J a p a n e s e    C u l t u r e

Two Diagrams of the Structure of the Self in Freud, a photo by timtak on Flickr.

Consistent with the Western tradition in the diagram in "Das ich unt das Es" (Freud, 1923) (literally "The I and the It", or "The Ego and the Id"), shows the internalised other or as an aural manifestation: an ear of the other in the mind (picture A top, original German Bottom Left, English Bottom Right). The original German is "akustischen
Wahrnehmungen" (p22) or acoustic perception. and is sometimes translated as in the above diagram by "耳殻'（lit outer part of the ear) or "聴覚帽" acoustic cap. On the Japanese blogosphere there are people perplexed by this cranial stethoscope, ventriloquist's act, living listening device, because as Mori (1999) argues, they don't have one.

The more famous picture B on the left is from the earlier "Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse" (Freud, 1916-17) (Introduction to Psychoanalysis) in which the internalised other is represented only as an "uber Ich" (lit "over I") commonly translated as "super ego". Uber Ich might be taken to suggest a visual metaphor, so perhaps the new representation in "The Ego and the Id" (1925) was to qualify and make sure that the reader understand, we are talking *Ear of the Other in Your Head*.

From a Nacalian perspective, the Japanese equivalent (see here) should be drawn a "visual perception" as intra-psychic other-in-the-mind.

One can feel the presence of this Japanese eye by looking at Japanese children's artworks , shown from the point of view of the eye in the sky (Masuda), and by seeing Japanese horror in which horrifying women women appear from the ceiling, from out of images that stare back, or from that window in Kyari Pamyu Pamyu's Pon Pon Pon. I also feel the eye in Japanese ESL classrooms and as a joke try and beat it out of the room, since it interferes with my lessons, with broom sticks and the like.

Freud, S. (1923). Das Ich und das Es. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag. Retrieved from archive.org/details/Freud_1923_Das_Ich_und_das_Es_k
Mori, A. 森有正. (1999). 森有正エッセー集成〈5〉. 筑摩書房.

# posted by Timtak @ 8:49 PM