CHAPTER FOUR
RESPECT
RESPECT
Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.
—Laurence Sterne
The character rei actually means rite or ceremony, but in a broader sense, it means respect. It is an expression of action toward others, a fundamental politeness that is often related to the character for benevolence, jin. Rei can even be translated as having to do with morality and politeness shown in social behavior. Like most of the characteristics of bushido, it is expressed in both word and deed.
If we look at the meaning of respect found in Webster’s dictionary, we find that the definition is to feel or show honor or esteem; hold in high regard; to treat with deference or dutiful regard.
In Japanese culture, the expression of respect is most noticeably demonstrated in social etiquette. Respect was a way of life for the samurai. It delineated both rank and social standing in a society governed by a very rigid class system. The samurai believed it would be better to lose one’s life than to be impolite or disrespectful. Proper respect was an expectation in both word and deed. As true warriors, this respect was extended not only to their superiors, but even to their enemies. Today, respect is an important part of our human interactions that is often in short supply.
Many of the universal values and virtues that contribute to a good society affirm our human dignity. These values are often expressed in respect for the individual:
Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
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Confucius
Those who understand the role respect plays in both social and business environs can instill trust and motivation in others. We will discuss respect in this chapter as it relates to Japanese etiquette and social customs. Respect was also displayed by members of the Military Intelligence Service when they treated their enemies with kindness and dignity.
Respect is not only a gesture offered to others; it is an important reflection of our own self-worth. Those who know and respect their own strengths and weaknesses are more able to recognize and respect what they see in others.
Laws control the lesser man.
Right conduct controls the greater.
—Mark Twain
According to the 2013 census, Japan has a population of approximately 127 million people living in an area similar in size to the state of Montana. The census also states that Montana, with a population of 1,015,165 people, has a population density of 6.5 people per square mile, while in Japan, it is 873! Japan is known throughout the world as a safe and pleasant place to visit because of its ancient social structure. Adherence to proper etiquette promotes peace and harmony in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Wa, usually translated as harmony, is a guiding principle in Japanese society, family, and business structure.
The Japanese code of etiquette is essential in society and governs the lives of Japanese. In pre-industrial Japan, Japanese adhered to a prescribed code of manners shaping every facet of their lives. This became part of their unique personality. A violation of etiquette meant losing one’s place in life or society. The first foreigners to Japan were amazed at the level of civility and etiquette of Japanese, taking note of their remarkable customs that promoted peace and harmony. Proper etiquette is passed down from one generation to the next and is a defining trait of the Japanese.
To any foreigner, bowing is the form of respect most widely recognized as a Japanese custom. Children learn to bow properly at a young age. Japanese companies even provide appropriate training of bowing for their employees.
Whenever two people come together and their behavior affects one another, you have etiquette.
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Emily Post
The Japanese hierarchy is significant, and it is imperative to be mindful of one’s status as well as age. Greetings are ritualized; it is important to show proper respect and deference based on your social position in comparison to the person being addressed. It is impolite to introduce yourself and more acceptable to be introduced by another person. In Japan, personal connections are of utmost importance.
The Japanese are respectful of their elders by showing reverence and honor, a tenet of Confucian ethics. It is common practice for three generations to harmoniously live together with the younger generation(s) showing deference and respect to their elders. Growing up with other Japanese families, my mother taught me to show respect and address my grandmother as obaasan and grandfather as ojiisan.
Old people are everyone’s treasures.
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Japanese Proverb
In business and life, referrals and personal contacts are essential, and part of the fabric of our lives. These relationships are based on honesty and mutual respect. We have relationships and conduct business with those whom we trust and like. The Japanese business and social culture relies on personal contact. The custom of exchanging meishi (business cards) has a protocol: you receive and review the card with much care and take note to deliver a proper comment. Keep the card out while speaking to the person and do not put it in your back pocket or wallet. If you put it in your back pocket, in essence you will be “sitting on their face”—a major cultural faux pas. Also, it is offensive to write on the business card. Social rules are so ingrained in Japanese society that Japanese people conduct their lives without having to think about these rules.
In Japan, manners are of utmost importance. Children are taught at a young age to be polite, respectful, and display good manners. I have firsthand knowledge of this practice growing up with my Japanese mother. All of my brothers and sisters can remember being instructed and reminded by Mother: always display proper manners. She would always say that it was just as easy to use good manners as bad manners, so why not use good manners?
The Japanese school system also reinforces the importance of proper manners. Schoolchildren are involved with their lunches from serving to clean-up. In addition, nutrition and social etiquette are taught at their mealtime. I observed a classroom meal in Tokushima, Japan, where my Japanese friend was a teacher. The children were well mannered, orderly, and wasted very little food.
In Japanese society, “face” is a mark of personal dignity, and saving face is crucial. Failure to fulfill obligations results in loss of face, which is more than an embarrassment or being insulted. It is a mark of shame. Shame is a loss of respect, and a loss of respect is a loss of dignity, a fate nobody desires.
Respect is sometimes best understood as an appreciation for the individual. It is often expressed in attention to detail, whether in proper table etiquette when eating your food or a listening ear when someone expresses an opinion or idea. Whether in business or daily life, our interactions often revolve around relationships. It is those relationships that often determine our path in life.
For anyone wanting to excel, respect must govern the way we live our lives. The samurai were immersed in etiquette protocol and punished for even minor infractions. This was a way of life taught in school and ingrained throughout the martial arts. The Japanese didn’t only ingrain how to think, but combined it with purposefully training their bodies to move a certain way until movement was a conditioned response requiring no thought.
The samurai held themselves to a high standard. True warriors showed respect and proper etiquette—even to their enemies. Their strength in battle as well as their dealings with people were regarded as a mark of bushido.
