I recently found out that I share many traits of characters with Aspies (people who have Asperger's syndrome). This includes being more honest, outspoken, rational, logical, analytical, perfectionist, conscientious or persistent. My mind also seems to work in a similar way. I am not a big fan of metaphors (although I understand them), I place more value in acquiring knowledge than sharing feelings (although I have no problem identifying and expressing my emotions unlike Aspies), I am individualistic and prefer using my own methods than conventional ones, and I am more of a visual thinker with an excellent long-term memory, especially for facts. I am not an Aspie because I do not have the communication, emotional or motor impairments that define the syndrome. I also dislike routines and have a very wide range of interests. But apart from that, I feel very close to the Aspie mindset.
I have been fascinated with cross-cultural psychology and comparing cultures since my late teens, and have had the chance of travelling extensively and of living/studying in eight countries and learn six foreign languages. It now dawns on me that some linguistic groups, notably the German and Japanese ones, have quite a few cultural traits in common with Aspies and me, which may explain why I have always felt attracted to these cultures.
For example, both German and Japanese cultures are renowned for their perfectionism, conscientiousness, honesty, rationality, but also their liking for structure and organization. While Aspies may not always have good organizational skills, from what I read they do need a more structured and organized environment in order to perform well. In these regards the Swiss may be even more Aspie-like than the Germans.
Aspies are also know for their formal, literal and somewhat pedantic way of speaking. That would apply to German speakers too. The Japanese can be quite formal and are very literal (metaphors are very rare in Japanese), but I wouldn't call them pedantic as they like to keep vocabulary fairly simple.
Furthermore, both German and Japanese speakers are known for their higher than average dedication to learning and acquiring knowledge, but also for their emotional reserve and their less spontaneous communication and interpersonal skills, which are another characteristic of Asperger.
The German are also quite outspoken and will often prefer to tell people the truth rather than tell a white lie, sometimes in a way that could be perceived as tactless by people from other cultures. Such behaviour is one of the telling signs of Asperger.
The Japanese are much more tactful and considerate of other people's feelings, and will often lie and hide their opinion to avoid hurting other people's feelings or to avoid conflict. That is the complete opposite of the Germans and Aspies in that regard. However the Japanese are often unusually shy and reserved, and tend to be poor communicators, which are another facet of Aspergerness.
Finally, Aspies tend to abide very strictly to rules (as long as they are logical) and routines and feel very agitated by people who don't respect them. This applies also to punctuality. Aspies have a very low tolerance for being disturbed when they are busy (a sort of tunnel vision) and will not appreciate if someone shows up early or late for an appointment. In every respect this could be a description of German or Japanese culture too.
It's all in the gene pool
Since Asperger (and autism) are essentially genetically inherited and traits tend to run in families, I wouldn't be surprised if the German and Japanese gene pools had a greater number of alleles associated with Asperger traits. Cultures typically develop from tangible traits of characters found in the population, which are influenced by the genetic variants found in that population.
When I checked the list of famous people suspected of having Asperger or high-functioning autism, I struck me how many of them were German speakers: Mozart, Beethoven, Bruckner, R. Strauss, Nietzsche, Carl Jung... Most of the others were of English descent, who are also essentially of German and Danish descent, but with mixed Celtic ancestry like the Swiss and South Germans. Interestingly there are very few Scandinavians, Dutch and North Germans in the list of famous Aspies. Most are actually South German or English, as if the Germanic and Celtic populations each brought different genetic variants that contribute to the Aspergerian personality.
It would appear that Ashkenazi Jews also have a considerably higher proportion of Aspie traits, and indeed many famous people in the above list are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (Einstein, Mahler, Kafka, Wittgenstein, Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg). Yet I did not find any non-Ashkenazi Jew, which could mean that the Ashkenazi integrated Aspie-like traits through genetic introgression from the German population. And indeed most of the Jews displaying Aspie traits have German surnames, not Slavic ones (Kafka is an exception, but the Czech Republic is by far the most Germanic or all Slavic countries genetically).
What surprised me is that I couldn't find any famous Aspie from Romance-speaking countries, and hardly any from Scandinavia, Ireland, Highland Scotland, Wales, or Slavic countries. In Europe, it really seems to be rather specific to Germanic countries with a Celtic substrate.
As for Eat Asia, the Japanese aren't the only ones with Aspie traits. The Koreans, Chinese and Vietnamese seem to share many of the basic character traits. The main difference is that the Japanese tend to be more shy and more considerate of others' feelings, while the Chinese and Koreans in particular are more outspoken and direct like the Germans. It's probably no coincidence that the Koreans consider themselves to be "the Germans of Asia" (although many Westerners more readily associate Germans with Japanese, being more familiar with Japan).
Checking for famous Aspies on a Japanese website I found that a surprising number of celebrities that have been diagnosed or are suspected to have Asperger. This includes:
- Prime Minister Naoto Kan (in office in 2010-11)
- the present governor of Tokyo Yōichi Masuzoe
- the creator of Pokemon Satoshi Tajiri
- the baseball player Ichiro Suzuki (famous in the USA)
- the baseball player Hiromitsu Ochiai (the only player to receive the prestigious triple crown batting award three times)
- the judoka Satoshi Ishii (gold medalist in Beijing 2008)
- the entertainer, singer (of SMAP) and actor Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (one of the most famous TV personality in Japan)
- the musician, singer and actor Gackt
and among historical figures:
- Oda Nobunaga, the warlord who initiated the unification of Japan in the late 16th century
- Sakamoto Ryōma, one of the most famous samurai of the Bakumatsu period who supported the the Meiji Restoration.
