Spring is fast approaching, and in Japan that means two things: the fall of cherry blossoms and the start of the new school year, which coincides with last year's graduates joining the workforce. With economies both global and local slumping to new lows, and no end in sight to the practice of un-hiring fresh graduates, the outlook for young people leaving Japanese universities this year is far from bright.
Japanese graduation (photo by Flickr user gnurou)
With these circumstances as backdrop, a blog post by Japanese blogger and university professor id:next49, addressed (anonymously) to a student, struck a chord with many readers and drew a huge reaction in the local blogosphere last month. Posted on February 22nd, the post begins:
卒業していく君へ。
To you who will graduate this year.
卒業おめでとう。本当は面と向かって言ったほうが良いのだけど先生という立場だと私の発言が思った以上に重くなってしまうので直接君にはいえない。でも、君への言葉を一度形にしておかないと私の頭に一生こびりつきそうなのでここに書かせてもらうよ。
Congratulations on your graduation. In truth, although it would be best for me to express these things to you in person, my position as professor would exaggerate their impact, and so I can't say them to you directly. However, if I don't get my thoughts off my chest, they will cling to me for the rest of my life. So I am going to put them into words here.
今年、君は卒論に苦しんだね。君が卒論に苦しんだ理由は自分でも分かっていると思うけど、常に外部に正解を求めたことにあるんだ。私が「どうして、それが正しいと思うの？その理由を教えて。」と聞くと、いつも君は表情を凍らせて黙ってしまったね。何度も何度も「研究には正解とか不正解とかない。誰も答えを知らないから研究になっているんだ。だから、自分の主張をとりあえず述べて、相手の反論が正しいと思えてから自分は間違っていたと考えれば良いんだよ。」と伝えたのだけど、最期最後まで君は自分の主張の正しさを自分の言葉で言えず、常に私の保証を求めたね。はっきり言ってそれが私にとっては本当につらかった。
You really struggled this year to finish your graduation thesis. You yourself know, I think, the reason why you struggled so much on that thesis: it is because you are always seeking the correct answer in the world outside of you. Whenever I would ask you, “Why do you think that is so? Please tell me the reason.”, your face would always freeze over and you would go silent. I expressed to you many times that “there is no right or wrong answer in research. It's research precisely because nobody knows the answer. So first of all state your claim, and then if you find that someone else's rebuttal is correct, you know that your claim was mistaken.” I said this, but up till the very last moment, you could not express the correctness of your own claim in your own words, and were constantly seeking my assurances. That was extremely painful for me, to be honest.
君が雑談ならば私とも明るくおしゃべりできるのに、研究の話となった瞬間に凍り付いてしまうのは、雑談は自分の感情をベースに話せるので自信を持てる（自分の感情だもの、正しいも正しくないもない）のに対して、研究の話は自信がないからだよ。
When we were just chatting, you were capable of having a cheery conversation with me, but the instant it came to discussing research, you froze over. The reason is that, whereas in a chat you have self-confidence since you can say whatever you like just based on what you're feeling (whatever you feel, there is no right or wrong), you lose all that self-confidence when the topic is research.
どうして、自信がなかったのかといえば、たぶん、間違うことに対して恐怖をいだいているからだと思うよ。何で間違うことに対して恐怖を抱いているのかというと、まだ君には精神的な背骨が育っていないからだと思う。君は、自分の価値判断の基準を外部に委ねており、自分の内部にそれがない。君が自分の価値判断の基準だと思っているのは、外部に依存した「優等生な自分」「良くできる自分」という役に立たない基準なんだ。
And I think the reason you have no self-confidence about research is that, just perhaps, you are terrified of making mistakes. You are terrified of making mistakes because you haven't got any emotional backbone. You haven't got any backbone because you depend on other people to make value judgments, you don't have the capacity to make them yourself. What you consider to be your own sense of value judgment is actually a picture of “you being an honor student”, of “you being a capable [student]”, that depends [for its affirmation] on those around you.
もちろん、「良く出来る自分」というものをきっちりと咀嚼し、自分の精神的な背骨にしている人は大勢いる。でも、君のは、「他人が君をどう思うか」という基準なんだ。精神的な背骨として使えるのは「自分が自分をどう思うか」というものなんだ。ざっくり言えば、他人が君のことをかっこ悪いと思っていても自分が自分のことをかっこよいと思っていれば動じないというもの。何をもってかっこよいとするかは、親の見方、彼女の見方、友達の見方、小説内の見方、アニメの中での見方など何に由来していてもかまわないのだけど、自分が咀嚼しているのが重要。自分が咀嚼しているならば、周りの環境が急に変わっても、自分の背骨は急には不安定にならない。
Of course there are many people who really do understand the meaning of “being capable”, who have emotional backbone. Your standard [for judgment] is based on “what other people think of you”, [but that's not enough]: emotional backbone comes down to “what you think about yourself”. Roughly-speaking, what this means is that even if other people think you're uncool, as long as you think of yourself as cool, you shouldn't be bothered. Whether you define what is cool based on your parents’ view, or your girlfriend's view, or your friends’ views, or the views in a short story, or the views of characters in anime, doesn't matter. What's important is that you yourself really internalize it. If you really internalize it, then even if the world around you suddenly changes, you won't suddenly feel the ground fall out from under you.
