week 9 post 3

I found Table 12.2: Rules to increase Cooperation between Collectivists and Individualists on page 354 extremely interesting. At first, I wasn’t sure if cultures can be simply divided by two sides: individualism and collectivism. However, after examining characteristics of these two terms, I thought they are very true. For example, Table 12.2 states that when interacting with collectivists, “Feel free…to disclose your age and salary.” In Japan, knowing others’ age is so important that people never keep their age unknown after they meet. They ask either the person directly or others afterwards so they can behave appropriately to the person. They also feel safe knowing others ages because age is a big clue to define one’s identity.
When I worked at an office in the U.S., nobody asked my age on the day I started, but everyone was behaving each other equally and friendly. Human characteristics were more important than ages. I could relax more because I didn’t need to worry about ages and using different words for older people.
Interesting thing is that most friends I made in the U.S. were different ages from mine, including Japanese friends I made in the U.S. However, my friends in Japan are all the same age with me. There are a younger worker and an older worker that I want to be friends at my work, but since they are in different age groups, I feel an invisible wall between us. I think we will feel awkward if we became friends. It seems seeing one as a belonging of a certain age group makes people difficult to get close in collective cultures.
I learned in a different class that when we wake up in a morning, we first process our identity as a human, and then we process if we are a man or a woman. In Japan, I think age comes up before a man or a woman. I am now 23, and 90 percent of the time, my same age girl friends talk about when they want to get married, their plans for marriage, or who got married. I got bored for the marriage topic because marriage is not my prior concern now. I realized that in a collective culture, being a certain age is so critical and different from being any other ages because of particular expectations for that age.

week 9 post 2

Do you believe in the rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises? What social institutions and practices are based on these beliefs?

I partly agree with the rationality premise. Most of the time, we can live our lives without worries because there is a trust between people. As the textbook states, “most people” (353) will give back things that they borrowed. However, I think fewer than “most people” is behaving irrational now a days. Some people consciously betray “trust” and try to get benefits. So many people lose logical analysis before benefits. Yes, there are polices and juries who are there because we trust them, but we cannot say for sure that they really can be trusted.

I don’t agree with perfectibility premise. I believe people are born to good. When we heard a sad story about a person, we cry for him because we feel sorry. If someone is falling down, our body unconsciously move to catch him. It is not something we “put effort and control” (353) to do these things. I believe we all naturally have goodness.

As for mutability premise, I also believe that human behavior is shaped by biological factors too. For example, I learned in a human sexuality class that men and women’s different behaviors are shaped by both biological and environmental factors. However, I think environmental factors shape our lives a lot. Thus, I agree with the idea of universal education that by giving healthy physical and psychological circumstances, people can grew up to be healthy people.

week 9 post 1

Do you agree with anthropologist Ruth Benedict that we are "creatures of our culture" and that our habits, beliefs, and impossibilities are shaped by our culture? If so, how can we break through the limits of our culture?

I agree with Ruth Benedict’s idea that we are “creatures of our culture.” Many Asian countries put importance on family tie, so the family is prior importance for me. Eating rice everyday is also Japanese culture so is my culture. There are many beliefs, habits, and impossibilities I have that are created by Japanese culture. However, there are some aspects that I don’t agree with Japanese culture. That is the traditional rule called, “a customer is a king.”

