Month: June 2017

There are some basic differences between Japanese and British cuisine that I think causes confusion and big differences of opinion about the tastes of each.

We hear in Asian countries a lot that British food is “bad” and in The UK that Asian food is “strange and not edible.” It’s mostly tied to a difference of upbringing and being accustomed and familiar to flavours and tastes. Imagine a typical person in Asia and a typical person in Europe. The chances are that the European will like noodles and fried rice. And the chances are that the Asian person will like spaghetti, steak, and fried potatoes.

Why? Isn’t it obviously because they are brought up eating some similar types of food? Asian noodles are similar to Italian Spaghetti. Both continents eat meat, and food like potatoes and rice are eaten by both too, albeit in different forms. I don’t see why this baffles and puzzles people. You can expect the same typical people from each continent not to like the delicacies and more customized cooking from each cuisine too.

So what is fundamentally different between Japanese and British cooking? Well, Japanese food is largely soy and miso based. Modern Japanese people eat a lot of carbohydrates other than rice such as bread, noodles, etc. But there is a lot of soy and miso based food enjoyed by Japanese people. It’s very different to British food, which is largely reliant and often heavy on herbs and spices and has been since the medieval period. But some British food is quite subtle in taste and some is almost flavourless without the assistance of condiments, etc. A few examples that spring to mind are Yorkshire Puddings and Pasties. Quite a lot of British food found in bakeries, such as pasties, are rather stodgy and heavy on the stomach.

When Asian people eat some British food, and when British people eat some Asian food, there’s no wonder they don’t like the taste at first; it’s a new experience! I hated Miso Soup, Seaweed, and Senbei when I first came to Japan, but after eating them several times I got used to the taste and started enjoying them a lot more!

1. Have you ever eaten British food? If so, how was it?
2. What do you think of Japanese food? Is it similar?
3. Have you ever started liking some food after hating it for a long time?
4. What are the most common types of food in Japan? Are they soy?
5. What is your favourite cuisine in the world and why?

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In the UK, students usually don’t have entrance examinations in order to enter a University. On the other hand, students in Japan have to take an entrance exam for every University that they apply to.

There is something called “Hensachi” in Japan. It’s basically what helps decide their career as well as their University. It’s a deviation value that tells the students and teachers what type of Universities they should apply to by looking at their statistics. The reason I also say career is because many companies select candidates based on their University. It has some logic, but it breaks down when people who go to prestigious Universities become lazy. What I’ve heard is most valuable in companies – or the average company, at least – is not the level of intelligence, but experience, strong passion and work ethic.

One flaw with this system is the knowledge gained at University. Many people don’t mind studying a subject totally unrelated to what they want to do, or something they are completely uninterested in, as long as they can enter a prestigious University. It creates a system where people are occasionally not able to work straight out of University, or are forced to do a job they don’t like. Some companies spend a lot of time and money training those people, but whether it’s efficient or not is another story. This is not exclusive to Japan, but it’s a topic I’ve come across recently as I teach English to Japanese people.

It’s not totally different in the UK, but there are a few differences with the system. Since entering University doesn’t require an extra entrance examination, High School students only have to focus on their High School examinations. That’s not much of an advantage in and of itself, but the rule of studying only 3 or 4 subjects in High School allows people to think and choose what career they want. In that case, is it possible for a history student to study science or mathematics are University? It’s unlikely. Universities have requirements for applicants. For example, in my case I could study Computer Science in University because I studied mathematics and science at High School. It was one of the requirements.

By the way, we don’t actually say “High School” in the UK. We say “College” or “Sixth Form” instead. They are essentially the same, except Colleges are independent whereas Sixth Forms are joint with a school. For example, I stayed at my school after graduating at 16 years old to enter Sixth Form, where I studied for another 2 years.

And that leads me to one more sub-topic. Students in the UK study for a shorter period than most other countries, including The United States, do. We study for 2 years in College/Sixth Form, 3 years for a Undergraduate Degree, 1 year for an additional Masters (sometimes 2 years) and then only 2 years for a PhD. That’s a total of 6 years in University. In Japan and The USA, the same process in University takes 9 years (4, 2 and 3 years respectively). Education and its quality is something that I believe needs more discussion, but it makes me think about the way people think about what constitutes a good education and how it truly relates to the industry.

1. Are you satisfied with the education you received?
2. How do you think the University system can be improved?
3. Do you think Universities are very important for getting a good job?
4. What do you think about the differences between The UK and Japan?
5. If you could change something with the system, what would you change?

