When I was in college, I learned that culture is like an ice burg. 90% of culture is unseen and often times, cannot be taught. The 10% that we can see are the obvious differences that are easy to prepare for. In Japan, those obvious aspects of culture are: Manga, anime, language, landscape, religion, currency, race, and other things of that nature. Things that are easily spotted by sight alone. The other 90% are broken down once you delve immerse yourself into the culture. You can never truly learn 100% all that there is to learn about any culture. The longer you live in a new culture, the more you dive deeper into the sea and discover just how big that iceberg really is.
There are aspects to every culture that everyone loves and that everyone hates. It is impossible to be 100% satisfied in any given location. Many times, we have to adapt and we have to accept that that is just how things are in certain countries or cultures. Some of these may be game changers for some and some might not bother people at all. This list is strictly from my point of view only. You may feel differently. Also, these are things that cannot be seen but experienced. You would only know of this if you have lived in Japan for several years as I have. 5. THEY WAIT FOR ORDERS I know what you are thinking, "What does that mean?" When it comes to work, nobody takes the initiative. They have to wait for further instruction to do any sort of job. Even if someone has a good idea and can implement it themselves, they will not attempt it. They won't even bring it forward to their superiors because they have to be told to do so. There are countless workers that will sit around staring at the wall, doing absolutely nothing, because they weren't instructed to do anything. They could see a messy shelf at their shop and still do nothing about it because their boss had only given them so many instructions. It's like they are all mindless robots. No one questions and no one challenges anything. Why is this so jarring? Well, last year, I had this idea of doing an international day at my school with the advanced English students. This includes, at most, 60 students out of 360 in the grade. I wanted to invite some other ALTs to join my school and teach them about different cultures and even play games. All the while the students must only speak English. It would be a great opportunity for them, and as I have participated in several international days in other schools, I was confident that I could present a plan to the English teachers. I wrote up a 5-page plan, scheduled a meeting with the teachers, but because ONE teacher. ONE teacher, (who happened to be the head of the English department) said it wasn't his idea and that HE didn't want to have to think about it, we aren't going to do it. I assured him that I would do the bulk of the planning. All they had to do was just inform the students of the international day and pass out the assignments that I would prepare ahead of time. ME. ALL ME. Yet, like I said before. Since it wasn't his idea, and he didn't think of it first, it was denied. We have 11 English teachers at my school. 10 of them were highly interested in my proposition, but because that 1 teacher just so happened to also be the head of the English department said "no" nothing is going to take place. I guess who cares about it being 10-1 right? 4. NATIONALISTIC I am sure that every culture is nationalistic is some way, but Japanese take it to an extra level. They truly believe that Japanese are superior in every way. They have no open mind for other cultures. Tourists are likely not to experience this and neither will students because they are temporary. Key word here is temporary. Once you live and work here, their distain starts to show. After the first-year Japanese true colors start to show. There is a reason that ALTs/JET Program participants typically last an average of 2 years. That reason is this, nationalistic. After the one-year mark and maybe even 2 if you are lucky, Japanese will stop asking you if you have gotten used to Japan and start asking you when you will leave Japan. The best answer to this is "It depends on my contract" because anything even remotely similar to "I want to stay 5 years", or "I hope to find another job after this one and stay in Japan" or even "I don't know yet" you will get disapproving looks and even lose friends. Teachers that once hung out with me and liked talking to me, have run out of patience and are waiting for me to return to the states. They constantly try to make me think of my friends and family back home and ask me what I miss most about America. It is nonstop. They are trying to guilt me into returning home. I even had an instance of a teacher singling me out and purposefully taking jobs from me because he wanted me to be fed up and go home or get fired for doing nothing. Jokes on him, because I happen to have good bosses and they believed me over him. When I talk to my students about America they are interested for a while, but then quickly will start listing all the ways they feel Japan is better. I tried listing things about America that they would be jealous of, such as long summer breaks, prom, driving as a teenager, but they will counter with things about America they don't like so they can justify Japan being the best. Like, when I mentioned the extra-long summer vacation, they countered with "Well it gives you more time to be lazy and eat McDonald's and get fat. So, Japan is better." My solution to this would be for Japanese people to travel outside of the country and experience other cultures. And I don't mean traveling to other hot spot places where everyone speaks Japanese like Guam, Korea, Taiwan, or Hawaii, I mean an actual trip, to places like, South Africa, Russia, Mexico, Canada, and the like. Someplace so far removed from their comfort zone so they can learn to appreciate what they have as Japanese and gain respect for others. It could help them as a society when accepting foreigners for the 2020 Olympics instead of assuming all foreigners know what is common