As I discussed in
School Caste in Japan and
Mother's Community, insidious behaviors of people are prominent in the whole Japanese society, regardless of age, gender, or situations (e.g. school, work place, etc.).
I wonder this insidious nature of Japanese might come from the fact that Japanese are agricultural people.
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| Agricultural People |
Farm work becomes more efficient when done communally and thus is usually done so. The work requires each member a certain commitment to the group and to respect teamwork, which is understandable. However, such a groupism sometimes go beyond the acceptable level of control of each member by a strict hierarchy or mutual surveillance. A farmer has much free time, compared to a hunter, for example, who has to catch a thing every day, because farm work basically consists of just planting and cropping. What else does the farmer has to do? Right, just praying for preferable weather and keeping a good organization.
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| Rain-Making Ritual |
When a member finds any unwanted behavior of other member, s/he tends to use any indirect way to punish the member by, for example, talking behind the person's back. A farmer doesn't like to overlook an other member's act disturbing harmony in the group, however, s/he also doesn't want to be hated by that person and tries to manipulate an indirect way to accuse the person by hiding ownself.
The fact that a farmer basically eats rice, i.e. carbohydrate, and some pickles, not proteins containing foods, and doesn't have much muscles might lead her or him to a nonphysical means.
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| Rice and Pickles |
An extreme punishment is social outcasts. A farmer can't live alone and is so scared to be ostracized from a group.
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| Can't Survive Alone |
Hence, the person becomes stared down and disciplined to follow the rules in the group, including any unspoken ones.
And the "improvement" of the person's behavior makes the other member, who indirectly accuses the person, very happy.
This way, an indirect way or insidious way to give the rule to the other member goes unmentioned in the group, community, and finally the whole society.
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Wow an interesting take on the very true observation that the Japanese have a very indirect, underhanded and insidious way of expressing discontent
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