talking about school, work, politics, hobbies, etc. helps parents stay up to date with the way their children are growing and gives them a chance to guide them. For a father, it is especially important to have that time because he spends a considerable amount of time away from his children. If a father is not careful, his children will change and he won’t know how they are changing.

It’s interesting how technology has changed, but parental challenges have not significantly changed. When I was a kid, my dad turned off the TV at dinner time. These days, I think responsible parents would turn off their smartphones, too. Unfortunately, many parents don’t really understand the significance of quality time spent talking with their family, whether in America or Japan. At dinner time, the British man’s wife’s family often looks at his baby daughter and says, “Look, she’s watching the TV, isn’t that cute!” They think it’s cute, but he is terrified by that.

Another story he told was about an argument he had with his wife about a “Japanese culture” thing. I can’t remember the details, but his wife wants to go to a shrine to have a priest bless her because she is at a “bad” age. When the British guy asked her why it’s a bad age, she said, “Because that’s what they say.” He said he didn’t think she needed to be blessed, but she insisted that it was “Japanese culture” and that she needed to do it. When he tried to reason with her, asking her questions to understand more about the reasons and why it was so important, she just said, “Enough,” or, “It’s just Japanese culture, you wouldn’t understand,” and didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Another downside of not talking at the dinner table is that children don’t get to learn how to think critically from their parents. I often argued with my parents about religious and political things at the dinner table and other times. My dad often forced me to think critically by asking simple questions. Those arguments were, I believe, a critical part of my intellectual development as a teenager and even into my college years.

Because the British man’s wife had no such experience either at home or at school, when she is forced into a situation where she needs to critically examine and explain her behavior or values, she is unable to. The brain is a muscle, and the critical thinking part of her brain is atrophied.

Honestly, I have distanced myself from many Japanese women that I thought were childish like that or said things like “Enough” in order to end discussions about various things. I simple can’t tolerate people that try to shut down important conversations. In my family, my mom often got frustrated with my dad because he would make strange arguments and wouldn’t admit they were strange. In those situations she would say, “Fine,” to which my dad would ask, “Why are you so frustrated?” lol I often got frustrated with my dad, but neither he nor I ever said, “Fine,” or “Enough”. I sometimes said that he was being ridiculous or even stupid, but I always continued the argument.

I have a feeling the British guy is going to have some difficult discussions with his wife in the future. He doesn’t want to raise his daughter the way that his wife was raised, so he is going to need to be careful about asserting himself in the future. He said he was happy, so I hope him continued happiness as he faces life's challenges together with his family.

Dogs and Demons, Land and Environment

While I was reading Dogs and Demons, I decided to Google Alex Kerr and see if he had any Youtube presence. Sure enough, I found a TEDx presentation he made about the houses he has renovated in the remote area of Iya Valley, on the island of Shikoku. The title of the talk is "Sustainable Tourism".

It's clear from the video, and from reading Dogs and Demons, that Kerr is very much concerned with the environment and with how Japan has modernized. In chapter one of Dogs and Demons, he writes about the state of Japan's construction industry and how Japanese government policies at the local and national levels have promoted an out of control "construction state". He says that Japan's government has no "brakes" for policies that don't work anymore, and although Japan's technology in certain fields has modernized, Japanese people are still stuck thinking like people in a developing nation, rather than a developed nation. Technology has advanced while cultural advancement has lagged.

He asks the question, "What happens if developing countries never become developed countries?" (P29) As proof that the Japanese have not acknowledge their status as those living in a developed country, he writes,

Japan suffers from a severe case of "pave and build" mentality. "Pave and build" is the idea that huge, expensive, manmade monuments are a priori wonderful, that natural surfaces smoothed over and covered with concrete mean wealth, progress, and modernims. Nakaoki Yutaka, the governor of Toyama Prefecture, summarized this attitude when he argued, in September 1996, for the construction of a new railroad line to rural areas, although there was no apparent need for it. Building the new line, he said, "is needed to develop the social infrastructure so that people can feel they have become rich."

In fact, there are some westerners that similarly feel that Japan is richer when they look at construction projects.

In my own experiences traveling around Japan, going to Kagoshima, Kyoto, Osaka, etc., I've found a rather large amount of construction. Although I have at times felt the rivers and streams to be quite odd, to my eyes, I never considered them especially ugly, but that may be because I didn't have a chance to see then before their makeover by the Construction Ministry.

When it comes to Kerr's thoughts on Japan's destruction of nature, I have often felt he was exaggerating. That is especially true when he describes Japan as a land of extremes most accurately portrayed in anime and manga. Although many people in Japan may maintain some rather third-world views of nature, my feeling is that the aesthetic problems Kerr writes about are bad, but not necessarily as bad as he makes them out to be.

