Cross Culture #threadcast !
Share a time you experienced culture shock or ask any question you want about another culture.
I’m an American who lives in Japan so you can ask me about either 🇺🇸 or 🇯🇵
Share a time you experienced culture shock or ask any question you want about another culture.
I’m an American who lives in Japan so you can ask me about either 🇺🇸 or 🇯🇵
That’s a great question. I think for about 80% of people they just have a really hard time getting used to any kind of cultural habits they aren’t used to. The opposite of flexible. This often comes across as xenophobia, which it might be for about 20% but definitely not for the majority.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/taskmaster4450le/re-selfhelp4trolls-6dqjke4l
Along those same lines, why is Japan so low in terms of immigration?
They have historically very low numbers especially considering they are facing a population decline.
Is this something being addressed?
Tattoos are “considered taboo” in Japan but that’s such an old idea and if you saw the amount of people with tattoos here you’d never guess that people still held such prejudices but they do. No one cares but they pretend to care because they think they are supposed to care.
Humans will use anything to divide and exclude.
Even if we were all the same race, religion, and what not, we would then discriminate bases upon eye color, height or something these we could point to that "makes us better or right" and "them worse or wrong".
Vacationing in Japan and all the street signs were in Japanese Alphabet called Kanji, not Japanese language using Roman Letters... My translator was no help
Coool!
I remember when I visited Quetta, a capital city in another province, for the first time. People spoke the same Pashtu language. They used the word 'yah' to say no, which was so confusing as we used it to express yes instead. I had so many funny and weird encounters.
Besides, my first impression from the US was: Gosh, it's all huge around here. Huuuge. Cars, houses, distances, people (yes, I could tell I'm back to Europe when I started meeting thin people in a mass scale).
I actually experience culture shocks when travelling to small towns and villages of my own country rather than abroad :) In some places of the Czech Republic, there's still the post-soviet vibe present, and some people seem to enjoy it rather than fighting it.
My first time I experienced it was when I stayed in 2 Mormon host families in Idaho for a couple of weeks. Definitely awesome people and very host friendly!
Awesome people like that stay in the heart forever. You must have enjoyed your time with them.
True and I definitely did. They were definitely among the most host friendly people I've stayed with!
That's great to hear :)
Haha, I can only imagine how people in America reacted when you did that. It is normal in Asia :)
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-rdeeengf
Not sure if this is considered a culture shock but when I was in New Zealand and tried to buy wine, they asked for my ID thinking I was way too young, lol! But yeah, it was surprising because I was in my 30s then.
I had a similar experience during my first time in HK. I was shocked but also fascinated.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-zop9xuap
The times I experienced a culture shock often was in regards to religion. As someone from Belgium, that was quite a 'shock'
Are the Japanese as ethnocentric as they are reported to be?
One of the culture shocks I've experienced was seeing live snakes in containers displayed in some restaurants in Guangzhou China and learning that they actually serve snake meals there. So exotic for me.
Oh! I have not encountered that, but then there was never a time I stayed out late during my visits to Kowloon :)
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-wlxmna9f
Whoa! You're adventurous! Luckily, I haven't seen worms on their menus.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-2hh1hxp2x
This reminded me of my first time in the CNMI where people had loud music in their cars like they owned the streets. I may have stared at some of them, lol!
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-wyizuuc6
One of my friends dared me to try it and I actually liked it😅
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-2hqgg6tgm
What the... are you serious, wow duck blood was it cooked or raw. Would throw up if it's me though.
You wouldn't know it's duck blood when it's cooked. It's like tofu but a bit more flavorful. The one I tried was in a soup so I thought it was colored tofu, lol!
Haha thats nasty lolzzz hmmmm i will browse about the view lets see how it looks
Hahaha! I can only imagine. She must have thought you learned some rude manners from where you went to😂
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-34yovna1y
it's good to be here
A lot of stuff in their life was centered around their religion, which was kind of strange to me although I respected it ofcourse.
