PG-rated : 40 reasons to think that the Japanese are superficial

[FrostPixie]

"The Japanese have long had a love affair with Paris, nurtured by dreams of sophisticated manners coupled with physical elegance, exquisite food and lots of Louis Vuitton handbags". Paris was once a beautiful city, people had sophisticated manners, were extremely elegant (see paris1900.free.fr/Images/Pl_Chatelet01.GIF) and the food has always been exquisite. Nowadays (probably since the events of May 1968), it is another story... People are ugly (shorts and flip-flops everywhere), incredibly rude,

Hmm, that's interesting. It's true that even in places such as England (I know the English and French stereotypically hate each other) there is still the image of Paris as a 'romantic' place. Yet the last time I went to Paris it felt far from romantic. There were people coming up to us on the streets and rudely shoving merchandise under our noses trying to get us to buy it and my friend was trying to get served at a food place and was treated rudely (by other customers, I think), being pushed out of the way and treated as though he shouldn't be there just because he was English.
When he told us what happened I was scared of going to that place to get food, lol. I tried not to speak and put on my best (still terrible) French accent when I was thanking the person on the til.

I don't think that anyone can truly understand a culture unless they were brought up in it or have lived in that country, experiencing the culture first-hand for quite a few years. An outsider's opinion is always different to what the reality is. And culture can be different in different areas of a country. For example, living in Norfolk is totally different than living somewhere like London. There can be a culture shock moving from city to city sometimes.

[kombizz]

Man you touch the depth of Japanese life style. Wish more time to discuss them.

[Annubis]

I have begun to see many of these characteristics too... I just shake my head and reaffirm that people are the same everywhere... I was very disappointed in "normal" Canadian lives. T

This is all normal. And everyone wants to be normal, right? Everyone wants to be accepted by everyone else. A highly educated person, who spent all their time and money becoming an informed member of society, is useless if you want to be very social. If you want to be social, you work with the people most of your life, and you become involved in what everyone else is doing... you don't persue your own interests, and spend uncountable lonely years going into debt, studying to be intelligent. That is pointless. What does it get you? You turn 30 years old and you have nothing but debt and a brain. You don't have a family and you are uncertain of yourself and your worth to the people around you.

You think to yourself. I am smart now.. I can get a good job and pay off that debt... I will be smart and people will be attracted to me. I will be intelligent and a better judge of cultures and what life is about. I will be tolerant and I now have a lot to offer.

If you study business, money and the media or design... you are set. But deeper subject of controversy and philosophy threaten ones identity and begins to open a sphere of possibility that begins to look like a scary abyse.

People in general don't want their values challenged. They all have their opinions and values. Unless it affects them personally, they don't change. They look for people who are similar to bond with.

Even educated people stoop down to the level of common societal norms of conversation and activities, just so that they can communicate with anyone.

In fact, I have only concentrated on one particular aspect of the Japanese midset : its shallowness (so this study is totally biased from the start, as it does not include anything else). I could very well do one to prove how much more polite, disciplined, or respectful the Japanese are. But it is not the object of this analysis.

I'd like to also make it clear that this topic of conversation itself is only one side of the story.

Living here, I have to admit that I am fully and thoroughly impressed with the courtesy and discipline that people have. They make me smile all the time. I find myself waving and saying "domo" all the time, I have fun with it and I let it make me happy. Yes, people do not show their emotions and frequently think the opposite of what they say... but really, it makes it easier for everyone in the long run. Japan is a place where one must allow life to happen. Allow the light electronic tunes, "Thank yous" and "welcomes" to make your day brighter. I think of these words as bird songs... a bird always has the same voice, but sometimes the song is different.

The problem with education is that one becomes too critical of everything they see and hear.

I was disappointed in "normal" Canadian lives, but now I am beginning to see that sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and in this new era of ethics, please don't tell me that bliss is wrong. If it is, than the opposite is hell!

[I sam]

Obviously, a person who wrote this article had such big heartbreak coming to Japan.

Initially I thought a couple of them are funny. And some of them are true and I agree.

But while reading them through carefully, I came to the conclusion that a writer of this article is extremely shallow minded and seeing people from only one-sided eyes.

Quite honestly, with the way this writer put his views, I must say this person does not appreciate other cultures and unable to see the reasons behind of behaviors.

The words "jokes" should not even be used in this article. You can debate how Japanese people are superficial, and I do share the same view, but I found that there are way too many inappropriate ways of expressions used. They sometimes sound even disrespectful.

I am a Japanese, and I welcome any comments if you want to debate with me.