Thank you

A big thank you to all of you who attended today's keynote speech, especially those of you who asked questions and who gave me written feedback. I will read it and post about it on this blog within the next day or so.

Steve Nishida is also a contributor to this blog/website and will have a post up soon.

Meanwhile, you can email us. Our email addresses should be visible if you click our usernames in the left-hand sidebar - shefjet06 and Mejikansai.

A couple of immediate comments, additions to shefjet06's keynote speech:
1) On the question of the use of Hostede's terms "masculine" and "feminine", it's perhaps helpful to understand Hofstede's purpose. Hofstede is invited by itnernational companies and corporations to help with their cross-cultural communication issues, and therefore he needs a way of being able to talk about the variations along the spectrum of "more assertive/less assertive", "preferring an autocratic style/preferring a consultative style of management", many/few women in managerial positions, and so on. Perhaps the terms he chose are not the best or most accurate, but without some kind of term, concept and mental framework, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to raise awareness of the issues involved. Obviously, simply labelling a group, society or country as "masculine" or "feminine" is not particularly helpful and may exacerbate the tendency to stereotype rather than alleviate it. I don't think this is what Hofstede (or I) intend. In introducing a complex topic in a short time, I have had to leave out a lot of context, and in so doing I have probably not done Hofstede justice.

2) On the topic of "stress management", apart from the networking and diary-keeping I mentioned, it helps to make a habit of counting your blessings, and seeing the beauty and the good around you. More specific issues, such as personality clashes with your boss, etc., should be addressed to Elaine or Sochi-sensei or one of the other teachers or administrators at the Board of Education level.

3) A final point, which I implied, but did not state explicitly, is that the presence of JETs in a community provides an opportunity for shifting the level of awareness from "dualism" to "multiplicity", and beyond, for all concerned. One of the key driving forces behind this shift is the presence of a variety of "voices" which can provide a point of view that is alternative to the dominant one. Many Japanese are genuinely curious to hear how Japan looks and feels from an "outsider's" point of view, and this curiosity should be exploited. Once this idea takes hold, it can open the door to alternative voices of all kinds: those of Asian immigrants (not just the blue-eyed, blond(e) "gaijin", those of women, those voices usually marginalized and silenced by society. There is much more to say on this issue, but I will leave it there for now.

Please feel free to leave a comment or to email me.