For this post I chose to narrow "my neighborhood" down to the level of cho/machi, just like Bestor did in his movie Neighborhood Tokyo as well as his chapter in the course readings*.
(Click the pictures to enlarge)
In most ways, Katahokohigashimachi can pass for a typical Japanese neighborhood. I am am not certain of the actual size of the area, since I do not know how the "neighborhood-borders" are drawn, yet you can get an idea of the size when looking at a map of this and the surrounding neighborhoods. But even though our neighborhood has a lot in common with typical Japanese ones there is one major difference:
Us.
Three of the four seminar houses of Kansai Gaidai are located in Katahokohigashimachi, which means that several hundreds of us foreign exchange students live in this fairly small neighborhood, making it highly untypical as far as neighborhoods in the area go.
According to CIA's World Factbook, 98.5% of the people in Japan are ethnically Japanese. With these numbers in mind it is easy to see how our neighborhood contrasts against "typical" neighborhoods. Of course such a big population of foreign youths will lead to some kinds of consequences for the neighborhood. We are of a multitude of different cultures, look different, and behave in different ways. There is also the risk that some of us not always will behave in the best of ways. This is something that can result in a negative picture of foreigners in Japan and we should all do our best to prove such a picture false and at the same time contribute to an even better atmosphere in our neighborhood.
As stated above, I am not really sure of what is actually considered a part of our specific machi but that put aside, I have chosen to show some of the more characteristic elements in our nearby surroundings.
Kurumazuka Park is possibly the most central part of the neighborhood. People jog here, walk their dogs, families and groups of children play, and I have heard (but not yet seen for myself) that on some early mornings people get together for some sort of choreographed group exercise.
Right across the street from the park is a liquor store, a few restaurants and other businesses located. There are also the regular vending machines for drinks, but also for beer and cigarettes. During orientation, Prof. Tracy told us that drinking alcohol in public is considered poor manners, and the beer vending machine located right at the park near the seminar houses provides ample opportunity for foreign students to look bad.
*Theodore C. Bestor: Inquisitive Observation: Following Networks in Urban Fieldwork
In response to the 98% are ethnically Japanese comment, there was a book I read (it was either 'Understanding Japanese Society' by Joy Hendry or 'Japanese Culture 4th ed' by Paul Varley') which explained that historically the majority of what are now known as the Japanese originally emigrated from Korea. I believe this was in the Jomon period or perhaps earlier.
ReplyDeleteBut then of course you can put that arguement of 'historically speaking' to any race, so it's difficult to determine the exact point at which two groups of humans become separate ethnicities.
I do like that you define your neighborhood and provide some interesting observations. I am not sure how the CIA defines who is living in Japan, but I doubt it includes students and other temporary visitors. Actually the Japanese population has over 4% of non-Japanese minorities, and this if growing every day. Check out the Sugimoto reading in the course pack. Anyway, while foreigners shouldn't be ignored, especially in your neighborhood setting, I don't think they should be stressed either.
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