Occhin
u/Occhin
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This is just a hypothesis, and I don't mean any offense by it, but I wonder if one reason is that, on average, Europeans tend to have stronger body odor. If that's the case, clothes would require hotter water and longer wash cycles to remove the odor effectively, which could explain why washing machines with those features are common there. In Japan, that level of washing performance may simply not be as necessary.
Foreigners often have no hesitation about casually using the Emperor’s personal name, whereas Japanese people normally do not mention it lightly. In practice, most Japanese would simply say “天皇陛下” or “陛下,” so even in a fictional Japanese dynasty there is no real need to invent a specific emperor’s name, because the story would not be affected by it.
Rather, giving him an ill-chosen name would probably offend many Japanese people. If that isn’t your intention, it would be better not to do it.
Doesn’t Ishval in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood feel less like an allegory for Nazi Germany or the Holocaust, and more like an allegory for recent U.S. foreign policy and intervention in the Middle East? I find it a little strange that this interpretation seems so uncommon in the English-speaking
If a writer is turning events that were still in the future at the time into allegory, then that writer is unmistakably a prophet.
No, the reality is that many Japanese people are still not comfortable speaking English, and a large number of them are reluctant to engage with foreigners in the first place. Generalizing from the fact that the particular people you happened to meet could speak English seems rather questionable, given how small your sample size is and how severe the selection bias is.
You can say after the fact that it was a small, nonviolent protest. But as long as there is no way, from the present looking ahead, to know for certain that a protest will remain small and nonviolent, many ordinary citizens believe that a police escort is necessary in case the demonstrators turn violent and have to be subdued.
I don't see a strong logical connection between the goal of hosting a Japanese exchange student and the means of studying the Edo period in depth.
I'm not arguing that learning about the Edo period is unimportant. Rather, I'm questioning whether it's really the most appropriate or relevant way to prepare for hosting a modern Japanese student. It seems to me that learning about contemporary Japanese culture, social norms, and everyday life would have a much more direct connection to that goal.
"Cold medicine cures colds" — or even worse, "taking cold medicine can prevent you from catching a cold."
Looking back, it's hard for me to believe that anyone would actually think this, but when I was a middle school student and didn't yet know that the common cold is a viral illness, I believed it myself.
I asked an AI to generate the following text. How would you respond to it?
I was thinking since Thailand is the birthplace of Tom Yum Kung, are there Thai people who hate Tom Yum Kung? I remember news about people blaming Tom Yum Kung for unhealthy eating habits, mocking people who eat spicy food, claims that it encourages bad diets, and that it makes foreigners think all Thai food is hot and exotic. That makes me wonder if there are Thai people who hate Tom Yum Kung for those reasons?
It's not that Japanese people believe every non-Asian foreigner speaks English. Rather, they assume that a non-Japanese person is unlikely to speak Japanese. Since some common language is needed, and English is the closest thing the world has to a lingua franca, speaking English first is often the most practical guess.
I've often felt that in Europe and the United States, the only thing that truly matters is the capitalist question of whether something will sell or not. Whether it is authentic, or whether any effort has been made to make it authentic, is treated as having little to no value. Perhaps this reflects a culture that has become comfortable with treating other countries' cultures carelessly.
I think Japanese people picking up trash is the product of our culture and education. Likewise, the tendency of non-Japanese people to leave trash behind in stadiums is probably also a product of their culture and education.
I'm not saying it's necessarily wrong for people to regard leaving trash behind as acceptable, but as a Japanese person, I personally prefer the custom of cleaning up after ourselves and picking up trash in stadiums.
You won't get the information you're actually looking for by asking native Japanese people what life in Japan is like. The reason is simple: you're the one coming to Japan from abroad.
People in a situation similar to yours are not Japanese people, but foreigners who have lived in Japan for a long time. If I were you, I would direct those questions to long-term foreign residents rather than to native Japanese people.
One argument often used by people who criticize Japanese fans for picking up trash in stadiums is that doing so takes jobs away from cleaning staff. However, I think this logic is flawed.
A trash-free stadium is certainly closer to being clean than a stadium full of trash, but the absence of visible litter does not automatically mean the stadium is completely clean. The job of cleaning staff is not merely to pick up trash; it is to clean and maintain the facility. Even if spectators remove their own litter, there are still many cleaning and maintenance tasks that need to be done.
Therefore, I do not believe that Japanese fans picking up trash in stadiums would eliminate the need for cleaning staff or threaten their employment.
At least, that is how I see it as a Japanese person.
Even if you felt that you and the employee got along well, the employee may have just been providing normal customer service and might actually find it bothersome that a foreign tourist has become attached to them. The service industry is built around making customers feel good so they are more likely to spend money. What you interpret as a personal connection may simply be a professional skill.
I think motivation to study does not come from being told things by other people. It comes from within, when a person is driven by their own interests, curiosity, or sense of necessity. Because of that, I believe the most you can realistically do is avoid making someone dislike studying. Actually increasing their motivation is, in my view, virtually impossible.
The fact that you're taking classes in English suggests that your English is already strong, while your Japanese still seems fairly non-fluent. Because of that, I think you would probably be better off moving to and building a career in a country where English is the main language rather than trying to do so in Japan.
I think Japanese culture is actually quite tolerant of unusual fashions and eccentric personal styles, as long as you strictly follow two basic expectations: don't cause trouble for other people, and understand what behavior is appropriate for the time, place, and situation.
However, if you do inconvenience others or ignore what is considered appropriate for a given time and place, the social backlash can be far harsher than in many other countries, and the pressure to conform or be pushed out of the group can be extremely strong.
I don't really feel anything in particular about foreigners learning calligraphy. I don't find it especially pleasing, nor do I find it upsetting.
However, if a foreigner were to take a lesson or two and then start claiming that they had become a master of calligraphy or had grasped its deepest essence, I would find that extremely irritating.
When I think of Mexico, the strongest images that come to mind are drugs, tacos, tequila, and crime. That said, those are obviously very stereotypical impressions, so the reality is probably quite different.
Still, I think there's a certain symmetry to it. After all, many of you probably think of Japan mainly in terms of sushi, samurai, and anime.
If someone were to tell you that many Japanese people would find it unsettling to see a foreign man walking around town in a woman's kimono and therefore advise you not to do it, it seems to me that you wouldn't be willing to listen to that advice in the first place. It appears that you came here looking only for answers that would tell you there's no problem with it.
To begin with, I think many Japanese people would have difficulty understanding the very idea of looking for a religion or spiritual practice that "fits" you. Why must a person belong to some religion in the first place? People should be able to be moral and ethical without any religious faith.
The idea of "practicing" a religion in a structured way also seems quite Western to me. Shinto generally doesn't have a clear initiation ceremony that formally makes you a believer, nor does it have weekly services like a Sunday Mass. For most people, it is simply something that occasionally becomes the center of a local festival or community event.
I can’t say anything for certain since I only have your side of the story. However, if we assume that the incident involving you has remained a bitter memory for your host family, then choosing not to contact them could, in some cases, be a considerate gesture. If not hearing from you allows them to avoid being reminded of that unpleasant experience, that may itself be a meaningful form of consideration.
I'm not suggesting this out of malice or as a way to be hurtful. It's simply that, when the available information is uncertain, I think it's important to consider negative possibilities as well as positive ones.
