Ever thought that when travelling in another country, once you’ve experienced its culture, you’ve seen it all?
Sometimes? Maybe.
All the time? Not quite.
My girlfriend and I holidayed in Japan last year, and our trip started in Kyoto. It was a self tour, so it involved a lot of interaction with the locals asking for directions. Even though I was the only one who could speak Japanese, it was limited to only a few keywords, such as excuse me, where and how. Thus, how well we interacted with the locals had a big impact on how quickly we could get to our destination.
It is a well know fact that Japanese people are very polite and helpful. Imagine our surprise in Kyoto when a local actually walked us to our destination!
On the other hand, when we were in Tokyo, we were taken off guard when a person actually picked up his pace and sped away from us upon our request for directions.
Of course, not everyone we met in Tokyo reacted in such a manner, but nonetheless, we were quite bemused by disparity in reactions of people who are supposedly from the same culture.
How stereotypical of me.
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Hi Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting story, which makes me ponder.
A chinese saying said that If a forest is big enough, whatever kinds of birds could be there. Another saying is that people eat the same rice, but grow to be hundreds of traits.
The two sayings both tell us people from the same culture can behave differently, especially for culture groups who have a very large population. As for your case, there are more than one hundred million japanese living in Japan; the diversity between people, in terms of etiquette, are at a large extent.
In addition, different functions of citys are also a important reason behind your story. As for Kyoto, it was the capital of Japan in ancient time for a very long time. It remains as the culture center of Japan. I guess People there have a peace and leisurely life. As for Tokyo, it is modern city and the economic center of Japan. People are busy and take time and money serious. They may be less concerned about others.