Many People, One Common Background

Many have said that Japan is a collectivist society, and I believe that they are correct in their observations. Trends catch on fast, and they seem to be followed by many (if not everyone) and then die out and are followed by a whole new trend. Unfortunately though, it seems that many people in the west believe this to be a problem. I believe that Japan’s collectivist/group mentality has a lot of positive externalities. As I have discussed in previous posts, Japan is incredibly clean, safe, and full of hard workers (I do believe that all of these are direct results of Japanese group thinking).

One thing that I have never really heard discussed is how accessible Japan is because of their common cultural background. When you meet a Japanese person, you already know a lot about them that makes it so much easier to converse with. I understand that diversity provides a lot of benefits, but I find that it would be much harder to study an “American” lifestyle/person, whereas it would be much easier to study a “Japanese” lifestyle/person.

This common cultural background has helped me out a lot when living here in Japan. I know when I walk in to a Japanese home what to expect, or when I speak to people I know what is considered taboo or what they like to talk about. It also seems to create and keep the harmony that is present in Japan. No one wants to disrupt the harmony, so therefore nobody does. The trains are always quiet and the streets are always clean (and yet there are never any trash cans in site…). No one wants to go against the grain, and this seems to be why Japan works so well. Again, I do understand that going with the flow is not always a positive (I am still an American), but I kinda like it.

I love this country.