Does Japan Really Have a Shame Culture? Its Impact on Japanese People

In her book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword," American cultural anthropologist Ruth Benedict defined Japan as a "shame culture" where people act based on external criticism and evaluation, in contrast to Western "guilt cultures" where people act according to absolute moral standards and conscience.

After reading "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" myself, I found that while some parts felt disconnected from modern Japanese sensibilities due to the different historical context, the definition of shame culture does capture certain behavioral tendencies and characteristics of Japanese people quite well. This is probably why the book continues to be read by Japanese people decades after its initial publication.

It's true that Japanese people have a tendency to make decisions about their actions based on shame. However, this isn't simply an emotional reaction to embarrassment that changes behavior. Behind this lies the reality that shameful actions actually lead to social sanctions for that person.

Let's explore the background of how this shame affects not just the inner hearts of Japanese people, but Japanese society as a whole.

When Do Japanese People Feel Shame?

First, let's consider what situations make Japanese people feel shame most strongly. This is actually quite simple: Japanese people feel intense shame when they act differently from what their community considers correct behavior.

While this varies somewhat depending on the community one belongs to, specific examples of actions that make Japanese people feel shame include:

• Wearing significantly different clothing when everyone else is wearing prescribed uniforms
• Speaking loudly when everyone else is being quiet in a particular space
• Being the only one unable to solve test questions that everyone else got right
• Being the only one who doesn't know knowledge that everyone else knows
• Being the only one not wearing a mask when everyone else is wearing one
• Being the only one leaving work on time when everyone else is working late

Basically, Japanese people first compare themselves to their surroundings, and when they intentionally don't follow or are unable to follow actions that their surroundings consider correct, they think they've caused trouble for others. They then feel shame through self-reflection, considering themselves embarrassing for having troubled others.

But why do we define not taking the same actions as our surroundings as causing trouble, and consequently feel shame? Japanese parental and school education has a major influence here.

Most Japanese people grow up being told repeatedly by parents and teachers from the time they become aware of the world: "Don't cause trouble for others." There's probably no Japanese person who hasn't heard these words—it's such a common phrase used when scolding children.

At the same time, Japanese people are taught that causing trouble for others is emotionally shameful.

To instill this shame, Japanese schools have many group activities. For example, eating lunch together, everyone cleaning up after meals, having group competitive events like cultural festivals and sports festivals, and wearing the same school uniforms.

When situations arise where someone can't participate well in these group activities, it becomes indirectly embedded in Japanese emotions that this is something shameful, often without conscious awareness.

This is why Japanese people change their behavior to match what their surroundings expect, in order to avoid causing trouble for others and feeling shame.

Why Does Shame Constrain Japanese Behavior?

But why does the personal emotion of feeling shame have such a significant impact that it constrains Japanese behavior?

This is because there's a reality where individuals who take shameful actions receive social punishment in the form of exclusion from the group.

Historically, as a closed island nation, Japanese people maintained independence and lived in relative isolation from the world. As a result, in what's called "village society," human relationships remained largely unchanged within narrow regional communities called villages, where people lived their lives within limited areas and relationships passed down through generations.

During the Edo period from the 17th to 19th centuries, Japan had a system called "mura hachibu" (village ostracism). This was a punitive measure taken against those who committed criminal acts like assault or theft, or those who disturbed the order of the village community.

People subjected to mura hachibu faced severe sanctions: they were forbidden from all interaction within the same community, except for funeral arrangements and firefighting activities.

Through such social sanctions, acts that caused trouble for the community became rooted not just as shame in personal emotions, but as emotions accompanied by the fear of being banned from social activities within the group.

Of course, strict political systems like mura hachibu have been eliminated in modern times, and changes have occurred in such fixed relationships. Additionally, in urban areas like Tokyo, the traditional community breakdown and significant new changes have emerged with the increase in foreign residents.

Nevertheless, customs like mura hachibu still exist in modern Japan.

For example, one method of bullying among students in schools involves excluding someone from the friend group.

When you go to school in the morning and find that friends who were talking happily with you yesterday no longer speak to you, ignore you when you try to talk to them, and others around them look at you and giggle—through actually experiencing such specific exclusion sanctions at school or seeing others receive such treatment, Japanese people gradually learn to fear both exclusion sanctions and shame emotions.

Additionally, people in rural Japan and small towns still live within limited relationships. Having moved and changed schools several times myself due to my parents' work, I've observed that particularly in rural areas, the same human relationships remain strongly and unchangingly rooted in the land.

