Managing Cultural Differences

The culture in Japan is very different from our American culture.  When vacationing, or living in the country as a foreigner, the difference in culture creates varying obstacles.  Given that in today's age, technology and business have made it very easy to plan a vacation almost anywhere in the world, I think that it would be relatively easy to take a vacation to Japan.  There are many different companies that can help plan vacations with plane tickets, hotel fares and travel planning.  That being said, even on a vacation there are some obvious obstacles, such as verbal/body language differences, living situations, and transportation challenges.  Even though there are obstacles, on a vacation they are easy to temporarily navigate because oftentimes, areas that are high in tourism will cater to foreigners and make things easier.  Some examples of this can be having signs written in both English and Japanese, or the hotel living may be more similar to the average American hotel with a larger space.  

Living in Japan for a year or more is a different and much more difficult situation.  Simply having to constantly adapt and change one's own behavior to fit the culture is exhausting and
given that the individual that lives there for a year or more probably isn't living in a tourist-heavy area, they are having to experience the obstacles more in depth than a tourist.  One prominent obstacle is adapting to the social norms and etiquette; understanding and respecting cultural nuances, such as bowing, removing shoes indoors, and proper manners/body language in public spaces, can be a learning curve. Another obstacle is the fact that Japan is a collectivist culture; if the traveler is from America, an individualist culture, then this will likely be a stark change to get used to.  Both in a work and social setting, Japanese are more group and family oriented.  For someone from an individualist culture, this can affect the way that they go about their daily tasks, make decisions, and carry themselves.  Some things that I could do prior to traveling to Japan to help alleviate the challenge and stress involved include, learning about the host cultures history, and learning as much of the host cultures language as possible.  These two faucets of Japanese culture are the roots of the culture, and I would gain the largest amount of useful knowledge by studying these topics.  

Other important topics to study are based around the components of cultural ethics; the way that we go about speaking and treating others in specific situations.  The first thing to be aware of is that “ the intercultural messages you send produce a response from the recipient(s)” (Samovar).  In our own culture, it is easy to anticipate reactions and responses after we communicate with someone, however “in an intercultural exchange, where diversity is a factor, it is much more difficult to foretell the type of reaction your message may produce” (Samovar).  Other components of cultural ethics to be considered are, being respectful to others, seeking commonalities, and lastly, recognizing that the cultural differences are present, and respecting said differences.

Creating these blog posts over the past few weeks has provided me with much of the information needed to conduct a respectful intercultural conversation with a person who belongs to Japanese culture.  On campus, I will be more confident in my ability to speak without accidentally being offensive and therefore be more willing to approach other students for a conversation.