Analyzing Japan's history to better understand its present - Part I

The best place to start understanding Japan's current societal structure is to assess Japan's trials and tribulations over the past 151 years. Why 151 years? Because this was the second appearance of kurofune ("black ships") in Japanese history (the first being the Portuguese in 1543). The second time around, there were four ships powered by steam (Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga and Susquehanna), led by U.S. Commodore William Perry. The date was July 8, 1853. On this day, the consequences of 214 years of isolationist policy by the Tokugawa shogunate came to a head through this singular event. It is by understanding this event, its consequences, and Japan's response as a nation, that we can gain a better understanding of the current rule-based society in Japan.

The man who made unification possible: Oda Nobunaga

The class system that was enforced consisted of five classes, in descending order of hierarchy: the daimyo (lords), the warrior-caste of samurai, farmers, artisans and lastly, traders. It could be said that outside of the ruling class, the other castes have been inverted in the hierarchy, with the artisans and traders (think Sony, Toyota), taking the top spot. But what's important is less the actual classes themselves, but the classification of society. Now, this is not a concept unique to Japanese society. Prominent examples include India, Korea, China and many others. However, in Japan, this classification is codified so strongly into its language and social norms, that it has retained its power to divide and create distance between members of society right into the present day.

The black ships indeed catalyzed critical events, but actually, we have to go a bit further back in history to get a better picture. 386 years prior to Commodore Perry's arrival to be precise. This section of Japan's history is split into three periods: the Warring States Period (戦国時代, not to be confused with the Chinese equivalent), a intervening period of unification, followed by the Tokugawa Period (or Edo period, since the locus of power shifted from Kyoto to Tokyo (Edo) during that time). The easiest way to describe these periods would be 106 years of war, 30 years of unification, followed by 250 years of peace, the longest stretch of peace in Japan's history.

This unprecedented era of peace lasted from 1603 to 1868, under the Tokugawa shogunate (徳川幕府), which consolidated and subsequently maintained military and functional power in the country. The titular Emperor was left with only symbolic power as a religious and political figurehead. However, in order to maintain its power, the Tokugawa shogunate enforced a strict class system, and established a system of control to weaken the other feudal lords called sankin-kotai (参勤交代, literally, alternate attendance). Both of these concepts continue on in present day society, albeit in an evolved form. So in a way, the Edo period acts as the spiritual predecessor to the modern rule-based society.

In fact, classification is codified in the Japanese language as well, and is characterized through various levels of respect / polite speech / honorific forms. I'll be using English and German as reference points for comparison. In English, there isn't a true honorific form. An honorific form usually entails different subjects (often pronouns) and verb conjugations to show deference. However in English, no changes in words are necessary to show deference. Here is a simple example:

Good morning Mr. President! How are you feeling today?
Good morning Mr. Ridgway! How are you feeling today?

I'm afraid you don't get my respect, Mr. Ridgway.

As you can see in the italics, the sentences used to address the most powerful man in the world, and any other person, are exactly the same. Let's take a moment to appreciate this. That means the words we use to greet President Obama and Gary Ridgway (a serial killer who confessed to killing 71 women) are exactly the same. Presumably, one would use a different tone with one vs. the other, but the fact remains that the sentences are identical and require no grammatical alterations.

German takes one step forward towards distinguishing the formal and informal. There are separate pronouns for the pronoun "you," one formal (Sie) and the other informal (Du). "Sie" is used frequently in business contexts and formal occasions, but in recent past, "Du" has been used more and more liberally. Let's see how Germans make the distinction between formal and informal, using the verb "to be" as an example.

Sie sind unglaublich mutig. / You are incredibly brave.
Du bist unglaublich mutig. / You are incredibly brave.

As you can see, there is a difference in the pronoun and verb conjugation. There are some additional tweaks (like different possessive pronouns), but this is largely the extent of the distinction. Note however that in order to maintain even this first level distinction, all learners of the German language must learn a separate verb conjugation for "Sie" that is different from the "Du" verb form. So in comparison to English, German speakers have to effectively learn twice as many verbs conjugations to cover the singular pronoun, "you".  That's a lot of work!

Do I use Sie or Du??

But that's nothing compared to Japanese. The system of honorifics is so complicated that it regularly makes students of the Japanese language cry (assuming they even make it that far to learn them). There are in fact three primary honorific forms: sonkeigo / "respectful language" (尊敬語), kenjyogo / "humble language" (謙譲語), and teineigo / "polite language" (丁寧語). If you want to get really detailed, there are two additional forms: teichogo / "courteous language" (丁重語), and bikago / "word beautification" (美化語). For non-Japanese speakers, here is an example to demonstrate the complexity. I'm getting confused just listing them all! And here's the kicker. Not only do these forms differ dramatically, they can in fact take on different verbs for the same meaning. So the Germans have to learn twice as many verb conjugations, but the Japanese potentially learn 4 different verbs for the plain + three primary honorific forms times all of their associated verb conjugations. That is easily an order of magnitude more complexity than German, just to be polite!

In case the honorific forms weren't enough...

The thing is, all of these complexities need to be processed on a daily basis by everyone using the language. Granted, most of the time, the plain form and the teineigo / "polite language" forms get you through most interactions. But sonkeigo / "respectful language" is used when speaking to superiors or clients, so it's not uncommon. But enough theory, let's see what this actually looks like in practice.

Plain form (between friends)
聞いていい？/ Kiite ii? / Is it OK to ask a question?

Sonkeigo form
聞かせていただけると嬉しいのですが。 / Kikasete-itadakeru to ureshii no desu ga. / I would, however, be delighted if I may be permitted to ask (a question).


Even if you aren't familiar with Japanese, I encourage you to try reading the two Romanized sentences out loud, just to feel how different it is. Now, I'm no fluent Japanese speaker by any stretch, but I practiced these two sentences, in order to properly measure the time it takes to speak them. The plain form version took 0.69 seconds, and the sonkeigo form took 3.08 seconds. That means the polite form took 4.5 times longer to say the exact same content!

So that's where those 2.39 extra seconds went...

So Mr. Badass Gentleman, this language comparison is interesting, but what's the point you want to make? The point is that the stratification of classes is actually codified in the language, and that the use of such language not only reinforces differences of authority between people, but it also enforces psychological distance between them. To make matters worse, it requires roughly 20 times more effort to employ compared to the simplistic, English language. While the goal of demonstrating respect for someone is certainly laudable, body language and tone convey a great deal of respect on their own, and words can be deceiving. Moreover, it is not usually a voluntary choice to use sonkeigo, but rather an obligation (e.g., when speaking to a senior or superior). So those addressed with sonkeigo have not directly earned your respect, but simply hold it due to their relative position to you.

That's it for now. If you made it this far, you are to be commended! In the next blog post, we're going to ride the wave of history through the events leading up to the Meiji Restoration, and Japan's rise to power both pre and post WWII. Exciting stuff!