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The first chapter I read in Global Society: Introducing Five contemporary Societies, Third Edition by Linda Schneider and Arnold Silverman, entitled “Japan: A Conforming Culture,” It appears on pages 3 through 66. Japan is a society in crisis. It is a culture that is highly resistant to change; a society that places a high value on each member’s conformity within highly structured layers of Japanese society. Japan is an island nation, consisting of the four large islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Together they are approximately the size of Germany or the State of California, and it has a population of approximately 126 million people (3). Japan has a large population in relation to its land mass and as a consequence most Japanese people live crowded together in an urban corridor squeezed along the eastern edge of the Japanese islands. A result of this crowding is that Japanese place a high value on public harmony and the avoidance of any conflict, especially in public. Japanese norms require people to be willing to apologize and humble themselves, so much so that even after a minor auto accident each driver will jump out of their vehicle and bow to each other and apologize, instead of risking a very public confrontation. Frequently, Japanese will also employ the use of a go-between to negotiate a possible marriage. In this way, an individual can turn down a bride or groom without rejecting them to their face, thereby avoiding open disagreement or embarrassment of an individual (11). The Japanese are constantly reminded that their society is special, unique like no other, and are taught that the cultural homogeneity of Japanese society has a biological basis when in fact racial identity is a social belief and not a physical fact (9). While the Japanese people are not a separate race they are indeed a highly homogenous society. The lack of internal dissent allows them to merge their concepts of race and nationality to foster an unusually strong feeling of group solidarity and national purpose. Every level of Japanese society, from school authorities, to employers, government officials, parents and even media outlets reinforce the popular belief that Japan is special (10). Japan has historically been an isolated nation; resistant to foreign influences. It has “opened” itself to the outside world only a few times in its history. A first great turning point in Japanese history occurred during the seventh century A.D., when Japan was still a tribal society and possessed a weak national government. Through hierarchal diffusion, a prince of the ruling family began importing cultural practices from China, studying Chinese government and elaborate bureaucracy, it’s tax system and writing, even building Chinese-style cities as Japan had lacked even having towns. After 300 years Japan then retreated back to isolation in the ninth century, during which time the imported thoughts and ideas were slowly digested and given a distinct Japanese identity during its isolation that they then adopted as their own. It is important to understand that then and later, all of Japan’s foreign borrowings were voluntary. Japan was never conquered or colonized by another nation (3). During a relatively open period in the early 1600’s, Portuguese missionaries and traders were greeted with curiosity and interest, but the subsequent conversion of some 300,000 Japanese to Christianity by religious missionaries convinced Japanese rulers that things had gone too far and forced thousands of Japanese to renounce their religion or face execution. By 1638 they had ejected most foreigners and re-imposed an isolation from the rest of the world that resisted change. Laws forbade the Japanese from building ocean-going ships or traveling abroad, and only a few foreign traders were allowed to enter Japan. This period of refusal and rejection of contact with the West is referred to as the Tokugawa era (4). For most of its history, up until the Meiji Restoration, Japan was a society of hereditary status rankings: it was a caste society, aristocrat and samurai, commoner or outcaste. People were born into the caste of their parents and there were rules regulating what members of different castes were permitted to do and wear, regardless of what his or her talents were (3). The first opening of Japanese society, commonly referred to as the Meiji Restoration, occurred in 1853, when the American Navy under Admiral Dewey forced Japan to open it’s ports to American ships and sign a series of trade treaties (5).
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