East or West ?

Murder

Suicide

JAPAN (125M)

Homicides 600 .50

Suicides 32,000 24.9

USA (300M)

Homicides 13,000 5.5

Suicides 32,000 11.1

Number Per 100,000

World Health Organization 2007NationMasterCrime in the United States 2005. Department of Justice

1. Ladies first

2. No!

3. Slurping soup

4. Gift-giving

5. White chrysanthemums

6. Fashionably late

East or West?

7. Working overtime

8. CEO bonuses

8. Getting drunk

9. Touching in public

10.Candor and openness

11.Scissors as a gift

Three Principles of Social Behavior in Japan:

Rank

Harmony

Consensus

What would you do?

Have a student club meeting at night. Paper due the next day.

A) Attend meeting, work all night on paper

B) Explain conflict, skip meeting

What would you do?

Have a student club meeting at night. Paper due the next day.

A) Attend meeting, work all night on paper

49% Japanese17% American

B) Explain conflict, skip meeting

35% Japanese73% American

Who is the leader?

A) Quiet competent senior

B) Eager outgoing junior

C) Extremely knowledgeable sophomore

What country is most innovative?

A) Japan

B) United States

Rank /Hierarchy (Tate Shakai)

• Sex (male)

• Age

• Position

• Company

• Family background

• Father is the authority figure in the family

• High respect for teachers(students seem passive)

Company Hierarchy

• Seniority based

• Promotes stable workforce

• Employees rarely job-hop

• Employment for life

• Senpai – kouhai relationships

The Art of Bowing

• Ceremonial—On knees, head touches ground

• Full 90—Rulers, presidents, parents & profs

• 45o—Older brothers, sisters, teachers, servers

• 30o—Subordinates, while walking

• Neck bob—Everyday gesture between equals

• Bow of shame—Head down

Harmony (wa)

• Group vs. individualistic ethic

• “We Japan” first

• Loyalty to groups and subgroups

• “I” means “with the approval of the group”

• Consensus over debates

• “Mavericks and lone-wolfs frowned upon”

• Greatest fear is to becomeostracized

“Japanese Culture: A Primer for Newcomers.” http://www.thejapanfaq.com/FAQ-Primer.html

Honne and Tatemae:

• Truth and pretext

• Real reason and façade

• “No” is avoided

• “Hai” does not mean “yes”!

• The diplomatic versus direct approach

• Effort to avoid hurting others & conflict

• The image of harmony

• “Let’s have dinner sometime”

• “I’ll think about it”

Interpersonal Relationships Based Upon Group Memberships

ACQUAINTENANCESOTHER COMPANY WORKERS

Your Group

FAMILY/CO-WORKERS

GENERAL PEOPLE

STRANGE FOREIGNERS (Gaijin)

Consensus

• Must always take into consideration feelings and attitude of group

• Young and lower ranking yield to elders

• Shouldn’t ask an individual in a group“what do you think”?

• Give group time to discuss issues among themselves

Company Life

Company Life

Company Life

Company Life

Business Meetings with Americans

• Seniority rules

• Seating matters

• No one really says what they mean

• You can’t ask them what they think

• Need to allow time for consensus-building

• “Hai” does not mean “yes”

• Becoming “tolerant” of women

• Harmony at all costs

Guests

Hosts1

2

3

1

2

3

4

4

The Iron Triangle & The Empty Center

• Politicians, business, bureaucracy

• “No one really runs the country”

• Tug-of-war for their own interests

• Consensus = no one assumes responsibility(lots of finger pointing)

• Bloated bureaucracy implements procedures

• Lots of red tape

• Top people are figureheads (will resign out of a sense of giri); not top-down management

“Japanese Culture: A Primer for Newcomers.” http://www.thejapanfaq.com/FAQ-Primer.html

Current Generational Crisis• “Japan has the worst generational inequality

in all the world”—Professor, Akita Univ.

• 40% of population will be 65 by 2055

• Mounting pension obligations

• Seniors holding onto corporate positions

• 45% of young workers (15-24) being given “irregular,” low paying dead-end jobs

• Only 57% of university grads getting jobs

Source: Martin Fackler, New York Times, January 28, 2011

Current Generational Crisis• Innovation and entrepreneurialism are being

thwarted

• Only 9% of Japanese entrepreneurs in their 20s (25% in US)

• Economic and social systems discourage young people from taking risks

• The traditional social ethic: “Be a corporate company man for life; slowly work your way up the ladder; get a pension”

• 35% of young workers not paying into legally-mandated pension plans

Source: Martin Fackler, New York Times, January 28, 2011

Takafumi Horie• Young Internet tycoon

• Wore teen shirts to board room meetings

• Started hostile takeovers

• Accused of securities fraud and falsifying records

• Demonized by media as a “symbol of an savory, freewheeling American-style capitalism”

• A hero to youth, with half-million Twitter followers (who believe he was “crushed by the reactionary status quo”)

Source: Martin Fackler, New York Times, January 28, 2011

Introduction toJapanese Culture

Japanese Art

• “The manifestation of the desire to be one with nature.”

