We have a special post from a very considerate guest writer for GJ.com. Our dear friend from back in our university days in Japan has been kind enough to write her opinions on foreigners in Japan and the concept of “gaikokujin.” We’d certainly like to provide you with more guest posts and “insider” information/opinions like this post from many different perspectives (so it isn’t just me and Fab blabbing on about our opinions all the time). If you’d like to get more posts like this, just drop a line and let us know what issues you’d like to hear about and from what perspective you’d like to hear it from. Fab and I have friends in many places

A little bit about the guest writer: Ayano is in the German Studies Department of her university. She speaks Japanese, English, and German, and has had the chance to live & Study abroad in the UK and Germany. She has many friends from all over the world and is very open and energetic when meeting new people of any background. She loves learning about new cultures and has an affinity for languages. 

“In 1987-88, Feiler was a participant in the Japanese government’s Living English program, teaching English and American culture in the middle schools of Sano, a rural town north of Tokyo. His report is a light-hearted yet extremely perceptive analysis of an educational system which systematically and deliberately teaches students the work ethic and a strong group identity. After his first-day welcome in a communal bath, Feiler is encouraged by his host family and friends to participate in festivals, observances, and local customs, all of which he colorfully describes. He also contrasts Japanese and American school objectives while thoroughly examining Japanese educational methodology. His book is recommended to educators and all who want to understand contemporary Japanese culture.”

Review:
During my initial motivational phase of learning Japanese, in which everyone around me could see some kind of new passion in my eyes surrounding Japanese and eventually going to Japan, I was fortunate that my father was someone who always encouraged me. Upon noticing my peak of interest to find out everything I possibly could about Japan, I came home one day with several books waiting me on my study desk. Amongst these books, Bruce Feiler’s “Learning How to Bow” was one of the books that initially caught my eye. The title was provocative, and gave a sense that you would learn something about the Japanese culture and way of life.

At my stage of learning at that point way back in 2005, this book was an amazing read. It gave a very good look at Japan’s quirkiness from a North American perspective (things like dating, daily life, customs, education, etc), in an easy to understand and digest sort of way. Esstentially you see Japan through the eyes of Bruce, who at the time was pretty much in the same position you would be in having next to no knowledge about Japan, and not being able to speak a word beyond konnichiwa!

Although a very intriguing read, the biggest downfall of this book is that it recollects the experiences of Bruce during the late 1980’s. It has been over 20 years since then and a lot surrounding English education and the Japanese social and political landscape has changed drastically. Nonetheless, this is a moment in time captured by Bruce, and done so beautifully. It is well worth the read for those in the initial phases of their interest in Japan and considering visiting there one day to teach. There are not many books out there that really capture Japan from this kind of innocent perspective anymore. Nowadays everyone is telling you what to do and how to do it (heh, so are we in a way!), so it is refreshing to get a feeling of “seeing it all for the first time.”

Grab this book right now for a good price on Amazon!

Oh what a day! Starting around noon the rain and wind got heavier and heavier. Looking out of my office window on the seventh floor usually providing an awesome view of Tokyo’s sky line including Tokyo Tower today showed me more an armageddon like scenery.

Some areas of Tokyo got apparently really flooded and little ponds build up, so that they had to close some streets which obviously lead to huge traffic jams. Many trains stopped at least for a few hours and people were gathering at the stations waiting for their trains to take them home. The whole scenery kinda reminded me of 3/11 when all the trains and busses stopped and people had to line up or just wait in front of the station entrances.

Once again, it’s really amazing how the Japanese people here handle the situation. Everyone stays calm and even when the masses begin to move again to get on the trains, no pushing, no hustling and no panic at all. No one start yelling at other people and everyone stays just calm. Although most of the people aren’t really happy about such a situation they don’t get pissed as much as you would probably expect it. Or they are just reeeaaalllly good at hiding it but even that is a sign of self discipline, right

I personally think it’s really amazing how many Japanese people stay calm when it comes to natural disasters or even personal problems. They somehow understood that there are some things beyond their control and there’s just nothing you can do about it. It’s just 仕方がない（しかたがない）.

How did you experience the typhoon, where were you and… did you get home safely? Leave us a comment or send us a mail!

It’s now exactly six months since one of the most disastrous earthquakes hit Japan and caused a huge tsunami flushing away whole villages and cities in north east Japan and the biggest nuclear incident since Chernobyl.

