Japanese Culture the Concept of \"Place\" Plays

Japanese culture the concept of "place" plays a large role -- but what role specifically does it play? Michael Haugh's article about the importance of place in Japanese society explains that "place" and politeness go hand in many social situations, although there several explanations and theories that attempt to approach an understanding of these dynamics. This paper provides a review and critique of the issue as presented in the article by Haugh. Alert readers discover that within this article -- in addition to Japanese language and cultural mores -- there are reasonable, achievable concepts of politeness that cut across cultures and can be applied to just about any situation in the Western world as well as Asia and the Far East.

The importance of place in the concept of Japanese politeness

According to Haugh, researchers have examined the "place" (which can mean the "place one belongs" and/or the "place one stands") concept and have been attempting to discern what actually motivates this concept of politeness. The "place one stands" isn't limited to the actual spot on a floor (or outdoors) one is literally standing on; it also implies one's social standing, Haugh continues (47).

In the past many researchers have concentrated on how Japanese use "face" (for example, a person has a "positive face" when he or she wants to be accepted or liked, and a "negative face" is when the person wants his or her actions to be "unimpeded by others") (42). But the respected research by Brown and Levinson into "face" did not satisfy the need to dig deeply into Japanese culture's idea of politeness because their concepts could account for politeness in several cultures and languages. Researchers have challenged the Brown and Levinson (in particular, Matsumoto, 1988, 1989) "face" approach to understanding the origins of politeness in Japanese culture; Matsumoto posited that what is important to a Japanese person is not his or her "territory" but his or her position "…in relation to others in the group" (43).

Meanwhile, honorific devices play an important role in Japanese language and culture. Haugh provides the reader with symbols and specifics that are not always readily understood by the lay person, but with close attention to the narrative a reader discerns that "honorifics" are utterances that show respect. For example, a person serving customers at cafe would use honorific language because that person is: a) showing respect; and b) humble and is coming from a social strata below the customer for the purpose of being polite. Honorifics also are used to show social distance between two people -- the server in a restaurant for example, has a social separation between herself and the customer, hence, politeness is not enough, there must also be the verbal indication from the server that there is a separation and distance in culture values at that moment. A good example is on pages 51-52; Yuka uses honorifics to show respect and to indicate that she understands that Shu is higher on the social scale that Yuka is (52).