Demi(science)fiction: KOBAYASHI Isao (1929-2032) [Interpress]

[ng_moonmoth]

This is in response to lone_cat's request for more on the life of Isao Kobayashi, who was introduced in " The Most Powerful, Master Emotion". It is based on ysabetwordsmith's and my exploration of current T-Japanese culture, and my own extrapolations from this into the next twenty years. Content describing events prior to its November 2015 posting has been vetted and may

Comments

[ng_moonmoth]

OK. Here's more on Japanese culture and soup tolerance.

Japanese culture has a low threshold for "personal space". While people are expected not to bump into one another if possible, they have been living for quite a while with a lot of people in not very much territory, As a result, the cultural norm accepts many strangers being close to one another.

Giving someone more than the culturally standard amount of personal space for a given situation most commonly shows either respect or discomfort/fear. So the bubble of empty space around an overt soup, dating from the first instances of that in the 1970s and still somewhat present even by the time of Fukushima, serves as a cultural marker indicating that the soup is not culturally favored, and viewed as an outsider. This in return makes the soup uncomfortable, because they are clearly not being treated as a Japanese would be.

Japanese who are uncomfortable around soups would not want to be in an enclosed space with one, for fear that the nonhuman soup characteristics might assert themselves with violence (common enough in Japanese history). This is why a soup entering a shop or restaurant can cause it to empty -- politely and without panic, but it will still empty out, and customers entering will rapidly become much scarcer. Naturally, this does not predispose the shopkeeper to maintain the usual forms of politeness around a business transaction, which will be honored mainly in the breach. The soup will get to make their purchase, and the shopkeeper will get paid, but the closing conversation will run more like "Here's your stuff. Now get out." than "Thank you for patronizing my humble shop."/"It was a pleasure. You have fascinating and exquisite merchandise."

During this time period, some shopkeepers who observed that the vast majority of Japanese with superpowers were still culturally well-behaved, and did not deserve the general scorn they were facing, were willing to treat them by cultural norms. Playing on the use of "cricket" as a term for describing a closeted soup who displays their form and powers only as much as unavoidable, the 19th-century Japanese custom of keeping caged pet crickets was revived. Displaying a live cricket in a prominent place, such as in a window or by the cash drawer, served to signal that the shopkeeper would treat soups patronizing their place with respect, and expected other customers to do likewise. Word got around quickly among soups, and soup-friendly naries, noticing how the soups were behaving, also began preferring shops displaying crickets. Soon, soup-friendly shops could count on having customers who would support a soup's presence to the extent of intervening to keep soup-hostile people far enough away from them to avoid disrupting the soup's shopping.

[thnidu]

The crickets wa... Oh, one LIKES that!

[ng_moonmoth]

Because you liked it, here's some more backstory.

The period 2011-2015 turns out to be pivotal in defining Japan's relationship with soups and superpowers. The Fukushima Daiichi cleanup, which demonstrated convincingly that superpowers did not inherently preclude participating in, or acting within the constraints of, Japanese culture, has ignited serious discussion about defining how soups are expected to conduct themselves as Japanese. The "polite, but formal" treatment of "out" soups I mentioned in the notes indicates that mainstream Japanese are still unwilling to admit soups into their inner circle of friends.

This attitude may be starting to change. One driver is the normalization of superpowers in the Maldives. Japanese soups are deciding to escape the isolation their culture creates by leaving to become members of a thriving new culture, and Japan is noticing. The effects of this are becoming noticeable in many urban areas. Less educated and poorer areas remain less tolerant of soups and superpowers. ysabetwordsmith has pointed out that regional differences are likely, pointing out that soups with skills applicable to farming, such as Super-Strength or Super-Speed, are quietly appreciated in rural areas -- especially the ones who don't show off, but just quietly contribute according to their abilities.

There's now an intense public debate as to whether to move from the current uneasy tolerance to actual acceptance of soups. This could still go either way as of now. Powerful entities are weighing in on either side,

The arrest and impending prosecution of the Japanese whalers who ran afoul of Steel ("Between a Whale's Past and Present", " Coming Back to Your Breath") has intensified the discussion. The Maldives have grown rather uneasy about admitting more Japanese soups to the country, considering what that bunch did.

Meanwhile, Japan would like to look a bit less barbaric than killing and eating fellow sapients makes one look. The Maldives is currently engaged in substantive talks with the UN about devising a declaration of sapient rights modeled after the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in which any creature that could demonstrate sapience would be granted standing to pursue appropriate remedies for violations of those rights. It's still slow going, because there's lots of disagreement about what sapience is and how one proves it. But at least folks are talking about it. Nonhuman soups are starting to weigh in, too.

One possibility being discussed right now for Japan to improve their worldwide standing regarding their soups is to follow up remanding the sailors to Maldivian justice by affirming the declaration of sapient rights and using the difficulty of determining whether a given cetacean target is in fact sapient as an excuse to cease whaling. This has a chance to work, because the few holdouts who have decided that whaling is truly important may be willing to treat it as an honorable sacrifice, done in the name of better international relationships.

[thnidu]

VERY helpful. Thank you.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

So if they can get a job at all, it's always going to be the window seat. In America, a window is a sign of status. In Japan, it means nobody wants to sit next to you.