About the Japan Group.

In the era of national character, people like to tell jokes about "national character". The following joke is an example.

A luxury passenger ship is about to sink. The captain told the passengers to jump into the sea to survive. He said to the Americans, "Jump, you are a hero", and the Americans jumped. He said to the Italians, "Jump, and you will win the favor of women." The Italian jumped without hesitation. He said to the Germans, "According to the rules, you should jump." The Germans jumped without saying anything. Finally, the captain said to the Japanese, "Everybody jump", and the Japanese jumped.

In fact, the Japanese have a sense of convergence, or "collectivism". So, how did "collectivism" come about? According to the research and analysis, unlike the nomadic people whose family is the production unit, historically, Japan has been in an agricultural and social environment for a long time, and it is inseparable from the collective cooperation of the whole village whether repairing canals or roads.

The word "village" is related to "mure", and the group behavior of the village is the historical and cultural background of the formation of Japanese collectivism society.

In this culture, no matter which individual, they are unwilling to let their words damage the harmony of the collective. Because they know that once they violate the group rules, he will be punished by "eight points in the village", that is, no one in the group will associate with him again except for major events such as fire. And after it fails in one place, it is difficult to make a comeback in other places. To this end, they are extremely cautious about their actions.

The Japanese are not born in small groups. Their behavior is the product of training. Since primary school, most children have joined the clubs organized by the school, such as sports, music and painting. Here, it is not so much the training of professional skills as the influence of group consciousness.

As for formal study in school, both schools and students are not as valued as "part-time job". If a child is popular in the "part-time job", he (she) will be respected, and even feel the hot eyes cast by children of the opposite sex. In addition, the local "sacrifice" can also show the group spirit of local residents.

When a company chooses employees, the most important thing is not academic ability, but group coordination ability. Of course, no enterprise in the world can ignore the coordination ability of employees, but Japan attaches more importance to this point than other nationalities. There are many "sacrificial" days in various parts of Japan, which are local traditional celebrations. On this day, all the villagers in all areas were out, and many neighbors carried sacred land on their shoulders, shaking violently, cooperating with each other and marching in unison.

However, it is easy to ignore the psychological motivation behind Japanese collectivism. As a group, the Japanese show a strong collectivism tendency, but there is a stronger individualism in the psychological motivation of their personal behavior. Compared with other nationalities, they have a stronger sense of self, and they care more about themselves in the eyes of others. Nanbo, a Japanese social psychologist, believes that the Japanese have a stronger sense of "the other" than other ethnic groups.

The so-called "others and me" is the "others look at me" that exists in someone's self-consciousness structure. Of course, this is not the true self that others see, but the self that they think others see.

In the Japanese community, individuals pay more attention to the eyes of others. This trend makes Japanese behavior show a high degree of "consciousness". They feel that they are "seen" anytime and anywhere. Because of this strong sense of "others and me", the Japanese are more afraid of failure and more eager for success than other nationalities. This is a powerful dynamic mechanism behind Japanese collectivism.

As a teacher, I feel that the obvious difference between China university students and Japanese university students is that Japanese university students are unwilling to ask questions. They are too shy to express their opinions in the big class. But in informal situations, everyone is very active in asking questions.

As a member of the group, although I try to blend in with everyone, the more I equate myself with the group, the more I have to give up myself, which makes me have nowhere to escape, which is also the reason why the Japanese are more lonely inside. Therefore, Japanese art pays more attention to expressing inner loneliness.

Under collectivism, in most cases, members can't demand external creation, so they must focus on the inside. This pursuit leads to the pursuit of perfection in detail. They believe that exquisiteness is the ultimate in artistic expression. Their constant pursuit of exquisiteness has made a record of pursuing exquisiteness in industry and life. This feature makes Japanese products exquisite.

Collectivism makes group members feel at ease, but it also causes no one to be responsible and the collective to be irresponsible. In the group society, patriarch politics plays an important role. This tradition comes from farming society. Except in special periods, such as the Meiji Restoration and the special period after World War II, generally speaking, elders have played a significant role.

Our media, although Abe reached the political peak in a short time, did not know that the power he gained was originally the result of authoritative politics. In Japan, people have great trust in authority. Although Abe is a "young man", he enjoys the political credit guaranteed by his elders and prominent families.

Source: Oriental Morning Post