Kindergarten

[imomus]

There's a kindergarten just around the corner from my new flat with lovely folksy decorations. This morning I snapped a few pictures of them.



I was going to give you some spiel about how pre-school decorations like these are a direct route to national particularity, and how much more interesting I find the rooted, quirky imagery here than the "rebellious" (but in fact monocultural and conformist) imagery showcased by the trendy shops slowly taking over storefronts here with their denim and trainers. I was going to talk about how, along with the dress-styles of the elderly, the kindergarten was an exemplary reservoir of "Germanness", reproducing national identity as a series of values to its multi-ethnic pupils at their tiny desks. And I was going to state again that while I'm all for the preservation of national flavours, I'm not for rigid links between national flavours and ethnic groups. Anybody can be the "guardian" of these national flavours, not just an ethnic German. Anyone can go in and rewrite the code.

But then an interesting man came along and told me that his daughter had gone to this school, and that the person who runs it is Polish. So these decorations might be "reproducing Polishness". Suddenly the owl and the little grey woollen kitten looked incredibly Polish to me. Had I got my national stereotypes wrong?

Perhaps not; the putative Polishness of the school didn't contradict my thoughts about the arbitrary nature of national identity. If "anyone can go in and rewrite the code," if national identity is "open source", why shouldn't German imagery be disseminated to the next generation by a Pole? And why shouldn't there be a certain amount of Polishness in Germanness? The border, after all, is just an hour away.

Comments

[rob.rabiee.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Of course, you're absolutely right. This is why I ended my post with a question: I never once, in my admittedly Western-centric socialist worldview, stopped to consider the age of the country or its basic demographics. Thank you for shining some light on this for me.

And yes, he should show a little "give and take," as we'd say, in his desire to be integrated into Japanese society. Still, a deep part of me can't help but cringe when I see "Japanese Only" signs: for an American, it conjures up images of "Whites Only" lunch counters in the segregated South. Being a Southerner by birth, raised by a woman who was deeply involved in the civil rights struggle there, "______ Only" signage is an immediate switch.

I still hold that the desire for racial/cultural homogeneity is a dangerous trend. But if it is to be changed, it should be by the Japanese, not a pandering, holier-than-thou gaijin with a chip on his shoulder.

Additionally, in a nation the size of Japan, his four or five examples of "segregation of non-Japanese" are fairly minor: hardly an epidemic. I was treated with absolute respect and hospitality by everyone I encountered there, but it was predicated on (as you say) an understanding and respect for the cultural values around me.

Incidentally, what (in your experience) is the "young Japanese" perspective on this kind of signage? Disdain? Passive acceptance? Support?

[rob.rabiee.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

"(your experience)" should be extrapolated to the experiences of the thread-writers in general. I'm really interested in this, and looking for some good, non-reactionary perspectives!

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

Oh! I am not Japanese! Hahaha. But the Japanese young people I know...we've actually discussed it shortly before, and they think the signs are awful. But they're "Americanized," so to speak.

Yes, those "Japanese Only" signs are sort of saddening, and it must be powerful to someone like you who was raised in the South. But I think that guy's reaction to them is completely wrong. Do not file lawsuits, make a lot of noise, because it will just prove to the Japanese that Americans are lawsuit-crazy, and pushy. The best thing to do, since Japanese are still a "tender-minded, tender-hearted," considerate people, is to set the best example you can, prove to them that foreigners are not a danger. Although they technically bear the burden of proof, it's still better to take it on yourself.

Yes, you are definitely correct in the opinions you defend! I once defended xenophobic Japanese villagers who do not welcome foreigners at all from my aunt, and she countered with, "shouldn't hospitality always be valued?" and I could not disagree with her. Hospitality, kindness, warmth should always be valued more than harmony, and sometimes, more than even the sanctity of culture.

Unfortunately, that guy is still an asshat. *laughs*

[rob.rabiee.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Oh, totally! He's horrid. I kind of wrote that post before hopping on the 5 to work, so I didn't have time to investigate his site fully. Totally unbearable. And annoying grin, as well. We'd better watch out, tho - he sued a BBS for libel based on what an anonymous poster said...and won. We don't want Momus to get slapped with an injunction!

Hospitality, kindness, warmth should always be valued more than harmony, and sometimes, more than even the sanctity of culture.

Absolutely agreed! Here here!

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was Futaba channel, right? How anxious one can be to destroy freedom of speech when it's something that hurts your feelings, or your reputation. Freedom of speech means freedom of misinformation, in my opinion. And it's not libel if it's not published! Oh, dear. Now I get this image of him smugly sitting in the courtroom, as all the judges agree, "shou ga nai, ne."

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I've never seen "Japanese only" signs anywhere in Japan, and I've bathed a lot there. From what I understand, the sentos in Hokkaido that do display these have had problems with Russian sailors. But they don't want to discriminate specifically against Russians, so they put "Japanese only". But it's literally a handful. And DA's approach to the problem simply takes the Russian sailors' aggression to a legal level. As a solution, it's dead on arrival.