ESL 21b

Essay 1.2

    I believe most people who have visited toCut another country have experience to be conflict and perplexed toPreposition a cultural difference, especially if it's their first visit. I understand this very well because I have experienced it my self when I first came to the U.S. By the way, I'mCut from Japan. Japan is a country that is starting to become a major place where many foreign people often come to visit. I have a couple advicesCount/Non-Count for the foreign visitor so that they can quickly adjust into the new culture and avoid getting lost in it. TheArt three major cultural patterns that the foreign visitors should know when they visit Japan are Japanese communication style, Japanese living styleAwkward and the way of usingAwkward the public transportations. These three cultural patterns are very important to understand the Japanese culture and avoid making any conflicts for any foreigner.

    First, it's very important to understand the Japanese communication style for foreign visitor to able to develop a friendly relationship with a Japanese people. To be frank, most Japanese people are very shy and it's hard for them to communicate with a foreigner. Therefore, don't be mad or disappointed when you find people that are trying to avoid talking with you. As Gary Althen says, "in the Americans' minds, there are boundaries that other people are simply not supposed to cross." in the article "American Values and Assumptions", we can say the same thing with Japanese culture too. The best way to deal with this problem is to not be so aggressive{1} and start with a general conversation{2}. Also another important cultural pattern is that Japanese people don't like to get touched by other people. In aArt Japanese culture, physical touch by other people is only allowed between very friendly relationships. Therefore, they will be very nervous and uncomfortable getting touchVForm by foreigner, especially by non Japanese speaker. As Lisa Davis says on the reading "Where Do We Stand?" on page 20, "even a handshake can be offensively physical in a Japanese office."{***}Good! I understand body contact is one of the greatest waysAwkward to develop a relation ship with others, but it's not always trueWChoice. So try to avoid any physical contact with other peopleVague if you are a foreigner who is visiting Japan. Again, Japanese people are not used to talkVForm with foreigner. Therefore, if you are not Japanese, it's important to understand the communication style and prepare for any unexpected consequences{3}.

    The next cultural pattern that is important for the foreigner to understand is that Japan is a very uneasy place to liveAwkward. One of the reasons for this is because huge number of people. Once you come inCut to Japan, you see people everywhere and anytime. Everywhere you go you have to deal with unconformable noise like talking and traffic. It's almost impossible to have a quiet time in Japan. In other words, it's not a good place for visitors who are planning for relaxing vacation. Another reason is because everything is expensive. Being honest, you can't by anything. Even driving on freeway does cost money in Japan. I didn't realize this when I was living in Japan, but I remember that I was shock when I first went shopping at the mall in the U.S. For any foreigners who are planning to come to Japan, I will strongly suggest to bring a lot of money to have a satisfied vacation. As it shows on the picture in the article "Time Talks, with an Accent", written by Robert Levine, the pace of life in Japan is the fastest. This also means that Japan is not a great place to have a quiet vacation; however, it's a wonderful place to experience new things. Overall, it's important to understand the living in JapanAwkward to have a grateSpl visit.{4}

    The third pattern that the visitors should know is the value of the public transportation. Japan is a very small land; therefore, all the roads in Japan are small. In a big city like Tokyo and Osaka, cars are no use except creating more traffic. Instead {***}Prepositiondriving a car, we use other transportation such as train and bus. Probably the mostCut thing that the foreigner will get confuseWForm is the way of using the public transportation. I'm very sure about this because I even had a problem using transportation when I went to Tokyo. To learn how to use the transportation in Japan is very important because once you get lost, you probably will get lost for the rest of the day. If you don't want to be lost in Japan and ruin your visitingWChoice, first thing you should do is to understand the way of using of the public transportation and know the word "please help me!" in Japanese.

    It's very hard to get adjust in another culture, especially if it wasVTense new for you. Learning the cultural difference is very important before visiting another country. In my opinion, traveling to another country doesn't start when you visit the culture, but it starts from when the studying of culture beginsParallel. The maximum way to enjoy a visit to another country is to not neglect the learning of cultural difference before the visiting.