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On our bicycle-related sister site, we are currently in the process of designing new team jerseys for next year, and in the course of the debate someone proposed to add the がんばれ日本 slogan to our colours, in order to show off our support for Tohoku after this year's events.
While I am all for supporting the affected region and its disaster-stricken population (JREF donated 90,000 yen to the Japanese Red Cross thanks to our members' generosity), I cannot help to agree with Arudou Debito on this one:
Japan needs less ganbatte, more genuine action
Seeing the ubiquitous がんばれ日本 or がんばろう日本 in convenience stores, on school walls and company cars, etc. has been leaving a bad aftertaste in me for the past few months. I feel it has turned into an empty phrase that allows us to display support without actually engaging. Similar to the (certainly well-meant) "volunteer tourism" as of lately...
I for one do not want to display that slogan on our team jerseys.
What's your take on the "Ganbatte Nihon" campaign?
While I am all for supporting the affected region and its disaster-stricken population (JREF donated 90,000 yen to the Japanese Red Cross thanks to our members' generosity), I cannot help to agree with Arudou Debito on this one:
Japan needs less ganbatte, more genuine action
Ganbatte kudasai! You hear this expression every day in Japan. "Do your best!" "Try harder!" "Stick to it!" "Don't give up!" are but a few of the positive messages conveyed. [..] However, recent events have exposed a problem with ganbatte. It's gone beyond being a harmless old saw, platitude or banality. It's become at best a sop, at worst a destructive mantra or shibboleth. It creates a downward cycle into apathy in the speaker, indifference in the afflicted.
No doubt some people are thinking I'm nuts or making molehill mountains as usual. After all, what's wrong with encouraging people down on their luck to overcome obstacles? Isn't it better than the downbeat sarcasm you get in the West ― where misfortune can be greeted with self-justifying "life sucks, then you die" pessimism, and where you can be made to feel a fool for not "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps" like the heroic "rugged individualist" you ought to be?
Yes, of course. But bear in mind that some things cannot be fixed by mere encouragement. For example, take the recent slogans "Ganbare Nippon" or "Ganbare Tohoku" following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters.
Just telling victims to "do their best" in the face of such adversity (some of it the result of government corruption, human error and just plain hubris) is in fact insulting. There is already a suggested moratorium in Japan on telling people with physical or mental handicaps to ganbatte. This is because it doesn't really help them "overcome" anything (it's not that simple). Moreover, asking them to "persevere" through this situation often puts pressure on them, again to their mental detriment.
The thing is, "ganbatte!" is often said by someone who isn't suffering to someone who is. It can also offer sympathy without the tea. [..]
Seeing the ubiquitous がんばれ日本 or がんばろう日本 in convenience stores, on school walls and company cars, etc. has been leaving a bad aftertaste in me for the past few months. I feel it has turned into an empty phrase that allows us to display support without actually engaging. Similar to the (certainly well-meant) "volunteer tourism" as of lately...
I for one do not want to display that slogan on our team jerseys.
What's your take on the "Ganbatte Nihon" campaign?