Japan

2 Pages 512 Words

Conformity in Japan

We absolutely live in conformity to something like fashion, thoughts or whatever depends on us. Conformity has existed in many countries since people began to make groups. It’s an awful trend, because conformity hides the personality and characteristics of a person. Some people may be scared to do something different from others, while some may have the ease to be the same as others. In addition to being similar with the group, most people feel pressured by their peers, and they end up doing things against their free choice.

There are various cases of conformity even in Japan. It’s not different from the past and the present. The history of Japan during 1603-1867, called the Edo period, has some awful peer pressure stories. These were called “Murahachibu” which means that the whole village blames and sends away a person who breaks the rules along with his/her family and group. They might even impose high taxes to these people. Still today, we sometimes call “Murahachibu” peer pressure. In the Edo period, the villages were organized into groups of 5, and each group take joint responsibility for the prevention of crimes and paying for tax. Everyone had to be the same.

Japan is one of the most serious countries that practice conformity today. Most people, from children to adults, feel peer pressure. Some adults even allow their children to do the same as their peer, because the adults think that they may be departed from their group if their children do something strange. Japanese people like to make their own groups, and do anything only with their own friends. Lately, news about a more serious problem of bully is increasing. These are not only about young people, but the adults’ behavior and feeling about peer pressure are evident.

I had belonged to groups that conformed, and I had to be the same with everyone else. My junior high and high school had a rule that we wear uniform. We must ...