{"id":12966,"date":"2015-01-06T09:02:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T19:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12966"},"modified":"2015-01-06T12:30:38","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T22:30:38","slug":"japan-times-japans-omotenashi-selfless-hospitality-not-in-tune-with-what-visitors-want-nj-expert-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=12966","title":{"rendered":"Japan Times: Japan’s “Omotenashi” (“selfless hospitality”) not in tune with what visitors want, NJ expert warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hello Blog. \u00a0Let’s start 2015 with a discussion about Japan’s tourism policy and some of the memes within. \u00a0Submitter JDG offers these thoughts about a recent Japan Times article:<\/p>\n

===================================
\nJDG<\/strong>: Hello Dr. Debito, First of all, a happy new year to you. I wondered if you had chanced upon this article in the JT:<\/em>
\nNow boastful Japan not really in tune with what visitors want, foreign expert warns | The Japan Times<\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2014\/12\/25\/national\/now-boastful-japan-really-tune-visitors-want-foreign-expert-warns\/<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s really interesting, since it was written about\u00a0a guy who has no connection (AFAIK) to the debate about NJ human rights, and is not a scholar of Japan. However, he has independently reached a conclusion that you yourself have expressed several times on Debito.org; Japanese deciding amongst themselves what NJ want\/need\/have difficulty with, is a sign of cultural arrogance aimed at controlling NJ.<\/em><\/p>\n

I think this is important external reinforcement of your point of view. It shows that you are not alone and paranoid (as the apologists always try to portray you), but rather shows that in a totally different field of expertise, another observer has witnessed the same phenomena as you.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are many interesting points that he raises, and I agree with him, but the main takeaway from the article is that the concept of ‘omotenashi’ is being used as a system of control over NJ in Japan (and we know how much the Japanese establishment believes that NJ need to be controlled), whilst at the same time serving a very racist nihonjinrongiron function of reassuring the Japanese themselves that they are unique and superior to NJ. Nice win for your logic.<\/em> Sincerely, JDG.<\/strong><\/p>\n

===================================<\/p>\n

Let me open this up to discussion on Debito.org. Article excerpt first. Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

NATIONAL<\/strong>
\n Now boastful Japan not really in tune with what visitors want, foreign expert warns<\/strong>
\n BY SHUSUKE MURAI, STAFF WRITER, THE JAPAN TIMES, DEC 25, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s self-professed \u201comotenashi\u201d (spirit of selfless hospitality) is often misinterpreted to force predetermined services on foreign visitors, says one longtime observer.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Cultural services expert David Atkinson, 49, says the nation\u2019s confidence in what it offers the world is misplaced: Many foreigners who visit leave unfulfilled…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Atkinson says it is troubling to see Japanese increasingly lauding their own culture and that the trend could even become an obstacle to the government\u2019s goal of getting 30 million tourists to visit annually by 2030…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOriginally, omotenashi means leaving the choices to the guests, not forcing foreigners with a different set of values to behave the way Japanese people expect,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Omotenashi became a buzzword in August 2013, when television celebrity Christel Takigawa used the term during Tokyo\u2019s final presentation to the International Olympic Committee\u2019s general assembly in Argentina for permission to host the 2020 Olympics…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Full article\u00a0at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2014\/12\/25\/national\/now-boastful-japan-really-tune-visitors-want-foreign-expert-warns\/<\/a><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JDG: Hello Dr. Debito, I wondered if you had chanced upon this article in the JT:
\nNow boastful Japan not really in tune with what visitors want, foreign expert warns | The Japan Times
\nhttp:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/news\/2014\/12\/25\/national\/now-boastful-japan-really-tune-visitors-want-foreign-expert-warns\/<\/p>\n

It’s really interesting, since it was written about a guy who has no connection (AFAIK) to the debate about NJ human rights, and is not a scholar of Japan. However, he has independently reached a conclusion that you yourself have expressed several times on Debito.org; Japanese deciding amongst themselves what NJ want\/need\/have difficulty with, is a sign of cultural arrogance aimed at controlling NJ. I think this is important external reinforcement of your point of view. It shows that you are not alone and paranoid (as the apologists always try to portray you), but rather shows that in a totally different field of expertise, another observer has witnessed the same phenomena as you.<\/p>\n

There are many interesting points that he raises, and I agree with him, but the main takeaway from the article is that the concept of ‘omotenashi’ is being used as a system of control over NJ in Japan (and we know how much the Japanese establishment believes that NJ need to be controlled), whilst at the same time serving a very racist nihonjinrongiron function of reassuring the Japanese themselves that they are unique and superior to NJ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,36,22,44,4,60,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-discussions","category-japanese-government","category-nj-voices-ignored","category-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}