TABLE
OF CONTENTS
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Japan's Battle with
Transnationalism
By John Overington
For
the sake of this discussion, Japan is one of the best places on the
globe to begin our conversation
detailing the
comparison of local cultures and its emerging global philosophy. A
country that has seen such immense
financial success in the last fifty years under the protection of the
western
world, Japan
has the unique opportunity to showcase the old world culture of the
past and
the new global economically driven society that is coming into place
today. Having the opportunity to walk the
streets
and interact with the conflicting cultures of the Japanese society, all
of the
Semester at Sea students were exposed to a clash of cultures
whether
they were
aware of it or not. The differences are
immense and are seen in every part of a Japanese citizen’s life. Differing emotions and actions toward
clothing, markets/advertising, and cemeteries are just some of the ways
that I
personally saw the old and new faces of Japan.
One
of the most obvious sights seen by those who visit Japan
is the clothing worn by the citizens. On
the street during the day time, a visitor will see a huge range of
clothing
from the most chic fashions straight out of Milan,
to the most traditional dress worn by peasants from ages ago. The women who walked the streets of Kobe
wearing fashions current in Paris
and New York exemplify
the case
that Theodore C. Bestor discusses in his article “Supply-Side Sushi.” Although the main topic of his article
concerns the transnational bluefish and tuna markets in Japan, Dr.
Bestor also describes urban areas as vehicles
for massive cultural diffusion among many other things.
Dr. Bestor describes transnational forces
that take hold in urban areas as eroding distinctions between cultures
and
societies. He describes cities
as "engines
of change in the midst of distinctive and separate
societies/cultures."
I sat down in
a
bar late in the evening for a nightcap, and the woman who served me was
wearing
a very traditional kimono outfit. This
outfit was in sharp contrast to the western black leather bomber jacket
worn by the street performer outside her bar. The
waitress
was upholding the old tradition of
serving in proper attire, while the man with the guitar outside was
embracing
other world cultures, all within ten feet of one another.
Markets
and advertising in general might be the most powerful way that the
clash of
vernacular and transnationalism can be seen in Japan. The Japanese many times used modern
techniques in conjunction with local culture to sell products. One example is a neon sign that I saw that as
for a restaurant. It was completely
neon, but it was in a pagoda shape and in the traditional red color.
This sign
typifies the use of completely modern tools with an old flare that
encompasses
the interaction of vernacular and new urbanism. The
shops in the most general sense also feed into our
comparison. Huge department stores, many
stories tall,
sold within them very traditional products like herbal medicines and
old world
trinkets from years ago.
It is important
to
touch on the subject of cemetaries for the fantastic implications it
has here. The act of burial, seen by
almost all
cultures as very important, has been changed to account for the
continued
growth that had occurred in Japan
as a result of transnational urbanism and its effects.
Because so many people are living in Japan
today, as a result of advances in health and economics that are a
consequence of
globalization, real estate to bury dead family memebrs is becoming
scarce. To save space, the tradition of
burying people
had to be changed to burying them standing up. This
obvious change in one of the most
ancient of all rituals is a fantastic example of the growing clash and
hybridization of vernacular and transnational.
To
bring this report back to speed with Dr. Bestor’s article, it is
important to
articulate that these differences of vernacular and transnational
coexist in
this unique space that is urban Japan. Dr. Bestor describes this unique situation
as “interactions of cultural meanings, economic processes, and social
structural forms along multiple dimensions, in diverse juxtapositions
of local
places, in accelerating time to accomplish an organization of diversity
of
globalization…, but through urban means.” My experiences in Japan
have reitereated the thoughts of Dr. Bestor, and have perfectly
illustrated the thesis that transnational and vernacular are in a
fierce competition in Japan.
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