4 Things To Know About Japan

Aine Adachi is an exchange student at LMU. In this interview, she will be uncovering some truths about the Japanese society, that a lot of people from outside this island country have been wondering about, based oh her personal experience.

Hi, Aine. Thank you for doing this interview with me. As I already know, you are from Japan. Have you lived in any other countries up until now?

Besides Japan, I have lived in the United States, and now I live in Germany. From when I was a year old to five years old and between seven and 12 years old, I’ve lived in the States, so most of my childhood and my preteen years were spent there, on the East Coast, in Maryland. I lived very close to Washington D.C. The rest of my life I’ve lived in Tokyo, because that is where my parents are from and my parent’s family, so, I’d say, I am a Tokyoite through and through.

What would you say is the most common misconception about people from Japan?

This is a really hard question. Off the top of my head, I notice that a lot of people here assume that I don’t know a lot about European culture or history. I know that I am a bit of an exception, because I grew up in the United States, and my parents like to travel, we have traveled a lot in Europe and I know not everyone does that.

I think that Japanese people, Japanese students are very well-informed about European history and world history in general, because that’s how our education and our curriculum are structured. In high school, it isn’t mandatory to learn Japanese history, but it is mandatory to learn world history. As a result, all students have a basic foundation of world history, so we learn a lot more than people would think.

Also, I think because of Japan being an island country, we are very interested in the world abroad, and we have a lot of TV shows about travel, a lot of students like to travel abroad. I feel like in Japan we are very keen on knowing about the world and how the world views us as a nation. For example, we always ask foreigners who live in or come to visit Japan about what they think about our country.

What is the role of men and women in your society?

This is a very broad question, there is a lot to unpack. Japan is known to be a very gender normative society, and it is true. There are so many defined gender roles and expectations. I think the gender quality index is very low, we lack behind other developed nation s by a lot. There are not many women in positions of power, like, for example, in companies or in parliament; there are not many women politicians, there are very few women in academia.

These are the biggest things I’ve noticed coming to LMU. A lot of my professors here are female, but in Japan I study law at the University of Tokyo, which is one of the most conservative faculties in Japan, and over the course of the past three years I have only had two female professors.

If you look at the gender gap at my home university, that’s a whole another story. There is a huge gender gap in the student body, only less than 20% are female. That’s considering the University of Tokyo is one of the most prestigious in Japan, it’s also the most famous one. So this is a big problem.

I’ve done research on this: back at home I was a chief editor for a biannual magazine, which was a campus magazine, published by female university students. Basically, I was involved in this issue a lot: I have written about it, I have taken interviews, I have taken part in various initiatives that tried to promote more girls to take exams and apply to our university.

What is considered respectful and disrespectful in Japan?

I will be answering this question about Tokyo in particular, because that’s a part of Japan I think that I am qualified to talk about. First of all, in Tokyo most people use the underground or trains to commute. Compared to trains here, in Europe, or in the United States, people are very quiet on the trains in Japan. If you’re talking on the phone or just talking loudly, it’s considered disrespectful and rude. People will probably stare at you! There are no “quiet zones” on public transport, because pretty much everywhere is a “quiet zone”. People use their commute time to rest between work and school or between running errands, so you will see a lot of people snoozing on trains.

When it comes to eating, how you use chopsticks is a big deal in Japan. From a young age children are taught to use chopsticks properly. There are even small competitions in elementary schools where students have to pick up small beans using chopsticks, and whoever picks up the most beans in a certain period of time, wins. When you use your chopsticks, if you stick them up in your rice, that’s considered very disrespectful, or people might think that you’re not very cultured.

What kind of entertainment is popular in Japan?

Here I’d like to talk about Japanese festivals. They are called Matsuri (祭) and they are a huge part of our culture. Each part of Japan has their own local festivities throughout the year. For example, one of the most famous festivals are the Sakura or a Cherry Blossoms Festival. What you do is you go to a park where the cherry blossoms grow, you bring your own picnic blanket and put it on the ground, and you get food and beer. This is a very nice way to relax and admire the nature with your friends or family.

Thank you so much for all the insights! These would be very good to know for those who are planning a trip to Japan or are simply interested in broadening their horizons and learning about cultures of such remote countries.