Curious to explore the "soft power specialty" of the Japanese

I have a classmate who married a Japanese man. Many years ago, they held a wedding. I helped with the reception, decorating the banquet hall... Selecting the most gorgeous photos of the couple to display at the reception desk and lobby. When discussing, while the bride and the MC of the wedding agreed, the Japanese groom tried to back down: "Please choose other more intimate photos, these ones are too prominent"...

A small thing but always makes me think!

The more I interact with Japanese people, I realize that in communication, when something is considered beautiful or good... they often tend to understate it or say it as it is. Personally, I have never met any Japanese who is boastful or ostentatious...

In communication, they also use "respectful language" for guests, but they themselves use "humble language". It is rare to see any language where after a greeting, the first person adds: "Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu", the other person responds: "iie kochirakoso", the action of bowing down shows respect to the person opposite when greeting! Depending on the context, it can be understood differently, but the original meaning of the two sentences above is: "I rely on you for help" and "No, I am the one who asked you for help"!

When I was a student, I read in the research document "The Analects and the Abacus" that Japan, thanks to its clever application of Confucius's philosophical thoughts and Western science and technology, became a developed country, but they paid great attention to preserving national traditions and did not tolerate anyone's cultural "invasion".

Anyone who has ever walked in the subway stations in Tokyo knows how fast and hurried the Japanese walk, almost running, yet when greeting each other, they "take" time to "behave" and greet properly.

The textbook teaching Ethics to Japanese students has a passage that roughly says that when you act in accordance with traditional culture, you are "communicating" with your ancestors! (1)

Kendo, a traditional Japanese martial art, is famous for its salutes! The salute before entering the arena, the salute when getting off the mat, the salute when facing the opponent, the bend of the hips, the gaze, the movements of the legs and arms… all are boring repetitive movements, but they are taught meticulously and strictly.

Kendo students, before being able to put on the fighting armor and hold the wooden sword (a model sword for beginners), usually spend a whole year learning about the rituals. “Nihonkendokata” (pre-match ritual, which is meant to certify the Japanese sword used), “Hikiage” (ritual of putting the sword away after the match and then walking back 5 steps to say thank you)... are nothing more than practicing the technical movements of greetings to perfection, which has the effect of training the mind, cultivating virtue, and tempering the patience of the warrior.

Even Japanese youth are "fed up": "hello doesn't have to be that complicated", but they are explained: "In ancient Japanese swordsmanship, the opponent was very respectful, even considered as a god. Because of that meaning, each greeting movement had a symbolic meaning, so it was necessary to preserve and pass on this cultural tradition."... (2)

A professional Swordsman when greeting each other two breaths seem to merge into one, expressing the highest humble attitude: "Having a grudge about winning or losing when greeting is not the quality of a fighter."! (3)

A famous political theory of the modern world by Harvard professor, Joseph Samuel Nye, Jr. talks about "Soft power", which is currently being applied by many leaders when facing difficult political problems. But hundreds of years ago, the Japanese focused on educating the humility of the samurai and turned it into a cultural tradition that has been passed down to this day, isn't that also "Soft power"?!

A few months ago at Narita airport, while waiting to check in for a flight from Tokyo to Shanghai, while dozens of passengers were waiting in line, I saw a female passenger, who appeared to be Chinese, move away from the line to stand closer to the counter...

A Japanese employee came out to remind them to line up in order, but was met with resistance. Perhaps due to the language barrier, the conflict escalated. While the female customer took all the right to speak, not caring whether the other person understood Chinese or not, the Japanese employee tried to stay calm and listen. When he "saw that it was no longer possible", he bowed deeply to the customer and then withdrew.

Before that gesture, the Western couple standing in line next to me said to each other: "very impressive"!

A moment later I saw another employee come out (probably a Japanese person who could speak Chinese). After a few words of conversation, I saw two hands straight down touching the knees of the person bowing down... in no time the female customer's face relaxed, she pulled her suitcase back to stand in the same place.

Watching the story from beginning to end from a distance of more than ten meters, I thought to myself: "soft power comes into play"!

Being humble does not mean being "unattractive" or lacking confidence, but confidence is used at the right time and beauty is expressed in a deeper and more lasting dimension. While proper confidence can spread confidence to those around, overconfidence can easily fall into the trap of arrogance... The rather thin line between confidence and overconfidence is something that we, especially young people, need to pay attention to when going for job interviews to adjust our attitudes and behavior, to avoid causing unfortunate misunderstandings!

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(1), (2), (3): Refer to the textbook for teaching Ethics to students published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of NB in ​​2013.

Truc Nguyen