Int'l Com@KUISコミュのCulture Shock

Hi. This is Saori :D I want to talk about one of my coulture shocks that I got during studying abroad in Australia.

The culture shock is about how to eat tomatoes between Japanese and Korean.

I have some Korean friends. When I was in Australia, I had lunch and dinner with them often. One day, I went shopping with a Korean friend and he suggested to eat tomatoes as snacks before dinner. I agreed with it and we went back to his home to eat them. I helped him to cut tomatoes and put them on a dishes.

Then... I was surprised becasue he sifted "SUGAR" on them !!!!

In my case, if I want to add another taste, I sift SALT.
I hadn't tried to do it so I was a little bit shocked by the difference.

Of course, I'm curious person so I ate them and I liked them! :p

I don't know if this story is interesting but I have other stories about food. If you want to know them, just ask me:D

Good morning or good evenning, everyone.

On TV program SmapSmap tonight invited two fashion models who are half and quarter, Miss Jun Hasegawa and Miss Mayumi Sada, for dinner time.
Mis. Sada has been stayed at Japan for long, and got educated at the
Japnese school. So she has get used to Japanse culture around her,
no trouble has been occurred until now.
On the contrary Jun Hasegawa is still feel cuture shocks in her life.
She came to Japan from Hawaii, her mother(Japanese) pushed her back to
go to Japan that helps her study to learn other world out of Hawaii.
In ordinary life she give her smile to other people passing by on the street in Hawaii, how ever Japanese people seem to be unusual to her same behaver with Hawaiian street. We Japanese do not send the smile greeting to unknown passenger that is culture shock.
And the site of photo shuooting, cameraman requests her to do action as charming lady, she got idea of the copy of American pro-model style that shows aggressive beuty.
Hoever the Japanese magasine requires the smile of friendship to the lowteenagers, that is culuture differences.

From recent information on TV.

Eddie

Again from the TV program "V6 Go to the school"

The girl students from western countries, not necessarily USA,
discussed about the Japanese boys and their culture shocks.
It was interesting for me.
They have been grown up under the condition that they have chances
to get to know boys at the dance party managed by schools.
(we can see the situation in the movie "Back to the Future 1")
They have got to used to boy friends since elementary school.
So, they also expected the same situation in Japan.
Education system itself is different from westerners.
So, Japanese boys students must learn how to associate with
western girls students.
They admire the Japanese boys and expect to get to know you boys
students.
Now,it is the time to learn their culture under Mr. L.Waller in KUIS.
Let's go to school!!

Thank you.

Eddie

Hi!
I'm Natsumi.
I wanna talk about my experience in Australia.
Our sense of value about TIME is different depends on culture.
When I went to Australia, what I was surprised at was TIME.
Although I was waiting for bus to go to my school in Australia, the bus didn't come even over time. It is said that bus is always late about 15 minutes in Australia. Although I had heard this before I went to Australia, I was very surprised at this when I went there!!

And another story...
I heard this story from Korean friend.
She had a project as a group and they had to meet to talk about it.
The group included Japanese, Korean and European students.When Korean student went to meeting point, Japanese students had arleady arrived there. Japanese students had arrived before the meeting time. Korean students arrived 5〜10 minutues late. Finally, European students came 30 minutes late... But they didn't look awkward and didn't apologize.
I thought our sense of value was totally different. If they don't know about the difference, they have miscommunication...

This is Saori. I want to write a comment about Natsumi's experience in Australia as my homework of this week.

I also stayed Australia and studied English there. I had same experience with Natsumi!! On the first day when I went to the school, I couldn't get a bus on time and I was late for my first class although I was waiting for a bus earlier than the fixed time. I was really nervous and couldn't undrstand the situation ... becasue it's unusual in Japan. However, as I spent time there, I got used to it and finally I didn't care about time so much like when I was in Japan except for winter... :p

I found some way to enjoy the time when I was waiting for a bus and a tram(It like a train that is running on the street. * I was in Melborune.). One of the ways was talking with friends or strangers who were waiting for a bus!!

Hi, I'm Kumiko:)

＞Saori
It sounds very interesting that Korean people eat tomatos with sugar as a snack.

＞Eddie
At my work place, I try to give a smile to customers passing by and I like that foreigners give me a smile back. It makes me happy!

