Sunday, May 05, 2013
Japanese Shame: No place to hide
Many Japanese commentators have objected to Ruth Benedict's opus on Japanese culture "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" either because they deny the existence of the morality based upon a non-social moral standard, or because they believe that the Japanese have a non-social moral standard too. One of the latter is Sakuta Keiichi who wrote that there are two types of shame: public shame (公恥) caused by the censure of others and private caused by the self's censure of the self. What he failed to do however is explain how "private shame" (私恥) differs from guilt. Readers of the blog will be aware that I claim that private shame is visual - resulting from the internalisation of a mirror or generalised other, whereas guilt results from the silent approbation felt towards the voice of conscience when we attempt to justify that which we feel guilty about. Those that have internalised a generalised other can not hide from guilt.
This difference can be seen in the way in which Westerners express both shame and guilt as something from which one can hide, whereas Japanese hide when they are embarrassed but since Japanese shame is always private shame, they have no place to hide when they feel it.
Pictures of Westerners Feeling Embarrassment
Pictures of Westerners Hiding in Shame
Pictures of Japanese Feeling Embarrassment
Pictures of Japanese Feeling Shame on Google.Very few are hiding, but there is some self touching.
This difference can be seen in the way in which Westerners express both shame and guilt as something from which one can hide, whereas Japanese hide when they are embarrassed but since Japanese shame is always private shame, they have no place to hide when they feel it.
Pictures of Westerners Feeling Embarrassment
Hiding in Embarrasment, a gallery on Flickr.
Pictures of Westerners Hiding in Shame
Hiding in Shame, a gallery on Flickr.
Pictures of Japanese Feeling Embarrassment
恥ずかしくて身を隠している方, a gallery on Flickr.
Pictures of Japanese Feeling Shame on Google.Very few are hiding, but there is some self touching.
Labels: japan, japanese culture, Nacalian, reversal, specular, 日本文化
This blog represents the opinions of the author, Timothy Takemoto, and not the opinions of his employer.