I think Japanese customer service is the best in the world. After I came back to Japan a half year ago, I called a customer service for my cell phone and online shopping. I got a reverse cultural shock for their “a customer is a king” attitudes because in the U.S., I was used to been transferred a person to a person and not getting any solutions in the end.
Good customer services make my life convenient and easy, but I think Japanese customer service is too good that I sometimes feel awkward for their attitudes. A week ago, my earphone for a laptop didn’t work so I called a customer service for help. An operator answered the phone immediately, and helped me out for about forty minutes explaining step by step and very kindly where to download stuff and how to try if it is working. The earphone got fixed, and I thanked for the operator, but she repeated, “No, no, I am sorry to take your time. Thank you so much.” I was puzzled because I felt like my appreciation couldn’t be accepted by her.
It is good feeling to be a customer in Japan, but when I be the other side, it is very tiring and stressful. I work at a cake shop, and “a customer is a king” culture is an unsaid rule in here too. When a customer paid by 5000 yen bill (a 50 dollar bill), we have to put the money on a board because if the customer said something like, “I gave you a 10000 yen bill”, we cannot say anything back to the customer. The workers have to stop taking and what they are doing if customers came into the shop. Japanese sellers respect customers so much (at least on the surface), that I feel there is a big distance between sellers and customers. I think sellers in the U.S. are more friendly and flexible.

As the textbook mentions about intercultural identity (page 349), I believe by experiencing other cultures, we can break through the limits of our culture. I see my co-workers are hardworking and polite to the customers, but I sometimes think they can be more relaxed and feel closer to the customers. I believe I see Japanese culture more objectively than before because I have an experience living in different countries.

week 7 post 3

Pick one concept from the assigned reading that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

Japanese people usually avoid body touch. But I like hugging and shaking hands. When I meet my friends I haven’t seen for a while or farewell my friends, I feel like I want to hug them, but since Japanese culture don’t have such a custom, I don’t do it in Japan. However, I think hugging and shaking hands are natural nonverbal communications for humans.

I remember my grandfather gave me a strong hand shake every time we farewell. He lived far away with my grandmother, so I could only see him once or twice a year. Since my childhood, he never forgot to shake my hand when he say goodbye to me. To be honest, I didn’t like to shake hand with him when I was a child. But when I think about it, now I understand seeing a grandchild must have been a precious thing for him. Maybe, he felt very sad every time my family goes back to our home.
He passed away several years ago, but when I recall him, I see his smile and the warm and strong hand shake. Actually, he was a very strict person, and I was scared him, but from the hand shake, I felt his kindness and love for me. I believe it is because of the hand shake we had that makes me feel that I am close to him and my memory about him more vivid.

week 7 post 2

Although nonverbal messages are more universal than verbal messages, nonverbals do not always carry the same meanings in other cultures. Can you give examples of some of the nonverbal displays that take on different meanings in other countries? If you have moved around within this country, have you ever encountered regional differences in nonverbal meaning?

There are many nonverbal displays that take on different meanings in the world. When I talked with people from all over the world, I encountered some differences of nonverbal communications. One of the examples is when I talked with my friend from Egypt. When we were talking, I rested my elbow on the table and supported my head. In Japan, when friends are relaxed or talking very deeply, we sometimes do this pose. It shows that one is listening into the other. However, my friend seeing my posture asked me, “Do you have a headache?” I was surprised for her reaction because I have never thought about others perceiving this posture as “having a headache.”

The other example is that when I went to the U.S. for the first time. I remember I got a cultural shock for people’s use of gestures. In Japan, we don’t move our hands so much when we talk. However, in the U.S. people constantly move their hands when they talk. At first time, I thought they are upset or very emotional. However, after couple of months, I learned hand motions are part of the way they talk. It helps people to express themselves.

The differences of nonverbal displays are confusing at first, but very interesting to compare them. I learned that when I travel other countries, I shouldn’t make a judgment on others based on the first impression of their nonverbal displays. This is because I never know what the nonverbal displays mean in their country.

week 7 post 1

Because nonverbal messages can be ambiguous, they are open to misinterpretation. Have you ever been wrong about the meaning of someone's nonverbal message? Describe what happened. How can people increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal messages.

According to the textbook, people’s orientations of time and space bring nonverbal messages (pg.122).
Before I read the textbook, I have never recognized that differences of time orientations can bring us difficulty to understand each other. I am a future-oriented person (pg.123). I like to make a plan, and I rarely am late because I always check a time when a train leaves and move accordingly. I also have never been late to submit assignments because I plan when to finish multiple assignments to different due dates. My friend often comes late. She misses a train a lot, and I see her being rushed time to time. When she is late, I get little irritated. I think, “Why doesn’t she prepare beforehand.” I thought she comes late because she doesn’t care so much about letting someone wait.

