Japanese Asperger's - do you have any insights?

Post Reply New Topic

Hi all - a question has often crossed my mind, how well would a Japanese Aspie fare with their condition? I can see some of their demeanour being beneficial, such as intense focus and attention to detail, logical mindset, but on the downside...I think of all the "obscure" concepts such as saving face, saying "no" indirectly 21 different ways, how low you should bow to a given person and what timing etc etc...anybody have any thoughts on the subject?? Personally I think the poor guy born in Japan with Aspergers has a very rough and bumpy road ahead of him.

My limited knowledge of the Japanese suggests that they are focused on society to the absolute exclusion of all else...Someone who doesn't fit in is worse than 'weird'. Much worse.

They'd become a hikikomori.

I would say the Japanese people I knew as a child and a teenager were far more tolerant and accepting of me than the vast majority of Americans that I knew at the same ages. Although, I am not "aspie", I have actual autism. So perhaps that makes a difference.

I would say your pity is misplaced and inappropriate, unless you have spent the 2+ years fully immersed in Japanese culture to be able to begin understanding it then you would not know whether it would be harder or not. I do not mean anime, movies, manga, TV shows. I mean time in Japan or surrounded by Japanese community.

I would say it is not true that Japanese people in general are "focused on society to the absolute exclusion of all else". That I think is American-biased belief based on stereotypes of young Japanese people, and far from the actual truth. Each culture has it's good and bad sides, stereotypes only show a teeny tiny portion of a culture to outsiders so it is easy to get entirely wrong ideas about a people.

Some American people, so arrogant to think they know another culture without spending time in it! A stereotype also, but one that is proving true at least once, right here.

Well, I'm not an authority on Japan, but my mother was born in Japan and so were my father's parents, so I have some knowledge.

Japanese culture is very complicated, but at the same time, it is simpler than American culture, because the rules are well defined and orderly, and there are very few exceptions. You have a role in society, and you have to fit that role. Another advantage is that traditional Japanese culture placed a lot of emphasis on not attracting attention to yourself, so people who are not good at socializing had an easier time disappearing.

As an example: at a Buddhist funeral, you are expected to offer incense at the front. Every member of the family has to go up, in the correct birth order. It is a very precise ritual, and everybody knows exactly when they should get up. Go to any funeral in the same family, and you will see people getting up in the exact same order. In one sense in it very complicated. But once you understand the rules, the rules never change. The rules are complicated, but you just have to memorize them. You do not need to figure them out.

(Of course, at the last family funeral that I went to. The members of my father generation had all passed away. The people of my generation completely messed things up. We just stared at each other in confusion, and just muddled through.)

I don't really understand the question; those above me seem to grasp it better.

Given Japanese themselves say they go out of Japan to get out of the restrictive social conditions there, LOL NO. Not to mention discussions with the hikikiomori themselves.

It is rigid, but it is also well defined, and parents teach their children what is expected of them. I don't mind having to learn a lot of rules, as long as they are defined clearly and do not change. I think that American culture may be more difficult, because the social guidelines are less rigid, and less well defined, which makes them harder to figure out.

I think the "rules" thing would only benefit some kinds of autistic people. I have never been good at memorizing rules, or at being thoroughly rule-bound except in a couple areas.

For what it's worth, my Japanese teacher doesn't think Aspies would do well in Japan because of people not saying what they mean.

On the other hand, the levels of politeness, though complicated, are part of the way you conjugate verbs and therefore rather explicit.

Fair enough. I was thinking of people who are more like me, who can remember a lot of rules, but who have difficulty figuring out the rules of social interaction. I can see how your situation is different.

I live in Japan and teach an autistic boy now. I am not sure if he is HFA or Aspie cuz he is only 9 and I only see him once a week. His parents seem very kind and supportive. What kind of schooling he is getting is unknown.

In my class I do notice the other kids starting to get annoyed with him. I taught him 2 years ago and all of the kids were like "Sugoi! Sugoi!" because he could read English very quickly and perfectly and would even read the backs of books like who the publishers were and such!

Now that these same kids are getting older they are less impressed. Sure, my student can still read English very very well but he is uncoordinated and has ADHD so causes his team to lose when playing games. I can see these issues getting worse as he starts junior high. I really feel for him.

For me personally I think it would be quite hard to be Aspie in Japan, as a Japanese person. Certain aspects of the culture may seem appealing- such as no expected eye contact- but others are downright miserable. There is STRONG pressure to conform and join a group and also to behave in socially-acceptable ways within that group. Work is very team-oriented. There is also a great deal of socializing afterhours with colleagues. Probably the #1 worst thing for me in this culture however is honne/tatemae. The honne is a person's real thoughts and feelings, which seldom can be revealed. The tatemae is the face you show to the public. Nothing is ever direct here. That is INCREDIBLY INCREDIBLY bothersome for me. If I were Japanese I honestly probably would have killed myself by now or learned English and escaped.

Anyway, that's the information I can offer!

^ what Kiseki said is very true and it was my experience while living in Japan for a little while.

If the hidden thoughts are seldom revealed, do they really matter? Let's say someone dislikes someone else but the person doing the disliking is the only one who knows it. Then, what does it matter if they never show that they dislike in public? It sounds easier existing like that to me, than dealing with people who are straightforwardly hostile.
I tend to have the opposite problem. I would rather have the honne/tatemae situation,

A new word I did not know... thank you!

What I know of Japanese society, the pressure to succeed is overwhelming. Occassionally, you'll find those stories where a student killed themselves for a bad grade - a B being considered bad. I can only imagine that anyone with any mental, physical or social challenge would have difficulty is such a judgemental atmosphere.

I would rather know how people feel about me than always wonder, especially as an Aspie who finds reading people sometimes tricky. I cannot read Japanese people at all!

And you should know the truth DOES come out, while drinking. And then the following morning it is just completely ignored. I had a friend who told me all kinds of terrible stuff about her past and her family and her present situation. When I asked her if she was okay the next day she said "Oh, I'm fine! Thanks for listening to my story!" as if nothing had ever been said. That bothered me to no end and made me feel like she was an untrustworthy person.