Not Cool Japan
 

I know this could be dangerous thread. And I am not sure whether I could write my thought correctly in English. Please allow me to express myself freely and give second chances to correct my expression.

No one believes all the things in Japan are cool. Post what you find as "Not Cool Japan" with your reason.

I have already found several "Not Cool" and post it one by one.

***付和雷同：FUWA-RAIDO;Agreeing with majority without serious thinking

Generally, Japanese people are neither good at think by him/her self and good at expressing his/her own thought. It is easy for Japanese people to follow the neighbors without thinking deeply. It works in most of the cases but sometimes these tendency is used for bad purpose like as the WWII.

I agree with you!
I completely agree with you!




Because I'm a Japanese guy. lol

The concept of "和:WA;harmony of the people" often looks attractive from foreign point of view. However it would be sometimes annoying when you are living in it.

For this reason, some Japanese people want to get out of Japan and visit some other country (and will come back at last...).

すする：SUSURU;to Slurp

I know it is rude to slurp something in western table manner. And I also feel slurping is not smart way to eat something.

However, slurping is a basic technique like as using chopsticks in Japan. It is actually "vacuum eating" just like as the vacuum cleaner.

With slurping, we can drink very hot tea before it gets colder by making the tea into mist. Also, you can enjoy the flavor of the soup mist going through the mouse to your nose.

And I know, I know, I know, it is not smart.

I try to stop slurping in western style restaurant in Japan and every chances at over sea.

One of the things which concerns me is the sense of dependency Japanese have, and their fear of making serious decisions on their own.

Japanese tend to prefer a safe environment where they can depend on others to make the hard choices for them. Most Japanese students who are job hunting prefer to find a large and "safe" company to hire them, even though the work is numbing, and promotions and pay increases come slowly. But in exchange they are not required to bear much responsibility in the company, and have little risk of making mistakes which might cause them shame.

Making decisions always takes too much time. If I ask a company worker a question which is not routine, he will not be able to answer it, he will ask his manager, and the question will go up until it finally reaches someone with the authority to answer. Sometimes the answer never comes.

When an emergency occurs, like at the Fukushima nuclear plant, this inability to make important decisions quickly paralyzes the entire system, and can cause serious failures.

I agree. I think we have incomplete individualism and incomplete democracy in Japan.

Or Our "individualism" and "democracy" might be different from western ones.

** Mutual Reliance

Japanese people depend on, rely on, and trust each other. It mean they (we) can not decide something by himself/herself.

Did I wrote this topic before? This issue could be the root cause of several items I choose for "Not Cool Japan".

Too much of anything can be bad. Even though too much deference to the group is bad, too much individuality is a problem too. Much that is wrong in American society (executives watching out for themselves at the expense of their company, workers, and society), people insisting on their right to carry a gun, our huge budget deficit, etc. can be linked to a me first attitude and not enough deference to society. No society will ever strike a perfect balance.

As far as not cool in Japan - the bagels are horrible and the pachinko parlors are too noisy.

Hahaha, I don't like bagels. I have been believing Japanese bagels are very common in the world and missed the chances to try foreign ones in London or other cities. I did not know Japanese bagels were such horrible relatively in the world level comparison.

** Not to tell "I love you"

I have never tell "I love you" to anyone even in Japanese. Neither my wife, my daughters, my parents or other person were told "I love you" from me.

I think it is very common for Japanese males not to tell "I love you" and ALL Japanese females would be discontented about it.

** Not Lady First.

I do not mean it is "Gentleman first" in Japan. However, I hardly give way for ladies. I might have not enough respect to the Ladies.

**遠慮：えんりょ;ENRYO (to refuse politely)

"ENRYO" would be difficult concept for foreigners to understand. Though there are many interpretation for ENRYO, those are just "case by case" interpretation and not explain "ENRYO" exactly.

For example, one might refuse (or decline) some offering when he thinks he is not worth the offering.

Because Japanese people think it is virtue to under-estimate oneself and it is shameful to express oneself as "big", Japan and Japanese people are very bad at negotiating with foreign country and foreign people.

English skills - Engrish
 

My English might not be the greatest but I can speak fluently and clearly. Whenever I met Japaneses I couldn't understand very much. It was nothing like talking to other Asians.

A Chinese friend asked me why Japanese students have such a big problem with learning English although there are more English terms in Japanese than in Chinese.

jisho.org translates enryo as diffidence; restraint; reserve; discretion; tact; thoughtfulness, which I think is very understandable from an American perspective. It is not so bad that these qualities are highly valued. Sometimes I wish they were more valued here.

I also like that enryo can be used in enryo suru as a verb. e.g. Enryo shinaide - don't hesitate.

** Poor English Ability

Yes, we have thick language barrier wall between Japanese and English.

As all of you already recognize, I cannot be proud of my English ability. Don't be surprised when I speak very bad English and also when I miss your words spoken.

And remember that the thickness of the language barrier is the same when measured from both sides.

** ENRYO & KENSON (謙遜：けんそん(to express lower estimation of oneself than what other people expect))

ENRYO is "deep consideration" when directly translated. The translated words would be correct for each case. However, ENRYO is one concrete concept for native Japanese.

KENSON also is based on the same concept of ENRYO.

I think these concepts confuse foreign people about Japanese behavior.

Or do foreigners understand these concept very well?

** Doraemon

Doraemon is popular Japanese animeation program also being popular in Asia and part of Europe.

