Will the issue of separate surnames for married couples change the concept of family in Japan?The issue is not gender equality but the concept of ``home'' that is unique to Japan.
2021-11-04
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Is it gender discrimination for married couples to have the same surname
The issue of selective marital separation has recently become a hot topic in Japan. Japan is the only country in the world that has a family registration system that stipulates husband and wife status by law.
A growing number of people are arguing that this is gender discrimination and that it is acceptable for couples to have different surnames. The origin of the problem is that when a woman gets married, she usually takes the man's surname, so it is difficult to use her maiden name at work, or to change information in social procedures, banking, and various other contracts.
However, it is logically incorrect to view this as gender discrimination. This is because under the current law, equality is guaranteed because the surname must be chosen from either a man or a woman. The question becomes what it means for a husband and wife to use the same surname.
The concept of the traditional Japanese house
In Japan, the concept of family has been around since ancient times, and when you get married, you move into a family. A married woman moves into a man's house and becomes part of his family. There is a cultural background that makes her a member of the family, including her ancestors. The child born there will take the family name of that family. Uji means belonging to the same group, and dates back to the surname system in ancient times.
Japanese people are taught to respect the concept of home and to act in a way that lives up to the name of home. A family crest is a symbol of a family.
In the West, the idea seems to be a little different. Children seem to think that they belong to both the father's and mother's families. In this case, there are four grandfathers and grandmothers, and they belong to the four people. I wonder if the next idea will be to belong to eight people. If you go back in time, you will belong to １００ people.
In other words, the way of thinking about Japanese houses is completely different. In Japan, people search for their ancestors by tracing one family line. In this respect, the opinion that we should refer to Western countries seems to be a rather wild opinion.
Symbol of Japanese house
Japan has the imperial family as a symbol of the family. The issue of separate family names for married couples and the issue of male lineage inheritance seem to be unrelated, but they are closely related.
The imperial family has stubbornly protected the traditional Japanese concept of home. Joining the imperial family means joining the imperial family. As a unique entity, the imperial family does not have a clan. When a male member of the imperial family marries, the woman he marries loses his family name.
This is stipulated in the Imperial House Law, but when a female member of the imperial family marries and becomes a commoner, like Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako, or a former female member of the imperial family says she does not want to take her husband's name, she is considered a commoner. If current laws are followed, will women remain members of the imperial family? Or will they live a normal life without having a surname?
Can we discuss the family system apart from the imperial family
The Liberal Democratic Party is reluctant to promote separate marriages. This is also because we see it as a problem not with gender equality, but with Japan's unique cultural background and the concept of the Japanese home, which is the foundation of society. Japan has an imperial family that has been connected uninterrupted since recorded history, unlike any other country in the world. Japan has a history of following this model of inheritance.
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Japan is a maritime nation that knows everything about the sea - there is nothing we can learn from China and South Korea.
The reason foreigners who have eaten sushi in Japan say that Japanese sushi is different is not just the skill of the sushi chefs or the freshness of the fish. Japan's fishing industry is not just about collecting fish. Depending on the characteristics of the fish, the fish are caught during the season when they are at their fattest or when they are rich in nutrients before spawning.
Yellowtail is caught in various places in Japan, but it is said that the yellowtail caught in the area of Himi in Toyama Prefecture is the highest in Japan, and the reason for this is that melted snow from the Tateyama Mountain Range covers most of the areas where humans live. Because the yellowtail is nurtured in the mineral-rich seawater that flows into Himi Bay without passing through the water, it becomes a delicious yellowtail that is incomparable to any other. Japan's fishing industry has been carried out based on careful consideration of the fishing grounds, even the river water that flows from the mountains, and the knowledge of the temperature and temperature that changes depending on the seasonal flow of ocean currents.
Looking at the reactions of China and South Korea regarding the Fukushima treated water issue, it appears that although both countries have nuclear power plants, they do not have the engineers to develop the fundamentals. They probably purchased equipment from overseas, installed it, learned how to operate it, and then started generating electricity. Even if we say that we are building a nuclear power plant in our own country, we are not talking about the basic parts, we are doing things like minor changes in a car, but we are not talking about the actual radioactive materials, what is contained in the cooling water, etc. doesn't seem to know.
