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[INFJ] INFJ and Japan

wedekit

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Nov 10, 2007
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694
MBTI Type
INFJ
Its interesting that your family expects you to be more outgoing. My mom and her boyfriend are the only people who seem to push that mindset on me (an ESTJ and ESFJ respectively) Most of my family makes fun of me for being "lazy" and not having loads of friends but its all out of good fun because for the most part we are all the same way in that respect.

Yeah, my family used to think that I didn't like them or that I was "too good for them." I was kind of hurt that they would think that way about me, but they just don't understand. My oldest brother is also introverted, so at least he gets bothered some too. ;)
 

Kestrel

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Nov 14, 2008
Messages
138
MBTI Type
INFJ
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2w1
I've always admired the cooperative nature of East Asian cultures. Even if it is seemingly beaten/drilled into everyone. The fact that Tokyo is so densely populated yet so immaculately clean speaks for itself.

The few Japanese I've spoken to seem very attentive to nonverbal details when conversing. They're very non-intrusive and often double check to make sure both parties are on the same page. "Should we go here? Is it ok with you?" It was rather refreshing, I thought.
 

wolfy

awsm
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Jun 30, 2008
Messages
12,251
I've been living in Japan about 10 years now and I felt it was ISFJ also. Of course there is all types of people but each country seems to have a certain type which is held up as the norm.
The thing about reserved emotions is true but people do show there emotions you just have to pay attention and know the rules. It seems like people are hiding their feelings but if you live here long enough the truth is as clear as day.
Individualistic and group mentality. Japanese are actually more accepting of people individuality than a lot of other cultures I've encountered. You are expected to do your part socially, we all have responsibility socially but as an individual you are free to express yourself.
I agree with what Kestral said too.
 

wedekit

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Nov 10, 2007
Messages
694
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INFJ
I've been living in Japan about 10 years now and I felt it was ISFJ also. Of course there is all types of people but each country seems to have a certain type which is held up as the norm.
The thing about reserved emotions is true but people do show there emotions you just have to pay attention and know the rules. It seems like people are hiding their feelings but if you live here long enough the truth is as clear as day.
Individualistic and group mentality. Japanese are actually more accepting of people individuality than a lot of other cultures I've encountered. You are expected to do your part socially, we all have responsibility socially but as an individual you are free to express yourself.
I agree with what Kestral said too.

I think what attracts me to visit such a place is the fact that it's so much different there. It would be very interesting to learn how to socially adapt to a country that runs so completely different than my own. I wonder if this is related to my Fe?
 

the state i am in

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Feb 12, 2009
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I've been living in Japan about 10 years now and I felt it was ISFJ also. Of course there is all types of people but each country seems to have a certain type which is held up as the norm.
The thing about reserved emotions is true but people do show there emotions you just have to pay attention and know the rules. It seems like people are hiding their feelings but if you live here long enough the truth is as clear as day.
Individualistic and group mentality. Japanese are actually more accepting of people individuality than a lot of other cultures I've encountered. You are expected to do your part socially, we all have responsibility socially but as an individual you are free to express yourself.
I agree with what Kestral said too.

my friend who lives in japan makes it seem like there is nothing underneath. that there is no space for self-fashioning or cultivating individual expression. he lives in a dying town where the young people move away, start careers, and then have their parents tell them to come home and start over in their dying town. there is no interior space that is not squeezed out and wrung dry. he says there was a post-war boom but everything culturally (artistically) is stagnant as a result.

i think istj and especially isfj seem right. i imagine infj enjoys japan bc it is ok to be introverted, no one is invasive, and the NiFe allows them to grasp profound truths about the culture while recognizing the highly symbolic interaction in those around them. plus infj loves anime!
 

wolfy

awsm
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Messages
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my friend who lives in japan makes it seem like there is nothing underneath. that there is no space for self-fashioning or cultivating individual expression. he lives in a dying town where the young people move away, start careers, and then have their parents tell them to come home and start over in their dying town. there is no interior space that is not squeezed out and wrung dry. he says there was a post-war boom but everything culturally (artistically) is stagnant as a result.
That's true too I suppose. That's all I can say. I think it really depends on your perspective.
There is a space for individual expression. But just like anywhere you have to accept the blows that go along with self expression. That's the same in any culture.
 

niki

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Sep 16, 2007
Messages
210
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INFP
i think istj and especially isfj seem right. i imagine infj enjoys japan bc it is ok to be introverted, no one is invasive, and the NiFe allows them to grasp profound truths about the culture while recognizing the highly symbolic interaction in those around them. plus infj loves anime!

