Prior to moving to Japan with his family as a result of a job advancement, Reid had an American perspective on the world. He discovered upon his arrival in Tokyo that the world was much more varied than he had previously assumed. Reid spent five years living in Tokyo before publishing his book Confucius Lives Next Door to emphasize the vast differences between Japanese and American culture and to record what he had seen in some major East Asian cities. Reid learned what it means to practice the Confucian way by carefully observing the lives of his neighbor who served as an example of the philosophy. In the early chapters of his book, Reid claimed that the Western media had been misleading people on the superiority of the Western society relative to the Asians’. Consequently, Reid countered that such “Western” depiction is inaccurate. He insisted that East Asian countries can financially and politically rival their Western counterparts. To demonstrate, Reid stated that Japan possesses the world’s largest foreign reserves and that Asia is completely independent of foreign power after both Britain and Portugal relinquished their control of Hong Kong and Macao respectively. Though Reid’s work briefly mentioned the economic and political emancipation of Asia, he is more focused on social indicators.
Reid, in his book, asserts that societal signs exhibited by the East Asia countries much more signify their autonomy than the conventional features of an independent and prosperous state such as skyscrapers, advanced town planning, revolutionary transport systems, etc. These social indicators (Reid calls them social miracle), are, according to the author, a consequence of the “Confucian” sovereigns promoting collectivism while discouraging individualism.
Collectivism v. Individualism in Japan
Reid stressed that the status quo ethical philosophy in Japanese society is that the group is superior to an individual. Because of this, the individual must preserve the wa (social harmony) and must distance his/her person from meiwaku (unacceptable social behavior that could tarnish the reputation of a group). His/her principal obligation (known as ri or righteousness) is to protect the group’s image and live up to its moral standards at all times, even if it means the individual has to forego some proclivities. Conversely, if a person violates the community’s traditions or brings shame upon it, he/she becomes unworthy of being its member and faces social ostracism (murahachibu) and condemnation (Kopp). Consequently, social exclusion is the cruelest form of moral punishment that can be meted out to one of the citizens that prides itself on conformity to a group, on uniformity, and on collectivism.
This propensity to belong to a group and avoid smearing its image is engendered by certain moral codes, not by any legal restrictions, therefore adhering to the following Confucius’s saying: “If you govern them by moral influence, and keep them in order by a code of manners, they will have a sense of shame and will come to you of their own accord.” This sense of responsibility and shame, according to Reid, is culminated in Japan’s social miracle such as lower crime, fewer cases of indulgence in narcotics, family-first approach, better educational achievements, and parity of wealth.
The Manifestation of Reid’s Social Miracle
Statistically, criminal activities in the Confucian countries are relatively fewer than the global average. This minimal presence of violence and drug addiction in most East Asian states, Reid theorized, makes the general public feel safe. The citizens’ confidence in their security manifests in their aversion to installing car or house alarms, barring their windows or locking the doors to their abodes. Paradoxically, despite the Western countries’ heavy investment in crime deterrents such as armed police, border control, prisons, etc., the Eastern nations achieves it without strict policing or harsh sentencing, just by imbibing the Confucian culture.
Also, Reid rightly estimated the impact of drug use on regularity of crime. He opines “One of the reasons for the low crime rate in the East Asia nations is the low rate of narcotic abuse.” To demonstrate the positive correlation between drug use and crime, Bennett et al. (113) proved that a drug abuser is three or four times more likely to commit a crime than someone who doesn’t use narcotics. Hence, a county with fewer reported cases of drug-related offences, such as Japan, stands to experience low crime rate.
Thirdly, familial loyalty (one of the most emphasized facets of Confucius’s doctrine) means couples tend to maintain a happy relationship more compared to their Western counterparts. Therefore, the chances that a child will grow up in a two-parent household are higher in East Asia than in the West. In fact, studies have revealed that the kid of divorced parents is likely to exhibit later in life behaviour problems, stress, family difficulties, drop in achievement levels, loss of self-esteem, emotional trauma, etc.