After World War II, Japan’s rise in world stature was seen as an economic miracle. Westerners were fascinated with Japanese business practices and studied their means to success. Respect (rei) is a guiding principle and an integral part of the Japanese business culture. It promotes peace, harmony, and conformity, because employees and managers operate in human-oriented circles rather than the linear layers of western society.
Military Intelligence Service (MIS)
Congressional Gold Medal
Never in military history (because of MIS) did an army know so much about the enemy prior to actual engagement.
—Douglas MacArthur
General of the United States Army
In 1972, Executive Order 11652 declassified military intelligence documents from World War II. With the release of this information, the U.S. Military Intelligence Service contributions and accomplishments to World War II victory were finally recognized. The MIS was America’s incalculable weapon in the Pacific and one of the best-kept secrets of World War II. The men and women of the Military Intelligence Service trained and served as interrogators, interpreters, translators, radio announcers, and propaganda writers.
The nisei (in the MIS) shortened the Pacific War by two years and saved possibly a million American lives.
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Major General Charles Willoughby, General MacArthur’s Chief of Intelligence
The contribution of the MIS was crucial to the outcome of the war; MIS soldiers participated in every American battle against the Japanese, including the final assaults on Okinawa and Iwo Jima. They served in all military branches: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Army Air Corps. They also served with the British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, Chinese, and Indian forces fighting the Japanese. The MIS soldiers fought fiercely against the Japanese in the Pacific similar to the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy and France.
Approximately 6,000 nisei and kibei (those born in America but educated in Japan) fought against the land of their parents and ancestors. They served in the MIS as Japanese language translators and linguists during the war. They faced heart-wrenching situations knowing they could, and did, encounter relatives and classmates as enemies. Yet they honorably demonstrated and proved their loyalty to a country that discriminated against them and classified them as 4-C enemy aliens. Would you have responded as honorably under similar circumstances?
On November 1, 1941, in San Francisco at the Presidio, the U.S. Army secretly opened the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS), only weeks before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The first MISLS students came from the Army, but later students were recruited from the American incarceration camps. Especially beneficial were the kibei recruits, because they had a command of the Japanese language and understood the subtle nuances and intentions behind written and spoken Japanese words. Their contribution was invaluable to the Allied war effort in the Pacific.
Saving face is important in the Japanese culture. Questioning the Japanese Americans’ integrity and loyalty to the United States was seen as a lack of respect and an affront to their honor. However, this honor and respect would be restored by translating over 18,000 captured documents, including battle plans, maps, diaries, letters, and orders. They also interrogated more than 10,000 Japanese prisoners of war.
The nisei of the MIS understood the concept of honor and respect that was part of their Japanese heritage. By speaking kindly and treating their captives with honor and dignity, they were able to win their trust. Gestures, a conversation, a song in Japanese or an offered cigarette helped the MIS linguists develop a bond with these prisoners of war. These simple acts of kindness demonstrated respect for their enemy and allowed the prisoners to maintain their dignity.
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allies, ending the war in the Pacific. Nisei MIS linguists accompanied General MacArthur when he signed the surrender documents. Through the MIS linguists’ understanding of the Japanese culture, the representatives of Japan were allowed to surrender in a respectful manner that retained a sense of honor and dignity.
Over 3,000 MIS soldiers served during the occupation of Japan, and were a communication bridge between the Japanese and American officials; Americans did not speak Japanese and the Japanese did not speak English. The MIS members contributed in civil affairs, intelligence, and military disarmament. More than that, their presence fostered a peaceful and successful relationship between the occupational forces and Japanese. The relationship was enhanced in part due to their knowledge of both cultures and led to an easier transition for a vanquished foe.
While living in Japan, editor Mike Jenkins heard an interesting World War II story about baseball. In Kobe City, which had been flattened by bombing, the Occupation forces marched in with trucks and jeeps and brought brand new baseball bats and balls. The Japanese people peering out of boarded windows of what was left of their homes were very frightened. They thought that the American soldiers had come to beat them to death with bats because the soldiers were piling bats beside large personnel carriers and other trucks. But when the Americans put on their baseball gloves and catcher’s mitts, and started playing ball in the fields and streets outside, the Japanese all came out of their homes and joined them. This is partly the reason baseball is such a huge sport in Japan today.
On a personal note, my father George Tsugawa’s two brothers served in the MIS. Henry Tsugawa, the elder brother, served in the MIS overseas. He mentioned that he had bodyguards in the Philippines in the event he was mistaken as being an enemy combatant from Japan. Unfortunately, Henry passed away before he was able to share much about his World War II experiences. Because of the efforts of his youngest brother, Dr. James Tsugawa, Henry was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. Akira Tsugawa, the younger brother, served in the MIS in the United States. Being Japanese, neither Henry nor Akira wanted to attract personal attention, and did not talk about their wartime service. Henry and Akira proudly and courageously served their country. A family friend, Fred Irinaga, aka Uncle Fred, also served in the MIS in the United States. Their wartime service helped restore the respect and honor that younger Japanese American generations enjoy today, including me.
These guys are the reason why our families are here and we are so successful, we are so fortunate, so happy and blessed, is because of them.
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Tamlyn Tomita, actress
In April 2000, the Military Intelligence Service was awarded the highest honor given to a U.S. military unit—the Presidential Unit Citation—over 50 years after World War II ended. In October 2010, the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the 6,000 Japanese Americans who served during the war in the MIS. Their outstanding loyalty, sacrifice, and service to the United States was at last recognized, although posthumously for most.
The United States demonstrated its greatness and humility by recognizing and rectifying this oversight. The Presidential Unit Citation awarded the MIS was an acknowledgment and a sign of respect for the men and women who served their country honorably during a difficult period in our history. How many countries in the world would try to resolve such a shortcoming?