People are crying out that their country's fishing industry will suffer catastrophic damage, but Japan is one of the leading environmental conservation countries among developed countries and knows everything about fish ecology, ocean currents, and seasonal changes. It is safe to say that there is nothing to learn from China and South Korea. Then, the release into the ocean was started in collaboration with an international organization.
For the next 30 years, China and South Korea will live in fear of radioactivity, but this is not a problem that Japan perceives. Japan can only properly overcome the unprecedented nuclear power plant accident, release treated water, and continue its life as a maritime nation that catches delicious fish as before.
A celebration of shadows, a blend of Japanese and Western Japan.The continent abolished writing and destroyed its past.A completely different approach to history.
Japanese culture and shadow worship
Beautiful Japanese lacquerware in the dim light
Japanese aimed for balance and harmony
What was done on the continent was the denial of the past
Kanji abolished in Korea
The introduction of simplified Chinese makes it difficult to read the past
If you can't read past documents, you can't read history
Learn ancient Japanese and Chinese texts
A continent that burns the past and creates history
Japan's imperial family continued to exist
When I think about Japanese culture, I sometimes think of Junichiro Tanizaki's ``In Praise of Shadows.'' He remembers that during his junior high school Japanese class, he encountered some difficult sentences and had trouble understanding them. He talked about how you can rediscover the wonders of Japanese culture by learning about the background in which that culture was born.
Japanese lacquerware is based on black, and Japanese lacquerware was created in an era without electricity to create a beautiful appearance on a dimly lit dining table lit by candles. It was explained that.
White plates and glass cups became prized, perhaps because black dishes didn't look good in the light of a light bulb. However, if you eat on Japanese tableware in the dim darkness of candlelight, you will notice something beautiful about it.
To put it simply, in Japan there is a term called fusion of Japanese and Western styles. During the Meiji and Taisho eras, a large amount of Western culture flowed into Japan, but the Japanese strived to balance and harmonize with Japan's ancient culture. This is inheritance based on compatibility and harmony.
Yukichi Fukuzawa described Western culture as being like an epidemic. He preached that resisting these things would not prevent them from becoming infected, so we needed to think in terms of accepting them.
Japan sought compatibility and harmony not only in vessels and cultural customs, but also in the letters and documents that conveyed them.
On the other hand, what happened on the continent seems to be different. What is China's Cultural Revolution? In introducing socialism and communism, it was a movement to destroy the historical Chinese culture that they were proud of, and they actually destroyed cultural properties and slaughtered the people who had protected them.
What about in Korea? After becoming an independent country after the war, in 1948, it was decided that official documents should be written in Hangul under the Hangul Special Law, and in 1970, the abolition of Chinese characters was declared, and Chinese characters began to disappear from textbooks one after another. It seems that there is no problem with using Hangul as the national script, but by abolishing Hanja, it became impossible to read past documents. Efforts to abolish writing are incomprehensible to Japanese people.
The same meaning applies to simplified characters (current Chinese characters that have been simplified and symbolized), which were introduced during China's Cultural Revolution. By replacing Traditional Chinese (old Chinese characters) with simplified Chinese, people who received subsequent schooling were unable to read documents written in Traditional Chinese in the past.
Currently, traditional Chinese characters are used in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. This was because he wanted to be influenced by the Cultural Revolution.
Particularly in South Korea, historical perceptions change so freely that one major reason can be said to be the inability to approach past documents.
Documents from the Japanese colonial period and even earlier were written in Chinese characters, and modern Koreans are unable to read any of them. You probably don't even want to read it. Does it mean that history does not already exist in documents?
As an Asian, this is truly deplorable and pitiful. Is it possible to foster national consciousness and culture in this way? Both of these are unthinkable in Japan.
Japan continued to utilize the writings of the past, reinforcing the sounds with hiragana called Manyogana and inventing Japanese writing.
Texts from the past also have different phrasing and adjectives, so in Japanese education, we study classical and Chinese texts and try to read past documents. This is to experience the way of thinking and cultural customs of Japanese people who lived in the past.
