Japan and Respect for the Elderly

By Greg McCulley

Drafted 11 May 1999

            A common misconception that I developed after I arrived in Japan was that all Japanese have an utmost and profound respect for the elderly.� I thought that this feeling came from some mystical origin, perhaps Mount Fuji or maybe the sushi.� After closer inspection, however, I believe that traditionally, Japan did have a great respect for elder members of their families.� Today, however, I feel this concept is in decline due to the increased exposure to Western influence.��

����������� This paper evaluates the degree reverence for the elderly found in Japan today.� As reference points, a look at Japan's past will be made, as well as modern thoughts on the subject.� Additionally, references to the work, The Twilight Years will be made for literary comparison and analysis.

Historical Japan

����������� Japan's history illustrates several examples of a deep respect for their elderly population.� Two concepts I will discuss to illustrate this are the role of Confucian thought in Japan's history, and a brief discussion on groupism's role in respect for the elderly.� One of the strongest influences of both Tokugawa and Meiji Japan was Confucian thought.� This ethical system placed a high value on the virtue of filial piety, or respect for one's family and/or ancestors.� Children are brought up being told stories of ancient heroes who sacrificed their entire livelihoods to care for aging parents.� These stories and examples are a part of the socialization of which children partake.� All Japanese are born into a form of indebtedness to their ancestors, simply for keeping the family going long enough for them to be born (Buruma, 151).� More directly, Japanese are indebted to their parents for giving birth to them in the first place.� This idea is referred to as On.� The greatest degree of on, before the Constitution of 1947, would be owed to the emperor, who represented the ultimate father figure.�� I liken this concept of deference to the Christian precept of 'honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days be long on the earth.'

����������� Japan's display of groupism is also important to our discussion.� On the surface, it might seem that in a culture where group norm maintenance is so emphasized, a sense equality would override any semblance of a unified line of authority.� While it is true that the equality of individuals is very important to the Japanese, there is one entity of authority that� is paramount.� That entity is the group itself.�� Members of a group strive to maintain their uchi orientation, or being within the group.� To insult the group or its norms is to insult one's own self.� Harmony is strived for and achieved through subordination to these norms, and one of these norms is on.� I do not mean to suggest, though, that the group is the only thing to which members show deference.� There exists a hierarchy both within and without groups that all members adhere to.� Elements of this include:� length of membership in the group, function within the group, and criticality of function within the group.� External relationships of the group operate in much the same fashion, with some groups being in a more elevated plane of respect than others.� The Japanese bear all these things in mind from the earliest stages of their socialization.� So, it is logical that they acknowledge the pinnacle of their most important group, the family.� The clear leader of the family, the eldest male, meets all the elements I listed above.� The eldest have been members of the family for the longest period of time, their role as leader is obviously critical, and as I just stated, the family is the original, primary group for the Japanese.�

����������� Thus, having established that the Japanese do, traditionally, show reverence for the aged, we can use that as a foundation for examining how this concept has changed over the years, and why.

����������� In stark contrast to the edict of respect for one's elders, however, was the tradition of ubasuteyama , which means "the mountain for throwing away old women" (Tasker, 107).� Well into the 19th century, this practice was employed to combat famine and food shortages in some north-central areas of Japan.� As a form of forced euthanasia, this illustrates an important point to consider when evaluating the elderly in Japan:� the Japanese are, after all, human.� They are subject to the same challenges and fears as any culture, and the old practice of ubasuteyama shows us this.� Many outsiders looking in have a tendency to mysicize the Japanese out of our own fear and ignorance of the culture.� The point I want to make here is that the Japanese historically display cultural flexibility (ubasuteyama and on are not exactly synonyms).� It is this flexibility that should be considered when weighing the influence of the West on Japanese thought.

Pre-World War II Influences

����������� Ie, the system of family-based management of the socioeconomic picture in Japan from� 1603-1868, included many practices that displayed the Japanese reverence for the elderly.��� The top-leading male of the family was the one charged with the responsibility of perpetuating the family.� He held this position until he retired and passed the job on the his eldest son.� The core of the ie, known as the �honke, was superior to offshoots of the family, bunke, and the honke was subordinate to the head of the family.� With this strong, visible chain of command in place, the power of the eldest male was indisputable.� The ie system was codified by the Meiji Civil Code of 1898, when current practices were articulated to the public in a doctrine.� This is significant to our discussion.

����������� The Meiji Restoration was a return to the traditional, Confucian-influenced schools of thought.� In the centuries leading up to the 19th,� the position of the Emperor had grown evermore titular in nature.� With the arrival of the West (via Commodore Perry and gunboat diplomacy), there existed a vital requirement to either bolster the central government, or face the potential end of their society has it existed at the time. So, several things occurred during this restoration.� The position of the male leader of a family was re-instituted to lay the ground work for doing the same thing on a national level.� The Emperor became the father figure for the entire country.� Inspired by Confucian thought of earlier centuries, he was to become the benevolent father of all the citizenry.� To validate this, the rest of the country needed to posses similar social practices.� Other civil changes occurred as well, including educational reform through a rescript on education and affirming it as a tool for the re-infusion of Confucian values into society.�

Post World War II

����������� After Japan's defeat in World War II,� two fundamental things happened:� ������� 1.� Occupational forces of the United States took over the government and education system and reversed the "loyal subjects to the Emperor" -making aspect of education, and 2. the existence of the Western occupational forces brought heretofore unprecedented levels of influence on Japan.�� It is the combination of these two factors that I believe is the crux of my position on the decline of reverence for the elderly.

