All kinds of professional mitments involve giri to one's name。The Japanese re-quirements are often fantastic when particular circumstances bring one into the public eye and criticism might be general。There are for instance the long list of school princi-pals who mitted suicide because fires in their schools-with which they had nothing to do-threatened the picture of the Emperor which was hung in every school。Teach-ers too have been burned to death dashing into burning schools to rescue these pictures。By their deaths they showed how high they held their giri to their names and their chu to Emperor。There are also famous stories of persons who were guilty of a slip of the tongue in ceremonious public readings of one of the Imperial Rescripts，either the one on Edu-cation or the one for Soldiers and Sailors，and who have cleared their names by mit-ting suicide。Within the reign of the present Emperor，a man who had inadvertently named his son Hirohito-the given name of the Emperor was never spoken in Japan-killed himself and his child。
Giri to one's name as a professional person is very exigent in Japan but it need not be maintained by what an American understands as high professional standards。The teacher says，“I cannot in giri to my name as a teacher admit ignorance of it，”and he means that if he does not know to what species a frog belongs nevertheless he has to pre-tend he does。If he teaches English on the basis of only a few years'school instruction，nevertheless he cannot admit that anyone might be able to correct him。It is specifically to this kind of defensiveness that“giri to one's name as a teacher”refers。The business man too，in giri to his name as a business man，cannot let anyone know that his assets are seriously depleted or that the plans he made for his organization have failed。And the diplomat cannot in giri admit the failure of his policy。In all such giri usages there is ex-treme identification of a man with his work and any criticism of one's acts or one's -petence bees automatically a criticism of one's self。
In Japan，this defensiveness goes very deep and it is the part of wisdom-as it is also universal etiquette-not to tell a person to his face in so many words that he has made a professional error。
This sensitivity is especially conspicuous in situations where one person has lost out to another。It may be only that another person has been preferred for a job or that the person concerned has failed in a petitive examination。The loser“wears a shame”for such failures，and，though this shame is in some cases a strong incentive to greater efforts，in many others it is a dangerous depressant。He loses confidence and bees melancholy or angry or both。His efforts are stymied。
It is especially marked after childhood is ended，for Japanese children are more playful about petition and not so worried about it。With young men and adult，how-ever，performance deteriorated with petition。Subjects who had made good progress，reduced their mistakes and gained speed when they were working by themselves，began to make mistakes and far slower when a petitor was introduced。They did best when they were measuring their improvement against their own record，not when they were measuring themselves against others。The Japanese experimenters rightly analyzed the reason for this poor record in petitive situations。Their subjects，they said，when the project became petitive，became principally interested in the danger that they might be defeated，and the work suffered。They felt the petition so keenly as an aggression that they turned their attention to their relation to aggressor instead of concentrating on job in hand。
The Japanese have always been inventive in devising ways of avoiding direct -petition。Their elementary schools minimize it beyond what Americans would think pos-sible。Their teachers are instructed that each child must be taught to better his own re-cord and that he should not be given opportunities to pare himself with others。In their grade schools they do not even keep any students back to repeat a grade and all children who enter together go through their entire elementary education together。Their report cards grade children in elementary schools on marks for conduct but not on their school work：when really petitive situations are unavoidable，as in entrance exami-nations to the middle schools，the tension is understandably great。Every teacher has stories of the boys who when they know they have failed mit suicide。
This minimizing of direct petition goes all through Japanese life。An ethic that is based on on has small place for petition。Their whole system of hierarchy with all its detailed rules of class minimizes direct petition。The family system minimizes it too for the father and son are not institutionally in petition as they are in America：it is possible for them to reject each other but not for them to pete。
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