these are what i've often considered that Japan is more of INFJ than ISFJ .
I don't know..maybe because I've never really lived there for a long period of time to really experience it.
but based from my 2-weeks vacation last year, and also so many movies, anime, friends, and basically any 'cultural' things from Japan, I can vow that they all indeed have these 'quirkiness' tendency that, as you all can also look and testify, makes Japan kept sprouting-out many 'weirdest' things (or inventions), which is not very 'sensible' (S) in a way?..
even in movies, brilliant ideas , in a sense of very eccentric & 'non-sensical' ideas, also usually comes from Japan. like that popular Hollywood triology: Matrix series. at first, I've thought wow, this is really a fresh 'out-of-this-world' kind of movie coming out from Hollywood, that I like very much. but only after further research, i've found out that the idea originally was from Japanese's "Ghost in The Shell" anime.
there are many many other examples, like how cartoons in America is often likened to kids-market, while in Japan, you get unique and 'eccentric' anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Serial experiment Lain, which IMO, is highly 'intuitive' , and many other 'weird' stuff.
all of these is what makes me seriously think that most Japanese people are of INFJ nature.

maybe the ISFJ is due to the survey/research being taken on the 'surface' level of corporate/industry-people , which many or most people tend to just 'camouflage' in order to fit-in to the 'professional image', or something like that..but not really genuine of them.
I tend to see the whole 'cultural' thing as more genuine than what you found in 'corporate' setting, always.

well, that's my view, but i could be wrong, though (like I said, i haven't lived or stayed long enough to really experience Japan. i've only based it from my keen observations & 2-weeks experience only).
any thoughts on this one?
 

the state i am in

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symbolic interactions can be acted out just as easily with s than with n. the reason why everything in america becomes a figure of speech, a cliche, etc. they become flattened and just directly causal and their metaphor becomes vapid.

as far as anime goes, yes they have produced some great anime. their past is very interesting w/ such sharply defined historical periods and the cultural history that is explored in their imagined and remembered cultural collective past lends itself to a lot of very insightful moments. i think the serial animes that we find so valuable are akin to the very best we have, whereas most of their visual culture is even trashier and more pointless than ours (sj).

2 things:
my friend DESPISES japanese film, it's worse than hispanic soap opera
he has NO IDEA how someone like murakami could exist in japan, it boggles his mind

keep in mind that he is an extremely idealistic infp, and he has very specific values that are life and death with him. still, i find it interesting.
 

briochick

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Dec 14, 2008
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sx
I live in Korea and I've been to Japan, now granted, my year of experience is nothing compared to (I think I read someone had 10 years) some others. I'm reading a book on the differences between western and eastern culture and I'd say one of the big differences is WESTERN LOGIC. From the book eastern culture never actually had a logic movement the likes of socrates and plato and aristotle. Ever. Their society has revolved around what is "reasonable" and what is cultural for milenia. This is where I tend to have a problem. As an INFP I find myself saying, "why are you doing it like that? what do you mean you don't know? wouldn't it be better to do it this way? Wait, why do you want me to sit down over there?" lol....yeah. Japan is definately more reserved behavioraly than Korea, but they're freer to pursue their own interests and dress how they like. They're still expected to follow social regulations and the age/business heirarchy. Violence seems acceptable in both cultures. I would actually think that Korea is eStJ. The Japanese by comparasine seem more IxxJ (for the week that I spent there just basically staring at them. I didn't have a lot of money so it was really all I had to do). I think that, at first blush Japan definately seems more ISTJ. I think this is what has allowed them to progress more in the world than any of the other Asian countries. Still, there are exceptions. Both China and Japan, though Japan especially have shown an ablity to think abstractly through scifi and fantasy movies, cartoons, and books. They control their culture rigidly through the seemily western mechanism of pop-culture as well as through public education. It's interesting but I think that here is where it becomes a culture and not a personality.
 
R

Riva

Guest
I forgot somewhere on the web INFJ is like the main personality type for Japan. Anyone know anything between INFJ and the country Japan?

Also, any INFJs experience encountering japanese people? Everytime I go to this japanese restaurant everyone always smiles at me, and I get treated so nice...it's one of those INFJs experiences (being called weird/not here)

hmmm this could be true. i mean relating INFJs to japan. i myself started a thread once (which never really took off :cry:) relating country to types. but no one ( i think) came up with a country for japan.
i was thinking of INTPs. but then again they are a bit too social in their own terms to be INTPs. i guess INFJ fit the bill. nice, smart, creative, helpful, lovable, cultural, respectful

but then again they are also supported the NAZI pigs in the 2WW which took their rights to maintain an army(thank heavens).

so i guess the Japan is best matched to INFJs as long as they don't get to carry a gun.

but the smiling thing is to get your money honey. i wud do the same. but i am far from been an infj.
 
R

Riva

Guest
I went to Japan for two weeks this February and I absolutely loved it.

I think there are a lot of INFJ characteristics in Japanese culture: Organisation, general kindness, passive-agressive behaviour, quirkiness, depth


A French guy I met in Japan said that Japanese people might appear at first very reserved, as if they don't have any emotions, but if you look closer just their ways of showing emotions are far more subtle, they have deep feelings but you need to know the culture to pick up on that.

