Shikata ga nai

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Shikata ga nai (仕方がない, Shikata ga nai^?) is a Japanese language phrase meaning "it can't be helped" or "nothing can be done about it".

1 Cultural associations
2 Literary References
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Cultural associations

The phrase has been used by many western writers to describe the ability of the Japanese people to maintain dignity in the face of an unavoidable tragedy or injustice, particularly when the circumstances are beyond their control. Historically, it has been applied to situations in which masses of Japanese people as a whole have been made to suffer, including the Allied Occupation of Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and the Japanese American Internment.

In Asian American Women: The "Frontiers" Reader, author Linda Trinh Vo states:

The Japanese phrase shikata ga nai, or "it can't be helped," indicates cultural norms over which one has little control... This notion of suffering in part stems from shikata ga nai: failing to follow cultural norms and social conventions led to a life of little choice but endurance of suffering. ^[1]

The phrase also can have negative connotations, as some may perceive the lack of reaction to adversity as complacence, both to social and political forces. In a Business Week article, a Western businessman says of Japanese people:

He encourages Japanese not to succumb to the shikata ga nai mentality but to get angry and start behaving like citizens. "Japanese people listen to me because I'm always pushing what the possibilities are and how things can change...to ensure positive economic and political prospects..." ^[2]

[edit] Literary References

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, in her book, Farewell to Manzanar devoted a chapter to the concept, and used it to explain why the Japanese-Americans interned in the U.S. during World War II did not put up more of a struggle against the horrible conditions^{[who describes it this way?]} and restrictive policies put upon them.
Rahna Reiko Rizzuto's family tragedy Why She Left Us also includes a chapter titled "Shikata ga nai".
In the historical manga Barefoot Gen, many of the citizens in Hiroshima use the phrase "Shikata ga nai" to explain why they accept the military rule, and the acceptance of the below-poverty conditions that cause many of their citizens to starve.
In the science fiction novel Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, the phrase is translated as "there is no other choice". Introduced by the Japanese character Hiroko Ai, it becomes common slang among the first Martian colonists, and is used when the constraints of their situation allow only one course of action.
James Clavell's Shogun uses this phrase as a subtheme, although there it is rendered as "Shigata ga nai".

[edit] References

↑ Linda Trinh Vo, Marian Sciachitano, In Asian American Women: The "Frontiers" Reader. University of Nebrasca Press. p. 113. ISBN 0-8032-9627-4. Google Books. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
↑ Neff, Robert, (Oct. 30, 2000). Japan Explained. Business Week.