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13 Four years of heaven
Because the idea that Japan is a singularly homogeneous nation is one of the central notions that Koreans in Kyoto wish to interrogate, I looked in various places to see where and in what fashion this notion can be found. One of the places where this idea has some currency is in universities in Kyoto.
Going off to a university marks the first time when many young adult Japanese find a period of relative independence and a lack of demands on their time. It is a time when personal, cultural and other pursuits are available and expected. College years are remembered by many as the best of times. The college lifestyle in Japan has been called “four years of heaven” for its lack of pressure and surplus of free time. It is a pivotal period in the skilling of the emerging adult in the adult skills of consumer capitalism: a time when preferences and attitudes congeal. And so I would often inquire of the students in the university classes I was teaching about the types of activities they were pursuing (this was mainly a ploy to encourage them to respond about topics of interest).
Two pronounced outcomes emerged from these discussions: a sharing of common interests throughout the class (a near unanimity of tastes), and a lack of interest in any of the forms of “traditional” Japanese cultural practice (such as tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Kabuki or Noh theater). Such practices did not fit into the age-group repertoire of shared interests—and just at what age and within what group they will, in the future, fit is another interesting question. Karaoke, on the other hand, was favored by virtually all students.
- “In the case of Japan, its very homogeneity—the common language, shared history, and extraordinary sense of “we-ness” that Japanese people feel—creates a strong basis within inferior-superior relationships for status inferiors to believe superiors capable of understanding their situation, a basis that is often missing in societies with major language, religious, ethnic, or other differences.
(Pharr 1990, 30)”Virtually none of my students (out of about 300) would admit to an attraction for Japanese traditional theatre, and none would admit1 knowing the name of any Kabuki or Noh play or actor. Conversely, most were familiar with a wide range of internationally marketed music (several could name many Seattle grunge-rock bands) and films. Despite this devotion to international commodities, more than eighty-percent responded that Japan is a culturally homogeneous nation.
The reasons for this were simple, they argued, noting the circumstances of living on an island nation, with a language that is geographically specific to the national space, and a common heritage, both in history and as a people. But when I pressed for the content they would use to describe this homogeneous culture, I found that this was not informed by a narrative of ancient rice culture, nor a long history of elite cultural production, but rather the products of modern industrialization: televisions, VCRs, automobiles, cameras, video games, anime (cartoons), and karaoke.
“We Japanese” manufacture the best electronics in the world. “We Japanese” have the highest per-capita income in the world. The content has changed, but the message is as strong as ever.
1Of course, such an admission may mark the student as different from their classmates in terms of their taste, much as an admission of liking classical music might in a Junior High classroom in the US. But then these were university students, and this is the primary period of their lives when they have the free time to acquire new tastes.
