A few days ago, while standing listening to the daily speech about what happened in yochien on that day, I was struck by the number of times that the teacher said "yoroshiku onegai shimasu." Now it's quite possible that I noticed that phrase so often because I actually recognize it, whereas much of what I hear is still unintelligible syllables to me. But the thought stuck with me over the course of several days.
We don't have a similar phrase in English that I know of, but the closest translation seems to be "please look favorably upon me." It seems that every paragraph uttered by the yochien teacher was punctuated by "please look favorably upon me."
Similarly, whenever I have met someone for the first time, the response is "please look favorably upon me." I, too, have said my share of "yoroshiku onegai shimasus" but in my case, I really do need their favor as I am sure to screw something up along the way.
At each of the school opening ceremonies, each of the teachers, visitors, dignitaries, and guests introduced themselves and completed his/her introduction with "yorushiku onegai shimasu." There is no variation; it is simply said. It is rote. I am not even sure anyone truly means it.
I started to think how that one phrase might explain part of the Japanese culture. Mind you, I am not a scholar of Japanese culture, I am not a trained anthropoligist nor linguist, and I have been in the country for a whoppin' few months. So, this is simply a personal observation.
Buuuut, it just seems to me to be so .... so meek, so lacking in confidence and assertiveness, fatalistic almost. I'm not sure these are the right words, but it's the best I can come up with for now. At the same time, it also seems to show the genuine eagerness to please and be helpful that we have experienced so much of in our first few months.
Any insights from the peanut gallery? Ponder away...
We don't have a similar phrase in English that I know of, but the closest translation seems to be "please look favorably upon me." It seems that every paragraph uttered by the yochien teacher was punctuated by "please look favorably upon me."
Similarly, whenever I have met someone for the first time, the response is "please look favorably upon me." I, too, have said my share of "yoroshiku onegai shimasus" but in my case, I really do need their favor as I am sure to screw something up along the way.
At each of the school opening ceremonies, each of the teachers, visitors, dignitaries, and guests introduced themselves and completed his/her introduction with "yorushiku onegai shimasu." There is no variation; it is simply said. It is rote. I am not even sure anyone truly means it.
I started to think how that one phrase might explain part of the Japanese culture. Mind you, I am not a scholar of Japanese culture, I am not a trained anthropoligist nor linguist, and I have been in the country for a whoppin' few months. So, this is simply a personal observation.
Buuuut, it just seems to me to be so .... so meek, so lacking in confidence and assertiveness, fatalistic almost. I'm not sure these are the right words, but it's the best I can come up with for now. At the same time, it also seems to show the genuine eagerness to please and be helpful that we have experienced so much of in our first few months.
Any insights from the peanut gallery? Ponder away...
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| I ponder best over beer... just sayin' |
Obviously you haven't fully experienced the wonderful Asian secret weapon of passive aggressiveness. The unspoken ending of that sentence, look favorably upon me, is or I will slowly but surely annihilate you. In Korea, the students all have to give their teachers a wad of cash every quarter. If they don't, the teachers make the child suffer until the parents pay up. All done very politely of course.
ReplyDeleteFYI-the Japanese restaurant on Warren and Warm Springs closed down! And there is a 5bdrm house for rent in Warm Springs for $5600. I hope you're getting at least half that!
I have experienced much of the uber-indirectness (which is a bit challenging for my... ahem... rather direct self), but not sure I have yet been able to identify the passive-aggressive manifestation. Now, I'm wondering if I'm supposed to be forking over moula to his teachers. So far, the ghirardelli chocolates (from the Great Mall outlet store that I learned about from you) are doing the trick...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Warm Springs news. $5600 - that's crazy!