Useful Japanese concept 1

I have been working on cultivating a balance between Japanese and Western culture: an effort to take what is good from both sides after living both cultures throughout my life.

There are some concepts that I believe can be beneficial to our Western society.

"気を使う" (Ki wo tsukau)

Interestingly like many other foreign words, there is no direct, seamless English translation.

To summarise, this term means to keep your attention towards how other people feel. Some examples could be like when someone at the dinner table has an empty cup and they are looking at it, you could top them up. This concept is very scalable and highly relevant to a high-context society like Japan. Rather than cementing everything comprehensively in writing, there are many unspoken, subtle nuances which must be picked up throughout one's life.

The lack of such concise terminology like 気を使う in the West reminds me of George Orwell's 1984, where he explores a society where words that can cultivate free-thinking and expressing oneself are denied completely. Imagine if you do not know the words to express anger, sadness, frustration, jealousy etc. Orwell uses Neologism to invent words that are useful for society, deemed by a small party of people with power. The same powers limit 'negative' 'unproductive' behaviour. Who judges this?

Many criticisms of Japanese society and its paradigms say that 気を使うand other similar strained concepts encourage 'fakeness' and 'facades'. Critiques could be extended to slowing down authenticity and productivity. One can refer to the meme comparing Western business emails and Japanese ones, where the Japanese one is 40 times longer due to 'formalities'.

I believe this goes back to my main point, finding a balance. Being an Australian born Japanese, I seek to pursue finding the strengths and weaknesses of both cultures largely through osmosis. To find truth, we must find what is false first. A fighter must go through the process of misjudging fake attacks and then get hit by real to discern what is real. A luxury product enthusiast must go through seeing or even being fooled by fake products to determine the intuition and eyes to see what is real.

There are many powerful, relevant concepts that the West has produced which is barely existing in the day to day lives of Japan. A large one that immediately comes to my mind is individualism. Speaking up for your true beliefs, uncovering your soul and creating yourself. Too much to the right leads to arrogance and close-mindedness, too much to the left also leads to arrogance and close-mindedness. We must find the middle path.

Interestingly, all great things fail NOT because of external factors. It is more inwards: self-destruction.