|
I went
back to the US, to my hometown Pittsburgh, for Christmas and New Year
and just recently returned to Japan. (I’ll try to post some pictures from
home in the Gallery sometime soon so please check there in the future
if you’re interested.) I had a really wonderful time seeing my family
and friends and country again, and my trip also brought to mind for me
some of the differences and similarities between America and Japan.
When I arrived in the airport I flew into in Dallas, Texas, three things
quickly let me know I was back in America: religious rather than just
commercial Christmas decorations, a Mexican fast food restaurant, and
the smell of American pizza. Having lived in Japan for the past five months,
I was actually surprised how quickly I readjusted to life in America and
to speaking English full-time. I didn’t have culture shock and it didn’t
really feel strange being back in America. However, there were some things
I had to get used to again, like driving on the right side of the road
(and walking on the right side of the hallway), being able to keep my
shoes on indoors, tipping at restaurants, and figuring out what to do
with the money when I paid a salesperson since there is no “dish” to put
the money in in America like there is in Japan:).
I guess what I noticed most when I was back in America was the informality
(in attitude, speech, dress, etc.) and a kind of friendliness compared
to Japan. I don’t mean that Japanese are not friendly; on the contrary
Japanese people are very friendly to me and I think they especially try
to help foreigners. I guess I’m thinking of the friendliness among strangers
that seems to develop more easily in America than in Japan. In America,
for example, it is not uncommon for strangers waiting in line in a store
to start having a conversation with each other or for customers and salespeople
to start talking about their personal lives with each other. In Japan
I think strangers are much less likely to just start talking to each other,
and customers and salespeople are perhaps more polite to each other but
more distant (the exception to this is that in Japan I think some strangers
or salespeople do sometimes start conversations with foreigners because
they’re curious about them, at least this has been my experience;I’m usually
very happy when people start conversations with me here). I guess I didn’t
realize how much I missed this about America until I went back there.
To generalize (although I don’t like generalizing:)) I think Americans
are usually more open about their feelings and in their willingness to
talk to people than Japanese. This can have what I find to be very positive
effects, such as that it may be easier to talk to people and to make friends,
as I described above, but also negative effects, as some Americans don’t
hesitate to make their negative feelings known to people as well and may
say things that are overtly critical or unkind directly to someone, things
which I think a Japanese would rarely say to a person’s face. Thus, in
America I think you have a greater chance of strangers being friendly
to you but also a greater chance of them being rude to you than you would
in Japan.
It’s interesting how we can often learn a lot about our own culture from
living in or traveling to another country. I’ve learned a lot about America
as well as Japan from living in Japan. It’s easy and perhaps more interesting
to talk about the differences between Japanese and American culture, but
there are many similarities as well, and I think maybe both Japanese and
Americans often don’t realize how many similarities there are between
our cultures. Just one example that I think I noticed even more when I
returned to America is the importance in both countries of “pop culture”;movies,
music, anime or cartoons, video games, fiction, and fantasy…I think both
America and Japan not only have a wealth of diverse and creative native
pop culture, but more and more have (particularly among young people)
an appreciation of each other’s pop cultures. Aspects of American pop
culture such as American movies, music, TV shows, Disney, etc. are very
popular in Japan, and more and more I am seeing Japanese anime, manga,
J-Pop, etc., becoming popular among Americans. Many of my Japanese friends
seem to have an image of America as a “cool” country, and many of my American
friends seem to have an image of Japan as a “cool” country. I think people
in both countries strive to create and improve upon things and to explore
things through imagination, and I think it’s wonderful that things like
what people do and enjoy in their spare time can be a bridge between cultures.
There’s no doubt in my mind that things like “pop culture” have contributed
to greater understanding and friendship between Americans and Japanese.
|