In part I I already shared with you how I experienced the day of the earthquake. In this post I wanna share with you how I experienced the weeks after the quake.

At that time my everyday life consisted of going to my language school, working at a fashion store, going to the gym and meeting friends for dinner and drinks. So what happened the week after the quake was that my school, my gym and the fashion store I was working at closed… No one knew for how long. I literally woke up every morning after a night of everything but decent sleep checked my phone and got messages from my foreign friends in Tokyo saying they’re about to leave the country or to go to Kansai at least. When I turned on my computer I found messages and mails from friends abroad telling me to leave the country ASAP. Even some of my friends who I’d expected to rather sink to the ground of the ocean with Japan (that’s more less what some of the media abroad predicted) than leaving the country.

So I ended up with a pretty limited amount of friends, as even my Japanese friends went a bit south or didn’t wanna leave their houses. I’m sure you can imagine how weird it was to stroll through Tokyo with remarkably less people than usual. The only thing I was missing was some tumbleweed rolling across Shibuya crossing just like in an old cowboy movie.

I basically met up with my very close German friend everyday for lunch, a stroll in the neighborhood, shopping and dinner. Of course we constantly exchanged the newest information about the situation, what to do and how to react to it.

Some convenience stores and supermarkets ran out of stock on some goods like dairy products, bread and water. And even after the goods returned to the supermarkets they rationed it and asked you to only take one or two bottles of water or bread and think of families and children. Once again I found it pretty impressive how Japanese people helped and supported each other and even started collecting money and goods for the people in Fukushima and other affected areas.

It was kinda hard to get accurate information as the Japanese government obviously didn’t tell the truth to avoid a panic especially in Tokyo but the foreign media on the other hand exaggerated like crazy coz for them it was just a story and business. Seriously, Geiger counters to measure radiation were sold out in Berlin, which is like 10.000 km away from Fukushima! Speaking of foreign media, I actually got interviewed by German TV stations and radio via Skype and phone to explain how I experienced t and how the current situation is. Pretty interesting experience!

I’m not sure if there us a final number about how many people died and how many people are still missing. But I know that it will take quite some time for the people to return to a normal life in the affected areas and the reconstruction will most likely take several decades.

I can barely express how it makes me feel every time I think about the incident and remember the pictures. Although already half a year has past and most of us in the not affected areas more or less returned to our daily routines, let’s not forget that there are still so many people suffering in the aftermath. But I’m sure if there is any country that can get back on its feet after such a disaster, it’s Japan.

If you wanna support the reconstruction, please check one of the following links.

Red Cross Japan

Volunteering

A common difficulty that occurs a lot in intercultural communication in business as well as in private, is misunderstanding each other although you are speaking the same language. You are talking to a friend, or co-worker in English or maybe even in Japanese but for some reason there is sometimes some kind of miscommunication and misunderstanding between the two of you. Why is that?

Let’s say you have lived in Japan for some time now, got used to Japanese culture, mannerism etc. and your friend or co-worker or whoever you are talking to has lived abroad for some time as well and is pretty fluent at English or any other language you can communicate in with him or her.

The danger here is that you assume that just because you speak the same language you are culturally on the same level as well. You are basically mistaking language fluency for cultural fluency.  But being fluent at Japanese doesn’t necessarily mean you are completely accustomed to Japanese mannerism, culture, behavior and so on. Of course, while studying Japanese you also learn Japanese culture.

On the one hand, when you just started to learn Japanese and are happy every time you made a full sentence without stuttering, the implication that language fluency equals cultural fluency comes in pretty handy because Japanese people don’t expect anything from you. No expectations, no pressure!

BUT on the other hand, you will realize the better you get at Japanese, the higher the expectations of the Japanese people around you will get. As long as you don’t speak Japanese you are a Gaijin/外人 – someone from outside, not belonging to the group – but as you start speaking Japanese better and better, they open up and make you part of their group not completely but at least a bit though. Which is great, because it allows you to meet the people behind the façade. But it will also influence the interaction because now you are expected to understand things they just slightly imply or know how to behave in certain situations.

So, it might look like it’s easier to just stay at a beginner level at Japanese to avoid too high expectations and pressure. But it also hinders you to really get to know the people and to explore the culture. And instead of seeing it as pressure, see it as a challenge And it’s also a sign that the Japanese people acknowledge you Japanese skills!

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