私の判断基準の基礎は両親が作った。その基準をベースに、読んだ本、小学校・中学校・高校の素敵なあるいは面白い、個性的な先生達、見たテレビ番組、体験したいろいろなことをミックスして私の背骨はできている。大学での私の指導教員の発言や考え、教えも今や立派なに私の背骨の一部だ。いまでは、自分が研究を進めるとき指導教員の声が聞こえてくるくらいだ。「それは何の意味があるの？」「それの定義は何？」とか。私の美醜の基準は、明らかにいままで読んだ小説や漫画に由来しているよ。
The foundation for my own value judgment was built by my parents. From this basis, I've developed an emotional backbone by mixing various experiences, of books I've read, of television programs I've seen, and of the great teachers — the really interesting ones with personality — who taught me in grade school and in high school. The statements and thoughts of my university supervisor are even today a prominent part of my emotional backbone. Nowadays when I make progress with my research, I can hear my supervisor's voice: “Is there any significance to that?” “What's the definition of that?” Up to this very day, the standard I use for beauty and ugliness very clearly comes from short stories and manga that I've read in the past.
精神的な背骨がある人は、自分が間違えることをだいたい許容できる。自分の判断基準からしてどうでも良いことならば、間違えたって直してより良いものにしていけば良いだけだから。自分の判断基準からして重要な間違いならば凹むかもしれないけどね。でも、一度背骨を作り上げている人ならば、背骨自体を強化したり、変更したりできるので案外タフだ。
People with emotional backbone can generally forgive themselves for making mistakes. The reason is that a mistake in something that is trivial from the view of their own standard of judgment can be improved simply by fixing it. If the mistake is important from the view of this standard, then they may lose heart. But people who have once built up their emotional backbone are able to strengthen and change the backbone itself, and therefore they are surprisingly tough.
一方、精神的な背骨が無い人は、いかなる間違いも許容できない。なぜならば、判断基準は外にあるためどの間違いが自分に致命的でどの間違いが自分に致命的でないかが判断できないから。だって、判断するのは他人。完璧に振舞いたいのだけど、どう振舞えば完璧かわからなくなり、自信が無くなり、自分が嫌いになる。まるで、プライドを殻にした甲殻類みたいになるんだ。判断基準は外にあるので、自分が取れる選択肢は「他人に嫌われないようにする」「他人にかっこ悪いと思われないようにする」「他人にできない奴とみられないようにする」というものしかない。強化も変更もできないんだ。
On the other hand, people who have no emotional backbone are unable to forgive any mistake. The reason for this is that this type of person bases their judgment on something that is outside of themselves, and therefore they are not able to judge which mistakes are fatal, and which are not. Because in the end, it's other people who make the call. They want to behave flawlessly, but they lose their sense of what kind of behavior is perfect, and then they lose confidence, and end up hating themselves. It's like a shellfish that places all their pride in their shell. The judgment call is outside of themselves, so the only alternatives that are open are “to avoid being disliked by others”, “to avoid other people thinking I'm not cool” and “to not be seen by others as incapable”. They can't strengthen or change [this backbone].
価値の判断基準が自分の外にある人間は表現者になれない。その表現の仕方が研究だろうと、スピーチだろうと、絵画だろうと、価値の判断基準は常に自分の内部にあり、その基準に基づいて自分の考えや思いを外に問うのが表現だ。価値の判断基準が外にある人間は、自分の内部にあるものが外に問うだけのクオリティに達しているかを常に悩んでしまい表現を外に出せない。外に出せない限り、いかなる人間も表現者とはなりえないんだ。
People who leave value judgment calls to those around them never become adept at expression. Whether it is research, or a speech, or drawing pictures — to express something is to take the standard for judgment that is already within yourself, and based on that standard, to question the outside world about your thoughts or ideas. People who leave value judgment calls to those around them are constantly worrying about whether they are living up to the quality demanded of them from the outside world, and thus cannot bring what is within themselves out. And a person who cannot bring this out of themselves also cannot express themselves well.
表現者は、外の世界に自分の考えや思いを問うのがその存在意義だ。外に問うということは反論を食らうということなので、皮膚は破れ、肉は断たれる。でも、骨は守る。傷を癒し、身のこなしを鍛え、骨を強化し、場合によっては骨を入れ替え、再び世の中に自分の考えや思いを問う。考えや思いを外に問わなければ何も始まらないから、ただ、そうする。
For people adept at expressing themselves, questioning the outside world about one's thoughts and ideas is at the heart of the very meaning of one's existence. To question the outside world is to be met by counterargument, tearing skin and severing flesh. The bone, however, is protected. The wounds heal, the body is restored back to shape, bones are strengthened — or in some cases replaced — and once again one questions the world about one's thoughts and ideas. Nothing else can even start without questioning the outside world.
