宿谷睦夫訳　加藤方寅著「新日本人論」
“New Japanology”　 by Dr. Michinobu Kato

translator: Mutsuo Shukuya
auditor: Bruce Wyman
supervisor: Boye Lafayette De Mente

(Ⅵ) Qualities of Speaking Japanese
(each of them)
(8) Holding the Weak in Contempt

The attitude of contempt that certain Japanese habitually take toward the weak is quite unpleasant. But this is merely the other side of the coin of putting people above people.
In any hospital, we come across nurses or helpers who show this attitude in looking down on the sick or the old, that is, the weak. My wife used to hate the baby talk nurses used towards patients.
We advised nurses who worked in our residential area not to use baby talk towards the old as they often did. Old people hesitate to ask nurses not to use baby talk even when they feel patronized by it, as their minds and bodies are so weak. I also dread my own approaching old age; when I see such situations and I can imagine myself in that place.
It may be the state of Japanese hospitals that the number of doctors who habitually look down on patients is much larger than in other countries. The writer Shusaku Endo is said to have been anxious to improve this backwardness in Japanese hospitals as a result of his experiences.
I entirely agree with him even though I have less experience. But this is a problem not only of medical treatment but also of administrations in general. Such attitudes are common among top bureaucrats as well as among common public servants.
On the other hand, Japanese people tend to take a servile or humble attitude towards others when they find them stronger. In fact, I am often distressed to find this attitude even in myself when I reflect deeply.
I read an article, Tensei-jingo in The Asahi Newspaper printed on 28th April, 1998 which quite ingeniously refers to practice of Japanese people taking a servile attitude before the strong and an overbearing one before the weak, quoting the following examples from an autobiography written by Yukichi Fukuzawa, the founder of Keio University. When Fukuzawa overbearingly asked someone for directions, he or she would respond politely But if he asked respectfully, he or she would respond bluntly or even refuse to reply.
Yukichi Fukuzawa’s anecdote dates from 1871. So, I think that this aspect of Japanese nature has not changed in the last one hundred years.
Perhaps that is only natural, since Japanese language hasn’t changed that much since then. As Dr. Tsunoda has made clear, the physiological brain mechanism of people is deeply influenced by the language which they learn from six years old until nine through his research on the relation between voice and the sense of hearing.
The influence of the language, which people learned during this period, penetrates deeply into their psychological state and emotions. That is to say, differences in the subconscious organization of people are determined by the language environment in which they have been raised from the age of six to the age of nine.
Furthermore, the weak points of the Japanese are unavoidable because they depend upon their physiological brain mechanism. Dr. Tsunoda has also made this clear through his research.
Even though a person like myself may be critically aware of these problems, if he were to become a top bureaucrat tomorrow, he would necessarily take the same attitude as those who preceded him. This is because I am also Japanese and have the same physiological brain mechanism as other Japanese.
I hope that, from now on, Japanese people will try consciously not to take such attitudes as I discussed above in order to transcend their unavoidable weak points, considering the physiological brain mechanism that we have.		 第 6章　日本人の特性・各論
第 8節　弱者蔑視

時折見掛ける日本人の弱者を見下す態度「弱者蔑視」は極めて不快なものですが、これは「官尊民卑」の精神状況と裏腹のものです。
病院の看護婦あるいは老人ホームのヘルパーなどの、病人や老人、つまり弱者に対して相手を見下す態度はよく見受けられるところです。家内は、看護婦が患者に対して使う幼児語をひどく嫌っていました。
私の住む高齢者住宅にはケア部門があり、多数の看護婦さんがケアの業務で働かれていますが、以前、特に高齢の入居者に対する幼児語の使用が目に付いたことがあり、注意をお願いしたことがあります。高齢者は心身ともに弱く、心中自分が幼児扱いされることを不快に思っていても、弱者の心理として思うこともなかなか言えません。このような状況は自分の加齢が進み、本当に弱者の立場に立たされた時のことを想像しますと、ひどく惨めに思われます。
最近は大分改善されたと思いますが、病院で医師の患者に接する態度が高踏的であることがなお多いのが日本の現状ではないかと思います。遠藤周作氏はご自分の体験を踏まえて、日本の医療の後進性の改善に熱意を持っておられたと思いますが、私自身の狭い経験からも同氏の意見に全く賛成です。しかし、このようなことは何も医療の問題に限ったことではなく、例えば行政の面でも、上は大蔵官僚のトップから下は小さな役所のお役人に至るまで共通しています。
ところで、相手が強いと見ると日本人は逆に卑屈になり下手となります。この動物的とも言える日本人の理念の無さは、実は、私自身も内省によって理解できるところで情けない思いをすることがあります。
強い相手には下手となり、弱い相手には居丈高になる日本人の特性を朝日新聞の天声人語氏（1998年4月28日）が、福沢諭吉の回顧（福翁自伝）を例にとって巧みに説明しておられます。
福翁が道を尋ねる時、横柄に聞くと相手は丁寧に教えるが、へりくだった態度で聞くと相手はつっけんどんとなりろくに教えてくれない。これが明治４年のことだというのですから、日本人の本性はここ百年以上の間少しも変わっていないわけです。
我々の意識構造の特性が、およそ９歳までの日本語という言語環境によって形成されるという角田氏の研究結果に基づけば、日本語の基本構造が百年ぐらいで変わるはずもないので、このようなことは蓋し当然ということになります。つまり、これでは拙いので明日から改めようと思っても、簡単に改善できる性質のものではないということです。
このような問題に批判的な私自身が、明日大蔵官僚のトップの座に仮についたと致しますと、恐らくこれまでの官僚と似たような行動をとる可能性が十分あるということです。何故なら、私が日本人であり、私は日本人の特殊な意識構造を他の日本人と同様に持っているはずだからです。
我々日本人は、日本人の脳の生理機構の特性の知識を念頭に置き、意識的にこのような欠陥を避けて行動するように努める以外に道はないのではないでしょうか。


宿谷睦夫訳　加藤方寅著「新日本人論」
“New Japanology”　 by Dr. Michinobu Kato

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