����������� The ie systems that had been in place for so long were abolished by the Constitution of 1947.�� In law, women were given coequal status with men, and allowed to own property.� In the education system, the United States sought to decentralize control and administration.� Authority was wrested from the Imperial government and placed in the local communities.� The occupation forces had two educational goals:� to democratize and demilitarize Japan..� The Imperial Rescript on Education was replaced with the so-called Educational Constitution of 1947.�� This effectively reversed the thinking of the Meiji era, and removed many of the social barriers of� pre-World War II Japan.� This was the state of government until the signing of the San Francisco Treaty in 1952, which allowed control to return to the Japanese government.

        Throughout all of this, Western influence was circulating through the arteries of post war Japan.� The Japanese government no longer exercised curriculum review over education, and the arts were under scrutiny of the occupational forces to ensure no return to the former loyalty to the Emperor.� With the example of filial piety diminished and made mortal, there was every motivation for many Japanese to get beyond the ravages of war and submit to Western thought.� I do not mean to say that Western thought was passively adopted wholesale by a conquered people;� rather, selected parts of Western thought were "Japanized" by a people intent on rebuilding their nation.� The new education system taught individualism and creativity.� Working towards recovering from the war and helping as a member of the team was emphasized, and all this time, one did not see as much of the old Confucian thought as was seen 100 or even 50 years earlier.� Instead, other forms of respect for the aged were seen.� Respect for the Aged day is a case-in-point, as a holiday where the elderly are venerated and even receive free or reduced health care in some places.� After 1973, all older citizens were given free health care (Reichauer,� 274).�� Simple things, like the depth of a bow to an older person, or allowing elders to sit facing the entrance to a room when at the dinner table illustrate that deference was not lost, it simply changed.� Literary art of today gives us a glimpse of this.

        In her book, The Twilight Years, Sawako Ariyoshi tells the story of a family who endures two hardships that most family's experience.� The first was the death of an aged parent.� When her mother-in-law dies of a stroke, the lead female character, Akiko, is faced with arranging for her funeral.� In the busy lifestyle of a working mother in Japan, she found herself ill-equipped to take the traditional steps required for a traditional Japanese (Buddhist) ceremony.� She had to turn to her elders to do the unhappy task, to include her slightly older sister-in-law and her older neighbors.� She did not take pleasure in this, but rather is was here duty to do the chore.�

       To compound matters, her father-in-law became (or had already become) acutely senile.� Probably suffering from Altzheimers, he became a complete dependant on Akiko.� This burden painted a distasteful picture of events to come as she and even her husband grew into old age.� That picture, manifested in the old grandfather who was incoherent and could not go to the bathroom unassisted, had an impact on all the members of the family, even the high school-aged son, Satoshi.� The entire family looked on the old man not as a revered, former leader of the family, but as a pitiful burden on them.�

       However, there is an irony in all this.� Akiko and her husband, Nobutoshi, are resistant to the notion of putting the old man up in an old folks home, because of the disrespect it would bring on the family.� It is as though on one hand, he is an embarrassment, but on the other, he is representative of the head of the family group.�

        The story also recounts how the government allocates support to the community for its elderly population through the use of Senior Citizen Clubs.� This institution satisfies two Japanese inclinations:� the drive for group-related activity, and the care for one?s parents.� I think fundamentally, the clubs are steps to ease economic burden on families who have old or infirm relatives to care for.� It provides an escape from the on almost.

          Earlier, I alluded to the old practice known as ubasuteyama.� I'd like to expand on that for a moment in conclusion.� That practice has its roots in an old Japanese fairy tale about a kingdom (Satsuma) who sends its older population to exile in the hills to prevent their drain on the productive society.� The problem comes when Satsuma is challenged by another kingdom and is forced to produce three riddle-like objects that no one knows how to produce.� In the end of this bitter-sweet tale, the kingdom is forced to turn to an exiled elderly woman, mother of a humble woodcutter, for the answers (Magee, 28).� This story shows that while Japanese do not harbor ill will, per se, towards their parents, they revere them out of necessity, as in Ubasuteyama, or out of obligation, as in The Twilight Years.� There was a long-seated sense respect in Japan, first enforced by the tradition of Confucianism and Ie, then by the force of law in the Meiji period.� The coming of the West brought change, the effects of which are still evolving today, to some degree.�

����������� In total, I feel that Westerners are similar to the Japanese in the way we regard are elderly.� It is an evolving concept, and I certainly don't know where it will be in years to come, but it is clear to me that we share more similarities than contrasts when it comes to our dealing with matters of the heart.� Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world (Tasker, 106).� Like any modern society, this is a challenge that must be dealt with eventually, and in examining how the Japanese handle it, I believe we both have had an influence on one another.