Japanese Cultural Observations - 1
Some quick notes on cultural things that I’ve been noticing here and there. More to come
Bowing
Bowing is complicated. It happens when you first meet someone, when encountering someone higher up in the company, when leaving a group of coworkers or a gathering, etc. It’s very polite and humble, but sometimes it feels a bit comical. When I met the company department heads, everybody bowed to each other as a greeting – so that’s maybe 5 bows per person – and then they bowed again in response because that’s just Japanese instinct. And the interns are copying this and bowing more, and the department heads are bowing in response… so the first minute becomes a bowing party
Full 100% bowing isn’t actually that common. For greetings or goodbyes it’s maybe a 10 degree tilt of the body, and when passing people in the hallways it reduces to a slightly exaggerated head nod.
Crime
I was walking around Akihabara last weekend, exploring the shops and touristy offerings. And of course every shop had an outdoors display. This isn’t too exciting, until you notice that these are all electronics shops, and the products sitting outside are full computers, cameras, and other expensive-looking gizmos. I feel like that wouldn’t quite work in other countries, but it’s not a problem in Japan. It amazes me that no one steals here.
One of the other interns has lived in Japan before, and he told me a story from when his parents came to visit. They arrived from Belgium with their passports and enough cash for a month-long stay. And his father lost his wallet on day 1, passport and all. The next day they went to the local police office to report it missing, and found that someone had already turned it in during the morning. Nothing was missing.
上手 (Jouzu)
Jouzu means “skilled”. It’s the most common feedback I’ve gotten on my Japanese, which was funny until I saw how often people said it. Nihongo ga jouzu, your Japanese is so good! I’ve found that the real meaning is somewhere closer to “Oh you know some Japanese words! That’s nice”.
Japanese planning
There’s something special about the Japanese sense of time when planning events. There has to be ample room to comfortably figure out event details, you can’t come up with plans the day of. Shopping? Sure. This afternoon? Whoa, too soon. I’ll be busy watching TV. I went out for dinner with some coworkers during my third week here, but we planned it two weeks prior. “Oh, this Friday? Hmmm….mmmm…. How about in two weeks?”
I think this video does a good job of highlighting some of the absurdness that comes with this planning mindset: “Are you free the morning of October 12, 2019? I’m having a barbeque then.” –“Ah, let me check my schedule…… oh no, sorry, dentist appointment”. During my first day on the job, something similar happened where I received an email from a coworker inviting me to an event. The event was in July and he asked are you free then, sorry to fill up your schedule, please let me know if you can make it, etc. I found it hilarious, because I had barely planned my activities for the coming weekend, let alone 7 weeks down the road.