However, when it comes to his observations on the government quite mind-boggling. He paints a picture of systemic corruption, crony capitalism, and backwards-thinking. He often compares Japanese policies to American policies, something that he has been criticized for by some people reviewing his book. I agree, partially, that Kerr perhaps uses the US too much as a model for Japan to follow, but I certainly wouldn't defend the policies or corruption within the Japanese government. The issue of crony capitalism is a reoccurring theme throughout the book, and it often mirrors what happens in the US as well.

Perhaps more disturbing is what Kerr writes about when it comes to the environment in chapter two, because it is there where Japan's political corruption becomes most apparent. There have been multiple, infamous examples of the Japanese government and industry working together to cover up incidents of pollution that caused severe damage to the health of many people, turning a blind eye to illegal dumping of waste, simply letting industry off with almost no penalty at all, or even downplaying the severity of certain cases of pollution.

The government and big business colluded to hide the pollution that caused itai-itai disease and Minamata disease for 40 years. In order to hide it, they hired the yakuza to threaten and even injure people that brought attention to the problem. The government took away government grants from professors that spoke out about it. Eventually, victims sued, and had only a tiny victory. The government was found not guilty of any kind of negligence, and only a small group of the people that sued got a tiny award in the case. Again, the theme here is crony capitalism. The "rich country, poor people" strategy employed by the Japanese government at the beginning of the Meiji restoration has continued, sacrificing not only the people's money (through subsidies for wasteful government spending), but also their health and the health of the environment.

Dogs and Demons

Recently I finished reading Dogs and Demons by Alex Kerr. Kerr writes about what he calls Japan's "cultural malaise". While Kerr talks at length about government corruption and ineptness, outdated laws and ways of thinking, failed policies, problems in the educational system, the stagnant Japanese film industry, and the Japanese government's lack of true "internationalization", at its core, Dogs and Demons is a criticism of the Japanese culture itself. Japan's government and citizens, he says, are both stuck thinking like people in a developing country in spite of the fact that Japan has long since caught up to other economically advanced nations. Modern Japan is a land of extremes that is more accurately portrayed in anime (Japanese-style cartoons) and manga (comic books) than it is by the rest of the Japanese film industry.

To a certain extent, I find his observations of the government's relationship with big business to be interesting and perhaps mirroring in many ways the relationship between government and big business in the US. Japanese bureaucrats provide themselves or retired bureaucrats with nice contracts for work in industries that they once regulated is similar to how former bankers have become Treasury Secretaries in the US. The Japanese government's level of corruption and intervention in the economy is perhaps more advanced, but I get the feeling that the US will follow a similar path in the future. There are some influential people like Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman that advocate that the US government increase spending on infrastructure spending using large amounts of debt, so Americans may see the US become a construction state like Japan in the future.

Just the local government letting people know that this nature trail going up Mt. Ponpon is made of concrete.

Although I appreciate the information and opinions he provides when it comes to government corruption, bad policies, etc., while reading Dogs and Demons I often felt that he was probably exaggerating certain aspects like the extent to which the government has paved the countryside with concrete. Of course, I have not traveled extensively around Japan, and I have not had a chance to feast my eyes on something like the Orochi loop highway in Yokota, so I haven't really formed a strong opinion on the matter. I have done some traveling around the Kansai area and even to Kagoshima by Shinkansen, so I have had a chance to see the Japanese countryside, but although I have at times felt that it was a bit ugly, it never seemed to appear the way Kerr portrays it in his book.

Power lines in Kyoto.

 

This picture was taken in Kyoto, near Kinkakuji.

I have to also strongly disagree with his proposed solutions to problems. Given that I am an anarcho-capitalist, it's not surprising that I would disagree with Kerr when he proposes that the Japanese government change their zoning laws to neatly divide certain regions into agricultural land/residential land, rather than allow people to have farms in the middle of residential areas. Instead, I would advocate getting rid of the zoning laws altogether and letting the market decide the best use for different kinds of land. Then again, I'm a bit of a nut!

I'll write more in-depth on what Kerr wrote and give some of my thoughts as well. At this point, I'll say that it was informative, but there are some disagreements I have with Kerr.

