日本文化を把握すること

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/425701
コメ欄が秀逸（journeymanさん）なので、転載。

It always strikes me as odd as well as both xenophobic and pretentious that, while “immigrants” to America or Europe are expected to “adjust to American or European Society,” whereas in Japan “foreign residents” or just “foreigners” are expected to “grasp Japanese culture.” The obvious presupposition underlying this little linguistic difference is that is that “foreigners,” even though they are comprising an ever larger part of the Japanese economy, are not considered to be a part of Japanese society, nor is it thought proper that they ever should.

Moreover, Japanese “culture” is always given reverence as some esoteric way of understanding the universe and man’s role in it. However, culture is nothing more or less than the sum total of human activity as it is habitually practiced within a particular political, linguistic, or ethnic sphere. In other words, “culture” is what the Japanese do and make. Some would like to point to temples and shrines constructed centuries ago, or the insufferably precious tea ceremony as examples of the “refined” Japanese culture, but if this is what is meant by Japanese culture, then it is hard to see how grasping it will help foreigners to deal with life in modern Japan. This sort of thing plays a part in the lives of very few in modern Japan.

Modern Japanese culture consists of things like juku, hanami parties, terekura, violent comic pornography, sorting garbage, variety shows, on sen, segregated train cars, costume play, anime, Beat Takeshi, Aoi Sora, text messaging, playground debuts for young mothers, shochu of a wide variety of qualities, incessant consumption of caffeine, overqualified office ladies serving tea, a relatively low rate of violent crime, staying at the office because someone else has a lot of work to do, absentee fathers, incredibly fit retirees walking through the mountains and enjoying their lives, overcrowded trains, comparatively high wages and low taxes for those in lower income brackets, and bullying as a tool for socialization.

Are these the wonderful things that the “foreigners” will be encouraged to grasp. Experience would suggest otherwise. In my experience, those attempting to “edify” “foreigners” about the Japanese culture are more often than not doing little more than preaching the necessity of revering the ineffable “wa,” which is, as often as not the functional equivalent of preaching the spiritual benefits of keeping your mouth shut and doing as your told, or, better yet, figuring out what you should do before anyone has to tell you, in short understanding the spiritual enlightenment that comes from the practice of proactive conformity.

When Japanese governments, be they local or national, begin to discuss the necessity of “immigrants adjusting to Japanese society” instead of preaching about the need of “foreigners grasping Japanese culture” I will believe that they actually have the interests of foreign residents in mind. Until then I will know that they are doing little more than attempting to impose their will on unruly outsiders while they derive the benefits of their economic activity.

超訳：欧米の文化には順応することが求められているのに、なぜ日本文化は把握されることが求められるのか。そこに外国人を受け入れる気がないことが表れている。日本文化の中でも、お茶や神社仏閣を知ったからと言って、外国人の日常には役立たない。文化とは毎日の積み重ねで、例えば塾、花見、テレクラ、コスプレ、アニメ、公園デビューなどなども文化の一部だ。でも、これらのことが語られることは少ない。むしろ、外国人には「和」の精神を敬い、黙って命令されたことだけをやり、人に聞かずに黙ってみんなに従うことが求められる。日本の政府や自治体が外国人が日本文化に「なじむ」ことを検討し始めない限り、ただ単に彼らを経済的に利用したいだけだとみなさざるをえない。