However, according to the textbook, maybe it isn’t the only case. I think my friend is a present, fatalism-oriented person. She doesn’t assume how long it takes for what she is doing. It seems even she did assume the time, things don’t go accordingly.
Now when I think about it, every time she is late, she doesn’t look like she didn’t care about me waiting at a station. From now on, I will tell myself, “It is a difference of time orientations.”

As I learned about my friend’s time orientation, to reduce the misunderstandings of nonverbal messages, we need to be aware of time, space, and territory differences that others have. I remember my brother got mad when I read his comic books when we were children. I couldn’t understand it because it is totally ok for me if others read my comic books, watch my movies or use my pens, especially among my family. However, we all need to keep in our mind that the advice from the textbook; “things don’t bother us doesn’t mean that they don’t bother others” (pg.136).

week 6 post3

Pick one concept from the assigned readings that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

The concept I found interesting is low-context cultures and high-context cultures (96). As the textbook states, English is a good example of low-context cultures, which people speak clearly and in detail. On the other hand, Japanese is a typical example of high-context cultures. Yes, we use “maybe” “about” and “I hope…” a lot. There is a famous idiom in Japanese, “Ishin-denshin.” This means that we understand each other without language. It is a virtue in Japan to guess or read what others are feeling or wants to say without hearing a lot from them. It shows a care for others, and is an evidence of intimacy for people those who are close or a couple.

These cultural differences brought me difficulties to write essays in English. Every time I ask a writing advisor to review my essays, she told me, “What is ‘that’?”, “Who are ‘they’?”, and “What do you mean by this? Be more specific!” When I explained in more detail about what I wrote, she always told me, “Very good, why didn’t you write down how you just explained to me?”
The other day, my brother asked me to translate his Japanese essay to English for his English class. It looked fine when I read in Japanese. However, when I started to translate into English, I had a lot of troubles. I asked my brother the same thing my writing advisor used to tell me; “Wait, what do you mean by this?” When I translate his essay to English, many expressions became ambiguous and unspecific all the sudden.

I like both directness of English and indirectness of Japanese. English helps me to think more critically, and it feels good to hear straight and clear language. I also like the Japanese that puts importance on harmony and care for others. We write “Ishin-denshin” as “to tell from heart to heart.” This is the idiom I like the most because we cannot express all of our feelings in words. I feel very happy when others understand my feelings that I couldn’t explain in precise words.

week 6 post2

Do you agree that men and women use language differently? In what areas?

I agree that men and women use language differently.

I think Japanese is similar to French that has distinctive men words and women words. If someone tells me to speak like a man, it is very easy to do that in Japanese. For example, I can change the way to say “I”, and the end of the sentences to how men say.
By analyzing “men words” and “women words”, I can see that women words are more formal than men words in Japanese.
There are distinctive differences between formal and informal words. I remember in an old traditional Japanese drama, I saw a wife was using words that respect others, but her husband was using more rough and strong words to her. It is clear that women and men have different gender roles. The drama showed me a difference of a power between the man and the woman. I remember I was told to speak like a lady when I was a child. I believe it is a result of cultural construction because our culture show children particular attitudes and languages men and women use differently.

It is interesting because formal language supposed to be a neutral language that is not men or women words, but it sounds more like a women. The reason is that formal language is modest and polite, which are similar to women words.
In a public, such as business meetings, people use formal language. I remember when I was a child, I saw my father was on the phone with his coworker, and I thought, “My dad is speaking like a woman!”

Nowadays, wives don’t use formal language to their husbands and husbands don’t use such a rough and strong language to their wives. However, there are still distinctive differences between how men and women talk.