• “Instead of reproducing visual scenes just as they appear to the eye, Japanese artists prefer to create scenery in a symbolic, stylized and repetitive manner.”

Isamu Kurita, “ SETSUGEKKA: Japanese Art and the Japanese View of Nature.”

Japanese Art

The “metaphysics” of nature:

• The passage of time (four seasons): Repetitive and orderly cycle of flux

• Invisible forces behind nature (form of a mountain, shape of a tree, violent storm): incomprehensible

• The energy that creates life (musubi: one life-giving spirit)

• West: Nature in Cartesian, material parameters (passive/static)

• East: Zoka: Creation and change

“The close rapport with zoka is the continuous thread that binds all of Japan’s most famous thinkers and artists through history--from Saigyo (1118-1190) and Sogi (1421-1502) to Sesshu (1420-1506) the ink painter to Rikyu (1522-1591), the great innovator of the tea ceremony.”

Japanese Art

• “The Japanese do not value a work of art merely as a product of human artistry and technical skill.”

• “…art is created as a suggestion of the greater realm of nature, providing a means by which a person, by gazing upon the work or taking it in hand, can come close to appreciate great truths that otherwise are beyond human ken.”

• “…a means to morally purify and elevate the world universe…and the beholder.”

Japanese Art

Japanese Art

Ikebana

Tea Ceremony

No Theatre

Haiku

Mono No Aware

Sesshu (1420-1506)

Traditional Paintings

Botticelli (1445-1510)

Setsugekka

SNOW (setsu) MOON (getsu) FLOWER (ka)• Buries all life

• Death / beauty

• Noh backdrop (life survives)

• Shinto: abode of god

• Wanes but ever present

• Reflected in a dew drop

• Buddhism: unchanging truth

• Wild unadultered state

• Grand natural flow: life and death

• Beauty and sadness

Cherry Blossoms Autumn Leaves

• The Tale of Genji: “Under the Cherry Blossoms” (Early 11th C)

• “Symbols of intangible phenomena…the unending cycle of birth, death and rebirth.”

Sansui (mountain - water )

Mountains: Sacred, spirits dwell Rivers: Cleanse soul

Universal framework of mankind

Ikebana

Ikebana• The Way of Flowers

• 6th Century

• Royalty and samurai families

• Teaching controlled by cloistered monks

Ikebana• 3 to 5 years to learn from masters

• As much an art as painting or sculpture

• Space around the flowers as important

• Different schools / different “philosophies”

• “Settles into own arrangement”

Haiku

Basho Matsuo (1644 ~ 1694))

Sleep on horseback,The far moon in a continuing dream,Steam of roasting tea.

Spring departs.Birds cryFishes' eyes are filled with tears

Fallen ill mid-journey .... About the burned fields

fly my broken dreams.

Haiku

Buson Yosa (1716 ~ 1783)

A kite floatsAt the place in the skyWhere it floated yesterday.

Being awakeHe says he is already asleep.Autumn chilly night.

The air shimmers.Whitish flightOf an unknown insect.

Haiku

Koi Nagata (1900 ~ 1997)

Fences standIn the field, habitat of snakes.She sews clothes.

A catfish laughs.It thinks of other catfishesIn other ponds.

A fireflyLights upAnother firefly dead.

Ceramics

Imperfections appreciated:

• Created in kiln by “wonderous, unpredictable, incomprehensible fire”