日本人とアメリカ人の言論の自由に対しての意見 ・ Japanese and American Opinions About Free Speech

最近、自由について深く考えるきっかけになった２つの出来事があった。

一つ目は三週間前、友達と一緒に経済について話したとき、僕達は完全に反対の意見を持っていることを知った。二つ目は、新年会で、先生と最近のフランスの事件について話したとき、その会話の中で、言論の自由の問題の話が出てきた。

先に僕の意見を出す。僕にとっては自由は絶対だ。政府に自由を制限されてはいけない。だから、僕は無政府資本主義者だ。そういうのは極端な立場だろう。実際、僕は経済と政治に関しては、極端な考えを持っている。アメリカ人の多くはほとんどの問題に対して、僕の意見と賛成するわけではないけど、言論の自由に関しては、僕のように「言論の自由は絶対だ」と思っているアメリカ人は少なくないだろう。この投稿でなぜその意見を持っているという理由を論じる。

フランスの事件に詳しくない人がいるので、少しその事件と事件の背景を説明する。

今月の７日、イスラム教の人は「シャルリー・エブド」というフランスの新聞の社員を１３人殺した。なぜかと言えば、その新聞はイスラム教のムハンマドをイラストで侮辱した。その新聞はいろいろな人や組織を侮辱する評判がある。イスラム教だけじゃなく、ユダヤ教、キリスト教、それに政治家など激しく批判する。あまり人気ではないそうだ。

日本人にとって、イスラム教を侮辱することは幼稚に見えるかもしれないけれど、もう少し説明したら、フランスの事件は重大な問題の症候だということが明らかになる。

事件後、「宗教を侮辱するのは禁止にしよう」という意見と「言論の自由を守ろう」という意見を持っている二つの側が出てきた。あるイスラム教のイマムは「宗教指導者をイラストすることを違法にしよう」と発言した。「もちろん、私たち（カナダにあるイスラム教徒）は言論の自由を守りたいけど、バランスが必要だ。制限が必要だ。行動規範が必要だ」と、「私たちは聖なる人に対しての下品で無作法な表現が決して言論の自由であるとされないと思う」とも言った。いかにもロシアには宗教的なイラストを出番したりするのは違法で、最近、ロシアの政府はメディアに注意した。宗教を侮辱して、憎悪を引き起こす可能性があるという理由で禁止されている。

一方、国家統一象徴として、さらに言論の自由を守るという理由で、約４百万人のフランス人は「私たちはシャルリーだ」と叫びながら、行進した。その行進に、イギリスの「ザ・ガーディアン」という新聞の論説記者は「私たちの言論の自由は襲われたので、強く守らなければならないのだ」と発言した。

新年会で先生に僕の意見を言ったときに、上のイスラム教の指導者のような答えをもらった。「日本のメディアは韓国人の悪口をして、憎悪を引き起こす。言論の自由を乱用する。言論の自由が大切だけど、そんなヘイトスピーチで多数派は少数派を差別したり、いろいろな悪いことを引き起こす」というような意見を出した。「シャルリー・エブドの新聞のイラストのようなことを違法にしたいですか」と先生に聞いたら、「そこまで行かないけど、この多文化の社会の中に、他人や他の価値観を尊重されてほしい」ということを言った。

もう一人の友達もそういう意見を持っているけど、理由は「他人に優しくしたい」のためではなくて、「自分の命を守ってほしい」のためである。「宗教は特別だから、宗教を侮辱したら、憎悪を引き起こして、さらに危険な状態になる。だから、違法にしたほうがいいと思う」って。友達の意見は全く実際的である。友達のようにそう思っている人は少なくないだろう。

しかし、西洋の社会の中に、その意見を持っている人が少ないと思う。ザ・ガーディアンの代表者は「重要な問題はこの事件が自己検閲を引き起こすのか？なら、敵の勝だろう」と発言した。ザ・ガーディアンが含んでいる協力関係の組織は「シャルリー・エブドに対しての攻撃はただメディアの自由と言論の自由に対しての攻撃ではない。われわれ欧州の民主主義社会の基礎な価値観に対しての攻撃だった」と言った。

イスラム教の人は中東国からヨーロッパに移住するけれど、ヨーロッパの国々は移住者を欧州の社会にうまく溶け込ませないので、イスラム教の人たちは強いコミュニティーを作る。イスラム教の人は欧米の価値観と反対する上、ヨーロッパ人より子供を作るので、ヨーロッパの社会が消える不安がある。

それで、シャルリー・エブドの行為はただの幼稚なことではなくて、事件はただの孤立な攻撃ではないということが明らかになったんだろう。ヨーロッパの中にある文化の衝突の兆候である。

先生や友達と一緒に話したことで、最も興味深いことが分かった。「アメリカの文化の特徴は自由である」とよく言われるけれど、最近の会話をしたまで、その意識を内面化していなかった。頭がよくて、立派な教育を受けた日本人と中国人はいろいろな理由で言論の自由を制限することを求める。少数派を差別するための言論、憎悪を引き起こす可能性がある言論、フランスの事件のような事件を引き起こす可能性がある言論、それとも相手の気分を傷つける言論、などなど制限したり、違法にしたりしたがる。

