Below is a speech which I had to write about cultural relations and cultural differences between Japan and my home country. It's a mixture of new thoughts and recycled parts of old blog posts, but it's generally a good breakdown of the major cultural differences and some anecdotes about my time in Japan so far.
My name is Hannah and I was chosen to be an ALT as part of the JET Programme, a programme funded by the Japanese government to help introduce Japanese students to foreign culture and create international relations. As a girl who had never travelled outside of the West before and who only speaks a little Japanese, I think that I am definitely bringing Western culture, or more specifically, British and Scottish culture, to Ehime.
However, this exchange of cultures is definitely not one-sided, as every day is a learning experience for me. Throughout my time in Ehime, I have come across some rather surprising cultural differences. For me, the biggest difference is definitely school life in Japan. A typical school day at a Japanese junior high school is certainly very different from high school back in Scotland.
Probably one of the biggest differences is cleaning time or soji, when the kids and the teachers clean the school themselves. In Scotland the students and teachers never clean the school, we have professional cleaners who do this after school is finished. I think that back home, many parents would be very unhappy for their children to be down on the floor scrubbing it! The first time I experienced soji, I couldn’t believe it! The kids were working so hard at cleaning, barely even talking to one another due to their complete concentration to the task at hand. At first it was very strange for me to think that children as young as 6 and 7 had to clean the school, but now I realise that it means everyone has more respect for the school because they have to clean any mess they leave behind. It’s definitely not like this in Scottish schools. In fact, sometimes after lunch, it looks like there has been a food fight!
Another huge difference in school life for me is the school lunch or kyuushoku. Back in Scotland, we do have school lunch, but kids can also choose to bring their own lunch from home or go to a shop outside school to buy lunch. Kyushokuu differs greatly from typical Western school lunch in that everything is the same. Everyone gets the same food, and even more of a shock to me, everyone must finish ALL of their food! This was definitely difficult for me at first because I was not used to much Japanese food apart from things like sushi and ramen.
The biggest challenge for me in kyuushoku was when I had to eat shishamo. Back in Scotland, it is not usual for us to eat a whole fish with the head and tail, so it was a huge shock when not only was I given a whole fish to eat, but it was also a pregnant fish! The first time I was given shishamo I gave it to a hungry student, but the second time no one wanted it. So I had no choice but to eat it. This was difficult because I felt like the eyes were staring at me. But to my surprise, it really wasn’t that bad when I ate it! This was definitely a big deal for me because I used to be too scared even to eat shrimp.
Many things in Japan have been a challenge for me, but now I realise that challenging yourself is one of the main aspects of Japanese culture. I was shocked when I was first told that the 2nd year students at two of my junior high schools would have to walk 40km along the Melody Line from Misaki to Yawatahama. It sounded impossible to me! However, only 2 weeks after I thought that sounded impossible, I actually found myself doing the Melody Line walk with my 2nd year students at one of my schools. My legs and feet have never hurt so much, but I am so glad I completed the challenge and I think I will do it again next year.
While I knew about some Japanese customs before coming to Japan, such as bowing and taking your shoes off before entering someones home, there were a few small things that confused me at first. One example was when I was in class and my JTE told me to come here using a gesture, which in the UK we would use to mean "go away", so I was a bit confused and wandered away from the teacher to the other side of the class. The whole class burst out laughing and explained to me that it means “come here” in Japan once they had figured out what happened.
Another different gesture is the gesture to say “no”. In Scotland shaking your head means no, but in Japan, the gesture of waving your hand in front of your nose, that we would use to say "bad smell", means no.
However, despite all these cultural differences, I have come to realise that people all over the world are really the same. This is definitely apparent in Yawatahama, especially because it is a small town. I have always lived in a city until now, so it is nice for me to experience the small town kindness that isn’t so common in cities. Once thing that struck me was how generous everyone is, and how concerned they are about introducing me to Japanese culture and making sure that I am becoming accustomed to Japanese culture. During my time of only 6 months in Yawatahama I have been welcomed into cooking classes, tea ceremony, ikebana and I have even joined a shorinji kempo class. Some Japanese people even joke that I am more Japanese than them.
I have been lucky enough to be invited to go mikan picking on 2 occasions, and now I eat about 3 mikans every day. This is because the people of Yawatahama are so kind that I am given new mikans almost every week by someone. In fact, I am given mikans so often that I have to eat them very fast to make sure that they don’t go bad. For example, last week I was on the train and a woman who I have never spoken to before came up to me and gave me a bag of mikans! Some of my friends say that maybe I could cure the common cold.
One of my favourite memories of living in Yawatahama so far is the night of the Teya Teya Festival in October. Not only was I invited to dance the Teya Teya, but at one point I was actually put into a mikoshi and thrown up in the air. It was definitely the first time that has ever happened and it was both scary and exciting! This is something that would never happen back in Scotland, so I felt blessed to be given the opportunity to experience being part of the local Yawatahama community.
Since there are so few foreigners here, my presence here definitely gets noticed. Almost every time I am at school my students or other teachers comment on how they saw me at Fuji at the weekend. I do my best to follow Japanese customs when I am here, but at the same time I also hope that my students and those around me are able to learn something about Scottish and British culture, even if they have not had the chance to travel. I am going to stay in Yawatahama for at least another year, so I hope to continue getting involved in the community and hopefully make a difference.
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