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Culture Shock

• Culture Shock, Life in Japan

  I want

  02.28.08 | Permalink | 6 Comments

  I’ve been in Japan for almost 4 years without once going back. I want to go home. I want to have conversations with almost everybody I speak to in English rather than a minority of people. I want to be able to understand what the people at the next table, on the TV or my [...]

• Culture Shock, Japan

  Reverse Culture Shock

  09.19.07 | Permalink | 1 Comment

  Jeff over at Sushicam has a great post on reverse culture shock. He is on holiday in America and has some startling observations: Where are all the vending machines? Were people in service type positions always this apathetic, or has Japan spoiled me? [There are] Clothing stores where: A) the clothes fit me, and B) [...]

• Culture Shock, Photo

  Watermelon vendor

  08.02.07 | Permalink | 4 Comments

  This is one of my favourite pictures from Shanghai. It’s on a road just off a main city centre shopping street. It shows how Chinese men like to raise their t-shirts above their stomachs (the man in the red shorts) to keep themselves cool. The most people who do this are pot-bellied Chinese shop owners. [...]

• Culture Shock, Japan, Life in Japan, Photo

  A Japanese tour of Shanghai

  08.01.07 | Permalink | 4 Comments

  I went on a Japanese tour to Shanghai. It was one of the most unbelievable moments of my entire life. Shanghai is a great city but the most exceptional point was the tour itself. The first day we went to what I took to be a tea tasting session at a touristy cafe. We sampled [...]

• Culture Shock, Japan, Life in Japan

  Ganbatte sign

  03.19.07 | Permalink | 114 Comments

  Make a fist with your right hand, place your left hand on your right bicep and make an upward thrusting motion with your right arm and allegedly this means Ganbatteor Try Hard/Good luck. This is instead of the other Western meaning of I’d prefer if you’d go away/be quiet. A motion that is giving us [...]

• Culture Shock, Japan, Life in Japan

  Bamboo blessing

  12.29.06 | Permalink | Comment?

  I’m off to Yamaguchi for a couple of days to meet with Reiko’s family. I’ve worked out how to do future posting so I’ve got posts lined up for most days I’m gone. Here’s today’s. The above picture admittedly isn’t a great one but it shows an interesting event. My next door neighbours recently decided [...]

• Culture Shock, Japan, Life in Japan

  Christmas in Japan 2006

  12.27.06 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  Christmas in Japan is a strange thing. Christmas, as An Englishman in Osaka reminded me, is only for children anyway. And although I left the grey December skies of England for the mild winters of Osaka, it doesn’t feel like Christmas. It was only until the last week of teaching that I started to get [...]

• Culture Shock, Japan, Odd

  Seals begging for food

  07.25.06 | Permalink | Comment?

  The Japanese have the habit of clapping their hands furiously when something funny is said. This would be endearing if it didn`t bring to mind seals begging for food. I always want to scream out, “Honk honk honk” when they do it.

• Culture Shock, Japan, Life in Japan, Teaching

  English alcoholics

  06.23.06 | Permalink | 4 Comments

  I`ve worked in a number of evening schools in Osaka and I`ve seen a lot of children who go to English schools and work at an intensity that is unnecesary for them. I had one eleven year old girl at my old school doing English listening tests designed for Senior High school students. Another`s mother [...]

• Baby, Culture Shock, Japan, Life in Japan

  The nail that sticks out

  06.16.06 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  You`re not allowed to praise your wife`s dress sense or beauty in front of others unless you want a scathing look from her. The Japanese subscribe to the maxim, “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” This works the other way of course. If somebody tells Reiko I`m handsome, she`ll answer, “Simon? No, he`s [...]

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