Society of Japan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Modern Japanese society is an industrial society with demographic developments similar to those observed in other industrialized countries. It also resembles the societies of other developed countries in many other ways.

Despite this similarity, both in Japan and abroad there are theses about the "uniqueness" of Japanese society, in some cases it is even argued that this is fundamentally not understandable for outsiders (cf. Nihonjinron ). Even if such theses are usually not scientifically tenable, they have shaped the image of Japanese society abroad.

Like other Asian societies, Japanese society is more collectivist . In contrast to individualistic western societies, the interests of the group are more in the foreground than those of the individual.

Demographics

Japan has a high proportion of small families and single people, due to a high divorce rate and a low birth rate (1.3 children per woman). Due to the high life expectancy and low birth rate, there is an increasing aging of society. Further characteristics are a high level of education and a very broad middle class (80%).

Minorities

Japan sees itself as a very homogeneous nation; 98.5% of the population have Japanese citizenship and 99% of the population speak Japanese as their first language. All Japanese citizens are considered "Japanese", even if groups like the residents of Okinawa (approx. 1.5 million people) or the Ainu (approx. 25,000) can look back on their own origins and history. The Ainu have been officially recognized as an ethnic group since 2008. Some estimates assume that there are around 200,000 descendants of the Ainu in Japan who are so far assimilated into the majority society that they have no knowledge of their ancestry.

The Korean minority has long been the largest "foreign" minority in Japan. Although they have often lived in the country for decades and are integrated into Japanese society, over 400,000 Koreans still hold onto their citizenship today. The largest groups of immigrants are the Chinese and Taiwanese (approx. 750,000), Filipinos (approx. 240,000), Vietnamese (approx. 200,000) and Brazilians (but most of them are Japanese Brazilians , approx. 180,000).

The descendants of the Burakumin , whose ancestors practiced professions that were regarded as "unclean", are in some cases still exposed to discrimination, even though they are ethnically and culturally indistinguishable from other Japanese. The Yakuza also consist largely of minorities who are exposed to discrimination in society. Organized crime has had an impact in modern society, but is increasingly being pushed back from the public eye.

Homosexuality in Japan is legal in modern Japanese society, but it is often not openly lived. There are only partial bans on discrimination at the local level. Same-sex partnerships are recognized by some cities and districts, but this is only symbolic. There is no legal equality between same-sex partnerships.

Survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ( Hibakusha ) and their descendants were in some cases exposed to discrimination.

Features of Japanese society

The female employment curve shows an M-shape. This means that women start their professional life after their training, but often quit again after the wedding. Only when the children attend high school or are gainfully employed do they return to work.

Above all, skilled workers and educated people have a strong bond with their company. You identify with the company's success. On the other hand, there are the so-called freeters , non-company-related workers who switch from part-time to part-time jobs.

The number of parasitic singles , adolescents and young adults over 20 who still live with their parents because it brings economic advantages is also increasing.

Social Code of Conduct

The rules of conduct are set very precisely and are not always easy to understand for outsiders, see social behavior in Japan . In order not to attract attention in society, many Japanese do not show their true face Ura in public , but rather an idealized, socially compatible omote . Connected with this is the culture of shame , which is the opposite of the western culture of guilt . Japanese companies also differ from western companies when it comes to operational decision-making. Decisions should be made with the cooperation of all company employees ( ringi seido ).

Phenomena

Western media repeatedly report on individual phenomena in Japanese society. These include Karōshi ("death by overwork") or Inemuri (short naps in public). There are also reports on young Japanese people who withdraw completely from society and no longer leave their room ( Hikikomori ).

Suicide rate

The suicide rate in Japan rose significantly in the 1990s. In 2005 the rate of 24.9 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants was well above that of Germany (14.7 per 100,000). In the media, this has been explained, among other things, with stress due to pressure to perform or bullying, but links are also drawn to ritual suicide practices ( seppuku ).

However, as a result of public measures, the suicide rate has steadily declined in recent years and in 2016 was still 18.5 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants (Germany: 13.6).

mobbing

Bullying ( ijime ), especially against school children, has been widely discussed in the Japanese public since the 1980s. Although bullying is just as common or more common in other countries, it was seen by the Japanese public as a specifically Japanese problem until the 1990s.

In Japanese schools, great emphasis is placed on academic performance and social conformity. In collectivist Japanese society, bullying is seen as a group problem rather than a moral failure of individuals. The victims, especially girls, are often bullied by larger groups, and it is far less often that parents or guardians report their experiences as victims of bullying in Western cultures. In addition, uninvolved students - especially in grades five to eight - are less likely to intervene than elsewhere when they observe bullying. As in other countries, boys are more likely to resort to physical violence, while girls are more likely to engage in psychological bullying.

Since the bullying often happens quietly in a closed group, parents and educators are often not aware of it. That and the hierarchical structure, which makes fighting more difficult. In addition, the hierarchical structure of the school system makes teachers less approachable.

Various suicides have been traced back to bullying among adolescents, and on September 1, the last day of the summer vacation, the suicide rate among teenagers has regularly increased significantly. In other cases, people refuse to go to school to avoid being bullied.

Disability rights

In 2006, according to official statistics, there were 3.5 million people in Japan with a physical disability and half a million people with a mental disability .

