I have mentioned the “Here in Japan…” speech before. This is the lecture that we tend to hear, that tries to convince us that any argument between a Japanese person and a Non-Japanese person is actually a cultural difference, rather than a simple difference of opinion. This is because Japan is a Beautiful and Unique Flower, and no human civilization anywhere else on the world has anything in common with the Japanese… oop, sorry, I need to take a break to refill my sarcasm tank.
Anyway, as most readers of this blog will already know, Google released its Street View service in Japan last month. This is a service that had Google drive through the streets of Tokyo (and presumably other metropolitan areas?) and take pictures every 100 meters or so, and make those pictures viewable in Google Maps. Like a lot of people, we all had a lot of fun with it at the office… People were looking for their houses, favourite stores, the office… We were checking our parking spots looking for our cars and motorcycles, we were checking favourite hangouts to see if we could see anything interesting.
But it didn’t take too long for the cries of protest to start from the Japanese blogging community. This post (english translation here) is the most famous and the one that I’ll talk about.
Anyway, there’s a reason I started off this post talking about the “here in Japan” lecture. Mr. Higuchi’s letter to Google raises some good points, but it’s so couched in the whole “we Japanese…” us vs. them mentality that it’s really hard to read those points without emotions getting in the way.
His letter rubs the wrong way almost from the start: He is quite convinced that the employees of Google Japan feel the same way as him (Why wouldn’t they? They’re Japanese, and We Japanese Are All The Same), and that they have simply been unable to convince their idiot American bosses of the truth that Google Street View offends Japanese Sensibilities.
But really, let’s look at his main point about why “We Japanese” do not like Street View: “We Japanese live close to the street in small houses, and so consider the exterior of our houses to be part of our living space as well”. He backs this up with examples of things that only “We Japanese” do, such as shoveling snow from the road/sidewalk in front of their house, and decorating the front of their house with plants and the like.
Now, those of you who have lived in non-Japan parts of the world can see where I am going with this: this is not a “We Japanese” thing; this is clearly a “We Humans Who Live In Close Proximity” thing. If only he had started off differently, like “People in Tokyo live in even closer proximity than people in New York, so maybe you haven’t considered this…” this would be a lot more well-received than playing the “You Americans could not possibly hope to understand We Japanese” card.
It’s time for everybody, on all sides of debates, to learn: Different culture groups aren’t really as different as first they seem, so if you are trying to make some argument like that, see if you can phrase your argument in terms of “we humans” rather than “we [race]“.
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August 28th, 2008 at 7:56 am
I read it now you linked, and yeah, it rubs me the wrong way too, for similar reasons that you mention.
Of course, I am the sort of person who when asked about what I like about the town I live in now (in Illinois) make a point of explaining that in 100% real honest truth, one of the best things I like about the US Midwest is that it has wonderful four seasons and amazing autumn leaf color.
Occasionally the looks I get are priceless.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Yeah, that was kind of a weird post. Every blogger says clueless things once in a while, but how can someone even assume that North Americans don’t value privacy?
August 28th, 2008 at 8:56 am
@akibare: But, but, but… Japan is the only place with 4 seasons!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Google Street View: Right and Wrong Ways to Criticize…
In which I explain why I have a problem with the famous “letter to Google about Street View Japan”. If you’re going to complain about something, don’t do it in such a way that will get people’s defenses up!…
August 28th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
His letter certainly could come across as patronizing if you were in a mood to take it that way in the first place but it is fairly mild in it’s “We Japanese-ness” than other examples I’ve had come my way and I think it’s an overreaction to see it as such.
To me, the “we-japanese” thing is about Japanese people making assumptions about other cultures without any evidence that the contrary is true in the other country. This guy has assumed that Google Street View has been accepted elsewhere in the world, particularly in the States and so that is his evidence that people in countries elsewhere take a different view to privacy. I think it is a very fair assumption especially when you consider that he comes from a culture where the government would intervene and put a stop to something which was widely objected to.
Taken from that point of view his letter is actually a polite cry for understanding and he writes far more politely than many netizens would! If he has been reading other people’s comments and decided that there is an element he thinks he can clarify to help the situation then he has every right to do so and it’s what 90% of the web is made up of! He is simply a person who is genuinely trying explain something to people which he thinks they are not grasping.
If it were me I would certainly have researched whether there were any objections anywhere else (as there was in Australia for example) but that’s obviously not his style and I doubt it would be the style of many others either.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Mr Higuchi’s letter was polite and also wrong.
We British live in small houses close to the road. We decorate our houses with plants, and we shovel snow off the pavement. We also disapprove of peering into people’s front rooms. And some of us don’t like Google Street View.
Many Japanese seem to think Japan is unique — which is absolutely true, every country is unique. But they seem to think Japan is completely different to all other countries, which is absolutely false.