Culture as language at once distinct and connected to the linguistic tongue has been apparent to me since I moved from Ghana to the USA and found that native-like proficiency in the English language was not sufficient for detailed communication and comprehension. There are nuances, cultural nuances, or let’s call it cultural lingo, that infused significant meaning to words, actions, symbols, signs and so on. So prominent is the cultural lingo that a lack of comprehension marks one so brightly as an outsider–– even when one is well versed in the native tongue. It’s like you have tuned into the same radio station as several people and if you have access to the language you are able to understand the literal meaning of the words broadcasted but lacking an understanding of the cultural lingo you are blocked you from the nuanced meaning grasped by the frequent audience.

Which is more important, then? Vocabulary, grammar or cultural proficiency? Dare I say, and not because one can access some sort of meaning with the latest translation app, that cultural proficiency is more important? Of course, it is arguably so. And this brings me to the topic of my new series: “Is this Japanese?” What do I mean? 

 
I tell you: I am sitting on a tatami mat and typing on a kotatsu table. If you know where and how these two items are used, you might imagined me to be bare feet or socked feet. You might also imagine that I am writing in a cold/chilly season and that I am probably located somewhere in Japan. You might even wonder if I am in a Japanese room in a modern house or a traditional Japanese house. You may have these questions not because you know the literal meaning of the words “tatami” and “kotatsu” but because you are proficient in the cultural lingo of these words. You are familiar with their common use and the traditions surrounding them. This is what I mean when I ask “Is this Japanese?” I do not mean the native tongue but the cultural frame of an observation:  to what degree is it steeped in the Japanese culture?  Does it hold a significant place in the culture of the natives and what’s its history?

Indeed, it’s a question that I have no intention to answer. The question itself, as a form of observation is the goal of the series. Thus, please consider the observations/questions under this title, no matter what, as probing questions and only questions. The perspective here is one of a foreigner––a curious and interested outsider. 

So the goal of the series is, simply put, to examine observations that I suspect to be cultural lingos and simply inquire if they are indeed common Japanese practices: Is it a norm in Japanese culture? Something that wouldn’t make the native blink twice but might drop the jaw of the non-native. Something that is quite obvious to the native yet unnoticeable or quite hard to grasp by the non-native. Where does the observation stand in the cultural sense?

It’s worth emphasizing that the goal of this series is really not to criticize or offer knowledge but merely to raise and examine questions, curiosities, observations and share discoveries as a non-native dwelling in the Japanese landscape.

Happy Friday the 13th!
J. A. O