• Inherent limitations of human creative powers

Tea Ceremony

The Way of Tea

Chanoyu

Chaji

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea Ceremony

Tea CeremonyDate: Sunday, August 16, 1998Time: 1:00 p.m.Guests: Kazuyo Asano, Hiromi ImataniScroll: By Eido Shimano Abbot of Shobo-Ji and Kongo-Ji, NY, "Yume" (Dream) Flowers: CosmosKettle: Shinnari shapeBrazier: Chosen FuroIncense: Jinko Made by ShoeidoWater jar: Tomobuta Made by Mrs. AzumaLid Rest: BambooWater receptacle: Bronze falconer's pouchThick tea caddy: Copy of Tamba glaze name "Ikuno" Made by Katsuaki IchinoPouch: Araiso Donsu (Fish in waves)Tea scoop: By Bokudo Osho of Fukuju-In; name "Kankyo" (humble house) Tea bowl: Red Raku, box by Raitei Arima, Abbot of Shokoku-ji in Kyoto; name: Hoju (Precious ball)Thin tea caddy: Natsume shape; Black urushi lacquer Made by Masayoshi TakahashiTea bowl: Back Raku; copy of "Kamuro" by ChojiroMade by ShorakuThick tea: Seiun Packed by IppodoThin tea: Wa no Mukashi Packed by IppodoThick tea sweets: Kuzumochi Made by Kamakura Minamoto Kitcho AnContainer: Individual plate Made by Toshiko TakaezuThin tea sweets: Monaka Made by TorayaContainer: Plate with a handle Made by Shitomi TaniguchiRice: Steamed white riceSoup: Clear soup with egg tofu and somenMukozuke: Yamafugu sashimiFish: Spanish mackerel Yuan styleHashi arai: Hot water with sour plum flavorPickles: Daikon radish, cucumber and carrotSake: Koshi no Sasameyuki

Tea Ceremony

Yin & Yang

Wood

Fire

Earth

Metal

Water

Yin & Yang

Eight Trigrams

YANGYIN

Soft Wood4

5

Water1

Hard Metal6

Earth2

Soft Metal7

Hard Wood3

Earth8

Fire9

EASTWEST

Eight Trigrams

Eldest daughter

Middle son

Father

Mother

Youngest daughter Eldest son

Youngest son

Middle daughter

Eight Trigrams

Wind

WaterMoon

HeavenLeader

“Mother”Earth

Lake / Marsh Thunder

MountainYouth

BrightnessSunFire

Eight Trigrams

YANGYIN

Hips & buttocks

Liver, kidneysinner ear

Head & lungs

Abdomen& reproductive

organs

Mouth Throat

Hands & spine

Eyes & heart

No Theatre

1.Curtain 2.Third Pine 3.Bridge 4.Second Pine 5.First Pine 6.Shite pillar 7.Eye-fixing pillar 8.Flute pillar 9.Waki pillar 10.Cut-through door 11.Back panel 12.Main Stage 13.Moat Steps 14.Pebble Moat 15.Side Stage 16.Rear Stage 17.Mirror Room

No Theatre

No Theatre

No Theatre

Transverse flute (nohkan)

Drum(kotsuzumi)

Floor drum(taiko)

Larger drum(okawa or otsuzumi)

No Theatre

No Theatre

Ko-omote Hannya Chujo Ko-jo O-tobide

No Theatre

Woman Heavenly-being Demoness

Old man Warrior Demon god

No Theatre

Buddhism

Seated Amida (Amitabha) with Raigo MudraLacquered and gilt cypress wood

Height: 140.2 cmLate Heian Period (Mid-11th Century)

(Kyoto National Museum)

Eastern vs. Western Religions

• Humans are one with nature

• Spiritual and physical are one

• Time is circular

• Enlightenment: attainment of oneness with the universe

• Non-anthropomorphic “God”

• Humans are above nature

• Body and soul

• Time is linear

• Heaven is personal reward for good life

• Anthropomorphic God

Basic Concepts

The Three Jewels

• Buddha

• Dhamma

• Sangha

Basic Concepts

The Four Noble Truths

• Life is suffering.

• Desire causes suffering.

• Suffering can be ended.

• The noble 8-fold path can lead one to enlightenment.

The Eightfold PathMORALITY

• Right speech

• Right action

• Right livelihood

ATTITUDE

• Right effort

• Right mindfulness

• Right concentration

WISDOM

• Right understanding

• Right thoughts

Enlightenment

• Purity of mind.

• Total negation of ego and desire.

• Free of the pollution of the world.

• One with the nothingness that is everything.

Karma

• The universe is a cosmic network: “Ran falls, winds blow, plants bloom, leaves mature and are blown away.”

• Each node and mesh of the net has its place.

• Man is just another dot; to violate the order is to sin against the universe.

• Good karma, bad karma.

History & Sects

• 600 BC—Shinto

• 530BC—Confucianism

• 500 BC—Taoism (not Buddhist)

• 3rd C—Pure Land (Amitahba Buddha)

• 7th C-12th C—Zen

• 7th C—Shingon (private/mantras)

• 8th C—Tendai (Mahayana—Great Vehicle); Enlightenment for all

• 6Th C—Hinayana (Small Vehicle);not all can be saved; monastic

Amida Buddha

• Mahāyāna Buddhism

• Pure Land sect

• Open acceptance of all people

• Mantra: recite name 10 times

• Rays reach out to all people in world

• Gesture: raised hand = wisdom lower hand = lowly people

Zen Koans

• What is the sound of one hand clapping?