Comments on: Japan and non-verbal communication

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:41:55 +0000

Hi Mike,

Best of luck in your trip to Japan. Glad I could be of help.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:30:45 +0000

Amazing!! I greatly enjoyed this text and am looking forward to experiencing this for myself. I am only 16 and going to Japan for 3 months on a 1 way exchange and i was just looking up verbal and non-verbal communication in Japan. This was very helpful in educating me in such a topic thank you.

PS Thanks for the warning on the green tea.

By: naoko

naoko — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Thanks for your comment on my post, Doug-san!
It takes a while to fully understand the differences of culutre. It might need to live actually in that culture like you.

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:21:49 +0000

Yeah, I’ll never forget how bitter Vietnamese green tea was. I really couldn’t believe people drink it on a daily basis, but I think if you grew up with it, it would be no big deal. Better than drinking the faucet water in any case. I remember having intestinal issues for the entire VASI trip (8 weeks).

Thanks for the kind words in any case. I wish I had learned sooner though. Innocent mistakes of course, but I wish I could repay all the kindness people showed me in Vietnam when I was there. :-/

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 06:29:21 +0000

I like this posting. Yes the Vietnamese tea can be so hard on one’s stomach, me too. I had many experiences like these before I realized what’s going on too!!

You’re doing a nice job of thinking about these unspoken cultural behaviors and observing and thinking again. I’m a strong believer in the value of these observations…. good work!

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:27:39 +0000

No disagreements at all, but kindness is not the same as good manners, and when I see how my grandparents act, compared to people I meet in regular life, there is a noticeable difference. I am not the first to have lamented this decline in courtesy, and probably won’t be the last. Kindness and good manners are the best of both worlds, like you said. Point being, we could learn a thing or two from other cultures.

P.S. My wife complains that Japanese are not very warm and helpful, just polite. So obviously, they could learn a thing or two from us (as she would put it).

By: Jeannie

Jeannie — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:24:22 +0000

“For us Americans in particular, manners and courtesy are two things we’ve forgotten since my grandmother’s generation.”

I’m sorry this has been your experience. My experience has been that Americans are gracious and hospitable (despite a bad apple or two) and are no more or less kind than other groups of people.

Being kind and polite really goes beyond cultural divide.