Japan’s Cultural Code Words
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This book is a study of Japanese society through the understanding of the key terms and concepts that define their attitudes and behaviors. The best and fastest way to an understanding of the traditional and emotional side of Japanese attitudes and behavior is through their "business and cultural code words"-key terms that reveal, in depth, their psychology and philosophy. In 234 essays, arranged alphabetically from "Ageashi / Tripping on Your Own Tongue" to "Zenrei / Breaking the Molds of the Past". Long term expatriate and internationally renowned expert on Japan, Boye Lafayette De Mente offers personal insights into the extremes of Japanese behavior and into the dynamics of one of the world’s most fascinating societies. (Amazon)
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2004
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Tuttle Publishing
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Reviews
Please login to review this resourceReview of Japan's Cultural Code Words
Jeff Tripodi
Social Studies teacher, grades 9-12
Blackhawk High School
Nominally a guide for business travelers, "Japan’s Cultural Code Words” doubles as a unique study of Japanese culture and language. The book’s subtitle claims that its 233 terms “explain the attitudes and behavior of the Japanese,” a promise it (mostly) delivers on.
In the introductory “Two Faces of Japan” preface, De Mente lays out a fundamental duality of Asian culture – the constant conflict between self-expression and conformity – and posits that by studying language and idiom, one can unlock the character of the Japanese people.
The terms are arranged alphabetically; as a result there is no narrative flow. However, as you make your way through the text, it becomes evident that most of the words/expressions, and the norms that guide them, fall along one of two axes: cultural and historical.
As an example, a word found on the historical axis is setsuyaku (the saving syndrome). De Mente cites Japanese historian Shozaburo Kimura in explaining setsuyaku, a term describing the honor of selflessness in Japanese culture. More specifically, it explains how this manifests as a denial of personal comfort in service of what the author calls “clean poverty”: sacrifice and endurance to strengthen one’s spirit. De Mente explains precedent of this mindset as a Shogunate military-minded public policy, through its wartime and postwar reincarnation as a galvanizing force of Japanese nationalism, to its present-day as signifier of the generation gap between tech-savvy youth and their graying forbears. De Mente explores all of this in just over a page of text.
On the cultural axis are words like saiku (the small-is-cute syndrome). Literally “delicate workmanship,” it outlines what the author calls “the [Japanese] compulsion to make things small”. Using longstanding forms like bonsai and haiku, De Mente establishes a national character of miniaturization that is anything but minimalist; he extends the metaphor to current pop culture, informal greetings, and utsukushii – the Japanese word for beautiful – which etymologically says that smallness is itself beauty.
There are many delightful examinations of words, phrases, and idioms. Gaijin kusai (“smelling like a foreigner”) is a linguistic example of deep-rooted xenophobia. Saigai (“land of disasters”) perfectly predicted the mindset that led to a quick and dutiful response to the Fukushima breach, which occurred seven years after the book was published.
As a cultural overview, a teacher’s edification, a series of historical snapshots – or, as I use it, a deeper linguistic study of East Asia – this book has many avenues into the classroom.
