An aspect of Reception of Uexküll's Umwelt in Japan(1)

Uexküll's works able to be read in Japanese

1. A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans.

2. Environment and inner world of the animals

3. (The almighty life)

'Animals' as buzzword

 In order to grasp how Umwelt theory is recently understood in japan, we need to overview some philosophical context in japan. 
 In 2000s, nerdy subculture, especially 'anime' got popular among young generation. Correspondingly, the subjects of critique also changed at that time. Philosopher, Hiroki Azuma had played a decisive role in such a trend.
 He theorized ecology of nerds called 'Otaku' in japan. Although there are many fruitful parts of his argument, I will only address the passages that influenced the acceptance of Umwelt theory.
 In his book "Otaku: Japan's Database Animal", he expressed Otaku's  behavior as like animals. By using the term 'animals', he characterized Otaku who are interested only in limited number of objects. For Otaku, these objects may be 'anime' or 'manga'. From such a Otaku's behavior can man easily imagine behavior of Uexküll's tick. Like ticks that climb tree guided by sun light, Otaku are glued to the anime or manga. 

Limited - Poorness

 In an above-mentioned part, 'being like animals' means 'living own subjective world'. In other words, the extremely shrunk world in which Otaku live is overlapped on animal's Umwelt. 
 Of course, the philosophical context lies behind his understanding is Heidegger's one. In japan, Heideggerian interpretations seems to be standard understanding. As we know, Heidegger characterized animal's Umwelt as poor in terms of ontology. This poorness is the key to understand what Umwelt means in japan.
 Uexküll have not show the Human's Umwelt, but of a lumberjack, girl and Astronomer. A Lumberjack walking in a forest has his unique way of relating to the world. In the same manner, a girl and an astronomer have their own way. They by no means have a perspective that is universally valid for every human being. The worlds they live in is not the whole common world, but limited ones. So to speak, they are all "Otaku" of one kind or another. 
 This analogical usage shows an aspect of acceptance of Uexküll's Umwelt theory in japan. In Japan, there is a strong demand for the aspect of a limited world tied to a particular mode of cognition with respect to the Umwelt.

Next time, I'll show you another interesting aspects.