Gender in Japan

Reading books about Ninja, Samurai, Yakuza, male pride, etc. and how the stereotypical Japanese men should really be made me think that Japan could well fit into a “masculine society”....... Of course, that was before I came to Japan.

When conducting this somewhat small research; tough behaviour and cocky attitude was exactly what I was looking for. Did I encounter it? “Perhaps”, but not as much as I wanted to. Instead I saw the uprising of a new generation, a new lifestyle where looking good meant everything. Seeing guys wearing custom-designed tight clothes, looking after themselves and making crazy hairstyles OR just rearranging their hair with every single opportunity they got proved that Japan wasn’t a “warrior” nation anymore.

Man* or Woman? ( you decide) Taken from :

http://collegecandy.com/2008/04/08/geisha-guys-are-huge-in-japan/

When asked about why a guy would spend so much time on himself, the response was quick, sincere and straight to the point- “Why not? If women can try to look good, why can’t we?”

What really surprises me here in Japan is the striking difference between generations. Even 2 years is enough to have a totally diverse point of view, have a different lifestyle and way of thinking from the rest of the population. A good friend of mine, being only two years older than me, said that he does not understand why his university classmates take so much time to look good on the outside (physically), when they can be using that time to educate themselves and try to look good from the inside (mentally and academically). “It also depends on the family education that you are given” he says. “My father, as you know, is a very strict man. Being born and raised in a truly stereotypical family himself, he always believed in the idea that ‘once a man should always remain a man’ in whatever he does, whether it is his appearance, behaviour, or his actions, hobbies and pastimes.”

Suddenly I remembered that my Japanese University was exactly the same as my friend’s. Guys adjusting and fiddling with their clothes, sorting their hair out for a whole 10-20 minutes in front of the bathroom mirrors everyday, etc. (not that it is wrong or unacceptable), but seeing this phenomenon in large crowds.........

A Japanese guy fiddling with his hair.

http://myhaircuts.blogspot.com/2008/08/japanese-men-medium-hair-styles.html

Although I found it to be funny, I just couldn’t stop thinking about the reality lying beneath all of this. Maybe it is us westerners who misinterpret and have a completely wrong idea of gender? AND is the term “gender” really necessary in our society nowadays? Why can’t we just accept who we are and stop judging people by the way they look and behave? Male, female, do we really assign people to specific groups and categories according to one’s decision to lead a certain pattern in life? Do we honestly need all of that???
I guess it will always remain this way! What has always been dubious, strange and unusual for the westerners will always be rather unique and normal for the Japanese, because it is diversity that makes us all different and unique in particular ways.