nihonjin

8/9/2019 Nihonjin

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Japan Dairy

Be a Nihonjin

Konnichiwa!!!

Greetings are always special to Asians. They love it, respect it and above all they mean it.

We, Indians who are on a race to get westernized never tried to know what the greetings

like “good morning”, good afternoon’ or “good night” actually meant. We forgot our own

‘namaskar ’ or ‘vanakam’ which was a door to our culture and traditions. The funny thing

is that even western world has now started to opt for mass ‘indianization’ which is

mainly due to the erosion of values and spiritual development.

‘History repeating itself’!!!

Before going to Japan for my higher Secondary Studies I never knew what greetings

actually meant. In the busiest of streets we meet someone whom we know and then we

say, “Hello” or “Hai”. You feel happy and delighted. Have you ever thought about the

logic behind this?

During my stay of 2 years in Japan, I was invited to a number of interactive sessions with

the Japanese students of primary and elementary level. All they wanted from us was toteach them our greetings. So three of my Indian batch mates and couple of Taiwanese

and Thailand friends used to talk to them and teach them ‘namaskar’, ‘vanakam’,

‘nihou’, ‘sawadeekap’ etc. In return the children used to teach us the Japanese scripts

which were unknown to us. Technically speaking our Japanese language skills were on

par with the elementary students.

Japanese culture taught me the importance of Aisatsu or greetings. It’s really interesting

when we look into the origins of greetings which we use like a mechanical way. Through

its way of greetings, Japanese culture teaches us mutual respect and caring people. They

teach us that greetings means a lot to the people to whom they are wished, it shows that

we care about them.

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Finding it so silly?

You may wonder why I am explaining about the small bits of our daily life which nobody

cares.

Remember the story of karma in Mahabharata?

Just like a small nut, which took the life of Karna?

He was never concerned of the small nut which was loosely attached to his wheel bolt.

A million small drops make an ocean.

Japanese bow their heads whenever they wish somebody; this is called as ‘ le’. There is no

class and caste structure to stop them from doing this. Student wishes his teacher and

bows him as teacher wishes him and bows him; this is the same case with an employee-

employer; a doctor-patient relationship. This may feel awkward to strangers but there is

always an air of attachment and self respect between the both. Whomever maybe the

stranger, they should be respected. You will find it similar with our own thought of

‘adhithi devo bhava’ .

Japan is a type of country where they give prime important to formality and rituals. Let

me introduce you some of them.

• Whenever I open a door I say “shisture shimasu”which means I am causing

trouble to you.• Whenever I go out I say “ite kimasu” which means I will come back soon.

• Whenever I comeback from a long journey I say “tadayima”which means I am

safely back home.

• Whenever we are going to receive some service from somebody we say “onegai

shimasu”which means I am grateful to your service.

The energy when they you greet someone has an everlasting effect on the atmosphere.

The positive energy flows from one to the other. We can learn a lot from the Japanese

way of greeting people. It teaches you that even a minute change in your tone of wishing

somebody or wishing somebody from the bottom of your heart can make wonders in your

life?

Have you ever been desperate to be wished by somebody?

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Have you ever felt that your life lacks energy?

Have you ever felt that the life is too monotonic?

Show more energy!

Do more wishing!

You can feel the warmth that spreads around you even in the chilliest of days.

Sayonara.

Gautam Jayasurya

Roll no: 339

1st year LLB B.A

nihonjin

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