だから、君がもし表現者になりたいのだとしたら、精神的な背骨を手に入れる必要がある。それはどんなものでも良い。私が君をどう思うかではなく、君が君をどう思うかそれが重要だ。君は私じゃないし、私は君じゃない。究極的には、私が君をどう思おうが君はそれに左右される筋合いはない。
So if you want to be someone who can express themselves, then you'll need emotional backbone. Anything will do. What's important is not what I think about you, but what you think about yourself. You're not me, and I'm not you. Ultimately, you have no business being influenced by what I think of you.
君が背骨を手に入れる手助けをしきれなかったことに悔いが残るが、この研究室で卒論をやった経験が数年後に役にたつことを祈っている。君が新たな場所で新たな師匠に立派に鍛えてもらえますように。さようなら、お元気で。
I have my regrets that I wasn't able to provide you help in finding your own backbone, but I pray that your experience of writing your thesis at this research lab will come in useful many years from now. I hope that you will be well trained by your new teacher, in your new place. Sayonara, and look after yourself.
There are a huge number of reactions to this post, most prominently a highly-bookmarked response [ja] posted at Hatena's AnonymousDiary. For more reactions, see id:next49's follow-up post [ja], in which the blogger summarizes some of the main discussion points related to the original blog entry.
This blog entry was translated in its entirety with permission of the blogger.
9 comments
Wow… that’s a really dedicated letter from a professor… I think his comments on lack of self-confidence and emotional backbone could be applied to too many students in the Eastern cultures as well. Seniority proliferates submission and that has forced East Asian youths to remain in the box after all this time.
Undoubtedly, things are changing now. Social rebels have become prominent and praised by many in the society.
Nonetheless, with or without emotional backbone, the new graduates should brace themselves for the challenges arising in the gloomy global economy.
The use of “backbone” bothers me as saying one lacks one in English is rather pejorative. In psychology, this is called having an “external locus of control” rather than an internal one. That is, you are controlled by outside factors rather than your own wishes.
I’ve encountered many people in Japan, particularly those currently in academia, who have similar issues and it comes down to how the education system handles them and how they are socialized. There is a continuum of how hesitant people are to express themselves to others, but most Japanese people have been conditioned by their culture not to express themselves freely or with confidence and indeed are punished when they do so. An education system that emphasizes giving the teacher the answer he or she wants over the right answer is a big part of this.
Perhaps working in research requires that one overcome the years of conditioning up to that point, but, lamentably, it generally serves people well in their society to have a weak “emotional backbone” and to seek the approval of others.
@Orchid64
Thanks for your comment. Actually the term “emotional backbone” is a translation of the Japanese 「精神的な背骨」, and it could arguably be expressed in other ways. But I do think the sense was somewhat pejorative in the original Japanese. That’s also the reason the blog post sparked quite a few responses, more than a few of which were critical.
Fascinating article! From my limited understanding and experience with the Japanese and Japanese culture, I can see how not having an “emotional backbone” is both a desired trait here and a prevalent one. The most surprising thing about this article was the fact that a Japanese professor was speaking out against not having an emotional backbone. I would have thought the professor would want his students to uphold and reinforce and praise his previous research.
I teach a wide age range of Japanese students, starting from 2 year olds to the middle aged. From what I can tell, again from my very limited experience in Japan, is that Japanese people are not inherently afraid to assert themselves. Somewhere in the process of growing up, the culture starts to impose this norm of not having an emotional backbone or an original thought or an opinion. I’m going to be bold and say that the change over begins in junior high school. Of course, there are exceptions, but generally, prior to the teenage years, my Japanese students express their individuality and express it loudly. After the beginning of adolescence, it appears my students no longer have a voice and just go along with the crowd; they conform.
Hi Jannie,
That’s an interesting observation about people losing their “emotional backbone” in junior high school. I don’t have much experience with Japanese people younger than university age, but at least at that stage I understand (to a degree) what this professor is writing about.
But I also think there is a sense in which arguments about “conformity” tend to set up an implicit standard for what “individuality” means. The tendency of students to just do as they are told instead of thinking for themselves (as described in this post) frustrates me a great deal. At the same time, though, school/university are one particular type of context — people who follow blindly in that situation may very well show their “individuality” in other ones. This is my strongest reservation with this blogger’s argument — it is very university-centric, as if a person who can’t demonstrate their emotional backbone in university will never be able to do so. I see no reason why that should necessarily be so.
Hey Chris,
Overall good translation. Orchid64, I do defend Chris’ use of “emotional backbone,” but was he talking to all graduates or one particular person in general?
Well it is true that most Japanese students will “give the teacher the answer he or she wants over the right answer,” I think it is a sign of progress that the professor is encouraging his student(s) to have more confidence in one’s abilities and not be dependent on another person’s confirmation. However, I’m not sure, how being a professor will would increase the impact of telling someone to have more confidence in oneself.
Words of Wisdom …..goes a long way….