To begin with, the history of the continent is one in which kings kill other kings due to wars, and dynasties change. At that time, many things built by past dynasties will be destroyed, creating a structure in which a good king reigns after defeating a bad king. At that time, something called ``book burning'' is performed. Documents from the previous dynasty were burned and destroyed. The destruction and fabrication of history is not new.
The only dynasty in Japan exists outside of the imperial family, and the Japanese imperial family has been protected and maintained through all eras. The Japanese never thought of abolishing the imperial family in any social change. For this reason, we can know that Japan existed with the Emperor even during the #Imperial Era.
In other words, the continent's approach to the past and Japan's approach to the past are fundamentally different.
Have tattoos been common among Japanese people since ancient times? When did the current tattoo culture disappear? fashion?
You may hear people say that Japan does not have a culture of tattooing, but tattooing is actually an ancient Japanese culture. In Gishi Wajinden, it is written that Wa people liked tattoos, and both men and women had tattoos on their faces and all over their bodies. People in China and the peninsula don't have tattoos. It is said that these things are not done due to Confucianism. This is not a recommendation. People who don't want to don't have to.
Many cultures were introduced to Japan from southern China, and there were people living in what is now Southeast Asia in the southern part. The method of preserving fish in vinegared rice, which is the origin of sushi, is said to have come from Southeast Asia, where tattoos are common. Sake is said to have originated from southern China's Shaoxing wine, which was originally made from sake-brewing technology that was brought to Japan. Northern China has a field farming culture, and southern China has a rice farming culture.
Tattoos began to be banned in Japan due to the influence of Confucianism. Even so, Toyama Kinshiro Kagemoto of Toyama Kin-san had a tattoo. Even judges had tattoos back then. It is said that tattoos were completely banned after the Meiji Restoration. The reason is for westernization. Even in the West, some people got tattoos, but they were only one-point tattoos, and they were not tattoos that covered the entire body like in Japan at the time. Amid these regulations, Japan's tattoo culture was inherited by the world of chivalry.
Due to this background, tattoos came to be considered anti-social forces. This is now called Japanese culture. Furthermore, in Japan, the anti-organized crime law was enacted in 1992, placing significant restrictions on the activities of anti-social forces in general society, and these groups are currently on the decline, with public baths now being sought after in the city. You no longer see people who were once members of organized crime groups.
Young people in Japan now have tattoos as a fashion item. In other words, they seem to be trying to create their own individuality by drawing something on their bodies, just like the Japanese of old. The pattern is a so-called tattoo that looks good on clothes. Tourists coming from foreign countries are told that if they have a tattoo, they won't be able to go to the traditional Japanese hot springs that they were looking forward to, so they wrap them in some kind of cloth to hide it, but they are told that the cloth is also bad. It seems that there are cases where the application is refused. On the contrary, it is said that young Japanese people with tattoos cannot go to hot springs, which is a part of Japanese culture.
You may be wondering what I'm trying to say, but Japanese people need to protect the culture of public baths, which is unique to Japan, in a healthy manner. Nowadays, it seems that men who are women at heart are thinking about how to bathe women.
In Japan, there is a ``misunderstanding'' that the inclusion of the ``Kojiki'' in school education violates the constitution, which prohibits religious education.
When asked about the idea of teaching the Kojiki in compulsory education, I was surprised to find that even self-proclaimed conservatives became so passionate about counterarguing it. When I asked the basis for this objection, I was told that the ban on religious education is written into the Constitution. And it seems that there are many people who are poisoned by the self-deprecating historical view that Shinto led to the Greater East Asia War. These people have no understanding of religious education.
Legal opinions have already been issued regarding religious education under the Constitution, and education should not promote a specific religion or exclude or deny a specific religion. Alternatively, the view is that it is education that recommends one to take refuge in some kind of religion, or that it is education that says one should not devote oneself to some kind of religion. Simply put, it's just that education that propagates or excludes religion is no good.
