Hello guys! How are you all doing? I’m gonna share about cultural diffference again mainly compared with American culture. I hope you like it!

皆さんこんにちは！お元気にしてますか？今回は前回の続きで、文化の違いについてお話ししたいと思います。(特に日本とアメリカの違いについて)

It’s VERY important for Japanese people to tell “Thank you” & “I’m sorry”, especially for families, and close friends. But here is a little bit different. It was very confusing. It’s very complicated for me. I understand that Japanese people often say sorry when we don’t need to. Also, I get that they don’t need to say many thanks or apologies for people closer by closer here. It’s new for me, and I thought I liked this way because it’s much more casual. Maybe more friendly? I know it’s important to say thanks and apologies but sometimes I feel like we’ve had pressure to tell them very patiently for Japanese. I cannot explain it very well, but it’s a very new culture for me, and I thought this difference was very interesting.

さらに面白いと思ったこと。日本では「ありがとう」と「ごめんなさい」ってすごく大事。特に関係が近い人ほど。だけどこっちはなんか違うらしい。関係が近い人ほど伝える必要はいらないと考える人達が多いらしく、ほ～新しい…。私にその考えがしっくり来てて、たしかに言いすぎるとお互いに距離を感じるかもと思ったり。それからは感謝と謝罪の伝え方についてすごく気にするようにしてます。

The other thing, it’s about time. Every train comes on time to stations, we’ve been taught in elementary school to come the time on schedules before ten minutes when we have an appointment. I’d had a kind of culture shock for spending time since I came. Everyone is usually so lazy! I don’t like that I feel like wasting time:( It always happens to change the time we were supposed to see each other, like 30 minutes or 1 hour later, if I hung out with friends. So honestly, I’ve been good at spending time with reading books or something to do to wait for friends not to feel wasting time. (Also, I’ve been used to showing up later since I came…😅) For example, I had an appointment to play basketball with my friend one day. I was glad that I could come on time because I didn’t think I could make it. While I felt good about that, I got a text from her. Then she said “Hey! I’ll come later after watching a soccer game.” Ohhh okayyy… I just felt like this is very American!  This often happens here!

また日本人にとって時間ってとにかく大事。電車とか全部が時間通りだし、10分前行動って小学校の時から教えられてきた。それに比べて、こっちは本当に超ルーズ。30分待つなんて余裕。必ず待つので暇つぶしが上手になりました。自分も時間にルーズになりつつあるけど…この間は友達とのバスケの約束する予定があって時間通りに到着できたと私はほっとしていたら、彼女からテキストが。いま観てるサッカーの試合終わってから行くねと。んんん？？時間に合わせて私は来たのに～うわ～アメリカ～と痛感。こういうこと、本当よくあります。

And lastly, American people are open-minded and very friendly. They are also very straightforward and strong. They like discussing every single topic. They can express themselves out loud if they don’t agree or like. I think it’s very COOL! So great! Personally, I’m bad at discussing and arguing. So, I think that they’re very cool because Americans don’t hesitate to express themselves. And they smile a lot, get angry, cry… every emotion! Very energic!! And they’re very good at giving compliments, and making others feel good:) I love these! I really like these cultures!! One day, I had a speech in public. I was very nervous because it had been for a while. I felt pressure, I was worried about whether I could make it well or not. But they just told me “Have fun!” as advice. I just realized that I don't need to have pressure at all, I'd better just have fun! The other thing, they say, "You're welcome!" a lot if I say "Thank you" to them, which makes me laugh honestly because it's not common to say it in Japanese culture. And, in my basketball and volleyball classes, they say "You're doing great, Yui!!" even if I made mistakes. They don't say "bad" or "not good", they say, "You're good!" at any time. They also gave me, "You can do it better next time!!" What a good and positive language! ENGLISH!!! This is one of the reasons why I love US!!!

さらにアメリカ。賛成できないこと、嫌なことはすごい勢いでズバズバ言ってくるし、なんでなんでと意見をぶつけてくる。でも私的にそれって本当に素敵だと思うんです。日本で同じ状況って絶対にないよなって思う。みんなパッションがあって感情的だし、表情も豊かだし生きてるのを楽しんでるって感じ！少し話題はずれるかもだけど、例えばショートスピーチをお願いされた時も、めちゃくちゃ緊張していた私にみんながかけてくれる言葉はHave fun!! あ～そっか。こういう時も楽しんじゃうのかと肩の荷が軽くなりました。またThank you!って伝えると You're welcome!!!って言ってくれるところ。(どういたしまして！！！なんていちいち言わないからなんだか毎回ぷぷぷと笑ってしまう) またバスケやバレーのクラスの時、ミスしても"You're doing great, Yui!!" とにかくみんなめちゃくちゃ褒めてくれる！！Bad とかnot goodとかではなく、とにかく"You're good!" て。ミスしても”You can do better next time!” て。なんてポジティブ！こういう理由が、私がアメリカが大好きな理由のひとつなんです。

I've purely truly been enjoying my study-abroad life because it's so fun for me to learn something new every single day!! I will update my life soon again since starting new semester. Thank you for reading it. Take care!

そんなこんなで留学生活、毎日何かしら新しいことを学べて本当に楽しいんです。最近は新学期も始まったので、近いうちに新しいクラスのようすなどもアップデートできたらいいなと思います。それではお身体に気を付けてお過ごしください！今回も読んでいただきありがとうございました！！