However, US has been rejected to broadcast Doraemon in US (and accepted at last).

Among the reasons US rejected Doraemon, the treatment of a female character has been problem from the US point of view.

Shizuka (Sue in US version) often suffer from sexual harassment and has often bath room scene.

This has backgrounds.

1) Bathing scene of major female character is parody of "OGIN" in famous Japanese Drama "MITO-KOMON".



2) It is very common and usual for female children (under around ten years old) to bath with her father. I have heard this is not acceptable for foreign ladies.

For these reason, original Shizuka is turned to another character Sue in US version of Doraemon.

Never say never. A trans-human society might. Although it is easier to dismiss that imagination as impossible.

Let's just not kid ourselves that Fukushima happaned for any other reason than western, individualist greed. At the same time, all the underlings in the US that allowed the banks to gamble and crash the economy, most of them were just passing the buck, like good obedient (corporate) citizens. Neither Fukushima nor the Great Recession could have happened without the negative sides of obedience and individuality, respectively.

* YES & NO

Do any of you learned "はい：HAI" corresponds to YES and "いいえ：IIE" to NO?

It is wrong. And most of Japanese have learned it wrongly.

Please be careful when you communicate with Japanese people depending on YES and NO. You should say "No, I did not it" instead of just only "No".

I mean "はい：HAI" in Japanese is used to say "I agree with you" or just "I'm listening to you". And "いいえ：IIE" in Japanese is used to deny what opposite talker says.

Therefore, Japanese will be confused when asked in negative form.

When I worked with an US engineer, he asked me in a morning "Didn't you change the system configuration last night?". As I did not change it, I replied carefully "Y.... No, I did not change it.". He continued "Really?" and I replied "Yes!" meaning "what I told you is REAL". He would be confused whether I did change it or not.

In that case, I wrote "Don't ask in Negative. Don't ask twice." on the white board of the lab.

With good English education, Japanese understand the correct meanings of YES and NO. However, In some degree of English learning step, Japanese still miss-understand about YES and NO.

* Mongolian Blue spot

Most of Japanese babies have Mongolian Blue spot as shown below.



Some Japanese parents took their baby to doctor in US and wrongly suspected the violence against the baby because of Mongolian Blue Spot.

Usually, Blue Spot will disappear before 20 years old.

Why uncool? It's a natural thing, appering on Asians and other coloured peoples' butts. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Right, it is natural. But not COOL I think.

Sometimes high teen girl could have the spot remained might feel shameful of it when she wears swim suits.

*可愛い：かわいい;KAWAII: cute, lovely

KAWAII originally means "able to be loved". These days, it is already not a word but screaming. Japanese girls cry "KAWAII!" when they find lovely things including human beings.

I personally don't like the expression "KAWAII" because it substitutes detailed expression of things. In other words, the expression "KAWAII" makes the girls stupid by forgetting other detailed or considered expressions.

communication
 

Hello !
"Bad at negotiation", you said? Hmm....maybe, not vast majority of Japanese people?:)

Can you list up any example which Japanese diplomat achieved ? I can not. And I can list up many cases they failed.

Japanese diplomats are often too honest or too strategic to achieve big deal.

This is what I meant "Bad at Negotiation".

achievements
 

Thank you for clarification. Politicians really belong to different sort of people. By comparison to ordinary citizens, they are either too straight or too shy.

In the international personal interaction, the "distance" is one of the problem Japanese people face to.

Once in SF airport commuter, young US person talked to me. But I can not replay to him because it was my first business trip alone and I had never experienced such frank communication with stranger. I regret my behavior but I have no confidence to communicate frankly with foreign strangers. I would be too shy or too frank.

*血液型:KETSU-EKI-GATA: Blood Type

Japanese people concern about the blood type very much (or too much).

Japanese people believe following personal characteristic of each blood type.

Type A: serious and little bit nervous. takes care about the person around him/her.
Type B: not expect-able. keeps his/her own life style.
Type AB: Mixture of Type A and B having two faces.
Type O: generous, leader type, does not care about details.

Once, I had a colleague "Akkie" (male). He told me he is blood type A and hates Type-B people.

But one day, he found his blood is Type-B by examination. He had been believing he is Type-A by his parents' suggestion.

After finding he is Type-B, he said "As I had been believing Type-A, I have took care of other people around me. It was my fault. I did not need to do so because I am Type-B.".

As for me, often my friend believes I am Type-B.

Friend: you must be Type-B.
RadioKid: No.
Friend: Then Type-O?
RadioKid: No.
Friend: Oh, Then Type-AB?
RadioKid: No.
Friend: Oh my Buddha ! Are you Type-A? Really?
RadioKid: Yes..., Unfortunately.

The way women are treated as second class when it comes to "equality".

The fact that bicycles share the sidewalk with pedestrians.

The fact that vending machines don't accept "go-en" coins.

The "honne" and "tatemae" concept.

There are quite a few others, but now I can't think of any here at work.

shes beautifull what is her name??

She is Yumi, Kaoru who is very famous for her anti-aging ability. She was born in 1950 and is still beautiful.

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E...1257&bih=79 9

She is an actress and dancer. She learned dancing and breathing method in NISHINO dance school where Nishino, Kozo established his own breathing method.

[ NISHINO BREATHING METHOD EG.ver]

I think it might be Fugu ;)
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Fugu?　Puffer fish?