Report on "Freshmen refuse to stand out in the crowd [...]"

I feel that this is an important story because one of the main points that most foreigners know about Japan (at least in my experience) is that there is an emphasized attitude of not wanting to stand out, confront others, or otherwise disrupt the harmony that tends to characterize Japanese society. This article seems to support that view through the example of students at entrance ceremonies hesitating to wear anything except for black or dark blue blazers. The article gives several reason that this was explained from the point of view of the students themselves, from a black blazer being useful for future interviews to not being confident enough to stand out from the crowd even if one would have wanted to. 

 The greater context of this story is that there seems to be a growing disconnect between this desire to blend in and the increasing levels of globalization that Japan is facing (especially in the workplace). The very word used to describe things of Japanese origin is “wa,” which means harmony. As such, making sure that society runs peacefully and in unity is important. With changing times, however, this may be becoming a less and less useful trait of Japanese society, as the article also implies. The prevalence of international cultures is growing in Japan, and with them tends to come more independent and individual-centered mindsets. These sometimes become a necessity for Japanese individuals who want to interact with these cultures effectively or get jobs with international influence. In the United States, for example, there is a heavy emphasis placed on the individual, their characteristics, their accomplishments and their level of uniqueness. In fact, standing out is so important to even job searching in America that most instruction focused on getting a job is aimed at making you seem like an interesting person rather than one who follows all of the norms or blends in. If the prospective employee is expected to blend in at all, it is only an expectation that the person fits the personality of the company, which itself implies that there are many possible personalities and traits that a company can attract and look for. 

 In outside articles I have found suggestions that this trend in globalization of culture is resulting in a shift in the culture of Japanese youth. Younger generations are tending towards being more confident and being interested in expressing their individuality. While the collective culture of Japan is definitely still on the side of conformity, it seems to be growing less extreme. 

 In articles tackling conformity and the role that it plays in Japanese politics, it seems that the opposite is true. In an article titled “The scourge of conformism besetting Japanese society,” the idea that Japan as a political nation is slow to get behind progressive global ideas is facilitated through policymakers’ hesitations to make decisions that will spark uproar or create disturbance to the harmony of the country. For example, a case stating that Japanese citizens should be able to choose whether they want to change their surname to their spouse’s was dismissed because of this unwillingness to confront an idea held by many of Japan’s conservatives: allowing people to not take the same surname upon marriage will destroy families. In an attempt to not cause any disruption, the Supreme Court simply passed it along without making any action to declare this as a thing that should be able to happen. A majority of the officials on the Supreme Court even said that they think there would be nothing wrong with allowing people the choice, but didn’t act on their opinions.

 Clearly this issue of conformity and not wanting to stand out of the crowd is an interesting one, and we’ll have to see how it changes and evolves as the current young generation of Japan grows.