言論の自由に対して、アジア人が自由を制限しやすいことはアメリカの文化とアジアの文化の違いを強調するだろう。なぜこんな違いがあるのかって？

歴史的に、言論の自由は哲学的な基礎があった。古代ギリシャから、西洋の人々は「哲学」と「理論」を大切にして、哲学と論理で「真」を探していた。その上、観念や行為を「善悪」に分けることも西洋の文化の特徴であった。その起源から、言論の自由は生み出された。ヨーロッパ人は戦争に飽きたので、他人を支配しなくて、一緒に住んで、協力することにしたかった。そのために、論理的な考え方で、言論の自由だけではなく、いろいろな自由を守らなければならないということを決めた。自分の自由だけではなく、相手の自由も守らなければならなかった。

最も大事なことは、自由は倫理的に「良」、さらに自由を奪うのは「悪」だと思った。

もちろん、西洋人はいつもそれらの自由を一貫して守っているわけではないだろう。白人は黒人を長い間に奴隷にして、財産として扱っていた。「真」と「良」の哲学を作ったにもかかわらず、その哲学の実施は一貫ではなかった。しかし、その哲学に信じていた。

一方、中国や日本の文化に対しては、歴史的に、自由や論理が大切にしていなかった。なので、社会に民主主義の価値観を導入したとき、その哲学的な基礎に気づいていなかった。その基礎がなかったら、言論の自由を道具として扱うようになる。国民はその哲学的な基礎の意識がないので、政府はその自由を奪ったら、自由を守る論理的な手段がない。それどころか、政府の行動を「窃盗」や「腐敗」のように見えないより、むしろ「社会を守っている」行動として応援する。

僕は最初から「自由が絶対だ」と書いたから、僕の意見が分かるけれど、その立場を守ってみる。もちろん、これは西洋人の「論理」という特技の登場である。

基礎の原則は「人間は自由」である。そして、誰もその自由を奪てはいけない。誰もその自由を制限してはいけない。人間は平等なので、他人の自由を奪う権利を持っている人はいないのである。

政府に言論の自由を制限する権力を与えたら、その権力は必ず乱用されるのである。第二次世界大戦争の日本政府は政府に反対している人の言論の自由を守らなかった。逆に、「戦争に反対！」と言ったら、逮捕された。政府に言論の自由を制限する権力を与えることは、反対している意見を抑圧する権力を与えることと一緒である。

第二次世界大戦争は遠く感じて、「今、政府はその権力を乱用しない」と思ったら、日本の特定秘密の保護に関する法律は権力を乱用している現在の例である。

言論の自由を守るのは大衆に受け入れない意見を守ることと同じ。少数派に対する政府の差別を阻止するのである。

僕と賛成しない人がいるだろう。ヨーロッパでさえにもいる。実は、フランス人は「言論の自由を守ろう」と言っているけど、政府はそうしていない。ある人はフェイスブックでテロリストを支援している声かけをしているようだったので、彼は逮捕された。その男性は反ユダヤ主義で、テロリストはユダヤ教の人たちを殺したので、彼のＦＢの投稿を見たら、テロリストを応援しているようであった。彼だけではない。ほかの人も逮捕された。

前に言ったとおり、欧米人は「自由を守ろう」という哲学があるけど、実際的に、自由を一貫して守るわけではない。

ということで、フランス人は自由を制限したい人に隙を与えた。「自由を守ろう」という発言を批判できるように使われる隙。「イスラム教の人として、言論の自由の原理主義者の偽善にはうんざりだ」という記事で、あるイスラム教の人は「いい加減にしてください。私たち（ヨーロッパに住んでいるみんな）の中には無制限の言論の自由に信じている人がいない。法と秩序を保つために、越えられない一線があり、それとも礼儀を保つために越えてはいけない一線があるということにみんなは賛成している。その線がどこに画すかということだけに賛成していない」と書いている。フランスの政府は言論の自由を一貫してい守っていないので、その人はそんなことを言える。フランスの政府の論理で、フランスの政策を攻撃している。例えば、フランスの政府は反ユダヤ教主義のヘートスピーチを言うことを禁止する。つまり、ある程度に言論の自由を制限しているのである。

アメリカ人はフランスの政府の行為を見たら、混乱する。ジョン・シチューアートという人気なコメディアンと政治評論家はテレビでそのテロリスを支援しているみたいな人や他の人を逮捕しているフランスの政府を批判する。「私はシャルリー・エブド」という表現をペロディ化する「私は混乱している」と言った。「われわれアメリカ人も言論の自由の問題で取り組むけど、一般的に、政府が悪いやつが悪いことを言えるあまり失敗する傾向がある」と言った。さらに、逮捕によってじゃなく、もちろん殺人によってじゃなく、嫌な物事を購買することか、購買しないことで、政治的な怒りを表現すると言った。それは自由市場原理である。

ということは、一般的にアメリカ人がヨーロッパ人より言論の自由を大切にしているということを言える。

フランスの事件について日本人と話すことで、日本人とアメリカ人の違いが分かっただろう。もちろん、僕のように考える日本人がいる例外がある。しかし、一般的に、日本人はそんなに自由を守る心がなさそうだ。それはとても残念なことだと思う。

＊＊＊

Recently, I had a couple of conversations that made me think more deeply about freedom.

