Japanese People

I do not even know what kind of characteristic people in my nation has. I just thought the characteristics totally depend on person to person, so we can not really generalize it. But, here I met a Japanese girl who knows about her own nation people’s characteristic and had deep thought about how people from outside of Japan think about it.

This is one of my closest Japanese friends, Marina Ikemoto. Marina is the first Kansai Gaidai student whom I got to know, even before I come to Japan. We became to know each other because of each other’s friends’ introduction. One of my friend who went to Finland as an exchange student met a Kansai Gaidai student there and the Kansai Gaidai students introduced Marina to me. What a small world, all linked together!

Her nickname is Mochu which her friends made out from her last name and here I can surely see Japanese people’s tendency to make words short, easy to call. These days she said that she is busy keep on doing job hunting, since this year is her last year in the university. She has been participating in many kinds of company seminars and has already send résumé to several companies. I am same age with her, and about this point, she really makes me to look back at myself now. Marina loves ko ta chu, sushi and the touching songs of 東方神起 (Dong-Bang-Shin-Gi: A Korean idol group). Including Marina, I have seen many Japanese girls who love 東方神起, and interestingly, most of them said that they not only like the song or appearance of the group, but also like about the close membership, relationship that the group keeps on having while they were working in Japan for five years. Not like playboy style, but the reliable (まじめ) side of the group may have touched Japanese girls’ heart.

Marina has very mature and emotional personality, but also having weak mind and shyness. She gets especially shy when she talks with other Japanese people whom she does not know very well. She said that she becomes more careful with Japanese people than foreigners. Even though there are some different behaviors or actions made while communicating with foreigners, it can be understood. The concept of ‘cultural difference’ makes the behavior understandable. However, if those different behaviors were made in front of Japanese people, they would definitely see him or her strangely. Marina also told me one situation that she experienced while she was in Australia as an exchange student. In Australia, she met a Korean boy who hates Japanese because he thinks that Japanese people have two sided face which brings confusion to the listener. Marina also agreed that Japanese people do have politeness and smile all the time, but those may not really come out from their true heart. According to her, speaking directly seems to be very rude between Japanese people, and even between close friends. Ever since there is some notion that advice can be given from higher status person to lower status person, Marina told me that friends, who are in same status should be very careful about giving advice to each other unless it can be regarded very rude.

In the end of conversation, I asked her what she thinks about those kinds of Japanese culture, and she said it is sometimes uncomfortable even for her, but she also sees good side of this culture especially in business world as there would be less argument without any direct talking.

First picture is borrowed from this website:

http://www.dreamstime.com/question-mark-box-thumb1317187.jpg