＞Natsumi
I had better move to Australia because I'm a quite lazy person, especially about time:(

Culture shock could be occur between Japane people too. This is my story from the experience in Japan. I'm originally from Hokkaido and I found people in Hokkaido have a different food culture compared to people in other area in Japan. There are festivals in summer and I really enjoy having 'demise' stuffs. One of the best 'demise' stuffs is 'French Dog' which is like a deep-fried sausage. People usually eat it with ketchup but people in Kushiro area eat it with sugar!!! I love it but I still can't find sugar one in Tokyo...

People who have never tried it says it sounds disgusting. But I really want you to try it someday. お試しあれ〜♪

TAKAO

When I went to Australia,I felt Australian people were direct than Japan.My host mother was strict.One night,she scolded one Korean student who could not understand English well because he had studied just for a manth.It seemed that she scolded him because he did clean ash of cigarette.She was very angry but hemight not understand what she said well.He just said "sorry" again and agaian though she scoldedhim one sidedly.Next day,he changed homestay.I thought host family has own rule but the attitudeto him was not good and too direct.Throth this experience,I felt that Australian people direct and this is my terrible experience.

Hi,I'm Melancholic Mai.

>natsumi
I understand ur story well! The difference of value of time was amazing between Italy and Japan!! haha

anyways,I'll tell you one stroy...

When I was in Italy, I had to pay the academic fee by myself so I went to a school desk to ask how much I have to pay... One lady who was working there said the different price from that I was thinking so I called Japanese teacher but she was not sure neigher...but somehow I figure out the correct fee to pay so I payed the next day correctly,,,

What I wanna say is most People in Italy are irresponsible even who are working at the academic places... that was kinnda culture shock for me.

To coop with these culture shock, it's necessary to have patience!!!!! and to be ready for any possibile occasions.


actually, since I was accustom to a Italian life style, it was painful and sort of torture to start living in Japan again! Japanese people are toooo punctual! and don't know how to enjoy the daily small things!(like slow food, cooking, the time with family etc...) Now I got used to the Japanese life style but in Spring this difference had made me tired always!


ciao, a dopo!
mai

This is from Yummy Yumi:

Topic: Misunderstanding

This story is between my Italian friend L and his roommate A. L likes
cooking very much and A is a religious Hindu.

One day L had free time, and he decided to cook with using beef. L had
been asked by A, "Please don't cook or eat beef in this room.", but A went
out with his friends that day. So L thought, "It's O.K. to cook and eat
beef now." After cooking, he dished the meal up on A's dishes. Actually A
had some beautiful dishes, and L had long wanted to use them.

A came back to their room after L ate his meal. The moment A saw L's
using A's dishes for meal with beef, he suddenly got into furry. L
apologized to A for using A's dishes without his permission. He thought
that it's O.K. to cook and eat beef not in front of A (without A's
presence). But A said, "Using my dishes without my permission is not such
a big point for me. As you know, my religion prohibits us from eating
beef. But I also resent for being killed and cooked beef by people around
me. I don't want to use these dishes with the extract of beef, and even I
don't want to be in this room any more." After a while, A left the room
and their room sharing life ended.

When I selected this critical incident for class, my intention was to encourage people to see things from both points of view. I have simplified this story from Kenneth Cushner and Richard W. Brislin's _Intercultural Interactions: A Practical Guide_, Second Edition, 1996 (1st edition 1986)

As it was her first visit to China, Alice was especially appreciative of the hospitality of Meiying's family, and wanted to return the favor. She offered to take them out to dinner, but they knew that on a traveler's budget, she really couldn't afford it, and they politely refused. Feeling that food was an important was to return hospitality, Alice instead offerd to make Meiying's family an American meal. They agreed, offering to pay for the ingredients. Alice make a list, then Meiying took her to a Chinese marketplace to buy the ingredients.

The crowd of people was really chaotic, as people bumped and jostled with each other, grabbing at what foodstuffs they needed right there on the street. As Meiying led Alice to the meat section to buy some steaks, Alice saw a man wring a chickens neck then hang it to bleed. Shocked by this sight, Alice kept her eyes to the ground, and then noticed a man scaling and cleaning a fish, right there in the gutter. Alice commented about how unsanitary things were, but continued on to the beef section, where she found herself face to face with the dead head of a steer. Completely disgusted, Alice asked Meiying if there was another market, preferably an indoor one. Meiying said there was a Western-style supermarket, but she wasn't sure about the quality.

