I am working at a university as a teacher. In my regular classes, I give students certain themes and give them homework of writing reports about the themes. I’m considerate in selecting the themes. I don’t choose themes that can be easily solved simply by googling, because giving such themes spoils the students, and I would feel bored to read their reports. The themes I give the students are so practical that students need to interview physicians to prepare the papers.
About a week ago, I encountered a funny scene at our office. A student was asking a senior doctor questions about the operation we did the previous day. The student’s physical position amazed me. He was kneeling down on the floor! I guessed he did so to express his respect and gratitude for the senior doctor. However, I felt uncomfortable with his manner, because I think kneeling down on the ground is excessively humble. So I told him, “Stand up! Don’t kneel down!”
I was nervous about the student’s position, because it reminded me of an incident that happened about 15 years ago in China. I learned about the incident in a newspaper. The incident happened at a restaurant in a local city. Several Japanese businessmen had a dinner there. The businessmen ordered several dishes, but some of the dishes they had ordered weren’t served. They urged the servicepersons to bring the dishes, in vain. The Japanese customers eventually became angry, and required the mistress (the business owner) to apologize. Though the mistress said “sorry”, the businesspersons felt she wasn’t sincere enough. One of the businesspersons grabbed the mistress from behind and forced her to kneel down on the floor. The pride of the mistress was devastated. A worker at the restaurant called the police. The police arrested the businesspersons. Naturally, this incident became a small international conflict. The businessmen were charged heavy fines. It is very likely that the mistress required them to beg her pardon kneeling down in front of her. In essence, the businesspersons did a quite absurd thing.
This incident means that in China, kneeling down on the ground is considered very humiliating. I share this feeling. So I couldn’t tolerate the student’s excessively humble manner of kneeling down on the floor.
I asked the student how he acquired the offensive (to me) “manner.” According to him, he was working at a pub. The master of the pub instructed him to kneel down on the floor whenever he took orders from customers. I was amazed and irritated by two things: first, the arrogance of the master, and second, the naïve attitude of the student for having accepted the irrational instruction.
However, whether or not a person feels humiliated by a certain physical motion depends on the culture the person is in. I’ll give one such example: to rotate three times and shout “bark” is viewed as very humiliating in the Japanese culture, because the motion mimics dogs. People often refer to this motion when they laugh at other people, like “I’ll rotate three times and bark like a dog, if you succeed in the exam!” Naturally in Japan, most people hate to do this motion. However, this action might have no meaning in other cultures. In such cultures, people might do it simply as an exercise, because rotating three times can improve one’s sense of balance, and barking loudly can reduce stress.
In essence, the meaning of a physical motion differs depending on how the person views it. The student didn’t care about kneeling down. So, I might have been too meddlesome.
Nevertheless, I still believe I was right for having scolded him. Maybe the position is not a big problem, but I think his blind obedience to the irrational instruction should not be overlooked.
Though I find the manner of kneeling down disturbing, some customers might feel respected and be pleased with it. They might give high scores to the restaurant. So, instructing workers to keep the manner is probably advantageous for the owner and master of the pub. But I think it is a sort of brain-washing, I was greatly disappointed to find a medical student being brain-washed so easily.
Nowadays in Japan, being a doctor is a popular occupation and many high school students wish to go to medical colleges. Accordingly, students are sifted in examinations, and only those with good academic performances are accepted to medical colleges. Many of them are the kind of students who simply obey instructions without criticism. Such lack of criticism of doctors gradually puts them in difficulty.
An example: Doctors working at university hospitals are often told to participate in various seminars. By doing so, they are expected to improve the quality of their service to patients. Several weeks ago, I was told to take part in a seminar that aimed to “improve communication ability.” They say establishing good communication with patients is an essential skill for doctors. However, in my opinion, making me attend the seminar is disadvantageous for my patients. To attend the seminar, I have to ask my patients to extend their reservations by a week. Accordingly, the next week, my outpatient department is very crowded. Furthermore, the seminar is merely a monotonous show-off speech by a “celebrity” whom I don’t know. In essence, the seminar is nothing but a waste of time and prevents me from improving the quality of my service. I think this sort of absurdity occurs because doctors don’t speak up. I believe doctors should be more critical, so that they can concentrate on the job.