I wonder if Christianity comes up when explaining Michelangelo's murals. If you look at The Last Supper, would you explain who the person in the center is and what kind of circumstances the painting depicts? Why do we know that the founder of Islam was Muhammad and that the founder of Buddhism was Buddha? In other words, in Japan, we firmly believe that such things should not be taught only in Japanese Shinto.
Japanese people know the story of Golgotha Hill and the story of Adam and Eve, but they do not know what kind of being Amaterasu Omikami is or what kind of being Qiong Qiong-no-Mikoto is. It is said that there are more than 80,000 shrines across Japan, which are said to be the most religious facilities in any country in the world, but these should not be explained.
In other words, the interpretation of Japan's ban on religious education is that only Japanese Shinto should not be mentioned. Or there are teachers of the Japan Teachers' Union who are poisoned by a self-deprecating view of history and give off-the-record lessons as if Shinto led to war, showing the children a sense of justice that does not advocate Kimigayo. This is Japanese religious education. Far from being dangerous, there is no other religion as peaceful and tolerant of other religions as Japanese Shinto. On the contrary, GHQ feared the Japanese's familial view of the nation and their unbelievable power of integration, and simply eliminated the Shinto religion at its core.
Isn't Japanese Shinto necessary to teach Japanese culture? Because they are not taught, they cannot learn deeply about Japanese culture. There is no law that prohibits explaining the religious background that is a prerequisite for studying a culture.
The legendary drama 'Oshin' is very popular overseas and was broadcast in 68 countries and regions | viewership rating in Egypt was 80%, and in Iran it was 90%.
Legendary drama broadcast in 68 countries and regions around the world
Singapore and Egypt record 80% viewership
90% viewer rating in Iran, chosen as the ideal woman
Also broadcast in China, but in Korea...
Oshin achieved great achievements in Cool Japan
"Oshin" was a hit not only in Japan but also in many countries overseas, and it is surprising how many countries and regions it was aired in. It was broadcast in 68 countries and regions.
"Oshin" is a hit NHK drama that aired for one year from 1983. This is the story of a young girl who leaves her home as a servant and goes through various hardships to live and succeed in the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, and is a vivid depiction of life in Japan's poor rural villages at the time. Oshin was written by Sugako Hashida, and became her most famous work.
In Japan, it has recorded an astonishing average viewership rating of 52.6% and a maximum viewership rating of 62.9%, which is the highest viewership rating ever for a TV drama. Sugako Hashida has worked on countless works including "Wataru Sekai wa Oni Dake", NHK TV drama series, and taiga dramas.
The first overseas broadcast recorded an audience rating of 80% in Singapore and 80% audience rating in Egypt. When the drama begins, everyone goes home. A power outage occurred during the broadcast and the broadcast was interrupted. Angry Egyptians who cannot watch the drama storm the broadcasting station and riots ensue. In addition, large quantities of food have been sent to broadcast stations to feed poor people.
In Iran, 90% audience rating was recorded. When asked on a radio broadcast who the ideal woman is, Oshin is chosen over Supreme Leader Khomeini's daughter. This became a major problem and led to the dismissal of four people in charge of the radio station. In addition, when asked who the ideal next leader of the country would be, Oshin, who is not a Muslim, was ranked 4th .
Oshin is famous in China as Asin, and the audience rating in Beijing at the time of the broadcast was 75.9%. China was an enemy country in the past, with whom she fought a war, but when she saw Oshin, tears covered her eyes. Many say that the image of Japan has changed. It was rebroadcast in China in 2007.
As you can imagine, is unfortunately not broadcast in Korea. The 1998 Japan-Korea Joint Declaration lifted the ban on Japanese dramas and culture in South Korea, but for some reason Oshin is not being broadcast. This may be the drama that most people don't want to see because it changes the image of Japan.
Currently, various Japanese contents such as anime are exported overseas under the framework of Cool Japan, but in the 1980s, a full-length TV novel with 297 episodes was broadcast in 68 countries and regions around the world. Even today, this can be considered a great achievement.
After the end of the war, the image of Japan was hardly known overseas, and people were only aware of it as samurai, geisha, and ninja, but Japanese culture, the Japanese way of thinking, and the way of life in Oshin's time were introduced to the world. It happened.
