Social Balance as a Gaijin

[steven]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

While there may not be all that much American stuff on - I think you may find that you`re very wrong about the position of television in Japanese culture. It seems like most people have the tv on constantly. A lot of people find it weird for there not to be a tv on in the background.

I have to back up this statement. Having the TV on all the time has been a weird pet peeve of mine for a long time-- before I even came to Japan. My image of us American people was that basically all we ever do is sit around and watch TV. Unfortunately from what I've seen, Japan takes the cake on this.

It took my wife months to get used to the idea of not constantly having the TV on. So much for the "peaceful, tranquil, etc." Japan that you hear about... even in the quiet old inaka, most people, including the elderly, have the TV on constantly.

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I have to say though Wings, this is an interesting thread. Some of it is stuff that I have been thinking of a lot recently.

I think getting hung up on trying to fit in too much can really hinder one's experience here. Knowing one's role and doing the best one can within that role (with some exceptions here or there) seems reasonable to me.

In regards to the workplace, what do you guys think about some Japanese people basically dedicating their lives (some times at the expense of their family life) to their jobs? There are a lot of people who go to work before 8 and don't leave their work place until 8 or later every day-- sometimes even going to work on Saturdays and/or Sundays. For a foreigner, do you feel that fitting in with this part of the culture necessary? Is it worth it? Is it rewarded? What about not fitting in as far as this is concerned? Is it worth it having extra time with your friends and family to be thought of as another "gaijin" who doesn't take their work seriously?

How far do you take "fitting in"? I think that I'm more on the "fitting in is better" side of the fence, but there are certain areas where I think that maybe drawing the line is important to simply preserve a certain quality of life. There are some aspects of a culture which would be deemed unhealthy by another. How do you deal with this as a foreigner?

While I asked specifically about the workplace (which I'm admittedly interested in), I'm curious about where you guys "draw the line". I think that it's interesting to note that even natives (which may be the case for any country/culture) have certain things about their own culture which they don't like or believe in to the extent of not participating in whatever aspect of their culture which that may be.

[GoNative]

Originally Posted by steven

In regards to the workplace, what do you guys think about some Japanese people basically dedicating their lives (some times at the expense of their family life) to their jobs? There are a lot of people who go to work before 8 and don't leave their work place until 8 or later every day-- sometimes even going to work on Saturdays and/or Sundays. For a foreigner, do you feel that fitting in with this part of the culture necessary? Is it worth it? Is it rewarded? What about not fitting in as far as this is concerned? Is it worth it having extra time with your friends and family to be thought of as another "gaijin" who doesn't take their work seriously?

The work ethic of some Japanese is one thing I could never get into. One of the main reasons I went to live in Japan was to have quieter, less stressful life dedicated more to lifestyle than work and making money. It is exactly what I had during my time there but then I did mostly only work for foreign owned companies. Although there were periods of the year where I did have to do work extra hours I was able to accumulate time in lieu and take time off during less busy periods.
Things like work and career have never been the most important things in my life. I have only ever worked to live, not the other way around. Now that I have a daughter it has become more important than ever for me to have plenty of time at home. Back in Aus now and looking at business opportunities that will allow us a good work/life balance. Currently in negotiations to buy an established wholesale native plant nursery. We have always had an interest in native plants and do already have a landscape design company specialising in using native plants called Go Native Landscapes (hence my name on these forums). The business comes with a house on a 40 acre property from which most of the seeds for the plants come from. If we can raise the finance to purchase the business and property I think it will be perfect for us. Here's hoping!

[WingsToDiscovery]

Originally Posted by steven

I have to say though Wings, this is an interesting thread. Some of it is stuff that I have been thinking of a lot recently.

I'm glad this thread is evolving with everyone's input. That's how I like it.

[tokusatsufan]

Originally Posted by steven

It took my wife months to get used to the idea of not constantly having the TV on. So much for the "peaceful, tranquil, etc." Japan that you hear about... even in the quiet old inaka, most people, including the elderly, have the TV on constantly.

Hoooow mental. My mum leaves all the TVs on! We hardly have the neighbours come round complaining about the noise.

[steven]

Originally Posted by tokusatsufan

Hoooow mental. My mum leaves all the TVs on! We hardly have the neighbours come round complaining about the noise.