Because they are so tuned in to recognising subtle signals they also pick up really quickly how other people are feeling even if they might not show it. The French guy said that living in Japan has made him far more sensitive towards other people's feelings. >> That sounds pretty INFJ to me.

However one thing that an INFJ might find annoying about Japan is the Japanese trust in rules and doing things not because you understand them but because a rule tells you to do them. Also Japanese people might appear unauthentic to us since they will cover up their true emotions and put on a happy front.


but anyway Japan rox. so do the INFJs.

but please don't give them a gun.
 

Lauren Ashley

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However one thing that an INFJ might find annoying about Japan is the Japanese trust in rules and doing things not because you understand them but because a rule tells you to do them.

Yes, one thing I can't stand is abiding by rules because "they're the rules." I appreciate rules if I understand them and see how they are beneficial. But I still wish to visit Japan one day and hope this isn't too much of a problem.
 

professor goodstain

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Japans rules are more autonomous. They just exist. They're not blatent. It shows in their high level of integrity. When you go, the key word is conscienciousness. Or you WILL get an ass chewin.
 

Jwill

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Jan 6, 2009
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I live in Japan, and I don't think the national character is that of INFJ. Not at all. Most of my friends here agree that it's probably ISTJ. Japanese people are very much the Guardian type. I don't live in Tokyo, so I can't speak for metropolitan people, but your average middle-class Japanese is very devoted to maintaining the status quo culturally and socially.

They aren't really fanciful. Many of them are very, very practical, so much so that they can be a little closed-minded about foreign concepts. What can you expect from a country that's so incredibly homogeneous? And being emotional in Japan is seen as a huge no-no. The American girl who had my job before me had some social differences with the office and would cry when she got angry. Needless to say, everyone was very, very upset with her. She was given the cold-shoulder until she quit.

Of course, Japanese people can be very sentimental. They love wabisabi things like sappy commercials. Japanese television is full of sentimental stuff. Still, I'd say ISTJ. Maybe ISFJ.

And I'd also say, don't judge Japan off of it's pop culture. Yes, anime can be quirky and imaginative, but a lot of it isn't very representative of the Japanese mainstream. I mean, is Hollywood really representative of American culture? Sometimes, but often Hollywood productions are hugely biased by the views of a select few ENFPs and ESFPs. A lot of it is also written with N-type people in mind. Many Japanese systems (government, education, work-relationships) are grounded in S-ness. Being sensible, repetitive, socially steady...those are what Japan is really about.
 

Moiety

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Aug 3, 2008
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Yes, ISTJ seems right to me. An ENFP would surely have trouble in Japan. Too honest, too emotional, too much hate for social norm. Too silly, too embarrassing.
 

callmemigs

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Feb 20, 2009
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I forgot somewhere on the web INFJ is like the main personality type for Japan. Anyone know anything between INFJ and the country Japan?

Also, any INFJs experience encountering japanese people? Everytime I go to this japanese restaurant everyone always smiles at me, and I get treated so nice...it's one of those INFJs experiences (being called weird/not here)

I think Japan is either ISFJ or ISTJ. The "niceness" of Japanese people you're talking about are cultural norms, nothing personal.
 

the state i am in

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does japan have as much diversity as far as types go as we do in america? are the socially unacceptable types more trapped than in "the west" in such a monolithic culture as japanese? our culture in america is so spread out and diffuse and geographically expansive, tho i guess i'd imagine urban/rural might be the most telling factor in diversity.
 

wolfy

awsm
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Jun 30, 2008
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Japans rules are more autonomous. They just exist. They're not blatent. It shows in their high level of integrity. When you go, the key word is conscientiousness. Or you WILL get an ass chewin.

Conscientiousness. The most important quality. Reinforced by a shame based culture.
 

bearette

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Jan 14, 2009
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I think we should be careful not to romantisize here....yes, Japan's pop culture is cool and quirky, but Japanese culture values conformity and gender relations tend not to be as equal as in the west (basing this on a conversation I had with a Japanese girl who said that all Japanese women basically don;'t work after they get married. and also basing this on other Japanese people I have known while living in China) i mean I know that may not be a bad thing for all of them but still..)
my point is not that Japan is bad, but that countries are like people...each have their good and bad points.
 

the state i am in

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japan's good points being?????
1) anime/manga art
2) samurai flicks
3) tokyo fashion
4) iron chef
5) cheap consumer electronics
6) nintendo and sega
7) zen (a la japanese rather than tibetan, etc)
8) wabi sabi (gardens, temples, etc)

i'm running out of ideas. i'm not sure if i'm pro or con bedrolls. i'm borderline on whether murakami is really worthy of his own bullet-point. same with kurosawa and the guy who did spirited away (hideo something). sumo wrestling, i think, has got to be a definite no. tea ceremonies are another borderline, i want to say yes, but i feel like i'm faking it and just going thru the motions. toyota and honda- surely not.
 
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