Japanese babies

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with the conception of the Japanese as conceiving of the world differently. It seems to be related to religious background, a bit of the Shinto Buddhism influence. But one thing I've always loved about the Japanese greeting system is the consistency. It's easy to get greetings out of the way for all sorts of occasions because they're very often the same. I once stood in a line of guests at a wedding in Japan, and I was worried about coming up with something original to say, but the preceding 8 guests simply said, 「おめでとうございます！」(Congratulations) and then just moved on. When it was my turn, I just dropped off my present, my congratulations, and moved on, easy as pie.

[Anonymous]

Really interesting. I agree with you that talking to your baby about relationships is something that we Americans do not do. I wonder if the mothers try to teach the children about reading facial expressions too.

I remember as a child when my brother came to visit, via Japan. He worked for Seiko watch company. He shared with me the custom that you always bring a gift for your host. I suppose I was such a self centered and spoiled American, this never occurred to me. I thought it so wonderful to get the gift, but now have tried to instill that in my own son, to be thoughtful and bring a gift when he is going to visit, as he did to Poland one summer.

I agree that the Japanese are extremely gracious. I have had two sister-in-laws who were Japanese.

[Anonymous]

Another odd thing, and I don't know if American moms do this as actively, not really running with that crowd, but Japanese moms living in 'mansions', what we would call condominiums actively plan when they're taking their children in the nearby park, a mandatory feature for each aforementioned mansion, and, as a group of moms and kids, play at the park and sometimes is spills over into shopping after or a bite to eat as a collective.

[Anonymous]

I believe Americans have certainly gotten away from the art of being courteous and polite to others. I just left the Ron Clark Academy and I was astonished at how respectful and well mannered those African American middle school students were. Everything was 'Yes sir' and "No ma'am". And they shook hands with a good firm grip. These are the ones who will do well global business (in fact the whole 6th grade is in Japan this week staying with a host family!).

[Anonymous]

I agree with your observations you noted of the Japanese people and culture. I grew up with a number of Japanese friends. It was odd to see the comparisons between them and first generation Latinos. There was an importance of family and honor. The focus was on the family not on the individual. Anything you did would be a reflection on the family. Both cultures pushed to better themselves. Youth was to respect their elders. An individual carried this notion to school and work. It was common to see grandparents living with the family. it was they who taught the language and customs to the children. It was important to maintain and share culture. Today, it is not as strong. The Japanese still practice this. The Chinese do not, but get confused and mistaken with other Asians.

[Anonymous]

very interesting article, can you post the link?

I agree that my experience with Japanese families are very much about the personal feelings rather than tangible stuff. The emails I receive from Japanese students are the more gracious ones and I appreciate those so much more!

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I just read an interesting article about a study of how how Japanese mothers speak to their babies and the effects on child development. Japanese mothers speak of feelings, greetings, family , and anticipated reactions. The argument is that Western children learn about tangible objects and material things. The contention is that Japanese children see grow to see a world of relationships rather than a world of "stuff." This would certainly have implications in the world of business, as the Japanese see the business world as based on shared principles and long-term relationships, not the greedy "winner take all at all costs" mentality in the West.
My personal experience with Japanese people, both in America and Japan, would certainly bear this out. The Japanese are far more polite, mild-mannered, cooperative, and sensitive to personal feelings than their American counterparts. Even in disagreement, Japanese will go out of their way to avoid personal offense.

[Anonymous]

The notion of of Japanese focusing on relationships rather than material items is interesting, though perhaps delicate. I think with this it is very easy to generalize.
Below, there are certain customs mention such as bringing gifts for your host, etc. This is something I was taught to do as a part of my upbringing. I don't think that some of these customs are uniquely Asian, Latino, etc.... And as reluctant as I may be to buy into American culture at times, I think its too easy to generalize and say that "Americans" are getting away from these customs. I think certain lifestyles throughout the world are leading to the loss of good relationships. I'm sure this is a result of industrialization, technology and focus on productivity. Simply put, the rat race. It's becoming harder to survive in the world today. I believe this contributes to our loss in terms of relationships. People are too busy to pursue valuable relationships because they are "trying to survive" or be "productive."
While it's nice to romanticize about child development, I believe, yes, the actions of Japanese mothers are indeed helpful to the development of social skills. However, how one reacts to their workload, involvement with technology . . . etc plays a direct role on their social abilities. Perhaps this is something that should be discussed among all cultures. How can we take the actions of these Japanese mothers and further them to teach students that later in life, they need to balance these things in order to not become a cold part of a mechanical/technologically dependent society?

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