I’ve lived in Japan 40 years but I didn’t know about this, perhaps because I’m not much of a drinker. But the community feeling you describe is a big part of what I love about Japan — the no-frills, flip over a crate, style of interaction.
I’ve lived in Japan 40 years but I didn’t know about this, perhaps because I’m not much of a drinker. But the community feeling you describe is a big part of what I love about Japan — the no-frills, flip over a crate, style of interaction.
The "no-frills, flip over a crate, style of interaction” is such an important part of Japan. Yet it is almost unknown abroad, where Japan is so often still portrayed as stiff, formal and thoroughly hierarchical.
What do you think explains this misapprehension about Japan's formality? As a pretty naive American, my impressions before reading people like Craig Mod & Sam were definitely about thorough hierarchies, etc. Is this a matter of class, where only elites are represented in external-facing discourse? Is it just Othering from Westerners? Has Japan changed to make it more welcoming, or are we as outsiders just learning to look with better eyes?
I think part of it is that Western stereotypes of Japan were formed in the 1970s and 80s, when many of the people visiting were coming for business and experiencing rigid corporate formalities, getting wined and dined by six levels of branch managers and regional directors and VPs. But in general social interaction in Japan is very contextual, so people in intimate settings engage completely differently than a hospitality or service setting, where a flight attendant or waiter isn’t going to act like your friend like they do in the US. That’s why common spaces like kakuuchi are important
I’ve lived in Japan 40 years but I didn’t know about this, perhaps because I’m not much of a drinker. But the community feeling you describe is a big part of what I love about Japan — the no-frills, flip over a crate, style of interaction.
Thanks for reading! Soft drinks are usually available! :)
The "no-frills, flip over a crate, style of interaction” is such an important part of Japan. Yet it is almost unknown abroad, where Japan is so often still portrayed as stiff, formal and thoroughly hierarchical.
What do you think explains this misapprehension about Japan's formality? As a pretty naive American, my impressions before reading people like Craig Mod & Sam were definitely about thorough hierarchies, etc. Is this a matter of class, where only elites are represented in external-facing discourse? Is it just Othering from Westerners? Has Japan changed to make it more welcoming, or are we as outsiders just learning to look with better eyes?
I think part of it is that Western stereotypes of Japan were formed in the 1970s and 80s, when many of the people visiting were coming for business and experiencing rigid corporate formalities, getting wined and dined by six levels of branch managers and regional directors and VPs. But in general social interaction in Japan is very contextual, so people in intimate settings engage completely differently than a hospitality or service setting, where a flight attendant or waiter isn’t going to act like your friend like they do in the US. That’s why common spaces like kakuuchi are important