courtesy in Japan because it is different in every culture. I could go on about this topic for quite a while, but let's just leave it here. 3. NEGLECTFUL PARENTING This may come a shock to many of you, and others may deny it completely. In Japan, there is this understanding, that outsiders are allowed to scold your children. At first, I viewed it as a good thing. While on the train some children may be rowdy and bother others, but to the mom, she thinks her kids are fine. So, an outside will walk up, scold the child for being unruly and the mother will thank the man and punish the child accordingly. But after living here for nearly 4 years, I have come to notice something. What do the parents actually do? Every morning and evening, the yellow/white hat brigade will be walking along, in a single file line to and from school. Crossing guards lead the way for the children of all ages (Preschool on up) and the children are expected to safely travel alone. Maybe one or two children will be driven to school but that is only 2 out of hundreds. No big deal you must be thinking. Well, another time, I saw teachers, instructing children in how to grow vegetables, and how to ride bicycles. Ok, cool, I grew plants in school too, but it gets worse. They teach kids how to do the laundry, how to clean, how to go to the doctor, how to wear clothes (yes, how to literally WEAR clothing) how to cook basic food (and I don't mean basic techniques of cooking, I mean how to cook in general), how to sew on a button or repair a tear, how to fold clothing, how to make your bed!!! Seriously! These things are something that a parent should be teaching their child. At my school, it is high school, so they don't have some of these classes, but they do have a class called manners. Yes, you heard that right. They have a literal class, teaching teenagers how to good manners. MANNERS. Those are also things that should be instilled upon children by their parents. There was an instance when a student came to school with inappropriate hair. It went against the school rules and guidelines. They punished the student for getting his hair done and placed 100% of the blame upon him. The problem with this, is that students are not allowed to work without written permission from their teacher AND have straight A's. This particular student was barely passing his classes. He wasn't working. He also can't drive and has no privileges when it comes to getting a haircut (there is a weird law here that kids under 18 cannot make appointments of any kind and this includes hair appointments. The student in question was 16). So, with this in mind, that means the parents had to make an appointment, the parents had to drive the child to the salon, the parents had to wait for the appointment to end, the parents saw the hair style, and the parents paid for it. Tell me again, how this is 100% the student's fault? I have actually asked several people in Japan whose responsibility it was to raise children, the parents or the teachers. And 100% of them said it is the teacher's responsibility. The only time they call the parents is to ask why a student hasn't shown up, or if they are failing and they have to discuss tuition. No matter what the parents say, the teachers are responsible for punishing the children. And the parents just let them! They don't seem to know what it means to raise kids or be a family in any sense of the word. No wonder Japanese are so good at telling heart moving stories, their entire lives are a tragedy! 2. CHANGE IS BAD They hate change. Their philosophy is "it's been done this way for centuries." Just because something has been done for centuries, doesn't mean it was done correctly. For example, they have windows. Like LOTS of windows. It makes up basically all the walls of any building. Lots and lots of windows. The idea is to let the sun light in. Well, the issue with this is that you risk over exposure to UV rays and increase the risk of cancer. Not to mention damage to your eyes. Whenever I would be in the office alone, I always closed the curtain because the light is just too much for me. It wasn't until recently. (The last 2 years recent) where the newspapers published a piece saying how windows are causing too much sunlight to get in and is causing health issues for hundreds of years. Gee, I wonder why... So now they sort of close the windows. They are also afraid of technology. Like, afraid of it. At work, we input the student's grades into a system that will calculate it for the year and split the averages up by term. Well, they will then print this sheet after it has been completed online, and calculate everything manually to ensure the machine is correct. I am not even joking. They literally have positions in corporations for people to check the computer calculations. And not just one person, no. That wouldn't be secure enough, they need FOUR people to check it. They have one person check the calculations, then they pass it on to the next person, then the next, then the next. They then will hold a meeting and verify that all their answers are the same before they approve the calculations as correct, then they will file it in a file folder. WHAT IS THE POINT OF A COMPUTER THEN!? If you are going to input it on the computer, print it, check it 4 separate times, then paper file it, why are you using a computer in the first place? I get checking to make sure your formulas are correct and stuff, but if you are going to use the man power anyway what's the point of having a computer? They implemented a social security system for their silvering society, and within the first year, someone hacked into it. Nothing was stolen. It was probably some teenagers bored and having a laugh, but what did Japan do to retaliate? They deleted the internet from work spaces. Yes. You heard that right. They are so afraid of technology, that they deleted the internet from work. Now we have to use an in-house network to pass files and documents along instead of emailing them. So, getting work emails is incredibly annoying and painful. We have