Please tell me more instances of culture shock! I have more to share but I want to hear others first!
some foods I never imagined I’d love from Japan:
Salmon eggs, Cod eggs, fish prostate, monkfish liver (have you seen a monkfish?), dried sting ray fin.
I’m still not a fan of intestines! I know it’s common in many cultures but no thanks!
strange food I’ve eaten but don’t like or hate: sea turtle, whale (sorry lol), snake (in China), Bear (never mind it was gross), baby squid, fermented soy beans
I love most Japanese food but I’ll never get used to raw horse. I like the taste of raw beef but I don’t like worrying about if I’m going to get sick so I rarely eat it.
in China I used to love to eat duck blood. It doesn’t look like blood. It looks like red tofu! It’s delicious.
I’ve eaten snake in Guangzhou! At a party with locals. I didn’t mind it but I’d never order it myself. The sea worms were disgusting though!
https://inleo.io/threads/view/ifarmgirl/re-selfhelp4trolls-2abqa9nnp
Oh! That's really surprising. I'm just glad to have not seen any of it haha
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-38dicbafi
Speaking about driving, a drivers license costs about $2000 USD in Japan. That’s insane! In America I think it costs $30. In Japan you HAVE to take classes for weeks even if you can already drive in another country.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/selfhelp4trolls/re-selfhelp4trolls-wyizuuc6
I’ll leave my own experiences until the thread starts moving.
to reply to someone, please copy and paste the url and post it in the main thread rather than replying inside the comment
my first culture shock in Japan was seeing a huge wave of office workers commuting home, all wearing the same clothes. In 2007, EVERYONE dressed the same
the second thing that really shocked me in Japan was how loud the staff can be when they say “Welcome”. In Japan people tend to be quiet so I felt really annoyed at them for breaking the silence. They can be SO loud
the convenience store and staff used to get very very awkward if you made small talk with them. Small talk with strangers isn’t a thing in Japan although they are less awkward about it these days
the nasaly voice of staff really confused me too. Why do they talk like that? Later I learned it’s a way to make people feel less intimidated. It’s seen as polite 🤷♂️
there’s a lot more culture shock I felt in Japan but let me first share some culture shock I felt going back to America
After years in Asia I went back to my hometown and in a restaurant I picked up the plate and brought it close to my mouth. This is considered rude in America and I couldn’t understand why. It’s practical!
I was also really shocked at how loud people could be in public in America after 5 years in Japan.
I remember being loud myself when I was a kid. When I first got my drivers license I played really really loud music with the windows open. I would NEVER do that in Japan but in America it feels alright
Hi! Where are you from? Any experience with culture shock from other countries, tribes or even age groups?
https://inleo.io/threads/view/etorobong/re-selfhelp4trolls-33udgiy9q
also drivers are incredibly careful, like unbelievably. They will slow down and stop no matter how far you are from the curb. It’s actually illegal for them to not come to a complete stop at a crosswalk.
in America we secretly break rules when no one is looking. In Japan it happens but it’s much much more rare
Another funny thing in Japan. People rarely jaywalk. But if they see you doing it they might follow you. Like as soon as someone else breaks the rules they feel more comfortable doing it
I have a lot more that I can say about Japan but I want to give people a chance to reply so I will slow down with my threads and wait for people to come join me
Culture Shock mine necessarily about different countries. It can also be a big difference between office culture or different groups of friends who have their own habits and norms
I used to get culture shock in America because different communities and age groups and personalities will shake hands differently
I feel culture shock with my students at times because a lot of music and art I consider normal is very very strange for them
I love these little differences though. They make life exciting. I embrace the differences 99% of the time
one of the hardest things to get used to is how Americans love to debate. I always hate that when I go home. I am happy to discuss and laugh and listen to each other but I don’t like competitive conversation
I believe that discussions don’t need to have winners and losers even if we disagree. The goal should just be to share each others point of view and try to understand. We can have a winner if it’s a structured debate but I hate that in casual conversation