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In the UK, before we go to University, we usually decide what kind of jobs we want to do after we graduate. It’s a natural and logical thing, but I think a lot of people in Japan don’t think so deeply about their future. I think many people in Japan have more stress and pressure from their parents and schools to enter high level universities than people in the UK. Japanese people study hard at school and it’s not unusual to go to school on the weekend. In the UK, it’s impossible to go to school on the weekend unless there is a specific event such as a sports game. After leaving high school, many Japanese people don’t really mind what subject they study. The most important thing to them is entering a famous University. Why?

This is connected to the situation with joining companies. The part of an employee’s resume that companies most care about is the name of the University. Therefore, as many people don’t work in the same field of University study, companies have to spend time and money training new employees to be able to do the job. Or in many cases, many applicants to job vacancies are under qualified. It’s common to find people aiming to study tourism or something at a famous University, just so that they can get the University name on the CV. This is most noticeable in the business sector, where many people study something totally unrelated to business, such as science or literature or religion, and then apply for a company with no knowledge or experience. The sales industry suffers from this problem a lot, and people work harder and longer to make up for their failures or lack of experience.

1. Did you decide your career path early?
2. Did you have a lot of training for your job?
3. Do you think people should stay working at the same company for a long time?
4. Do you agree that companies in Japan care most about the University?
5. Let’s talk about the working life for fresh graduates. Is it hard work?

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I feel that UK delinquent children 問題児  are typically more disrespectful and/or do more outrageous things than Japanese delinquent children問題児. I know bullying is a big issue in Japanese schools, but children are strictly taught to respect teachers and elders, and they follow it more than British children do.

Children in the UK are also taught to debate and discuss more. Maybe that’s why they are more tempted to rebel and resist elders and education. In the UK, many people play bad games such as “knock a door, run!” The rule is simple: knock on a person’s house door, and then run away! Other common activities include throwing stones at windows, smoking, taking drugs, being teenage parents, bullying, fighting, and vandalizing buildings. Later, when they become adults, some people steal cars, credit cards, and make fake insurance claims. This is why The UK is a more dangerous place than Japan. Especially when people get drunk or go to football games or go out at night. Japan is a very safe country.

1. Have you seen or experienced bullying before?
2. What do you think about Japanese students behaviour ?
3. Did your school have delinquents? Were you one?
4. Do you think Japan is a safe country?
5. What kind of bad games do Japanese delinquent children do?

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I think Japanese schools and parents are stricter than UK schools with children and education. Joining a club is strongly expected of students and their lives are much busier than students in Europe of American. Actually, South Korean students have the toughest study life, but it’s also tough in Japan. Classes in the UK are usually more interactive too, with games, powerpoint interaction, debates, and discussion. Whereas in Japan I heard that students just listen to the teacher and write in a book. It sounds like my University life!

As a British student, I didn’t have to study as hard as people in Asia do. But that is probably also why countries in Asia have higher education rankings. However, I wonder if such a serious education is useful for working. Most of our education is not used in our jobs. So even if somebody knows many things, how can they be expected to be great at doing any job? I think we need a balance.

1. How was life for you at school?
2. Did you enjoy studying hard?
3. Do you think club activities are necessary or important?
4. What do you think is an ideal school life? Should students rest more?
5. Do you think people feel too much pressure at school?

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A very easy to notice difference between Japan and the UK is the comedy when watching TV. Japan actually has different types of comedy whereas the UK only has two (from what I know). One of Japan’s most famous types of comedy is Manzai, which is where one person is the serious character (straight man) and one is the silly / funny character. The jokes involve a small slap on the back of the head by the serious character whenever the silly character says something silly. It’s an interesting style and easy to follow, unlike UK comedy.

In the UK, comedians mostly use satire and sarcasm to make jokes. For some people, it can be difficult to understand sometimes and it sometimes requires us to think more about the joke to understand it. But at times British comedy shows get so popular that they become international hits. One example of this is “The Office” made by Ricky Gervais, a famous British comedian. In my opinion, Japanese comedy is more interesting because it involves more aspects and I feel there are more ways to create a funny joke than in the UK. But it’s interesting that many foreign people also become interested in Japan’s comedy and start to prefer it, just like me. Although I have talked to some Japanese people who say they prefer British comedy. Actually one person told me they really love “The Office”.

There are also differences between American and British comedy but it’s a long story. Basically, I think British comedy is a bit more complex or difficult to understand for foreign people.