In such relationships with little change, exclusion has a strong punitive effect. For children, it means being excluded from peer groups at school and having no one to talk to; for adults, being excluded from workplace relationships poses serious risks of negative impacts on work and career advancement.

In other words, Japanese people aren't just concerned with their own internal emotions of feeling shame. Rather, the combination of realistic life sanctions—being excluded from social groups for taking shameful actions—leads them to recognize shame as an emotion of fear and change their behavior accordingly.

Are the Shame Emotions Japanese People Hold Entirely Negative?

So, are the feelings of "shame" that Japanese people experience entirely negative?

I believe that feeling shame contributes significantly to Japanese people's consideration for others and their earnest efforts to not be outdone by others.

As a specific example, Japanese people feel ashamed of their own behavior when they forget to say thank you after someone gives up their train seat for them.

This isn't shame emotion arising from fear of being excluded from their community, but rather what I consider a spontaneous emotion arising from genuinely feeling ashamed of their own actions—shame at their own lack of consideration, being unable to transform their feelings of consideration for others into concrete actions.

I think there still remains within Japanese shame emotions this power to deeply reflect on whether one's actions toward others are morally and ethically correct through comparison with others' actions, and ultimately try to change toward better behavior.

The Expansion of Shame Culture and Sanction Disadvantages Through Social Media

However, it's also true that with the advent of social media, Japanese shame culture has begun to create strong disadvantages.

Japanese shame culture continued to exist as a socially powerful force through its connection with exclusion sanctions, but this was previously limited to close community insiders only.

However, in modern times, with the development of social media, shame has begun to spread instantly not just within peer groups, but to broader society as a whole.

With exclusion within a local area, one could leave that area where no one would know about their shame and start a new life elsewhere. However, as shameful actions spread throughout Japanese society through social media, the fear of being excluded from society as a whole has begun to take root unconsciously among Japanese people.

Of course, shame spreading throughout society via social media rarely happens to ordinary people and is basically limited to celebrities and influential figures. However, by witnessing these celebrities receive sanctions, people indirectly experience fear, and shame emotions that excessively worry about others' evaluations are intensifying within each Japanese person's heart.

The fact that the "X" platform, which is declining globally, still maintains many users and strong influence in Japan might be due to this connection with shame culture.

Rapid Globalization and Breaking Away from Shame Culture

However, there are movements within Japan itself to change this social system of shame and exclusion sanctions. I think there are several factors behind this new movement, but the biggest is that shame emotions significantly restrict taking actions different from others, ultimately making it a major factor that prevents new innovation from occurring.

In a previous era, Japan had already established solid businesses centered on the automotive industry. Within those defined frameworks, there was absolutely no need to take actions different from others to maximize efficiency.

However, in the modern era where rapid changes are occurring with globalization, centered on IT and AI industries, taking new actions different from others without regard for shame emotions and exclusion sanctions is increasingly becoming a condition for business growth.

In such circumstances, if shame and sanction culture remains rooted in Japan as before, Japan won't be able to create new industries and will fall into a negative spiral where it cannot stop economic stagnation and contraction along with past glory.

Therefore, rather than further strengthening the current culture of shame and sanctions, something like a new Japanese-style individualism that takes actions different from others is gradually emerging through education and business settings.

In Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, I think feeling shame isn't just disadvantageous, but is one of the important emotions directly connected to Japanese people's serious character and considerate behavior toward others. Nevertheless, shame emotions that excessively bind Japanese behavior do need to change.

Once, while traveling alone through various places, I came to love India most. I'm not quite sure what made me love India so much, but India apparently has a saying: "It's okay to cause trouble for people, but when trouble is caused to you, you should help." (I don't know if this really exists. It might be a saying created by Japanese people who wanted a new perspective.)

This feeling is completely opposite to the Japanese way of thinking, where people are taught from childhood "Don't cause trouble for others," and perhaps this contrasting philosophy is part of what made me love India.

While preserving the Japanese advantage of being able to reflect on oneself by feeling shame and seeing oneself from others' perspectives, reducing the emotion of excessively fearing causing trouble, the exclusion sanctions that create those emotions, and such systems might become a great force in saving Japanese people themselves.

For such entrenched social systems to change, transformation will likely occur not just through Japanese people alone, but through the introduction of external forces. For this reason, I hope Japan will become an even more internationally open society.

Thank you to those who read this.