With my first time living abroad being in Japan, it is inevitable that I would attempt to make parallels between my experience there and my life here. Because of this, I initially took these comparisons with a grain of salt, assuming they were forced connections, stemming from the personal in a way that they would interfere with discovering the universal truths that writers so desperately seek. But after living in Costa Rica for some time, I must admit that I have come across many striking similarities between these seemingly disparate nations.
There is a well known social phenomena in Japan described as ¨honne¨ and ¨tatemae¨. I recall explaning the difference between ¨honne¨ (a person´s true feelings) and ¨tatemae¨(behavior one displays in public) to some gringos who had lived here for many years. They replied immediately, ¨sounds exactly like Ticos!¨ When I repeated this to another group of gringos, they responded in the same way. And so on.
This was when I began to notice several odd and inexplicable connections between these faraway nations with completely different histories. In both Asian and Latin American cultures, family values are stressed. Youths live with their parents until they are married. Both the Japanese and Ticos are polite and hospitable and this is reflective in their use of language. Japanese has two distinct forms: polite and casual. Spanish also has the ¨usted¨¨and ¨tu¨ forms. Yet it is the Ticos in particular who use the polite form more than any other people in the region. Husband to wife, parent to child, even master to pet use the polite form in Costa Rica. Yes, when speaking to your dog or cat in Costa Rica, you ought to use ¨usted¨.
In Japan, the word ¨chotto¨, or ¨a little¨, is used all the time. In Costa Rica, Ticos add diminutives to everything. The Japanese have varying degrees of politeness, conveyed in how far and for how long you bow, to ways of saying ¨thank you¨ (arrigatou, arrigatou gozaimasu, arrigato gomazaimashita, domo, domo arrigatou, etc.). If you look at language as reflective as culture, these similarities speak volumes.
One of the biggest differences between these nations is their view of religion. Costa Rica, like nearly all countries in the Americas, is a Chritian nation. Japan, on the other hand, is very irreligious. Discussing religion with someone from Japan is like chatting about sports. I remember how the majority of the Japanese had no idea when I asked them the differences between Buddishm and Shintoism, the two major religions. In fact, some people couldn´t even remember which religion they belonged to - or they belonged to both. Customs define society, not religion.
Still, Japan is filled with little shinto shrines in homes and along streets. When I first moved to Costa Rica, I remember walking down the block from my apartment and noticing a Christian shrine. It bore such a striking resemblance to those in Japan that I stopped in my tracks when I saw it, and caught myself staring in amazement. From gaijin to gringo, in certain ways, I hadn´t traveled very far.
There is a very simple reason for this. Latin American countries are mostly mestizo( heritage is mixed) This is very well known, but less well known is that not only did indigenous native people become westernized, but cultural blending was also the other way around and also influenced unspoken social norms such as politeness norms. Unlike as in north america, Europeans were often just one of many groups, number wise , though dominant politically of course. Costa Rica was ruled from Mexico city in the early years after the Spanish conquest, and Nahuatl and spanish were both official. Aztec soldiers under spanish authority were used to extend rule. Nahuatl uses the diminutive all the time, just as you said for local Spanish, and this is to make yourself look smaller so as not to appear too selfish and individualistic. I live in southern Mexico, and it sounds a lot like Costa Rica regarding socially appropriate behavior. I also taught English in Japan. I know the costa rican wars also had to do with this, in the case of Costa Rica,some Tico friends told me. Costa Rica is also influenced by African slavery, ...and of course power differences also do encourage lack of self expression. As a north American it looks to me like some kind of selfcensorship in Everyday life in Mexico and parts of latin America. I have also lived in Spain and Italy and these peoples are generally the exact opposite regarding self expression of opinions....or lack of it... Couldn't be more different regarding this. Because i have lived in places that are very spanish as well as places that are very indian, similarities are easy to spot. They are also not Catholic in exactly the same way, looks more polytheistic, more statues , incense, and the centrality of the mother, which again is the basis of native beliefs, nature based beliefs in this sense. Most Latin Americans proudly deny the non western part, and costa rica has ended up having more Spanish heritage in the mix which makes it more difficult to understand. But of course , the nonwestern is there in ways many don't even realize or recognize, and it can even be offensive to point this out in many situations.
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting. There are so many facets (culture, history, language, religion) that are connected in ways that we can hardly even imagine. You come from a unique perspective, having lived in Europe, Latin America, and Japan. Thank you for the very insightful comment!
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