It is also amazing that people with Asperger, or at least Asperger traits, manage to get elected as prime minister or governor in Japan. That is probably because the Japanese value many of the Aspie traits of character. I cannot imagine anything like that happening in Latin countries, and least of all France and Italy, where the culture is rather intolerant of Aspie traits and encourages strong displays of emotions, public affection, and a high degree of flexibility regarding punctuality, schedules and rules.
I have been fascinated with cross-cultural psychology and comparing cultures since my late teens, and have had the chance of travelling extensively and of living/studying in eight countries and learn six foreign languages. It now dawns on me that some linguistic groups, notably the German and Japanese ones, have quite a few cultural traits in common with Aspies and me, which may explain why I have always felt attracted to these cultures.
For example, both German and Japanese cultures are renowned for their perfectionism, conscientiousness, honesty, rationality, but also their liking for structure and organization. While Aspies may not always have good organizational skills, from what I read they do need a more structured and organized environment in order to perform well. In these regards the Swiss may be even more Aspie-like than the Germans.
Aspies are also know for their formal, literal and somewhat pedantic way of speaking. That would apply to German speakers too. The Japanese can be quite formal and are very literal (metaphors are very rare in Japanese), but I wouldn't call them pedantic as they like to keep vocabulary fairly simple.
Furthermore, both German and Japanese speakers are known for their higher than average dedication to learning and acquiring knowledge, but also for their emotional reserve and their less spontaneous communication and interpersonal skills, which are another characteristic of Asperger.
The German are also quite outspoken and will often prefer to tell people the truth rather than tell a white lie, sometimes in a way that could be perceived as tactless by people from other cultures. Such behaviour is one of the telling signs of Asperger.
The Japanese are much more tactful and considerate of other people's feelings, and will often lie and hide their opinion to avoid hurting other people's feelings or to avoid conflict. That is the complete opposite of the Germans and Aspies in that regard. However the Japanese are often unusually shy and reserved, and tend to be poor communicators, which are another facet of Aspergerness.
Finally, Aspies tend to abide very strictly to rules (as long as they are logical) and routines and feel very agitated by people who don't respect them. This applies also to punctuality. Aspies have a very low tolerance for being disturbed when they are busy (a sort of tunnel vision) and will not appreciate if someone shows up early or late for an appointment. In every respect this could be a description of German or Japanese culture too.
It's all in the gene pool
Since Asperger (and autism) are essentially genetically inherited and traits tend to run in families, I wouldn't be surprised if the German and Japanese gene pools had a greater number of alleles associated with Asperger traits. Cultures typically develop from tangible traits of characters found in the population, which are influenced by the genetic variants found in that population.
When I checked the list of famous people suspected of having Asperger or high-functioning autism, I struck me how many of them were German speakers: Mozart, Beethoven, Bruckner, R. Strauss, Nietzsche, Carl Jung... Most of the others were of English descent, who are also essentially of German and Danish descent, but with mixed Celtic ancestry like the Swiss and South Germans. Interestingly there are very few Scandinavians, Dutch and North Germans in the list of famous Aspies. Most are actually South German or English, as if the Germanic and Celtic populations each brought different genetic variants that contribute to the Aspergerian personality.
It would appear that Ashkenazi Jews also have a considerably higher proportion of Aspie traits, and indeed many famous people in the above list are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (Einstein, Mahler, Kafka, Wittgenstein, Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg). Yet I did not find any non-Ashkenazi Jew, which could mean that the Ashkenazi integrated Aspie-like traits through genetic introgression from the German population. And indeed most of the Jews displaying Aspie traits have German surnames, not Slavic ones (Kafka is an exception, but the Czech Republic is by far the most Germanic or all Slavic countries genetically).
What surprised me is that I couldn't find any famous Aspie from Romance-speaking countries, and hardly any from Scandinavia, Ireland, Highland Scotland, Wales, or Slavic countries. In Europe, it really seems to be rather specific to Germanic countries with a Celtic substrate.
As for Eat Asia, the Japanese aren't the only ones with Aspie traits. The Koreans, Chinese and Vietnamese seem to share many of the basic character traits. The main difference is that the Japanese tend to be more shy and more considerate of others' feelings, while the Chinese and Koreans in particular are more outspoken and direct like the Germans. It's probably no coincidence that the Koreans consider themselves to be "the Germans of Asia" (although many Westerners more readily associate Germans with Japanese, being more familiar with Japan).
Checking for famous Aspies on a Japanese website I found that a surprising number of celebrities that have been diagnosed or are suspected to have Asperger. This includes:
- Prime Minister Naoto Kan (in office in 2010-11)
- the present governor of Tokyo Yōichi Masuzoe
- the creator of Pokemon Satoshi Tajiri
- the baseball player Ichiro Suzuki (famous in the USA)
- the baseball player Hiromitsu Ochiai (the only player to receive the prestigious triple crown batting award three times)
- the judoka Satoshi Ishii (gold medalist in Beijing 2008)
- the entertainer, singer (of SMAP) and actor Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (one of the most famous TV personality in Japan)
- the musician, singer and actor Gackt
and among historical figures:
- Oda Nobunaga, the warlord who initiated the unification of Japan in the late 16th century
- Sakamoto Ryōma, one of the most famous samurai of the Bakumatsu period who supported the the Meiji Restoration.
It is also amazing that people with Asperger, or at least Asperger traits, manage to get elected as prime minister or governor in Japan. That is probably because the Japanese value many of the Aspie traits of character. I cannot imagine anything like that happening in Latin countries, and least of all France and Italy, where the culture is rather intolerant of Aspie traits and encourages strong displays of emotions, public affection, and a high degree of flexibility regarding punctuality, schedules and rules.
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