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日本人論、とりわけ、日本人ユニーク論は日本人によって書かれたものでも、外国人によって書かれたものでもおかしたな理論である、というもの。もっともなコメントである。
随分昔松本道弘氏が、日本人ユニーク論は外国人に嫌われる、というような記事を書いていたのを読んだことがある。
一つには「ユニーク」という日本語の用法が、英語の用法と多少異なる、ということが起因していた、ように思う。
日本語の場合、彼はユニークね、というのは確かに独得ね、ということなのだが、宇宙でただ一つ、他にははない、というような強い含意はなく、特徴あるわよね、他と比べて、ある特徴が目立つ、くらいな意味でつかっている。英語の場合、
unique
1. one and only; single; sole a unique specimen
2. having no like or equal; unparalleled a unique achievement
3. highly unusual, extraordinary, rare, etc.: a common usage still objected to by some
「ただ一つしかない, 唯一の」という強い限定と、「類のない, 匹敵する［及ぶ］もののない, すばらしい, 無比の；きわめてまれな」というような優越的な連想もあるらしい。そこで、誤解をまねく。
まあ、いずれによ、本質主義的な発想は、日本人も外国人ももう乗り越えたほうがいいだろう。
そして、似たような問題はどこでも同じように抱えているのだから、われわれとして、一緒に考える、一緒に取り組むといった態度が解決への近道だし、当該問題に解決しなくても、われわれ（日本人外国人）という協働体の意識形成につながる。おまいらはこうだ、という発想は亀裂しかうまない。
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Comment by mikeguest
2009-02-15 12:58:21
Just a little addendum to my response above…
Most posters here are aware of the Nihonjin-ron literature (mostly 30-40 years old but the legacy remains here and there). Most will agree it is eye-rolling stuff. But what surprises me is how many NJ’s, and especially NJs who are highly critical of Japan, inadvertently buy into it.
Something negative or questionable happens in Japan and it is interpreted as being essentially ‘Japanese’; it is explained by features or qualities supposedly unique to Japan. The ‘only in Japan’ mentality comes to the fore without looking carefully at the wider world. Ties to being Japanese are offered as the automatic response to localised phenomena. Pure Nihonjin-ron.
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Comment by LB
2009-02-15 16:13:27
You know Mike, that is an excellent point. I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but I too have always been endlessly amused by foreigners complaining about the “Japanese” mindset of “lumping everyone non-Japanese into one big group” (even as they (the foreigners) themselves lump all Japanese into one big group through the simple act of complaining about a “Japanese” mindset). Or the way anything the foreigners don’t like or think is unfair, even if the exact same thing happens to foreigners back in their home country (which of course they as natives in that country never noticed or thought about until the shoe was on the other foot*), is a symptom of some unique-to-Japan-and-Japanese peculiarity. You are absolutely right - an amazing number of foreigners in Japan are blindly promoting Nihonjin-ron. In fact, given the number of times over the past 15 years I have seen or heard a foreigner ignorantly rant about “only in Japan”, and compared to the number of times I have seen or heard a Japanese state something similarly ignorant about the “uniqueness” of Japan, I think the biggest proponents of Nihonjin-ron are foreigners, not Japanese. Sort of shades of that Oscar Wilde quote on Ampontan’s site: “In fact the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people.” (Oscar Wilde, noticing in 1889 that popular conceptions about the country and its people are mostly fiction.)
Thanks for the moment of inspiration - I will add this to my handy list of things to use to counter ignorami.
*copyright 2009 Tepid Naruhodo, who only just remembered the phrase “shoe on the other foot” and now uses it daily whether it is apt or not, and actually created yet another blog subject category, his 2000th, just to create a place to further use the phrase.
