7. Going with the Flow【Column: Leap Before You Look】

The other day, my colleague was saying “first you sell yourself, then your company, and your product last.”  This is probably how it works in the US.  But if you’re selling something in Japan, your 優先順位 (priority) would be to sell your company first, product second, and maybe yourself if you must. 

Something similar happens when we write.  Children in Japan are taught to write in the order of “起承転結 (introduction, development, turn, and conclusion).”  Our writing 蛇行する (meanders) until the end, and only then do we say what we really want to say.  This is a sharp contrast to how you write in English – “conclusion, reasons supporting conclusion, examples supporting conclusion, conclusion.”

This also reminds me of when you’re writing addresses.  In the US, it starts with addressee’s name, then house number, street, city, state, and zip code.  In other words, you start with an individual, then focus outward as you go.  However, in Japan, it starts with the 郵便番号 (zip code), prefecture, city, town, house number, and lastly, addressee’s name.  In other words, you start with general information, then focus inward as you go.

Are we Japanese afraid of being too direct, to stand out as an individual?  Are we hiding behind our 社会的な枠組み (societal framework), or do we want to be more poetic and less practical?  Whatever the reasons are, we have long maintained the way we do things, which is comforting to some extent, but confusing to those living between two cultures.

I have learned to 流れに身を任せる (go with the flow).  I don’t have to identify and 型にはめ込む (pigeonhole) myself into a stereotype.  Nothing is wrong in surprising others, and even myself.  One advantage of being bicultural is that I am not confined within the 文化的期待 (cultural expectations) of others, or even my own expectations. There is a certain freedom in writing these essays while I 世渡りする (navigate my life) here in the US.