JAPN 250 WINTER 2008
Davidson Ch. 1: Discussion QuestionsUpdated for Spring Winter of 2008
* Questions 1 and 2 may be most appropriate for those who have visited or lived in Japan.
*1. a great sense of beauty, no sense of ugliness (p. 6)
(1) What do you think professor Sano meant by this comment?
(2) How do you think Japanese (or anyone for that matter) can live with such contradiction
in their lives?
*2. honne and tatemae (p. 9)
(1) What is honne and tatemae?
(2) Do Americans practice honne and tatemae in any way? What do you think?
(3) How might honne and tatemae change the way you perceive Japanese?
3. gaman - - perseverance / endurance (with dignity)
(1) Do you have a similar notion / attitude in your native culture?
(2) In your culture, is perseverance valued as a major virtue? Why or why not?
(3) What do you think would be positive and negative outcomes of the emphasis that
Japanese place on gaman?
4. The aoi incident…..
(1) Explain what this incident is all about.
(2) What is the connection between this incident, honne, and tatemae?
(3) Why didn’t any of the administrator’s or student’s stop Davidson from taking the physical?
5. “This is the train to Osaka, isn’t it?”
(1) Why didn’t the students tell the visiting foreign teacher the correct train to Osaka?
(2) How would you explain the response of these students?