Job Discussion Forums

[Black_Beer_Man]

Have you ever walked behind a group of slow-moving university students? They walk slowly like grandpa. And if you walk behind them closely, they do not move to let you pass. What's up with that?

It's actually an effort for me to walk that slowly.

[timothypfox]

I can see you have some growing pains in Japanese society.

My take on this is that the smaller and shuffle step type of walking developed from wearing traditional clothing such as the kimono or yukata, and the type of wooden shoe called the getta.

Though these clothes are not generally worn today, I suppose moving about with slowly with small steps (even though there is no longer any clothes to restrict people's movement) is still considered polite and modest - or good-mannered if you like.

If people see you walk as quickly as you do, it may surprise and even scare people here as aggressive. You most certainly will stand out for having different body language.

The students that "don't let you pass" may have bad manners and I could see this happening at any university campus in the US. However, it has been said that personal body space is not a private as it is in say - North America. This comes from people being used to living in much small rooms and high population density living and probably the use of smaller body movements.

Anyways, I may be overdosing you here on too much cultural relativism. Sometimes I feel people walk unnecessarily slowly, but you can't really change a whole society of people. You will need to change yourself.

But on a more positive note, you can always smile and politely say "excuse me" or "sumimasen" to get a group of students to move even if most Japanese would never do that. You as a foreigner are expected to act differently. They will most definitely say "sorry" and move, and perhaps giggle.

[kathrynoh]

[Black_Beer_Man]

[teacheratlarge]

Supposedly Tokyo and Osaka are rated the fastest for walking speed in the world. Hard to believe it some mornings when I go to work as I usually pass everyone.

Yes, some people are engrossed in the smartphones or just don't have a pressing agenda, so they move like snails.

[rxk22]

Nothing to do with kimonos. Nobody wears em. Esp not guys. It comes from most Japanese including my wife, not understanding how shoes fit. Nor caring either.

[Vince]

That used to annoy me, especially when they'd look back, see you behind them trying to get by, but wouldn't extend the basic courtesy of stepping aside a bit. Worse was when a group of them would walk side-by-side, taking up the entire width of the walkway. You'd pretty much need to push through them (which is what the fast-walking sararimen did).

There was a little lovebird couple that I often saw at the train station. They'd smugly walk through the station incredibly slowly and willfully oblivious like they were royalty. They always seemed to be right in the middle of the walkway so that they'd block as much traffic as possible. They did this once while the train was pulling into the station, so I finally just ran by the side of them and offered a little sumimasen (out of habit, not because they deserved it). As I was passing them, I kind of expected them to have a negative reaction, but also thought that my opinion of them was probably too harsh and that they might even apologize. Nope! As if they had been waiting for the chance, they both yelled, "hen na gaijin!"

[Solar Strength]

[Black_Beer_Man]

[Solar Strength]

[mitsui]

I think they want to talk to each other as they walk.
They block people and it is annoying, but that is because I am from another culture.

They don`t think of others, just their in-group they are walking with.

[willill]

although i understand the inclination to search for cultural factors to explain certain behavior, like walking speeds, i believe there is a danger in reinforcing an us vs. them mentality with such an approach. if someone is harboring negative feelings about a foreign culture then attempting to blame something on the culture will perpetuate this negativity and isolate one further from that culture.

it seems to me a much more productive approach is to look at the behavior from a practical, or functional perspective. what about the situation might be leading to that behavior? what function does that behavior serve? this places the focus on human beings and how we are alike rather than how we are different. this could make it easier to understand and accept the behavior.

from such a perspective this threads topic becomes simpler. commuters walk super fast because they do not want to be late for work, they've done the same commute for perhaps many years, they want to get the commute over with or are doing it automatically without much thinking, etc.

couples sometimes walk slow because they're in love or whatever. they are enjoying each other's company, they are not as aware of the people around them, etc.

its is popularly known that compared to western cultures university students in japan generally have it easier and have more free time. it's a relatively free and enjoyable period of life compared to the previous high school preparation for university exams and the often oppressive work schedules imposed after university. so of course they may walk slower, they're just not in a rush.

there are definitely cultural issues at hand ie. education system, punctuality, work culture, etc. but any human in a similar situation would probably do the same thing. a thai man whose been working with a japanese company for 20 years probably walks faster and pushes a bit on the train more than they would in thailand. a german student studying in japan may walk slower than back home because he has less homework.

if we are having a difficult time in japanese culture, by producing a stereotype like "japanese university students walk slow" and then saying it is because of the culture it might make it more difficult to get along with that culture and it may isolate us further. we are blaming what we feel is a negative behavior on a group of people which is not us.

i think it might be more useful to look at how any human would act in a given situation. humans are definitely products of their environment to a huge extent, and now we too are are a part of this new environment. lets not cut ourselves off from it, but embrace it. rather than thinking "japanese people do this" and "western people do that". we could think "humans in a situation like that in japan tend to do this" and "humans in a situation like that in the west tend to do that". etc

[timothypfox]

I have no idea about the correct side of the sidewalk. But, I can tell you this. I am extremely annoyed when you approach someone on a sidewalk, and they could be walking anywhere really - the right, the middle, and the left. No matter which way you sidestep, so you can pass each other - the person approaching (a Japanese person) will always always sidestep in the same direction as you. Why the (*^(*&(* is that?

[Pitarou]

[fluffyhamster]