A pecking order by age

Japanese has a great deal of contribution into a pecking order which is determined by their age. They have to use so much Keigo or formal ways of language when talking with the older. This rule is almost compulsory in almost all the situations in Japan, except when talking with a member of their family or other situations such as with the older who they have so close relationship that they agree or 'feel' they don't need to use Keigo.

The older is always in higher than the younger. The younger must not talk back the older even when they think the older has said something wrong or unreasonable. The younger must do what the order has told them to even when they don't want to do that or they think it's silly, embarrasing or causing damage. On the other hand, the older can do or act whatever they want.

Youngers are miserable when their older colleague or member of club their belong are cruel. They might be forced to drink so much that they could end up vomit or lose their memory....even die of alcohol. As for the older, they have a reason to do such cruels: they were once forced to do same thing when they were younger. And they follow suit as a tradition.

Some youngers find it pleasure, but others(like me) find nothing but pain and don't like it. And there's probably no way out of it, so people who don't like it have to tolerate anyway.

I don't like the system because it just doesn't make sense. We probably need a pecking order or hierarchy-thing in a company or managing world, but not in a whole life!

What is Kata?

I labeled kata on the last blog. What is kata? It's a Japanese word and you might not know the meaning, so here I explain it to you.

Kata is translated into 'form', but because it's Japanese, I would rather translate into 'a way, an order of doing something'.
There're thousands of katas here everywhere in Japan: you see they follow them when they eat food, talk, celebrate something, bow, so on and on. As kata comes out of traditions and a tradition will fade out as time goes by, this Japanese original traditions have the same principle. There used to be much more in old days. But there are still many.

As one grows up, they learn katas at home, school and a daily life. I think that learning them is a a very important way to be regarded as an adult in Japan. If you were Japanese thirty's or fourty's and you didn't know much about them, people around you might think you were lower-classed or ineducated.

Though out-of-katas is getting telorated especially among young people, as for the business world, Japanese workers must learn and follow them. Some of them might not be forced to, but again these people are thought they work in a lower-classed job.

Kata is so powerful that it often affects Japanese's mind and thought. Japanese people often say "Shikataganai". You see "kata" in the phrase, and it literally means "do not have any kata" and it implies the speaker thinks there's no ways to put something through so it makes no sense to even try. It's ok to say so after you push hard to manage it somehow, but Japanese often say shikataganai even before they try. This reflects one aspect of the Japanese culture: when a bad thing happens to them, Japanese don't complain, don't argue and accept. They think shikataganai and give up, and think that's how an adult do. If they make a fuss complaining, they are thought childish.