Silence and Mixed Classes
Sex, family matters such as Korean, Chinese, and Brakumin ancestry, or other subjects considered personal by Japanese students, may not be easy subjects for casual discussion in the mixed Japanese classroom. By mixed, I am referring to:
• classes where both men and women are present
• classes where a student of a different social rank is present
While the problems of coed classes may be self evident, though of a slightly different flavor than in other countries, social rank offers a particular challenge to Western teachers in Japan. Rank can be delineated by:
• university year, i.e., freshman, junior, sophomore, senior
• club and sports affiliations, team membership and rank within these teams
• economics, rich verses poor
• academic status, achievers verses loafers
• social sects, i.e., Korean, rock music lovers, Christians, etc.
I have found by understanding outsider and insider relationships in the classroom I can regulate group work, so that everyone has a chance to participate without being unduly embarrassed. Learning these ranking systems will take a bit of time, as students are always aware of them but will seldom discuss them out of fear of complicating the situation any further. As most students want, to a certain extent, to belong to the group, they will do their best to avoid overt animosity to those outside their own social rank, hesitating at first but then joining in.
Many students are reluctant to talk about personal issues in the classroom. Yet, as in all countries, these topics are often of tremendous interest to the students and usually everyone has an opinion when talking about themselves.
Sex, and other personal subjects, are not a taboo, as in the Judeo-Christian tradition of good and evil behavior. But personal talk, about things that reveal inside information to someone from the outside, is usually avoided. By talking about your family's personal affairs (inside) to the class (outside), or by talking about classmates (inside) to a guest student (outside), one is endangering the solidarity and harmony of the group. The speaker, naturally, does not wish to create disharmony, either by introducing controversy or by unduly embarrassing anyone.
Although students often ask intimate questions of others, and sometimes of the teacher, nobody is ever really expected to answer. Most people simply answer with the usual variations of silence, short evasive statements, or giggles. Western teachers that I work with often express surprise at the number and variety of standardizations that exist in Japan. For example, twenty-five is a standard age for marriage, before thirty is the standard age when to have children, two is the standard number of how many children to have, etc. and people use these as yardsticks in determining their responses. People, for whatever reason, who do not match these patterns of behavior down play the differences and their friends avoid these touchy subjects. Polite people do not discuss discrepancies in social behavior publicly, particularly if it may embarrass people in the room.
I believe the Japanese are masters at flirtation, due perhaps to social pressure to keep romance secretive. Eye contact, broken side glances, often from different places in the room, generally initiate the process. Most teachers will be well aware, at least subliminally, before flirtation advances further and will seldom need to dissuade a student. Only in private or business classes can this matter get out of hand when student and teacher meet outside the classroom, but common sense will do. While students may enjoy having a crush on the teacher, few will ever initiate anything without encouragement.
Politics as a topic of discussion is not a taboo, though Japanese do not express as much interest in discussing controversial issues as their American counterparts. A few subjects are sensitive, and may receive silent responses: the Emperor System (particularly the Emperor's role in the Second World War), the existence of an outcaste class (burakumin or the old name eta), the large Korean population living in Japan, Japanese colonial history and the atrocities associated with it, the organized criminal gangs (yakuza), or any other subjects that challenge the credibility of the nation, community, or school. 1
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1 - The following paragraphs from Yukio Mishima's The Decay of the Angel graphically illustrates the values adhered to by some Japanese young people.
“ . . . What the world asks of a young person is that he be a devoted listener, nothing more. You're the winner if you let him do the talking. You must not forget that for a moment.
The world does not ask brilliance of a young person, and at the same time too firm a steadiness arouses suspicions. You should have a harmless little eccentricity or two, something to interest him. You must have little addictions, not too expensive and not related to politics. Very abstract, very average. Tinkering with machinery, or baseball or a trumpet. Once he knows what they are he feels safe. He knows where your enemies can go. You can even seem a little carried away by your hobbies if you want to.
You should go in for sports but not let them interfere with your studies, and they should be the sports that show off your good health. It has the advantage of making you look stupid. There are no virtues more highly prized in Japan than indifference to politics and devotion to the team. . .”
Translated from the Japanese by Edward G. Seidensticker; Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1974.