Some people say stuff like this …
Japanese use chopsticks.
Okay, that’s probably true. I mean, I actually have met some Japanese that don’t, believe it or not. But it’s a harmless, certainly useful, generalization. If you’re going to Japan, you’d better get some practice.
Now try this one …
Japanese are honest.
Okay, I mean, perhaps there are some Japanese that are dishonest. But I have no reason to think other than most Japanese are honest — that’s been my experience. This is harmless. Because, I’m perhaps over sensitive on this topic, I often will prefer to say things like “most people in Japan” … but whatever.
Now try this one …
Most Japanese are not honest.
Whoa. You just found millions and millions of people guilty. Hammer on that gavel. Bam. Bam. We have a name for views like this. It’s called prejudice. It’s one thing to give people the benefit of a doubt, it’s another to assign guilt before we’ve ever met them. See my last post on this.
Because I know that there exist specific people in Japan who feel this way, and I don’t want to offer a forum for their views, I am not allowing comments here.
But let’s call a spade, a spade. Assigning guilt to people before you’ve met them, isn’t a harmless cultural generalization — it’s prejudice.
So, yeah, I do think most people in Japan are honest, and maybe that’s a cultural generalization, but it’s a harmless one.
