Moments When I Feel the Generation Gap | Shohei Onishi (Dean, Graduate School of Health Management)
2009.05.20
When I was in elementary school, I was not good at Japanese language class. This was probably because I didn't read many books. I believe my writing skills were quite problematic. On my report card, only Japanese language was always a 4. I remember feeling very embarrassed. Perhaps because of this, my mother bought me complete collections of both Japanese and world literature. It was a vast number of books. When I was in junior high school, they were piled high on the bookshelf at the head of my built-in bed. Whenever I had free time, I would read Meiji-era literature, which is now considered classic, often all through the night. I am grateful to my mother for enabling me to become familiar with books during my junior high and high school years. However, I did not read the works of Mr. Fukuzawa.
I have often lived with athletes, and there have been times when I lived with young athletes in their teens and twenties 24 hours a day. This was during events like the Olympics, World Championships, World Cups, and summer training camps. In my role as a sports doctor, I was entrusted with managing the athletes' health. I was strict with them about their lifestyle habits and diet. Fortunately, the athletes were surprisingly receptive to what I had to say. I think this was also a result of us living together.
However, there were times I felt that being receptive was different from truly understanding. It made me realize that my belief that we had sufficient communication was a major misunderstanding. My words were not getting through. This was despite the fact that I was speaking everyday Japanese, not English. I was stunned by this. Words I assumed they would naturally understand were not getting through at all, meaning the content of our conversations was being misconstrued. I don't think it was a generation gap, but the difference in vocabulary between myself and the young people was significant. I came to keenly feel that differences in culture and environment during childhood can greatly alter one's values, leading to a gap in comprehension.
(Date posted: 2009/05/20)