Values is one of those fun words that is new to most of my sevies before I teach it to them, but it's easy to learn because its definition is so basic -- "What one believes is important; often including beliefs about right and wrong." Values are of course bedrock to any society, and thus to differentiating between cultures, but it can be hard to pick up on significant differences when traveling as a tourist on a relatively short trip. I have, however, noticed a few noteworthy examples of differences in values between Japan and northern Indiana.

Japan is famous for the ubiquity of vending machines. Virtually everywhere one goes -- all over the place -- one can find any number of products. Most common is a variety of drinks -- soft-drinks, coffees & teas (both cold and hot), etc. But germane to this discussion of values is the frequent placement of cigarette vending machines. In the USA, cigarette vending machines were pretty much universally banned some time ago, to protect against underage smoking. The Japanese haven't felt the need to do the same, but I'm not sure if that's because they don't mind if kids buy and smoke cigarettes, or if within the Japanese value system, kids wouldn't dream of doing something that's not considered appropriate for them. (Normally I'd start googling for the answer, but as I'm writing this offline and don't expect to have much time when I upload it, I'll leave it to my candy-and-extra-credit-desiring cherubs to seek out credible sites discussing smoking rates among Japanese, both adult and children).

So when our program divided us and then set us up individually with Japanese college students, I asked whether kids took advantage of the alcohol-dispersing vending machines. The answer I received was no, they don't. In fact I think the guys were a little bit surprised that I suggested kids might want to buy a beer or two when out with friends. They said that since beer has a bitter taste, it takes a while to acquire an appreciation for it, and why would kids voluntarily drink something that tastes bitter?

Heh.

Granted, many a soul finds the first taste of beer or wine or something stronger to be a bit unpleasant, just like that first puff of cigarette smoke is often pretty dang foul, but if bad taste kept kids from partaking of either, we wouldn't have the problems associated with underage drinking and smoking in the USA. At first glance, Japan seems to be avoiding those problems (though I'm pretty sure from what I've seen that the percentage of adults who smoke is as high or higher than in the USA). And it's not just tobacco and alcohol that Japanese teens seem to be voluntarily avoiding, experimentation with other drugs is quite rare in Japan from what I've read and been told.

I think part of the answer may be the enormously strong value that the Japanese place on group identity, group honor, and group connection. "Group harmony" is exalted above virtually all else.

Based on my reading of T.R. Reid's Confucius Lives Next Door, this emphasis of group identity and group harmony goes all the way back to Confucius. Reid writes that conformity is achieved by shaming, rather than punishing, those who deviate. This is such an endemic part of the culture that from an early age children learn not to deviate from what is expected of them. Thus, I'm hypothesizing until I can do further research, maybe it really is true that though students could easily access cigarettes and alcoholic beverages from the vending machines, they can't even imagine bringing dishonor, or breaking the harmony, by doing something that isn't culturally acceptable, and so they don't.

So it boils down to this: it seems to be okay within Japanese values for cigarettes and alcohol to be far more widely available than in the USA, but as best I can determine, there is a such a strong expectation that such things are not for children that they don't experiment with them. I'm hoping I can find out more from my host family this weekend.