Recently, I read a blog posted by a Chinese student who lives in Japan for a while. In it, he depicts the images of Japan and Japanese he witnesses. Here, I want to share it with you. I think it will be helpful for us to peek into the characteristics of Japan society.
About the environment of Japan. It is rather tidy in its street. You will never bump into rubbish. There are some people roaming along the streets with their pets and if their pets have their bowel movements, pet owners will wrap up these waste in a rubbish bag they take in advance and then wipe the street surface with napkins carefully.
About the attitude of Japanese toward jobs. Japanese is diligent and efficient in their jobs but they have no initiatives. If a boss tells them to do something by themselves, they will mess up their tasks. But if I expound everything clearly, no matter how complicated or troublesome these tasks are, they will finish them well.
About the height of Japanese. They are really short. Before the mirrors hanged on the public places, I must bend forward to watch my face if want to inspect my image. While in crowded occasions, there would be never someone who is tall enough to block your view.
About Japanese women. Japanese women were not beautiful at all. You should not focus your eyes only on those female stars or AV female superior. In reality, Japanese women are mostly common ones but they all have good depositions. Maybe this should be attributed to the fact that they are well-educated and are willing to spend more time and money on making up.
About the thing which makes Japanese self-abased the most. It is English. Sometimes I take part in parties, there are some Japanese recognize that I am a foreigner and come up to talk with me in English. Their intentions are to practice their oral English. But each time they blush and stutter. Some of them are so nervous that their legs are shivering. There is congenial obstacle for Japanese to learn English. There is not syllable “r”in Japanese while this syllable is frequently used in Chinese and English.
About the service of Japan. Each time when I go to public service institutes, such as government, library, hospital or bank. Workers in these places will make you feel comfortable. Whenever you throw a curve on them, they can keep sunny smiles. I have been confused how they can do that. The works are so tedious and everyday they must say the same words and after saying them so many years, how can they have patience and smiles. It is incredible!
About the education of Japan. Among formal vassal states of China, Japan is the one which reserve Chinese culture in its entirety. South Korea, DPRK and Vietnam have all cancelled Chinese Characters. Only Japan insists on using Chinese Characters. I once thumped through their text books of high school. I saw poems of Libai,Baijui and an article of Hanfeizi. Those Japanese students of high school will take part in Chinese classic test during College entrance examination. Once a time, I went to drop on a Japanese’s. When I stepped into their room, the parents are telling their son that he must learn Computer and English well so that he can elbow his way into upper-class society. This is the same with Chinese parents.
About Japanese men. I think the Japanese men are somewhat cowards. Before their bosses, they are always nervous. Once upon a time,when we had a meeting on Friday,one of my Japanese colleagues failed to do a task well . His boss lashed out him furiously and asked him to explain why. My unlucky colleague stuttered for a long time and counldn’t put out a whole sentence. In my company have never seen there are someone dares to talk back their bosses. No matter how ridiculous their bosses are and no matter whether they understand the meaning of their bosses, they will try their best to do it well.
About the construction of Japan cities. Japan is a genuine developed country. It has no abundant land and almost all slots which are suitable to build buildings have been developed. So we can’t see many construction sites. Of course, there are some projects too. For example, there is a piece of railway near my home need to be rebuilt into overpass. Such project can be finished in 2-3 months in China. While in Japan, it has not been finished after three years. On one hand, hey have to deal with many related strict regulations, such as, dust, noise and construction rubbish. If they can’t deal with these things well, there would be some organizations to protest against them. On the other hand, they are really not efficient in construction.
About the city planning of Japan. When I just came to Japan,I looked askance on parks of Japan. I beheld a place which was about as large as three basketball courts were named as XX Park.I doubted whether this should be called a park. Chinese Park equates 100 such parks. But after a while,I changed my minds. Because no matter where I moved, there must be such a park within 500 meters near my house. Though these parks are not very large, you can refresh yourself after roam in it or just take a seat in it for a while. There are about 5500 parks in Tokyo and every one has its own layout and design. Japan is not a big country but the planners of it manage to let everyone have full opportunities to enjoy grasslands and a quiet space. What’s more, every child can find a suitable place near their house to play and will not be enclosed in apartments like Chinese children.
