A strong sense of community is also a Japanese cultural ideal, as is the idea that early childhood is one of the few times in life when it’s absolutely OK to be showered with affection, before the pressures of school and work make diligent effort a daily requirement. On the other hand, Japanese culture also has a lot of respect for the elderly, and a general attitude that kids can learn a lot from interacting with people from their grandparents’ generation. Most Japanese people would agree that it’s poor manners to touch someone you don’t know, including a baby, so many commenters can sympathize with Ai’s desire to take preventive action. First off, Japan, for the most part, isn’t very big on physical displays of affection, even of the platonic sort like a hug between friends or a pat on the back from a coworker.
The idea has proven pretty divisive among online commenters, in part because it touches on (no pun intended) a number of Japanese cultural values.
After “Ai,” as the mother goes by in the video interview above, started taking her son for walks in the neighborhood though, when he was around three months old, she experienced a problem. “Elderly people would come up to us and say ‘He’s so cute!’ and then, without asking if it was OK, they’d touch his feet.”Īfter reading on Twitter about other mothers who were dealing with the same sort of situation, Ai decided to make a placard that says “Don’t touch” and has a drawing of a hand reaching towards a distressed looking infant, who has his forearms crossed into an X, the Japanese gesture for “no/don’t.” Ai now clips the placard to her stroller when she’s out with her son, as an in-advance request to strangers to refrain from pats, pinches, and the like.
In Japan, it’s customary for parents to keep their newborn babies in the house for the first several weeks after coming home from the hospital.
0 kommentar(er)
