Junichiro Owaki

I lived in America from 1986 to 89 as a graduate student. The followings are m
y intercultural experiences, a brief summary of American education system and
my Field Education experience.

1. When you go abroad, the older you are, the stronger culture shock you get．
They say it will take about three years to adjust yourself to the new culture.
I had to go through quite a hardship before I regained the ability to function
normally in the academic field of theology and philosophy where most of the
terminology was unfamiliar and strange to me. Eventually, I made many mistakes
and misunderstandings. But through these experiences I came to understand
the essence and basic system of Western ways of thinking. The biggest fruit
I picked in America was the viewpoint with which the East could help the West
through comparisons between Western and Eastern ways of thinking.

The Secret of Christianity has been the Holy Trinity simply because it has never
succeeded in overcoming the Greek framework of thinking in which hypostatization
apart from the living environment plays main roles of reasoning. Whereas in the
Orient, we have been familiar to the ideas stemmed from the relations and
we have been trained to understand things in relation with other things.
“Is Jesus Christ God or a man?” “How could he be God and at the sam
e time a man and Holy Spirit?” The concept of relations gives a clear answer
to such questions. (Translator’s note: ‘And’ and ‘or’ are more important t
han the nouns combined by these conjunctions. Cf. Martin Buber’s “I-Thou.”)

If the above mentioned Oriental thoughts had been introduced to the West
earlier, the victims of holy wars and inquisitions should have counted much
less. It was not until the 20th century that the West was exposed to the
idea that “the existence should be recognized in relations” when they
started to talk about material duality and uncertainty. It meant a lot to
me that I was introduced at this time to the universal philosophy of Alfred
North Whitehead which goes beyond the established philosophies of the
East and the West, George C. Lodge’s new business administration, C. G.
Jung’s analytical psychology, etc.

2. In general, school educations in Japan are very standardized, uniform and
given in the closed environment. Whereas in America, they adopt open education
systems based on free competition. Thanks to the latter, I was able to get two
diplomas (Master’s and Doctorate degrees) in justly shortened period of time.
Japanese institutions of higher education which have been resting on their fake
‘laurels’ and unwilling to give degrees would surely go through big changes sooner
or later. Japan should adopt the system to provide higher education to those who
could not go to college when young or those who once dropped out of college.
In other words, opportunities to provide people with degrees/lifelong education
should be guaranteed in Japan.

I think the Oriental thoughts I mentioned above have a great possibility to help
the West break their deadlocks. But I think we should learn a lot from America
concerning the flexibility in coping with the social needs and in education systems.

3. At the university, I took a required course called Field Education. I decided to
work for the Japanese communities as a volunteer. I learned that the Japanese
in America have suffered for many years because they have been alienated by
both Americans in America and Japanese in Japan. They are made easy victims
in America whenever something outrageous happens in Japan. However, they
still hold some kinds of expectations to their ‘mother country.’ Only if we can
make the best use of their experiences and human networks, we will surely be
able to lessen the frictions between our countries.

I worked as a volunteer only on Saturdays and Sundays. But it was a great
pleasure/treasure to get acquainted with the people throughout the United
States who sincerely worry about the present relations between Japan and t
he U.S. On the day of my commencement, though it was a weekday, seven
people came all the way, paying their own transportation expenses, to congratulate
me, including the director in chief of the University of Michigan, a social worker
in the City of New York, a famous journalist of a magazine. I will never forget
their word, “You spent your precious time for us. Now it is our turn to pay you back.”

(Written in 1990　September)


　　　　　　　　大脇準一郎

　小生の米国での体験（１９８６年―８９年）を異文化体験、アメリカ的教育制
度、実習の三つに絞って述べたい。

1. 年齢に相応して異文化体験はより厳しいカルチャーショックを伴う。文化
　変容から、同化・適応に通常３年はかかると言われている。さらに学問の世界、
　特に神学・哲学は抽象議論や固有の用語が多く困難を極めた。幾多の失敗や誤
　解を通して、だんだんとその実体が見えてくるようになったが、最も大きな収
　穫は西洋と東洋の物の考え方の比較を通じて、東洋が西洋に貢献できる視点を
　見出したことである。

　　今日までキリスト教界の難問あるいは秘儀とされてきたキリスト論、三位一
　体論は環境から実体を遊離したギリシャ的枠組みを越えられなかったためであ
　り、全くそれと土壌の異なる生活習慣― 常に他との因縁と関係において存在
　物を把握する ―に慣れ親しんできた我々東洋人にとって「イエスは神か人か？」
　「イエスは神であり、人であり、かつ、聖霊であり得るのか？」の問題は関連
　性というコンセプトで見事に解決される。

　　もっと早くこの東洋的思考方式が西欧に導入されていれば、宗教戦争や異端
　審問の犠牲も必要なかったことであろう。西欧において“存在は関連性にある”
　ことが本格的に光が当てられたのは物質の二重性、不確実性が議論され出した
　２０世紀に入ってのことである。　東西の既成の枠組みを越えて、真にユニバー
　サルな哲学を指向するホワイト・ヘッドや、新しい経営学を模索するロッジ、
　心理学のユングなどの思想を学ぶことができたことは意義深かった。

2. 日本の画一的、平均的、閉鎖的教育に対して米国の自由競争に基くオープン
　な教育制度のおかげで小生にも再学習の機会が与えられ、合理的に短縮して2つ
　の資格（修士、博士）を得ることができた。　教育と言う伝統にあぐらを掻き、
　何ら実質のない、そのくせ資格を与えることに閉鎖的な日本の高等教育は、早
　晩、大変動に見舞われるであろう。日本では若い頃に大学に行けなかったり中
　退した人々が、再び容易に学ぶことができ、かつ、資格を得られるような生涯
　教育的発想、制度が取り入れられるべきであろう。

　　先に述べた東洋的思考方式は西欧の行き詰まりに大いに貢献できると思うが、
　社会的ニーズに答える弾力性、ファジー度のある教育制度という面では、米国
　に学ぶことが多いと思う。

3. 学校ではフィールドエデュケーションという必須科目がある。小生は日系人
　社会に奉仕 することを選んだ。在米の日系人は日本と米国の双方から疎外さ
　れ、困難な立場にあることを知った。日系人は何度も祖国日本の暴走の犠牲に
　なりながらも、それでも魂の古里に対する気体を捨てきれないでいる。もっと
　このような人々の経験と人脈が生かされれば、今日の日米関係の摩擦解消に役
　立つであろう。

　　全米にわたり日本の未来を案じ、日米関係の現状を憂える人々を知り得たこと
　は大きな収穫であった。　一週間のうちわずか土日を利用しての奉仕であった
　が、小生の卒業式にミシガンの大学理事長、ニューヨーク市のソーシャルワー
　カー、著名雑誌記者など７人の方々が平日であるにもかかわらず、何十ドルも
　の交通費を払ってお祝いに駆けつけてくださったこと、その折「あなたは貴重
　な時間を私達のために犠牲にされた。私達も何かを犠牲にしなければ」とおっ
　しゃってくださった言葉を今も忘れない。　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　1990年9月記