About three weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend about economics in which we held completely opposite views from each other. Then, at a party held after the new year, I talked to my teacher about the recent incident in France, and during that conversation, the issue of freedom of speech came up.

First, I'll start by giving my opinion. To me, freedom is absolute. Freedom shouldn't be limited by governments. That's why I'm an anarcho-capitalist. Such a standpoint probably appears extreme to most people. I do in fact hold rather extreme views on politics and economics. Although most Americans wouldn't agree with me on most matters, when it comes to the issue of freedom of speech, most Americans would agree with my position that freedom of speech is absolute. In this entry, I'll explain why Americans hold that position.

There are probably people that don't know much about what happened in France, so first I'll explain what happened and give a bit of a background on the incident.

On the seventh, some Muslims attacked and killed thirteen people that worked at Charlie Hebdo, a French newspaper. The reason is because that newspaper published an offensive illustration of Muhammed. The newspaper has a reputation for insulting people and institutions. They don't just criticize Islam, they also criticize Christianity, Judaism, and politicians. It appears that the newspaper isn't very popular.

To Japanese people, it might appear childish to insult Islam, but after reading my explanation a bit more, it should become clear that what happened in France is a symptom of a much bigger problem.

After the attack, two sides in a debate emerge, one defending freedom of speech and one saying that insulting religions should be prohibited. One Muslim Imam declared, “Satirical depictions of religious leaders should be illegal.” He also said, “Of course we defend freedom of speech, but it has to be balanced. There has to be a limit. There has to be a code of conduct,” and, “We believe that any kind of vulgar expression about any sacred person of any religion does not constitute the freedom of speech in any way at all.” Indeed, in Russia it is illegal to publish caricatures on religious themes, and recently the Russian government reminded the media of that. It's prohibited with the reason being that such caricatures may be “considered insulting or humiliating to the representatives of religious confessions and groups, and qualified as inciting ethnic and religious hatred.”

On the other hand, as a symbol of national unity, as well as to protect freedom of speech, about 4 million French citizens marched through France with the rallying cry, “Je suis Charlie”, “I am Charlie.” During that demonstration, the editor for the British newspaper, The Guardian, declared, “Our freedom of speech has been targeted and it needs to be strongly defended.”

When I gave my opinion to my teacher at the party, I received an response similar to the one by the Imam above. She said, “The Japanese media says nasty things about Koreans and incites hatred. They abuse freedom of speech. Freedom of speech is important, but the majority discriminates against minorities through hate-speech like that and causes a bunch of bad things to happen.” When I asked if she thinks that things like the Charlie Hebdo illustration should be illegal or not, she said something like, “I wouldn't go that far, but in a multi-cultural society, I'd like other people and ideas to be respected.”

I have another friend that feels the same way, but not in order to be kind to others, but rather to protect one's own life. “Religion is different,” she said, “so if you insult religion, it can incite hatred and create a dangerous situation. So, I think it should be illegal to do so.” Her opinion is completely pragmatic. I'd bet that many people share her opinion.

However, in western nations, there are probably not so many people that feel that way. A representative of the Guardian declared, “The key question is whether this will lead to self-censorship? If there is, the assassins have won.” A partnership of newspapers that includes the Guardian said that the, “attack on Charlie Hebdo is not only an attack on the liberty of the press and the liberty of opinion, it is an attack on the fundamental values of our European democratic societies.”

Muslims emigrate from the Mideast to Europe, but European countries don't allow them to assimilate easily into European society, thus they create strong Islamic communities. On top of having values that are opposed to western values, they have more kids, so there is some concern that European society might disappear.

With that, it should be clear now that Charlie Hebdo's behavior wasn't simply an immature act, and that the attack wasn't an isolated incident. They are a symptom of a culture class in Europe.

Talking with my friends and teacher helped me realize something even more interesting. It's often said that “freedom” is a characteristic of the US, but until my recent conversations, I hadn't fully internalized that. Well educated and intelligent Japanese and Chinese people have many different reason for why they want freedom of speech to be limited. They want speech that discriminates against minorities, speech that incites hatred, speech that may possibly cause an incident like that in France, or speech that might hurt other people's feelings, etc. to be limited and made illegal.

When it comes to freedom of speech, the fact that Asians are so willing to limit freedom emphasizes the difference between their cultures and American culture. Why is it so different, you ask?