I didn’t want the student to become non-critical. So I explained to him the reason I thought he shouldn’t kneel down.
He understood why I scolded him, but I don’t think he was persuaded. He might have his own reasons for having obeyed the master. Kneeling down on the floor might please some customers (though I feel the opposite). This might attract more customers. The pub earns more money, and pays him more. Currently, the average fee for restaurant workers in Japan is about 8 USD per hour. If he can receive 12 USD in return for kneeling down on the floor and is satisfied with the pay, why should I bother to meddle in/with his business? The student might have felt that I was more disgusting than the restaurant master. There is a female professor named Ms. Ueno at Tokyo University. She meddles in everything that she thinks has something to do with sex discrimination.
With all these backgrounds, it might be ME who is making a fuss. Some students might be working at the “kneeling” bars and restaurants, because they are paid well. Do I have a right to stop them from doing so? I might be meddling with their constitutional right of freedom in choosing an occupation.
Nevertheless, I still don’t want to let somebody kneel down on the floor. If the student has the constitutional right of occupational freedom, I also have a constitutional right―freedom of speech. How can I reconcile the student’s right and my conscience?
I came up with an innovative solution. The solution is Portable Tatami.
Portable tatami—an apparatus I invented to solve this problem―is a small-sized tatami mat, about 10 by 6 inches (Figure 2).
When waiters and waitresses take orders, they first place the portable tatami mat on the floor (Figure 1). Then they kneel down on it and take orders. The portable tatami transforms the motion of kneeling down into one that is not humiliating, because it is not the floor that the waiters are kneeling down on, but tatami, or a (very small) Japanese-style room.
A simple piece of tatami would be enough to achieve this purpose, but it will become more useful by adding a stand underneath the mat. By doing so, users don’t need to place the tatami directly on the floor, which is more sanitary. The structure of the portable tatami is similar to a geta (Figure 3)－a sort of Japanese-style sandal. One difference between the portable tatami and the geta is that the portable tatami doesn’t have thongs to be worn on the foot. Another difference is that the platform of the portable tatami is not bare wood like that of the geta. Viewed this way, a portable tatami is more like a setta―another sort of Japanese sandal, whose sole is covered with a straw sheet.
I invented the portable tatami inspired by a tool pious believers of Lamaism wear when they pray. When they pray, they throw the whole body down on the ground, to express their total reliance on Buddha. This way of praying is called prostration. Some even make pilgrimages to Potala Palace―the holy place in Lamaism―repeating prostration. They kneel down, crawl on the ground, stand up, walk a few steps, and kneel down again. Repeating this series of motions, they gradually advance to the sacred temple in Tibet. Since they crawl on the ground again and again, their palms’ skin can be damaged by the ground. To avoid the damage, they wear sandals on their hands (Figure 4). I was inspired by these sandals, thinking “They wear sandals to protect their palms. Similarly, waiters can protect their knees (or rather their dignity) by using some tools.” Thus, I invented the portable tatami.
I believe the production of portable tatami is not technically difficult for shoemakers. The portable tatami is a mixture of the setta and the geta. The know-how to produce them must be already at hand in the Japanese shoe industry. So, they should be able to produce portable tatami now, if they will.
Amid the prevalence of COVID-19, people don’t go out as often as before. Accordingly, the sale of sandals must be decreasing, and sandal makers are having a hard time. The production of portable tatami might revitalize the industry! Not only from a humanitarian reason, but also from an economic reason, I strongly encourage the production of portable tatami!
Initially, I had intended to close this essay by stating, “I really hope shoemakers produce portable tatami. I’ll support them by buying some ten pairs and by distributing them to the bars I often drop by!” Having written this, however, I realized I can’t do that, because NONE of my favorite bars force their waiters to kneel down on the ground. I NEVER go to such inconsiderate bars, in the first place.