Huh? I've never heard anyone's TV in Japan that was loud enough to disturb the neighbors... that's not what I was getting at. I'm just saying that TV creates a certain background noise that a lot of people here somehow find it difficult live without.

I think I've mentioned this before in another thread that talked about Japanese TV, but I'll repeat it again. Japanese TV is over-compressed. There's no quiet and loud sections, it's all at one constant volume. I know I'm probably hyper sensitive when it comes to that kind of thing, but having absolutely no dynamics to speak of is a very annoying noise.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by steven

I think I've mentioned this before in another thread that talked about Japanese TV, but I'll repeat it again. Japanese TV is over-compressed. There's no quiet and loud sections, it's all at one constant volume. I know I'm probably hyper sensitive when it comes to that kind of thing, but having absolutely no dynamics to speak of is a very annoying noise.

I have noticed that sound quality has improved quite drastically as they move toward eliminating analog. (And have been putting better speakers into televisions to take advantage of high quality audio.)

Analog was the flattest, poorest sounding mono audio. Mono digital was not all that much better. But now there is even surround on some programs, and stereo on many more. But, as we`re not big television watchers (and certainly don`t watch any of the variety programs on...), my viewing spectrum is very limited. We also do NOT use the speakers built into the television, which makes an incredible difference. If you are, then look into using something else - even a cheap 10000yen surround speaker set will change things significantly. (Unless you watch variety and comedy shows. Nothing can help there.) I think the audio adjustment on the televisions themselves are more than half the problem.

After a recent encounter with US broadcast television, I found myself debating which is worse. Constant volume, or commercials that are three times the volume of the programming. (Which left me leaping for the mute button before being blasted by advertisements that hurt my ears.)

[steven]

Haha, I love it. I can go on forever about this kind of thing. Your comment about US television raising the volume of commercials had me laughing. I used to HATE that. It was so deliberate and so utterly obvious. I used to record everything so I could skip commercials to avoid this very thing. Unfortunately though I have noticed that Japanese television also does this, but not to as great an extent.

As for external speakers, I actually do have some. I don't even bother hooking them up to my TV (as I have them connected to my computer using some nice D/A converters). I do admit though, the new digital TVs (which I bought around the new year) do make a slight difference... but it still just gets to me too much. And whenever I go to the in-laws, all they ever watch is variety shows anyways, so there's no hope as far as that's concerned.

It's funny though... I've noticed the same over compression with Japanese pop & rock music. You often hear about people complaining about over-compression in American pop music, call me crazy if Japanese stuff isn't even worse. It's ironic though because sometimes American groups will come out with wonderful sounding remastered CDs that are exclusive to Japan. I just don't get it .

[Umihito]

Originally Posted by JohnBraden

I hope you're not implying that kimonos haven't been worn for a long time. Every single day that I have traveled in Japan, I have seen a woman in a kimono.

Matador outfits aren't normal street clothes; they are purpose-designed costumes.

Oh no no, I just mean that they aren't everyday life for most people in Japan any more, like some gaijin want Kimonos to be for themselves while they're in Japan. Apart from a minority, they're just for special occasions.
I'm not an expert on the subject though... I'm just going on what I've seen and assumed.

But Kimonos aren't normal street clothes any more though, surely? I'm assuming these days they are also purpose-designed costumes.

Originally Posted by RealJames

these customs are generally no longer practiced in their respective countries,

where as in Japan they are.

but, hundreds of years ago if a Japanese person came to Britain dressed as a knight, it would be weird
or, if a Japanese person went to America a few hundred years ago dressed as a cowboy it would be funny as hell, and no one would have consider that Japanese person to be American regardless, not even that Japanese person

Not necessarily, in the town of Caerphilly here in Wales, every year for a weekend there is a festival called the Big Cheese where there are heritage performances including knights, craftsmen etc. I would consider that still being practised, as they'd need to be trained and all. I know the Kimono customs are a lot more serious than knights at the Big Cheese, but still...

And yes, agreed to the rest of it.

[GoNative]

Kimono's are still common enough that it's not weird or anything to see them being worn on the streets. In small country towns in Hokkaido I rarely saw them except at festivals but in bigger cities I found they were much more commonly worn. Certainly only a very low percentage of women wearing them but not so low as to be considered overly unusual.

[Ryzorian]

It's probably considered a type of "formal" wear.