Historically, freedom of speech had a philosophical foundation. Since Ancient Greece, westerners have been quite concerned with philosophy and logic, and have used them to search for “truth”. On top of that, another characteristic of western culture is the separation of ideas and behaviors into “good” and “bad”. From those origins, freedom of speech was born. Europeans got sick of wars, so instead of trying to dominate others, they wanted to live and cooperate with each other. In order to do so, thinking logically, they decided that not only freedom of speech, but many other freedoms needed to be protected. They needed to protect not only their freedom, but also the freedom of others.

More importantly, they believed that freedom was ethically “good”, and that taking away freedom was “evil”.

Of course, westerners haven't always protected those freedoms consistently. White people enslaved black people and treated them like property for a long time. In spite of the fact that they made “true” and “good” philosophies, they didn't always apply them consistently. However, they did believe in them.

On the other hand, cultures like in Japan or China historically didn't value freedom or logic. Thus, when they introduced democratic values into their societies, they weren't aware of the philosophical basis for those values. Without a foundation, freedom of speech will simply be used as a tool. Japanese citizens are not aware of that philosophical foundation, so if their freedom is taken away by the government, they have no logical means of protecting their freedom. On the contrary, they don't see the government's actions as “theft” or “corruption”, rather, they support those actions as protecting society.

At the beginning I wrote that I believe freedom is absolute, so you can probably understand my opinion on the matter of free speech, but I will try to defend that position. Of course, this is where that western “logic” comes in.

A fundamental concept is, “Humans are free.” Nobody is allowed to take away that freedom. Nobody can limit that freedom. Humans are all equal, thus nobody has the right to take away the freedom of others.

If you give the government the power to limit freedom of speech, the government will inevitably abuse that power. During WWII, the Japanese government didn't protect the freedom of speech of Japanese citizens that were against the war. Quite the opposite, they imprisoned anybody that said they were against the war. Giving the government the power to limit free speech is the equivalent of giving the government the authority to suppress opposing views.

WWII might feel a thousand miles away, and you might think that the government now won't abuse their power, but a modern example of an abuse of power by the Japanese government is in the Special State Secrets legislation that came into force late last year.

Protecting freedom of speech is the same as protecting unpopular opinions. It prevents discrimination by the government against minorities.

I'm sure there are people who don't agree with me. Even in Europe there are. Actually, French people say that they should protect freedom of speech, but their government isn't doing that. One guy was arrested because he posted something on Facebook that seemed to support the terrorists. He is anti-Semitic and since the terrorists killed some Jews, looking at his FB, he seemed to support the terrorists. And it isn't only him. Others were arrested, too.

As I said before, westerners have a philosophy of protecting freedom, but in practicality, they don't always consistently protect freedom.

And with that, the French gave an opening to those that want to limit freedom. They gave an opening that can be used to criticize the declaration to protect freedom. In an article titled, “As a Muslim, I’m fed up with the hypocrisy of the free speech fundamentalists”, one guy writes, “Please get a grip. None of us believes in an untrammelled right to free speech. We all agree there are always going to be lines that, for the purposes of law and order, cannot be crossed; or for the purposes of taste and decency, should not be crossed. We differ only on where those lines should be drawn.” He can say that because the French government isn't protecting freedom of speech consistently. He is using the French government's own logic to attack it's policies. For example, the French government forbids anti-Semitism. In other words, it limits free speech to a certain extent.

When Americans observe the French government's behavior, we are confused. John Stewart, a popular comedian and political commentator, criticized the French government's arresting of those that seemed to support the terrorists' actions. In a parody of the expression “Je suis Charlie/I am Charlie”, he said, “Je suis confused”. “We have similar speech related struggles here in American, generally erring on the side of the government allowing shitty people to say shitty things.” Moreover, he said that we express our political outrage not through arresting or murder, but through the purchasing or not-purchasing of things we consider offensive. That's a free-market concept.

With that, you can say that, generally, Americans value freedom of speech more than Europeans do.

Talking to Japanese people about the problem in France helped me understand one difference between Japanese and Americans. Of course, I'm sure there are some exceptions of Japanese people that feel the same way I do. However, in general, Japanese people don't really have a desire to protect freedom. I think that is quite unfortunate.

