THE INTEGRATION OF FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY INTO JAPANESE CULTURE
THE INTEGRATION OF FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY INTO JAPANESE CULTURE

Summary/Abstract: The Integration of Foreign Technology into Japanese Culture. The topic of my talk, ‘The Integration of Foreign Technology into Japanese Culture’, was suggested to me by the Organizing Committee in line with the general theme of the present congress**. In accepting to talk about this suggested topic, I am aware that I am not expected to give a historical account of the process of integration, supported perhaps with statistical data. I understand rather that I am expected to concentrate on human factors involved in the process --- more specifically, on such questions as what 'foreign technology' has meant to Japanese people, how they have reacted to it, and how finally it has been made to come to terms with the native sense of values. I am going to emphasize that in reacting to newly introduced foreign civilization, Japanese have tended to manifest a fairly consistent pattern of behaviour through the different stages of history --- a consistent pattern which one might characterize as a 'habitus' in Bourdieu's terms (cf. note (1)). Thus, in the course of my talk that follows, I will be referring to such points as the native conception of 'technology', the characteristic responsiveness to 'foreignness', the culture-bound notion of 'creativity', together with the relevant background social and historical factors.

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