Yami! Nice to see you still around :)

     Don’t you hate how so many original elements are being tampered with to be improved and better? Who says we want a burger with cheese now or a pancake with blueberries? Who says a country wants its cultural social organization improved? How bothersome would it to be pressured to change your social identity? This is why I am happy to see that the Yami still around. Even though the Yami have been taken under a Japanese experiment of applied ethnology with a purpose for change, the Yami have maintained their true identity. Admiring.

     The Yami are situated in Koto-sho living a very peaceful and easy-going lifestyle (Leach, 1950: 29)—violence is rare. If studying their social organization, one will see that the Yami function as an patrilineal, egalitarian society. Although there is still a clear distinction in gender role when it comes to agricultural and domestic duties, this social organization is an unwritten and unsaid notion and is rather just done “between work and play…none of it  [is] very serious” 31. As stated previously, the Yami are truly laid-back folks. Throughout their history, the Yami have no such thing as currency or any notion of paid labor, neither do they have any interest in the value of trading neither do they have any of value to traders. Any contact with outsiders have had very little influence disrupting their way of life. They Yami grow specific crops and sustain to a specific diet. Although property can be inherited through inheritance and marriage, in this egalitarian society, only age and experience is respected not wealth or inheritance (Leach, 1950: 32).
 

     Now under the Japanese ruling, the Japanese have gone into this native community to try and implement modernity change while still preserving some of the elements of the native Yami lifestyle. The two major issues (in the eyes of the Japanese) that this Japanese experiment is attempting to tackle is: Koto-sho’s insignificant position in the economy and the Yami’s lack of Japanese culture and basic education. But because of their strong ties to the norms and value of their culture and because of their historical lack of influence by outside contact we can see why the Yami have not adopted well, or yet accepted, these implementations (as the Japanese expected (Leach, 1950: 38)).

     The Japanese claim an attempt to supplement rather than replace (Leach, 1950: 36)when they should in fact be looking to just modernize the agricultural and domestic elements that are important to the Yami. How can’t the Japanese not see that these 1700 inhabitants are a piece of history in their own? Please do not destroy.

Reference

Leach, E. R. (1950). The Yami of Koto-sho: A Japanese Colonial Experiement. (Coursepack)