海女・Ama

海女を知っている？数日前、海女という女性を知った。海女は真珠を手に入れるために、ふんどししか着なくて、２分間ぐらい海に飛び込んで、カキを持ってくる女の人だ。元にアワビ、海草などを集めるために飛び込んだけど、真珠のほうは有利だったので、結局真珠を手に入れるために飛び込むことになった。

もっと真珠を得るために、真珠のないカキを水上に持ってきて、真珠の核が入れられた。入れられた後、また海に返って、真珠は作られたときにまた海女に釣られた。そういう真珠は養殖真珠という。興味深いでしょう？海女はその仕事で独立になれるだろう。でも、なぜ男の人じゃなくて、女の人はそういうことをするのだろう？女性のほうは脂肪の層が厚くて、水の冷たさから防御されるからと言われるけど、本当かな？一般的に、女の人の胸と腰の脂肪のほうが厚いけど、そんなに役に立つかな？太っている男の人もいたんじゃないか？

今も海女がいるけど、だんだん消えているそうだ。現代の海女は潜水服を着る。まだ海女として働いている９０歳のおばさんもいるんだ！すごいでしょう？僕は９０歳のおじさんになったら、そんなに元気になると嬉しい。(^_^)

去年、海女として働いている女性について、「あまちゃん」というドラマもあったけど、海女のことを知る前に、あまちゃんを知らなかったので、話に詳しくない。少し見てみるかも。

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Have you ever heard of Ama? I learned of them a few days ago. Ama are women that dive under water for around 2 minutes at a time, wearing nothing but a loincloth, in order to get pearls. Originally, they would dive for alabone, seaweed, and other kinds of shellfish, but since pearls were more valuable, in the end they focused on diving for pearls.

In order to get more pearls, they bring clams without any pearls in them up to the surface and put a pearl nucleus inside the clams. After doing so, they return them to the sea, and when the pearl is complete they are fished out by Ama. Those kinds of pearls are called "cultivated pearls". Pretty interesting, right? Ama are able to be independent with that job. But, I wonder why women, not men, do it? They say it's because women have a thicker layer of fat that protects them from the cold water, but I wonder if that's true. Generally, women have more fat around their breasts and hips, but I wonder if its really that useful? Aren't there fat guys, too?

There are Ama even now, but they are gradually disappearing it seems. Modern Ama wear diving suits. There are even 90 year-old women working as Ama! That's pretty amazing! I hope that when I'm a 90 year-old guy I'm as active and energetic!

Last year, there was a drama about a woman that worked as an Ama named "Ama-chan", but before I learned about Ama, I'd never heard about it, so I don't know any of the details of the story. I might try watching it.

どんな人を家に招待する？・What kind of people do you invite to your house?

子供の頃から、親は家にいろいろな客さんを招待している。家は教会みたいだったので、普通なアメリカ人の家と違ったね。毎週、にぎやかだった。１５歳まで、僕と同じぐらい年齢の子供もたくさん来たので、楽しかったね。鬼ごっこをしたり、自転車に乗ったりした。だんだん成長して、大人と一緒に会話することもしたけど、普段に遊んだ。

１５歳から、家族は別な州に引っ越したけど、いつものように人を招待した。ただ、僕と同じぐらい年齢の人はいなかったので、大人と時間を過ごした。あるおじさんは面白かったので、彼とよく話したんだ。父は聖書が詳しｋて、僕にいろいろなことを教えて、僕は聖書のクラスも取ったので、僕も詳しくなった。だから、父は講義のようにそのおじさんに質問したら、おじさんは隣に座っていた僕に向かって、僕はヒスヒスとして答えをおじさんに教えて、おじさんは父に答えを言ったことがよくあった。

そういう経験のおかげで、年上の人と話したり、時間を過ごしたりするのは全然変じゃないと思う。さらに、あまり知らない人でも家に招待することも変じゃない。家は人を招待して、もっと知るところのように思う。つまり、僕はおもてなしを人と仲良くなるために道具として使うんだ。

日本人と違うかな？仲良くなった後に友逹を家に招待する方は普通な気がするけど、もっと研究が必要。みんなはどう思う？

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When I was a kid, my parents invited all kinds of people to our home. Our home was kind of like a church, so we were a little different from your typical American. Every week, our house was quite lively. Until I was 15 years old, a bunch of kids my age came over, so I had a lot of fun. We'd play tag or ride bikes, stuff like that. As I got older, I would talk with the adults as well, but usually I just played.

When I turned 15, even though we moved to a different state, my parents still invited people over as usual. However, nobody my age came to our house, so I spent time with the adults instead. There was one older guy that I thought was funny, so I talked with him a lot. Because my dad knew a lot about the Bible and taught me a lot, and because I also took classes, I knew a lot too. There were often times when my dad would ask that older guy questions like we were in a lecture or something. When that happened, the guy would turn to me, I would whisper the answer to him, and then he'd give the answer to my dad.

Because I had experiences like that, I don't think it's strange to talk and spend time with people that are much older than me. Not only that, but I also don't think it's weird to invite people that I don't know very well over to my home. I feel like my home is a place to invite people and get to know them. In other words, I use hospitality to get to know people better.

I wonder if Japanese people are different? I get the feeling it's more normal for Japanese to invite someone over to their house after they become friends with them, but I need to do my research. What does everybody else think?