Japan ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations as the 140th State on 20 January 2014 after the country signed the Convention in September of 2007. However, the ratification received little public attention. Despite the prohibition of discrimination, the Japanese Ministry of Education maintained separate school systems for disabled and non-disabled students. Whether or not handicapped pupils are taught inclusive together with non-handicapped pupils is not decided by those affected, but by the local authorities. More than half of the graduates of the special schools later work in special institutions for the disabled, and not on the primary labor market. For these reasons, among other things, Koji Onōe, Secretary General of the Japanese branch of Disabled Peoples' International , describes the country as extremely lagging behind compared to other industrialized countries.

Various legal measures are intended to achieve equality for disabled people and inclusion in the labor market. In August 2011, the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities was amended to remove social barriers. In June 2013, passages were added to the Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities in which administrative bodies and private institutions must ensure that social barriers are removed. The Act on Employment Promotion etc. of Persons with Disabilities also stipulates that employers ensure that disabled employees are supported by special assistants and that they are treated equally. These regulations came into force in April 2016.

Japan has an employment rate for disabled people of 1.8% of employees for private companies (or 2.1% for public jobs, compared to 5% in Germany). In 2005, however, this rate was only achieved by 42.1% of private companies (77.5% of government agencies). For comparison: In Germany, the corresponding quota was met in 2009 by 71% of the companies concerned. Companies that do not meet the quota must pay a fee of 50,000 yen per employee, similar to the German equalization levy .

Man And Woman

Name and identity

A Japanese name consists of the family name and the personal name, in Japanese the family name is mentioned first. When getting married, the couple should adopt a common family name, but no new family name may be invented. In general, all persons entered jointly in the family register must have the same surname; multiple first names for children are not possible. Foreigners who acquire Japanese citizenship are free to choose their Japanese name; however, the general rules for Japanese names must also be observed here.

Instead of a signature, a name stamp ( Hanko ) is usually used in everyday life . Some families also have a family seal ( Kamon ), which roughly corresponds to a coat of arms .

literature

  • Andrea Germer : Historical women's studies in Japan. Reconstruction of the past in Takamure Itsues “History of Women” (Josei no rekishi) , Munich: Iudicium 2003 • ISBN 3-89129-504-9 ·
  • Volker Grassmuck, Closed Society: Media and Discursive Aspects of the "Three Openings" of Japan , Volker Grassmuck, Munich: Iudicium, 2002 - Meant are the ships of Commodore Perry, the atomic bombs and the Internet
  • Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit, The end of the exotic  : on contemporary Japanese culture and society , Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ​​1988, ISBN 3-518-11466-2
  • Wolfgang Herbert: Japan after sunset. Among gangsters, illegals and day laborers , Berlin 2002
  • Vera MacKie, Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment and Sexuality , paperback, Cambridge University Press 2003, ISBN 0-521-52719-8
  • Wolfram Manzenreiter, Pachinko Monogatari. Sociocultural Exploration of the Japanese Gambling Industry , Munich: Iudicium, 1998, ISBN 3-89129-431-X
  • Yamazaki, Tomoko, Sandakan brothel No. 8. A suppressed chapter of Japanese women's history , Munich: Iudicium, 2005 • ISBN 3-89129-406-9
  • Ingeborg Y. Wendt, is Japan going to the left? , Reinbek b. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1964

See also

Web links

Commons : Society of Japan  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ Statistics Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication : 国籍 ・ 地域 別 在 留 資格 （在 留 目的） 別 在 留 外国人 (Foreigners by nationality and visa status) . December 2016.
  2. ↑ Lindsay Lee, Max Roser and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina: Suicide. Our World In Data, 2016, accessed September 29, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b World Health Statistics: Country Data. WHO , April 5, 2018, accessed September 29, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Sonja Blaschke: Japan is fighting against its suicidal spirit. Die Welt , January 18, 2013, accessed on September 29, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Japan wants to significantly reduce the number of suicides. Deutsches Ärzteblatt , July 25, 2017, accessed on September 29, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Takashi Naito and Uwe P. Gielen: Bullying and Ijime in Japanese Schools . A Sociocultural Perspective. In: Florence L. Denmark, Herbert H. Krauss, Robert W. Wesner, Elizabeth Midlarsky, Uwe P. Gielen (Eds.): Violence in Schools . Cross-National and Cross-Cultural Perspectives. Springer, Boston, MA 2005, ISBN 978-0-387-23199-0 , chap. 9 , p. 169 ff ., doi : 10.1007 / 0-387-28811-2 (English, [1] [accessed on July 14, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Sugimori Shinkichi: Anatomy of Japanese Bullying. nippon.com, December 3, 2012, accessed July 1, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Rebecca Wright: Japan's worst day for teen suicides. Cable News Network , September 1, 2015, accessed July 1, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b c Tomoke Otake: Is 'disability' still a dirty word in Japan? The Japan Times , August 27, 2006, accessed July 14, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b Shirasawa Mayumi: The Long Road to Disability Rights in Japan. nippon.com, October 2, 2014, accessed July 1, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Peter Ilg: Despite the quota, too few jobs for the disabled. Die Zeit, August 19, 2010, accessed on July 14, 2018 .
  12. ↑ 伊藤 琴 羽 璃: Do you have to take a Japanese name if you naturalize? Becoming Legally Japanese, July 7, 2010; Retrieved July 14, 2018 .