Surveillance and The Loud American

As foreigners in Japan we are asked to assimilate ourselves in the culture. We are also asked to promote internationalization and show people about our culture. It is an interesting mixture of do-as-the-Romans do and something entirely different.

So one is both a guest in a foreign culture and a representative of one's own culture. It would be just as useless to reject conforming to some of the customs here as it would be to reject all of your own customs.

In the past four months I have adapted to the customs here a great deal. I have been a good internationalist, mindful of humbly bowing to even the strangers of my town. It matters to me that people here know that I respect them and that I wish to have a positive presence in the town. There are, of course, things that I simply cannot do (like be fluent in the native language here) or that doing would require me to give up who I am. In other words I cannot work like the Japanese teachers work here. I cannot get up at six and work in the office until six everyday. For one I am not supposed to, for another, I am not given the level of responsibility that these teachers are so it would make no sense for me. I am always the exception, always the awkwardly tall light-skinned man with facial hair. Many people in my position feel the same way.

But there have been some interesting developments and realizations. It did not take long to notice that to most people here I am nothing but a foreigner, an English speaker. I am not a particular individual, but a general English-speaking, white foreigner. That means that for the most part I have lost any form of social identity that goes past that most simple characterization. That is partly because of my lack of the language, but the same goes for many of my friends who are fluent because, unless they know someone well the Japanese will assume the same about them. (They are always astonished at our use of Japanese, our ease with chopsticks (a common compliment), and our taste for Nato and pickled plum, "Really?! You like Natto!" (it did take some time to get used to)).

But these details about the people here suggest something else as well. It suggests that not only are foreigners bunched together in the dominant Japanese worldview, but so are the Japanese themselves. There is a certain, relatively high, degree of expectation that Japanese people will adhere to certain universal standards of the culture. It is similar in other cultures (even America) but more pronounced here because the culture is so much more specific. There are not ten or twenty different phrases (including complete ignorance of the customer) for welcoming a customer in your shop (like in NYC), there are one or two. Similarly, there are very specific guidelines for behavior at school and in the office as well as complicated forms of speech that are used depending on the rank and class of those who you are speaking to.

This is all only news to you out there who have not lived in Japan and are not very familiar with Japanese culture. I think that otherwise this will all sound pretty normal to you.

Which brings me to one last point. Koizumi and his "Liberal" "Democratic" Party (LDP) are thinking of requiring a new form of identification for foreigners that would involve fingerprinting and a computer chip implanted in the card. The ID would be required to be on person at all times. It has been deemed the "IC You card." For more information see: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20051122zg.htm

The fact that the LDP has no real competitor and that people seem to do whatever they tell them to do makes me feel uneasy. Soon I may be little more than another subject of the state, complete with implanted computer chip. This is not just a worry for Japan, however, it is also a worry for places like France and America who have considered or, in some cases implemented, similar programs (Patriot Act, etc.).

Being one who enjoys the high level of freedom I am lucky to have been granted in my life I am careful about ways in which that freedom could be lost. For example, I am careful not to take a job that would drain me of all free time to be creative on my own (even if my job were also creative). So there are certainly times when an outside force that is beyond my grip of influence can actually come down on me and threaten to diminish certain kinds of freedom (like anonymity). And that's why I insist to hold on to my individuality despite the social realities here that cannot contain it, analyze it, understand it, or even see it (unless it is visually on me like my facial hair or clothes). (I must admit that I too am guilty of being blind to parts of people here because of my language gap.) If we do not paint ourselves so as to fit in then just maybe the government will realize that the non-Japanese in Japan are not happy when they feel ever watched, ever documented, ever foreign, and ever de-individualized.