一体、なぜ江戸時代の女性のことを研究しているんだろう？・Why the heck am I researching stuff about women during the Edo period?

この２，３日間前、この学期の最後のプロジェクトを完了するために、江戸時代の女性のことを研究していたんだ。「女大学」や遊女のことについて読んでいたとき、「一体、なぜこうなったんだろう？」と考えた。

最初に、日本のビジネスの文化に興味があって、当然に女性が性差別されることが出てきたね。その後、単身赴任のことも知った。友達は「単身赴任する男の人は可哀想」と言ったら、もっとジェンダー関係に関してことを気になった。同時に、右脳と左脳のことに興味があって、ちょっと右脳で絵を描きたくなった。女性は一般的に男性より右脳を使いやすいので、僕はもっとバランスの人になるために右脳を使えるようになりたかった。

そして、去年、ビジネスの先生は女性学に関して本をくれてから、今、日本歴史と文化の授業を取っている。最後のプロジェクトを決めたとき、「ジェンダー関係」にして、先生は井原西鶴の「好色五人女」という本をおすすめした。

意外と面白い道に進んでいる。

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For the past two or three days, I've been researching women during the Edo period in order to finish my final project for this quarter. While reading about stuff like "Greater Learning for Women" and prostitutes, I wonder how I gotten to that point.

At first, I was interested in Japanese business culture, and naturally the topic of discrimination against women came up. After that, I learned about tanshinfunin. When my friend said she felt sorry for guys doing tanshinfunin, I became more interested in gender relations related stuff. At the same time, I was interested in left-brain/right-brain stuff and started wanting to learn to write with my right-brain. Women, in general, tend to use their right-brains more than men, so I figured that in order to be a more balanced person, it I wanted to use my right brain more.

Then, last year, my business teacher gave me a book related to women's studies, and then now I'm here taking a class on Japanese history and culture. When I decided on my final project, I went with "gender relations", so the teacher recommended I read Ihara Saikaku's "Five Women Who Loved Love".

I'm going down a surprisingly interesting path.

日本は過去に変な文化があった・Japan Had a Weird Culture in the Past

今学期、いろいろな日本の歴史や文化に関して事を勉強している。まあ、授業は普通だけど、日本の過去の文化は変だった。平安時代の文化は特に変だったけど、江戸時代の最後まで、日本人は色々変なことをした。日本人の先生も本当に変だったと言うほど変だった。例えば、学期の授業の最初の教科書は源氏物語だった。全部読まなかったけど、読んだ内容から批判したら、その次代の日本人はなんか女っぽかった。その上、眉毛を剃ったり、お歯黒にしたり、簡単に他人と関係を持ったりした。

ヨーロッパにも歴史的にそんなセックスに関して文化があったけど、江戸時代の人たちもそんな文化があるそうだ。ヨーロッパにはキリスト教の影響に与えられたため、セックスは汚いことのように思われた。（今は違うけどね）なので、江戸時代の日本のような自由を欠いていた。

それより、簡単に自殺する文化は特に変だった。ただの小説や映画のことだけか分からないけど、本当に若い人は愛のためや、急に好きな生活を失ったら、自殺する場合があった。変じゃない？心中天網島っていう映画には、結婚している男と売春婦は一緒に自殺する約束して、結局、そうした。なぜ２人で逃げて他の町や村に新しい生活を始めないのかと思った。他の本でもその簡単に自殺する文化を見るんだから、それは歴史的に正確なんだと思うしかないけど、欧米の歴史にそんな文化がなかったので、本当に存在したのことが信じにくいね。

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This quarter, I've been learning all kinds of stuff about Japanese culture and history. Well, the class is normal, but Japanese past culture was really weird. The culture of the Heian period was especially weird, but Japanese people up until the end of the Edo period did some strange stuff. It was so weird that even my teacher, a Japanese person, says that it was weird. For example, my class' first textbook this quarter was The Tale of Genji. We didn't read the whole thing, but from what we read, people during that time were kinda feminine. On top of that, they shaved their eyebrows, blackend their teeth, and would easily have sex with other people.

In Europe, historically they had a similar sex-related culture, but even people during the Edo period seem to have had that culture. Because of influence from Christianity, sex was considered dirty in Europe. (It's different now, though.) So, they lacked the freedoms found in Edo-period Japan.

What was even weirder was the culture of committing suicide easily. I don't know if it's just something from novels and movies, but there were times when really young people would commit suicide for the sake of love or because they suddenly lost their preferred lifestyle. In the movie called Double Suicide, a married man and a prostitute promise to, and eventually do, commit suicide together. I'm not sure why they didn't just run away to a different city or village and start a new life together. In other books I see that same culture of easy-suicide, so all I can do is assume that it's historically accurate, but since we don't have that kind of culture in Western culture, it's hard to believe that it actually existed.