Parking and Wa

Last month Lewis Packwood at An Englishman in Nyu-gun wrote about parking in Japan.

When I got there, about half the bays were empty. I had a look to see if there were any markings on the bays which would indicate that they were restricted. There weren't any, so I decided to park in a space which was near to Luciana's apartment.

[…] After saying my goodbyes I walked to my car, only to discover a tiny Suzuki totally blocking my car in.

[…] I explained the situation and she immediately recognised that it was her neighbour's car. "You've parked in her space", she explained.

I don't own a car, but am a condominium owner who has had to worry about parking guests and maintaining neighborhood wa, the Japanese value of social harmony over individual assertiveness. I would advise Lewis and all motorist visitors to Japanese apartment dwellers to ask their host about the location of guest parking in advance or as soon as possible after arriving.

A similar thing happened to another JET in Fukui a few months ago. She was visiting a friend in the city, and thought it would be OK to park outside her friend's apartment, but when she returned she found another resident had deliberately blocked her in. The resident turned out to be the grandma from hell, and immediately launched into a tirade of abuse directed at the unfortunate JET, as well as threatening to call the police.

Also, I don't think what Lewis and his JET friend in Fukui experienced was particularly parking rage. The other side of the wa coin is that Japanese have very little patience with others who disturb the wa. Now expressing this impatience usually creates an even greater wa disturbance and so gets repressed, especially when the offender is in some relation the social superior of the one offended. Gaijin (foreigners), at least those from what was once called the First World, are usually treated by default as honored guests and benefit from thus-imputed superiority. However, when a wa-breaker is a social subordinate, or of no particular social connection, there is no limit to the depth of rudeness to which a Japanese may sink. Unfortunately, just being neighbors or co-dwellers in an apartment building is not considered enough of a connection to deflect wa-wrath.