Token Cultural Sharing
Ok, maybe I’m frustrated pretty badly with Japan at the moment. Maybe I’m annoyed that the temperature has dropped severely. Maybe a survey I just answered about living here for the local non-profit organization dredged up some lousy memories. (Might post about that later.) Maybe the whole fingerprinting all foreigners deal to “prevent terrorism” still seems pretty raw to me. Or, maybe I’ve always been slightly put off by well meaning, but patronizing, one way cultural sharing. If this post is slightly snarky, it’s me – so please forgive the cynicism.
The article reproduced above is from the Ehime Newspaper’s November 20th (Tuesday) Edition, Number 44711, on page 8 in the Regional section. It’s a harmless little story about some foreign folks gathering to wear kimonos and drink tea, thanks to the kind people of a local guide club. (I am not being snarky yet! I appreciate local clubs and what they do – I would totally attend, and indeed have attended, gatherings like this. So don’t get me wrong.) Lemme do a quick text reproduction and translation, and then I’ll get at what bothered me about the story.
愛媛新聞11月２０日火曜日第４４７１１号；地方（ページ８）
着物お手前ベリー・グッド
新居浜・旧広瀬邸 留学生 和のひととき外国人に日本の伝統文化に触れてもらおうと、新居浜市上原二丁目の国の重要文化財旧広瀬邸で十八日、お茶会があり、同市や周辺の外国人が和服姿でお茶の接待を受けた。
国際ボランティア活動をしている新居浜ガイドクラブ（木下昌子代表）が主催し、約十人の留学生や研修生が参加した。
髪を結い、着物を着せてもらった参加者は、慣れない足取りでお茶席へ移動。お茶会のテーマは「深まりゆく秋、産業遺産」。篠笛（しのぶえ）の演奏が響きわたる中、旧広瀬邸内庭の赤や黄色に色づいた木々を観賞しながら、新座敷で抹茶を味わった。
カナダ出身のアネット・フォンダさんは「着物を着るのがこんなに難しいとは。大変な手間を掛けて、美しさを求める日本の伝統文化に感銘を受けた。絶対に今日の体験を忘れない」と話した。
[写真の表題：旧広瀬邸新座敷で、お茶会を楽しむ外国人留学生ら]
Here’s my rough English translation.
Ehime Newspaper, Nov. 20 (Tuesday) Number 44711; Page 8 Region Section
“Very Good” Kimono Etiquette
Niihama’s Former Hirose Estate – Exchange Students – Moment of PeaceIn order to bring foreigners into contact with Japanese traditional culture, foreigners from the city and its outskirts were welcomed by wearing kimonos at a tea ceremony held in the new tatami room of Niihama’s historic former Hirose Estate, an important cultural asset in the Uehara 2-chome area, on the 18th this month.
The event was sponsored by the Niihama Guide Club (the President of which is Masako Kinoshita), which is involved in international volunteer activities. Approximately 10 foreign exchange students and trainees took part in the event.
The participants, who had their hair put up and were dressed in kimonos, moved to their seats, still unfamiliar with the restrictive leg movement caused by the garments. The tea ceremony’s theme was “deepening autumn, industrial heritage.” The participants drank green tea while enjoying the shinobue flute’s performance reverberating through the red and yellow trees of the inner courtyard at the former Hirose Manor.
Canadian Annette Fonda said, “I didn’t know wearing a kimono would be so difficult. Taking so much time and trouble to put it on, I got a deep impression of Japan’s traditional cultural demand for beauty. I will never forget my experience today.”
[Caption： (Foreigner) international exchange students enjoying a tea ceremony in the new tatami room of the former Hirose Estate.]
Pretty harmless article, right? Yeah, it really is. But a few things made me cock my right eyebrow up into a dramatic arch. This article is ostensibly about introducing foreigners who live in rural Japan to Japanese culture. You can’t move without slamming into traditional Japanese culture here. I think that the notion that you need to make an extra effort is kind of silly. I think the point of the story was to release the word that a tatami room renovation had been completed at a tourist attraction, to be honest. These girls were very likely playing along – I’d be shocked if they’d never done a tea ceremony before. (Wearing a kimono is a bit of a rare experience, though, I’ll admit. Still, it’s Japan.)
My feeling is that Japanese people are more comfortable interacting with foreign people when they are on familiar turf. My subjective anecdotal evidence: at bunkasai “cultural” festivals at schools, I get asked to perform a foreign thing (or a Japanese thing, sometimes) for Japanese people and all of my kids sell junk food at stalls; at multicultural festivals I get to drink tea and talk about traditional Japanese aesthetics. One is passive, one is active. When it comes to engaging, the folks around here prefer to do the teaching. The foreigners are here to learn about Japan, after all. Multiculturalism is a one-way valve here. Foreigners get taught, Japanese get entertained. Dress the foreigner up in Japanese clothes and enjoy their inability to walk properly. Comment that they can use chopsticks very well, the rocket science that it is. Sigh.
The other odd thing I noticed was the use of 外国人留学生. That strikes me as a redundant, slightly odd term. 外国人 means “foreigner” and 留学生 means “a student studying abroad, an international student.” So….why emphasize the foreignness like that? (This is a natural thing, by the way. I think the answer is that Japanese people use the term 留学生 to describe their own students who go abroad, and add “foreigner” to distinguish between the two. It’s likely just my foreigner hypersensitivity.) And yes, there is a word for simple “exchange student,” as in one who transfers between schools for a set period of time in place of another student. 交換学生 means exchange student. Literally exchange and student.
Anyway, like I said, I’m feeling grumpy and snarky today. I’ve always opposed token diversity and token multiculturalism. In Japan I feel that the token multiculturalism is a lot less dangerous than it is in other countries, but it is still frustrating. The efforts made by these clubs and groups simply and unfortunately aim inward towards Japan and stay within. They don’t teach the population at large, and they don’t learn anything purposefully from foreign people except English (to the degree that they do). Meanwhile, foreign folks are being fingerprinted and photographed, carded by non-police entities at whim, and generally adopting a grin and bear it stance. I hope Japan changes, but I know it will take time. In the meantime, well meaning feel good stories like this one will continue to draw my skeptic’s eye, and I will continue to attend tea ceremonies and “international events” so that I may be enlightened. They mean well. Really, they do.