When they reached the supermarket, Alice was happy to find everything she needed. However, she noticed Meiying squeezing and poking everything, looking nervous. When Alice had prepared everything, she noticed that Meiying's family hardly ate any of her food.

How would you explain the family's hesitation to eat Alice's food?

1. Meiying and her family were not used to eating American food, and they really did not want Alice to cook for them.
2. Meiying's family thought that Alice should pay for the items she needed to cook the treat for them.
3. Alice had insulted Meiying's family by suggesting that she cook for them, implying that their manner of cooking was not really acceptable.
4. Meiying and her family and Alice have different ideas about sanitary conditions and freshness of food.

This is the explanation/answer for the story (#12) above.

It is probably true that Meiying's family wasn't used to American food, and they might not like it. However, they were aware of Alice's desire to make them food and seemed to appreciate her offer to make American food. And, although Alice might usually pay for the meal, in this case, Meiying's family understood her financial situation. Also, there is no indication that Meiying's family was insulted that Alice wanted to cook American food. In fact, they seemed to appreciate her offer. The best answer here is the last one. For Alice, it isn't normal for food to be outdoors without refrigeration. On the other hand, Meiying isn't used to food that has been kept in a package for a long period of time. Meiying and Alice have different ideas about what kinds of foods are considered fresh and sanitary.

When I asked the class "Who should change?" more people said that Alice should change. She is in China, so she should follow the Chinese ways of doing things. However, I pointed out that really, both Alice and Meiying should change. Of course, Alice should be open to Chinese ways since she is visiting China, but the hosts should also learn to be more sensitive to the visitor's point of view. I thought this story from the textbook was a good example to stress this point, and several students seemed impressed by this way of thinking. See Kenichi's response below, and Mutsuko's response #4 on the "Intercultural Sensitivity" topic.

I should say, though, that when I showed this story to a Chinese friend, she was very angry. She said that marketplaces in China aren't like this, at least not today. So, even though this is a good story to explain how we should recognize and appreciate differences, it isn't the best story to teach what China is actually like.

Hi! I'm Mild Mai(^^)

When I was in America, I felt some cultureshocks.
When I went to the movie theater with some Japanese friends and my host mother. At that time, I watched"JUNO" maybe some of you guys know this movie. It's kind of comedy and maybe nonfiction story...sorry I'm not sure.
In the theater, American people were laughing loudly with huge popcorn box. In Japan, people usually don't laugh so much because people try to not interruput others. But American people can express their feeling freely even in the theater. It was interested for me. In my guess, American people are more individualist so they acted like that.

hi, im extraordinary erino! :)

ill tell you the cultureshock that i experienced at KUIS.
when i walked outside of the campus alone, an american teacher who was
walking at the front of me maybe hes american i could understand from
his accent suddenly turned round and said "i like yr hair. ive thought
that every time i see you, yr hairstyle was nice and cool."
i was happy that he mentioned about my hair, cuz i love my hairstyle
however,i was amazed and i felt a little weird at the same time.
this incident happened only a time as i entered kuis
i supposed to see the teacher but i didnt think he saw me
so i wondered when he looked at me
in japan especially in tokyo, speaking to strangers seems weird
but in american culture, greeting to the people they dont know are acted in everywhere. its normal.
i was known the behaviour but i was surprised that it was sudden and
happend in japan.

Hi, I'm easy-going eriko

This is a story of Aborigines discrimination. When I went to Australia, I used a bus almost everyday. One day, one woman who had a beer around her neck tried to get on the bus. I was on the same bus, and sat down at the backsheet. However soon, the bus driver shouted to the woman and said "Get out! Get out here! No!" again and again. In addition, he shoved her away. I was just surprised and confused "what's happen??" The woman seemed to be an Aborigine and seemed to get drunk. So the bus driver didn't want her to get on the bus, just because of her race. That is my sad sad culture shock in Australia. I didn't know Aborigines are discriminated even now. I studied about Aboriginal culture, music, art, and a little bit history when I was a high school student. But I didn't learn real fact. So I cannot(will not) forget this experience forever.