cultural differences « GaijinPot Blog Network: Japan’s best blogs

cultural differences

The Great Japanese Adventure: August 26th, 2009By Nakata; Forgive me friends. For those of you who like reading these updates on my life in Japan, I know I have made you wait longer than usual. It is not that Tokyo, Japan, or even the Japanese have stopped amazing me on a daily basis, it is that life has a » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Parasols, dating and other mysteries: August 22nd, 2009By Nakata; Why it is that some Japanese women venture from their domiciles bearing parasols on Tokyo’s finest days is beyond me. Japanese people in general tan very well, and look even more healthy and youthful when kissed by the warmth of our sun. Nevertheless it never fails, should even a single beam » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

The modern art of Japanese communication: August 22nd, 2009By Ashley Roushom; Embarrassing or not, the very first time I realized that Japan was a real country, was in the later years of middle school. Prior to that, everything surrounding this tiny region of the world seemed distant to the point that it was unreal. I didn’t know anything “true” about Japan and its culture until the moment my family » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

I may not be able to tell my grandmother how much I love her, but I can cut her toenails: August 17th, 2009By Erika Scott; I was 12 when mom and I lived in Alabama. She got transferred from Hong Kong a year before. Makes you wonder what she did wrong, having to move from an elite international city to a tiny little town that no one outside of it had ever heard of. But being » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

The Bright Lights of Tokyo: August 7th, 2009By Nakata; It was always a given that, whether by choice or by coercion, I would experience the Tokyo nightlife, but nothing could have prepared me for what I found inside the decked halls of Pachinko parlors. Oh… the humanity! Imagine a place where vacant space is the enemy and things that do » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Emotional Intelligence – A Harmonious Balance: July 21st, 2009By Sandra Kimball; What happens when assertiveness, a highly valued emotional competency in most Western cultures, comes in contact with uchi no soto, the distinction of being on the inside, or set apart on the outside of a particular group in Japan? How can we use emotional intelligence to sensitively bridge the cross-cultural » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Bumbling Old Bats: July 6th, 2009By J.J. Vicars; One of the biggest cultural gaps I find being an American in Japan is old people. As much as they get on my nerves I do admire the old cockroaches. Constantly bumbling around, yakking at the top of their lungs early in the morning, completely self-absorbed… gawd, they can be annoying! » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Self-imposed pigeon toes?: May 13th, 2009By Sylvia Saracino; There was something that had been positively mystifying me since my arrival in Japan. I wasn’t the only one who was confused, either. My fellow expat friends had also noticed that an unusually high percentage of Japanese girls and young women appeared to be pigeon-toed. What’s more, many of them looked » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Super Service: April 17th, 2009By Natalie in Nihon; photo credit: Photocapy One of the first things that struck me about shopping in Japan was the level of service. Walk into almost any shop, no matter what price bracket and they lavish even the most blatant browsers with rapt attention. Japan to me epitomises ritualised, formal politeness. Here, customers are addressed honorifically as “O-kyaku-sama”. Honorifically! » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

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