to get permission to use a special email just for ALTs. It's ridiculous. All because Japan is afraid computers will take over the world! One more example before the final point. My school has scantrons for exams. There are over 1000 students, so checking each paper would be time consuming. So, they have scantrons to lighten the load. Or do they? No, actually you know what they do? You guessed it! They verify the machines are correct. They will scan all the answers. Print the results, then hand check each test with the results to make sure they match, then they go ahead and grade the scantrons by hand anyway. Why oh why do they do this? It is infuriating to watch and I keep telling them that the chances of the scantron getting is wrong is ridiculously slim. Plus, they give the students their tests back with the answers. Just have THEM tell you if an answer is messed up. Why have 3 teachers check each and every test because you are afraid of a machine? Better yet, why have the machine at all? It is moments like that that make me question why Japan is the second largest economy in the world. Pretty much, the only technology they aren't afraid of is video games, and yet you don't see anyone complaining about those! 1. SHOGANAI Ok, I have saved the most annoying and most hated aspect of Japanese culture for last. It is, the shoganai culture. This is usually the one that people notice first when they move here. You might even see this one if you study abroad for quite a length of time. Shoganai is basically their "polite" way of saying "Leave me alone, I want to be lazy." And lazy they are. Me: "Excuse me, but why was I double charged for my water bill?" Them: "It must have been a mistake." Me: "Oh ok. Could you please remove the extra charge?" Them: "Oh, I can't do that. You will just have to pay extra this month. If you don't pay then your water will be shut off." Me: "What? Why? That doesn't make sense." Them: *shrugs* "Shoganai." They hate doing anything that even remotely requires work. (FIY in this particular situation, I only paid the one month and not the extra charge, the charge was removed after 2 days.) We had another instance when I was trying to add my husband to my phone plan, but for who knows what reason, they would not add him to my contract. They kept insisting that I needed a new contract and two different bills. The lady kept saying "shoganai" "Shoganai" but in the end, she put them both on one contract anyway. So, the entire debacle was pointless. I have never seen a lazier group of people in my life. At work it is even worse. They have to plan major events such as: class trips to Okinawa, ski trips, sporting events, various festivals, and the like. All of which require proper planning. Do you think that people will make a schedule or time table for when they should call around and ask vendors for their facilities? Not the Japanese! They wait until the last possible moment to do anything. My school has a school festival once every 3 years. Our happened to be last year. It is a major event in which students come to school on weekends, do various performances, cook food, make products to sell, and have all their classrooms decorated with different themes and activities. One classroom would have bowling, one will have a student made film, one will have candy land, you get the idea. With all the cost of materials and the time needed to create and plan for such an event, you would think that they would allow the students a few weeks to prepare for this or give them some sort of at home assignment. Nope. None of the above. Instead it went like this: Me: "By the way, when is the school festival this year? I am really looking forward to it and I don't want to miss it since my mother is also visiting." Them: "Oh, it will be October 21st to the 22nd." Me: "Have the students started building anything yet? I would love to help them." Them: *???* "Why would they be making something now?" Me: "Because the 21st is in 8 days." Them: "It's fine they have time." Do you know when they started planning for this festival? 2 days before. TWO DAYS! At the festival, sooo many students and teachers were telling me of all the things they weren't able to include because "shoganai." No! Not shoganai! Shoga-Laziness! They had all the time in the world to prepare for this festival, and they waited until the last possible moment to do it. The worst part is that they don't seem to care! They honestly think this laziness is totally acceptable. This is applied to their everyday society. They have made this a core belief in their society. Could you imagine what the Japanese could accomplish if they actually planned something properly? I bet all of you right now fully understand why it took so long for Final Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3 to be released. It's laziness and it makes me lose respect for them. I am constantly annoyed at them. Teachers will wait until the night before to make exams, and then call me on the phone to check their English. This last time I refused. I told them I would not participate in their procrastination. They can deal with their mistakes on their own. Thanks for reading this list! I hope I didn't discourage you from visiting Japan. The next post I make will be all about 5 aspects of Japanese culture that I love. This was mulling around in my mind for a while and I needed to get it out there. Let me know if there is anything I missed or something you would have added in the comments down below!
3 Comments
Alwa
11/24/2019 05:27:36 am
I have a little different experience with Japan and Japanese people. I don't agree with everything you wrote (I do agree to some point).
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Alwa
11/24/2019 05:28:45 am
Sorry if I made some mistakes, English isn't my native language.
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Jeny Hague
11/25/2019 12:34:20 pm
Thank you for your comment.
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AuthorJeny B Archives
August 2021
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