Culture Shock: The True Story

When Japanese people ask foreigners about their culture shock, they are always met by the same stock replies: natto, sumo, high school girls, futons, chopsticks, taking your shoes off in the house, etc. I hate to disillusion our hosts, but none of the above is in any way shocking for foreign people.

I pretend to hate natto as a kind of running joke with my eikaiwa students: If you eat natto, I tell them, all the English will fly out of your head. Other Japanese customs, I have greeted like parts of some long lost folk memory. Using chopsticks allows me to eat with only one hand, futons are good for my back, while actually wearing shoes indoors is now shocking for me!

When you next ask about culture shock, please don’t accept any of these answers. Then maybe you’ll learn the real reason. Culture shock is nothing more than the inability to cope with the density of life in this crowded island. Most foreigners find it hard to cope with a society where the concept of personal space is as unknown as Seiko Matsuda in America. It is the daily infringement of their bubble of personal space that creates the sense of alienation that renders the most common and natural things bizarre.

Bearing this in mind, I think it is advisable to ask all Japanese people to respect foreign people’s sense of personal space. If you feel something soft and crunchy under your shoe, please check to see if it’s a foreigner’s foot. Avoid inserting your nose in their ears unless they specifically ask you to. Try not to breathe their air until they have finished with it. Also, try to avoid jostling them too much at the edge of a crowded platform as the train pulls in, as this might be misunderstood. If you follow these simple guidelines, the next time you ask them about their culture shock, you might be surprised to find they have none.

Tokyo Notice Board
June 12, 1998