Job Discussion Forums

[matador]

SEndrigo you are right on the money with everything you say. Japan is not and does not want to become an international country. Thats how it is.... Japanese people like things being the way they are.

[johanne]

[king kakipi]

6810 wrote:-

[/quote]Ok, here's the thing. Everyone else out there seems to have a story like this...

why not me?

[king kakipi]

And I mucked up the quote thingy and can't correct it. Computer Illiterate. Please reverse the above.

[SEndrigo]

[Brooks]

this doesn`t happen to me when I am by myself, but when I am with my wife it always happens.

But when we are in America, it doesn`t. That is the difference.
In America, they just assume people can speak English, whatever the color of their skin.

[matador]

Japanese people are internally wired to believe that foreigners can never speak Japanese or understand Japanese culture. They see/interact with so few of them that this is understandable...but a little sad:

"You can use chopsticks!? You must be Japanese!"

"You can say one sentence in Japanese!? You must be Japanese!"

Reverse it and you realize the daftness:

"You can use a knife and fork!? You must be American!"

"You can say one sentence in English!? You must be English!"

Apparently if you learn too much English, you lose your unique 'Japanese-ness...'.

You have to laugh sometimes. Y`know how Japanese people have this list of memorized stock phrases that they 'must use because they are Japanese' such as when they enter/leave a place, start/finish a meal, etc?

Ask a Japanese friend what would happen if they didnt use them for one day; not in the sense of being rude but just in the sense of re-wording the sentiment.

The answer I got was that ...."it would mean losing some of my pure Japanese-ness...".

Also try introducing the concept that in other countries when you enter/leave a place, start/finish a meal you can say what you want...

What!? Then how do people know what to say!? Might I risk offending them....?

Er...no...its called interacting in a spontaneous and non-robotic manner.

[Gordon]

Matador,
Me thinks you need to go on a holiday

[gaijinalways]

gaijinalways wrote:
Hmm, I would say compared to undeveloped countries or developing countries, perhaps.

abuflectcher wrote:
That's actually an interesting way to look at it. I'm serious. Japan is indeed "one of the most unique" (<-- college freshman comp profs would cringe) countries one can live in without really having to leave the comforts and familiarity of life in a wealthy industrialized nation.

But I'll be honest and say a lot depends on one's own individual living circumstances. I know there are people here that have to conform and adapt to life in Japan A WHOLE LOT more than I do -- for example all those people with a Japanese spouse. If I actually had to live a Japanese life here I might feel differently. But I'm really just a foreigner living a foreigner's life that's not all that much different from my other foreign lives.

Abu,
But when you interact with people outside, I don't see how you can always necessarily have a foreigner's life. Most of my intereactions outside hardly seem the same as America, or any other country I have lived in or visited.

Matador wrote
Ask a Japanese friend what would happen if they didnt use them for one day; not in the sense of being rude but just in the sense of re-wording the sentiment.

The answer I got was that ...."it would mean losing some of my pure Japanese-ness...".
Also try introducing the concept that in other countries when you enter/leave a place, start/finish a meal you can say what you want...

What!? Then how do people know what to say!? Might I risk offending them....?

Er...no...its called interacting in a spontaneous and non-robotic manner.

Matador,
Some countries have more fixed expressions for certain situations. Just as we have fixed idiomatic expressions. Japan is a less flexible in a lot of situations concerning the level of formality that is to be used in certain situations.

Me thinks you need to go on a holiday too (me as well as you, even my wife dislikes some of the inflexibility here, and she is Japanese)!
[/b]

[SEndrigo]

[Mark]

I haven't really had this problem so much. If I ask something, people usually respond to me. If I don't understand, they might turn to my friend.

Yes, if you're in a restaurant or something, people will usually ask the Japanese person in the group. That's not surprising. Most foreigners don't speak Japanese particularly well. And plus, a lot of Japanese have never spoken to a foreigner and simply have no idea how to interact. They just get flustered and they have no idea if the foreigner can understand them. Speaking to a Japanese person is the path of least resistance.

[SEndrigo]

haha, matador doesn't need a holiday! Getting fed up with certain things happens to the best of us.

this stuff always passes....I really enjoy living here in spite of the complaints I have made.

It is not that I am upset, I just find some of these things amusing.

I am going to try speaking Spanish soon

[mrjohndub]

[Sweetsee]

I went to pick up my daughter at nursery school the other day and it is amazing the way the little kids pick up on stuff. First off, some of them scream, "Amerika-jin!" when I come there, less these days as I tend to give them a cool response and I have heard their handlers admonishing them for it. But the other day I thought I would be nice to these 3 or 4 little boys and ask them how they were doing. They laughed and started making fun of the way I said it. I think I said, "Konichiwa o-genki desu ka?" They were like, "Ha-ha-ha, OOO-genki desu ka?" Whatever. Anyway, whenever the tikes give me the Amerika-jin business I calmy reply, "Nihon-jin desu." They freak.

And another thing, I don't remember little kids poking people in the crotch when I was growing up, they seem to be quite comfortable with this.

But in all fairness, just the other day a nice little boy asked me how I got to be so tall or often they run up and tell me to say something in English or they give me a Japanese word they want translated into English.

Ahh little people, what are you going to do?


Enjoy,
s

[matador]

No holiday needed this end... Just making some basic observations on the Japanese. Mainstream Japanese are regimented, self-conscious and programmed to behave in a certain way. I am very relaxed about it..and it does often put a smile on my face.... I feel sad for most Japanese as they will agonize endlessly over the most trivial social interaction.

Maybe more sangria and siesta would help them chill out a bit more...!