Fureai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fureai (ふれあい) is a Japanese term to refer to the formation of emotional connection between people of different age group and/or profession within the community.
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[edit] Linguistic definition
Those who speak Japanese will easily notice that the word "Fureai" is composed of "Fure" (of "Fureru" (触れる), to touch/contact) and "ai" (あい, a sign to show the mutuality). So it is deduced that the word "Fureai" means something like "mutual touch" or "mutual contact," but those who speak Japanese also know intuitively that this term is used not according to the original meaning of its components. The following examples, for instance, would not be accepted in general by the Japanese.
- Fureai by way of Internet
- Fureai between Yakuzas and Politicians
- Fureai between executives of local businesses
- Fureai among IT experts
The following ones, on the other hand, are generally seen as appropriate.
- Fureai between children and nurses at a kindergarten
- Fureai with the Mother Nature
- Fureai between an enka singer and the elderly
- Fureai between nurses and patients
So the word "Fureai"" is used in the following cases.
- Only applied for socially-beneficial realms (such as welfare, education and environmental protection)
- Evaluates emotional relationship while excluding exchange of technical knowledge and/or arrangement of political/economic interests
- makes it necessary that humans (or between human(s) and animals) keep in physically-direct touch, excluding connections by Internet, mobile phones and other IT devices.
[edit] Japan's Social background which gave birth to this term
There is a survey which proves that the term "Fureai" won its acceptance in 1970s and 1980s (link(in Japanese)). So the word "Fureai" is still rather new in the long history of the Japanese language.
The acceptance of this new concept reflects Japan's socioeconomic transformation which had taken place a bit earlier, i.e. the collapse of its traditional communities("Community" = "Gemeinschaft" in Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft). Most Japanese had been living, since its economic growth in 1950s and 1960s, in their rural community with agriculture, fishing and/or forestry as its main industry, with their own extended family where the elderly lived together with their offsprings, but the popularization of nuclear family and individualism made some people, especially the elderly, suffer from the social exclusion. The traditional childrearing method also disappeared as a result of such a social change, giving rise to delinquency in the adolescence and the concept "Fureai" became popular in Japan as a means to solve such social issues by trying to create their emotional relationship.
[edit] Difference from "Solidarity"
Some people may point out that "Fureai" is similar to "Solidarity," but it is in fact wrong. "Solidarity" refers to the union of people with different social status, such as students and workers or housewives and the elderly, in order to achieve their common social goal. In "Fureai," on the other hand, people do not aim to achieve any goal at all but to offer some emotional connection to satisfy others. They try to satisfy people psychologically by showing some sympathy to those who are emotionally thirsty just like they try to give water to those who are physically thirsty.
