Why do Japanese hate throwing

cloa513 · 26 Sep 2021

Throw a light harmless item and watch Japanese people throw a fit. What is up that - where does this idea come from Japanese society culture? How do they play baseball or basketball?

Grandpa Frank · 26 Sep 2021

Made me think of my Japanese friends playing Hanafuda , LOL. They would throw their card down so hard I thought it might go through the floor. They would really get into the game , yelling and shouting.

Majestic · 27 Sep 2021

Hello Chloa513, let me take a stab at this. Generally speaking, the Japanese are taught to respect things and property. Treating objects casually by throwing them is a sign of disrespect: disrespect for the object itself, but also disrespect for the person towards whom the object is being thrown. Someone's time and effort went into making that item. Someone's money was spent on acquiring that item. Treating it casually by throwing it or kicking it around somehow degrades the item. In addition, it shows that the person casually (rudely) handling the item is lacking in some common manners and civility.

And if you are doubting the Japanese's ability to throw and play baseball, allow me to introduce you to someone.

Shohei Ohtani - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

bentenmusume · 27 Sep 2021

Why would you ever come to such a silly and stereotypical conclusion as thinking that all Japanese people or the entirety of Japanese culture is somehow anti-"throwing"?

You live here. Have you not seen _countless_ Japanese people playing baseball/basketball/soccer, Japanese kids playing with balls, etc. etc.? Does it seem like the act of throwing in and of itself is something Japanese people are universally and uniquely unable to grasp?

I have no idea what sort of situation this happened in, but _many_ people (not just Japanese people) are going to be freaked out if you just throw an object at them, or in a situation (e.g. in an office, at the dinner table) where it's preferred to hand things over in a civilized fashion.

Of course, I'm not saying that Majestic's point(s) are invalid, but the very premise of the question seems ridiculous to me.

mdchachi · 27 Sep 2021

I didn't even understand the premise of the question until I read the responses. I have never run into this issue. Maybe because I don't make a habit of tossing things around? Or maybe because not all Japanese people act a certain kind of way?

What kind of "light, harmless item" did you throw?

cloa513 · 27 Sep 2021

bentenmusume said:
Why would you ever come to such a silly and stereotypical conclusion as thinking that all Japanese people or the entirety of Japanese culture is somehow anti-"throwing"?

You live here. Have you not seen _countless_ Japanese people playing baseball/basketball/soccer, Japanese kids playing with balls, etc. etc.? Does it seem like the act of throwing in and of itself is something Japanese people are universally and uniquely unable to grasp?

I have no idea what sort of situation this happened in, but _many_ people (not just Japanese people) are going to be freaked out if you just throw an object at them, or in a situation (e.g. in an office, at the dinner table) where it's preferred to hand things over in a civilized fashion.

Of course, I'm not saying that Majestic's point(s) are invalid, but the very premise of the question seems ridiculous to me.

You should see the fuss made at my work. Freaking out over throwing a dish cloth- which I had to because everyone mills around just before lunch time and the supervisors are useless at controlling people. We have three sets of tables in one large workroom. The dish cloths are for to clean the tables of dust and then clean some food/drink mess.

thomas · 27 Sep 2021

I concur with Majestic: it's out of respect for the object and the person who gets things thrown at them. Ironically, my (Japanese) wife throws a lot of things at me (and I am not referring to spousal altercations), which I tend to find disrespectful, especially in the case of food (fruits, snacks, packed items). Throwing is something that should be restricted to sports grounds.

bentenmusume · 27 Sep 2021

cloa513 said:
You should see the fuss made at my work. Freaking out over throwing a dish cloth- which I had to because everyone mills around just before lunch time and the supervisors are useless at controlling people. We have three sets of tables in one large workroom. The dish cloths are for to clean the tables of dust and then clean some food/drink mess.

I would indeed be interested to see this, but I have no idea why you would extrapolate from this that the entirety of the Japanese people are incapable of understanding or appreciating the concept of "throwing" when there are so many examples to the contrary.

mdchachi said:
I didn't even understand the premise of the question until I read the responses. I have never run into this issue. Maybe because I don't make a habit of tossing things around? Or maybe because not all Japanese people act a certain kind of way?

I agree 100,000% with mdchachi on this.

thomas said:
I concur with Majestic: it's out of respect for the object and the person who gets things thrown at them. Ironically, my (Japanese) wife throws a lot of things at me (and I am not referring to spousal altercations), which I tend to find disrespectful, especially in the case of food (fruits, snacks, packed items). Throwing is something that should be restricted to sports grounds.

I agree with Majestic and Thomas as well, although I tend to push back a little bit on this "all Japanese are respectful" idea, as it sometimes strikes me as a sort of exoticism and "Orientalism" that I don't really agree with. It's true, perhaps, that there is more importance placed on respect for objects, people, etc. etc. but I mean, littering and whatnot is still a thing in Japan, and the idea that the mere act of throwing is an anathema to all Japanese people because they have this deep respect for everyone and everything feels somewhat off (as Thomas's counter-example perfectly illustrates).

cloa513 · 27 Sep 2021

My wife says it too. Supervisors say its Japanese culture.

bentenmusume · 27 Sep 2021

Says what, exactly? That all Japanese people hate the entire concept of "throwing" and that they're completely baffled and mystified at how any of their fellow Japanese can partake in sports like baseball (literally the single most popular sport in Japan since decades ago) and basketball? Because I have never heard anyone--Japanese or otherwise--express this thought until your post today.

Or did they perhaps mean that Japanese culture, perhaps, frowns upon throwing objects at the office when other people are nearby because it's rude and potentially unsanitary? (In which case, as you see above, Thomas--who is not Japanese--would agree with them. I would, too, for that matter.)

cloa513 · 27 Sep 2021

"it's rude"- please explain that is a culture concept. I see Yamanote Delivery cause the goods they carry fly onto footpaths by total disorganization (I picked some up for one). Potentially unsanitory- the cloth is clean and it is anything- pieces of paper, masks (from the manufacturer) to put into bags as part of work. The throwing is really just placing.

mdchachi · 27 Sep 2021

cloa513 said:
My wife says it too. Supervisors say its Japanese culture.

What area of the country do you live in?

Sounds like discrimination in a sense. Especially if it was something as benign as you say. I mean would they say anything to a Japanese person who did it? Or would they just not say anything and think silently to themselves about how poorly the person was raised. But they feel entitled to "correct" the gajin.

Why do Japanese hate throwing

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