1. Do you like comedy? Which do you prefer?
2. Do you think foreign comedy is difficult or easy to understand?
3. How would you summarise or describe Japanese comedy?
4. Do you know any popular comedy shows? Do you enjoy them?
5. Do you think comedy can be offensive sometimes? Give some examples.

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“Foreign chocolate is too sweet.” That’s what many Japanese people have told me. When It sounds kind of strange to me because chocolate is supposed to be sweet. When they told me that they tried my favourite chocolate, Cadbury’s chocolate, I wasn’t expecting them to append “it was too sweet though.”

But in Japan, “bitter chocolate”(ビターチョコ) is popular. Bitter chocolate is also known as “unsweetened” or “baking/cooking” chocolate. The first time I ate bitter chocolate as a snack was in Japan. I can’t imagine eating baking chocolate in the UK and enjoying it. I would feel like something is missing. Anyway, it was strange to me at first but I got used to it and now I enjoy it too.

1. Do you like chocolate or other sweet things? How much do you eat?
2. Do you think Japan’s chocolate is not sweet enough, too sweet, or just right?
3. How about foreign chocolate? Do you have any favorites?
4. Do you think it’s fine to eat chocolate regularly?
5. When do you receive or give chocolate as a present?

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Books are something that every nation enjoys reading. But in my experience, I’ve found that you can see more people in Japan reading books in public. It’s not just on public transport, but everywhere. It seems like Japanese people are more well-read in general in Japan. Almost everybody I talk to seems to know many things that are written about in books or other literature. It could be something created and instilled in people from education as they spend more time studying than other countries, but that’s a topic for another day.

Another interesting thing I discovered in Japan is that many people hide their books with a paper cover while reading. They do this in order to prevent people from seeing what they are reading. When buying a book in shops, I found that they usually ask you if you’d like a cover to hide your book when reading. It was a new experience! I was kind of confused at first and didn’t know whether I should use it or not. I never think or worry about what think of the book I’m reading. After all, I didn’t write it. But perhaps Japanese people don’t want to be judged and/or misjudged. Since the smartphone came out, many people have stopped reading books on the trains and started using smartphones, but I think this is common in all countries.

1. Do you often read books? What kind do you like?
2. Do you think it’s better to read books or not? Why?
3. Did you read books a lot in school? Is it a good thing?
4. How do you feel if people can see the book you’re reading?
5. Do you use smartphones for reading instead of books? Which is easier?

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Christmas is a big holiday period in many countries but in different ways. In Japan, people tend to celebrate Christmas romantically if they have a partner – New Year’s Day is for family time – whereas in western culture it’s mostly a day to be spent with family, eating a christmas dinner. In terms of food, people in Japan don’t eat a Christmas dinner. Instead, they eat chicken and cake, which can be bought from convenience stores. Some people buy chicken from KFC and some people order it a few weeks in advance.

People in Japan usually have to work on Christmas day if it’s a weekday or if it falls onto their working schedule. But in the UK, the majority of people have a holiday. Some people work such as the people at certain convenience stores or self-employed people who can choose their schedule, etc. Christmas isn’t taken as seriously in Japan as it is in other countries and why would it be? Christmas comes from Christianity.

1. Christmas is a family celebration in foreign countries, how about for you?
2. Do you know why people celebrate Christmas?
3. How does Japan celebrate Christmas differently?
4. Do you spend much money on Christmas?
5. How can Christmas be better?

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As many people know, people in Japan are expected to respect their seniors and use honorifics in every sentence when speaking to them, even if there is only a 1 year gap. It’s sometimes a very stressful thing to care about, especially at work. But when two people become friends, they decide to drop the politeness and honorifics.

It’s a sensitive topic but as a result, I think many elderly people become sensitive towards younger people. Those people had to be polite to their seniors when they were young too. It’s an inevitable byproduct of this culture and a cycle that never ends. I heard that things are changing slightly these days, but I think people would have less stress without this strict system. If you live in Japan, it’s easy to realize how much it affects us.

In western cultures such as the UK’s or the USA’s, of course people respect their seniors but it’s only noticeably used with senior citizens (elderly people). It’s mostly only when talking to elderly people or in business that westerners use honorifics or formal words. A twenty year old person probably won’t change anything in their vocabulary or grammar when talking to a thirty or forty year old.

1. Do you like the mannerism and respect culture in Japan? (礼儀文化)
2. Do you think it’s better to have them or not? Why?
3. How does it affect your conversations and friendships?
4. What do you think about the people who don’t follow this culture in Japan?
5. Do you stop using polite and respectful speech? When? Do you bow less?

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