Drawing Parallels between Reid’s Portrayal of Japan and the Norms of an Ideal Society
In the tenth chapter of his book, Reid surmised that there are conspicuous similarities in the values proposed in the West and those practiced in the East. From Reid’s own position on the issue of ethics, it is obvious that in any sane social setting, people must exude certain expected characteristics such as politeness, taking responsibility, non-indulgence in crime, drug, and violence, obedience, safeguarding the community’s interests, the four forms of loyalty including loyalty to one’s family, to one’s group, loyalty between an employee and an employer, and between the state and its subjects. Naturally, these expectations are the repercussion of almost every modern civilization having its roots in religion, which preaches kindness, discourage evildoing, and promote world peace. However, along the line in the West, reality replaced idealism, taking responsibility traded places with freedom, group’ interests gave way to individual rights. The consequence of these social substitutions being skewed morality is the emergence of iniquities and inadequacies found in the Western hemisphere.
Hypocrisy in Confucian Japan
It is true that Japan is comparably safer and its people are more group oriented, less likely to divorce, academically smarter, and more loyal. That’s why, at first, Reid’s book seems like an articulate glorification of East Asia. However, not until the latter stages of his work did Reid paint a contrasting picture of Japan. In these chapters, the author showed the nepotistic, America-hating, racial, socially chauvinistic, grossly corrupt, jealous, and vindictive Japan.
The case of nepotism and corrupt leadership contradicts self-improvement as one of the primary tenets of Confucianism. Confucius emphasized improving oneself; thus, the essence of self-improvement is lacking in the leaders of a society that claim to exemplify the teachings of Confucius. In fact, the East Asian leaderships have a history of subjugating their subjects, brainwashing them to do their biddings, and not reciprocating such service with compassion and benevolence, as prescribed by Confucius.
Individualism Highlights the Imperfections in Japan’s Social System
The Japanese have a popular saying: “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” It is a way of Japanese trying to dissuade an individual from standing out, conforming to Reid’s description of a homogenous Japan. Interestingly, the problem with this philosophy is that it impedes the progress of individuals with unique skillset. Whereas, respecting racial diversity and recognizing the need to harness individual strengths to build a revolutionary society is something the Westerners have thrived on for centuries. For example, the CEOs of many west companies are not from the Western region. In contrast, big East Asian corporations prefer to have East Asians as leaders to preserve their homogeneity and minimalize foreign influence. In fact, one could argue that the ability of the Western sovereigns to accommodate this diversity, and still properly function as a civilized society, demonstrates profound strength.
Another problem with the Japanese social beliefs, as espoused by Reid, is that their protection leads to complacency, therefore the Japanese are ill-equipped to cope with crime and violence outside their shores. Being in their comfort zone dulls their survival instincts - traits which are required to persevere in this dangerous world.
The Superiority of the West
No state should determine individual’s choices because considerable number of wars had been fought to attain personal freedom. It is the right to choose that has made the Western political and social principles enticing to many in other parts of the world. Further to this, many nations now adopt democracy and the West’s economic model.
Secondly, for all the Japanese supposed academic superiority, the West is still the leader of world inventions. Internet, space shuttle, Einstein, Newton, Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, quantum computers, LinkedIn, Apple, Microsoft are few of the West’s contributions. Furthermore, the Westerners still dominate the world university ranking, despite spending an average of sixty days fewer in school.
Conclusion
Reid’s analysis of the social triumphs of the East Asian nations and how these victories have provided the foundation for East’s new-found financial and political prosperity makes his book a brilliant one. The Confucian cultural norms witnessed in East Asia were also the basis of the West’s self-touted civilization, but along the way, the region replaced them with non Judeo-Christianity principles all in the name of human rights. Yet, Reid still exposed the flaws in this seemingly perfect Japan and other East Asian territories.
However, this book is about how an American sees East Asia, making it an opinionated assessment of what constitutes an ideal social behaviour. Reid implied that the East Asians have better social principles. But who is to say that a Japanese exposed to the West’s democratic lifestyle won’t prefer it to his/her country’s well-established tradition of mental subjugation and elimination of people’s freedom - especially that of association/dissociation - just to perpetrate the will of a government more likely to embezzle his/her hard-earned money and engage in an institutionalized corruption?
Works Cited
Bennett, Trevor, et al. “The statistical association between drug misuse and crime: A meta-analysis.” Aggression and Violence Behavior, vol. 13, 2008, pp. 107-118.
Kopp, Rochelle “Oidashibeya - Japanese purgatory.”12 Aug. 2014, www.japanintercultural.com/en/news/default.aspx?newsID=299.
