It sounds like 意識高い系 is closer to "virtue signaling," which has a negative connotation in English. "Woke" (at this point in time) has closer to a neutral connotation, but is becoming more and more negative as different groups of people continue to interpret it in different ways.
I agree there is some overlap, but “virtue signaling” feels more a cynical and corrosive term than “high consciousness seeming” is in Japanese. The reason being “virtue signaling” implies a fundamental distrust, even paranoia, about others’ motivations. “High consciousness-seeming” feels more like the “poser!” dis of my youth.
This article reminded me of a relatively similar phrase that became a fad among people I know: [Name] 気高い (kedakai): “The noble/high-minded [name]” Often it was used in an ironic manner, or simply in a moment of friendly boasting. As far as I am aware, the fad didn’t last long, but it’s fascinating to see how language can change to fit the needs of people—oftentimes doing so in a way that is difficult to pin down, which you’d think should be anathema for language.
Super well-written article Hiroko and fun to consider. Along the same lines, the US seems to now be walking away from DEI (related to woke) in a corporate setting and focusing on MEI (merit, excellence, intelligence) as a sort of societal backlash to woke-ism. The conservatives would say that focusing on merit without bias is better than a bias towards diversity. Since Japan also lacks diversity (mostly) in the workforce, who knows how the press will interpret it?
As with the treatment of the word in Wikipedia, it may be better to simply leave certain foreign loanwords in their original text rather than write them in Katakana.
Another banger from JH HQ. Appreciated this thought experiment and translation deep dive. Mostly, though, it just made me I want to be a part of ウォークカルチュア as in "walk culture" as opposed to running, biking, train or car culture. As in, a culture of just steady, breezy walks. So I guess that leaves me somewhere in the middle of all these extremes.
This was fascinating, Hiroko. It really made me think!
It sounds like 意識高い系 is closer to "virtue signaling," which has a negative connotation in English. "Woke" (at this point in time) has closer to a neutral connotation, but is becoming more and more negative as different groups of people continue to interpret it in different ways.
I agree there is some overlap, but “virtue signaling” feels more a cynical and corrosive term than “high consciousness seeming” is in Japanese. The reason being “virtue signaling” implies a fundamental distrust, even paranoia, about others’ motivations. “High consciousness-seeming” feels more like the “poser!” dis of my youth.
This article reminded me of a relatively similar phrase that became a fad among people I know: [Name] 気高い (kedakai): “The noble/high-minded [name]” Often it was used in an ironic manner, or simply in a moment of friendly boasting. As far as I am aware, the fad didn’t last long, but it’s fascinating to see how language can change to fit the needs of people—oftentimes doing so in a way that is difficult to pin down, which you’d think should be anathema for language.
Super well-written article Hiroko and fun to consider. Along the same lines, the US seems to now be walking away from DEI (related to woke) in a corporate setting and focusing on MEI (merit, excellence, intelligence) as a sort of societal backlash to woke-ism. The conservatives would say that focusing on merit without bias is better than a bias towards diversity. Since Japan also lacks diversity (mostly) in the workforce, who knows how the press will interpret it?
Really interesting, thank you.
As with the treatment of the word in Wikipedia, it may be better to simply leave certain foreign loanwords in their original text rather than write them in Katakana.
Another banger from JH HQ. Appreciated this thought experiment and translation deep dive. Mostly, though, it just made me I want to be a part of ウォークカルチュア as in "walk culture" as opposed to running, biking, train or car culture. As in, a culture of just steady, breezy walks. So I guess that leaves me somewhere in the middle of all these extremes.
Fascinating topic, and you made the conundrum very easy to understand.
P.S.: I didn’t know that “low-counsciousness-seeming” people were a thing 😅
Thank you for that - most interesting but, for me, the negative posing nuance fits the word ‘woke’ perfectly. All virtue signaling with no content.
No content, but plenty of delusion :)
It sounds like the Japanese have captured the original, mocking meaning as the term was coined by William Melvin Kelley to be used in such a way