How Do You Express Your Feelings?

● original essay ●

Today I read an article about the difference to know how others are feeling between Japanese and Dutch. According to the article, Japanese read others’ voice tones rather than reading their faces. When I read it I made a quite sense.

I’ve heard of that several times, for people from other countries it’s difficult to understand what Japanese are thinking from their facial expressions. They often say “I wonder why Japanese are always smiling, even though when they are not happy?” Maybe that’s for sure. Maybe many Japanese tend to force their faces into a smile unconsciously. 

 

Generally it is said that Japanese are bad at expressing their feelings. Nowadays, maybe Japanese express their feelings better than a decade ago, but still their faces make foreigners confused. Sometimes, their facial expressions and words represent completely different emotions at the same time — they look obviously uncomfortable but act like no problem. They definitely seem to eat dislike food but they never say can’t eat it. Instead, they say “It’s delicious...” with a fixed smile. In these cases, they don’t mean to pretend to be a nice person. They lie, but it’s a white lie to do well with others. 

There are 本音（hon-ne） and 建前（tatemae） in Japanese society. Hon-ne means an honest feeling and tatemae means a polite face. Almost all Japanese have been learned using both hon-ne and tatemae as the situation demands is one of the keys to manage relationships successfully, in their daily lives. Maybe it’s happy if they can be always honest with their feelings and thinking, but they hesitate to do that. I think it’s a part of Japanese culture. Japan was a homogeneous country and they were agricultural people. That’s also a part of reasons why Japanese lack an ability of self-expression.

In Japan, there is a tendency to hesitate bald expressions for both acceptors and people who express themselves. For example, when they eat something it’s really bad and a chef asks, “How is it?” they will never say “It’s awful” or “It’s disgusting” like Gordon Ramsay from the TV show “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares”. They might say, “Hmm… it’s a kind of a novel taste. I’ve never tasted like this before. It has a very unique flavor, yeah...” And the chef will notice the food isn’t good from their subtle reactions. I think we believe “You know my feeling without obvious behaviors or words” because of the history we have lived in the homogeneous country using only one language for a long time. Many people believe containing their emotions is a virtue. In fact, in Japan showing yourself honestly everywhere and always has possibility to seem you are green. 

There is also a way of thinking that understanding other’s feeling or thinking even though they say nothing is “粋(iki)”. Iki means cool or smart. There is other thinking that feigning dislike or indifference to something or someone means being interested in or like it: in Japanese, “嫌い嫌いも好きのうち(kirai kirai mo suki no uchi)”. Or, answering in the strongly negative means yes: “強い否定は肯定を表す(tuyoi hitei ha koutei wo arawasu)”. When foreign people hear these they may think Japanese are incomprehension and mysterious: how do we know their true thought when Japanese say “yes” or “no”?  I’m also confused if I accept them literally. 

As I wrote it before, Japan was an agricultural nation. Also mountains cover about 70% of the land. We had to live and help each other to get a good harvest in the limited flatland. In that situation, a strong self-expression or self-assertive was hated by people in the same community. Sometimes these attitude and behavior made people in the same society difficult to work together. Then people were getting to avoid showing their honest feelings or thinking to others, because for protecting their comfortable lives in their society. That’s why Japanese can’t express their feeling well, I think. Our enigmatic facial expressions or words are maybe a kind of defender instincts to live in Japan comfortably.

Even though Japanese are great to control their faces, they can’t go that far controlling their voice tones too. So, when Japanese try to know others’ feeling they may read others’ voice tones rather than faces based on their experiences. The voice tones show their hon-ne, and the facial expressions show their tatemae. I think whether they’re Japanese or not, many people can’t stop changing their usual voice tone into a high-pitched or stammering for a moment, when they aren’t honest.

Everybody has different self-expression regardless of nationality. Unfortunately sometimes these differences lead to misunderstandings, but they also give us a chance to notice new way of looking at things. If we seek to understand each other I think we can do it, even though face expressions are trustless or voice tones are changing. Nobody is the same, that’s why having relationship with others is difficult, but it’s interesting.

By the way, how do you express your feeling to others?

If you’re interested in the article,  this is the URL below.

“Japanese read voice tones while Dutch read faces to assess others' emotions” 

 

● corrected essay ● 

Today I read an article about the difference in knowing how others are feeling between Japanese and Dutch. According to the article, Japanese read others’ voice tones rather than reading their faces. It made sense to me.

I’ve heard several times from foreigners, it’s difficult to understand what Japanese are thinking from their facial expressions. They often say “I wonder why Japanese are always smiling, even though they are not happy”. Maybe it’s true! Maybe many Japanese tend to force their faces into a smile unconsciously.

Generally it is said, “Japanese are bad at expressing their feelings.” Nowadays, maybe Japanese express feelings better than a decade ago, but still our faces make foreigners confused. Sometimes, our facial expressions and words represent completely different emotions at the same time — we look obviously uncomfortable but act like there’s no problem. We definitely seem to eat food we dislike but never we say can’t eat it. Instead, we say “It’s delicious...” with a fixed smile. In these cases, we don’t mean to pretend to be a nice person; we simply lie a little. But it’s a white lie, to only do well with others.

There are 本音（hon-ne） and 建前（tatemae） in Japanese society. Hon-ne means an honest feeling and tatemae means a polite face. Almost all Japanese have learned to use both hon-ne and tatemae as the situation demands to manage relationships successfully. Maybe it’s better if we can always be honest with our feelings and thinking, but we hesitate to do that. I think it’s a part of Japanese culture.

In Japan, there is a tendency to refrain from using bold expressions. For example, when we eat something that’s really bad and a chef asks how is it, we will never say it’s awful or it’s disgusting like Gordon Ramsay from the TV show “Hell’s Kitchen”. We might say, “Hmm… it’s a kind of a novel taste. I’ve never tasted like this before. It has a very unique flavor, yeah...” The chef will notice the food isn’t good from our subtle reactions. It seems we believe people know our feelings without obvious behavior or words because we have lived in a homogeneous country using only one language for a long time. Many Japanese believe containing our emotions is a virtue. In fact, showing yourself honestly everywhere and always in Japan could mean you are green. There is also a way of thinking, in Japan, that understanding an other’s feelings or thinking, even though they say nothing, is “粋(iki)”. Iki means cool or smart.

There is also a thinking that feigning dislike or indifference to something or someone means actually being interested in or liking: in Japanese, “嫌い嫌いも好きのうち(kirai kirai mo suki no uchi)”. Or, answering in a strongly negative voice actually means yes: “強い否定は肯定を表す(tuyoi hitei ha koutei wo arawasu)”. When foreign people hear these they may think Japanese are incomprehensible and mysterious. I’m also confused, if I accept them literally.

As I wrote before, Japan was an agricultural nation. Also mountains cover about 70% of the land. We had to live and help each other to get a good harvest in limited flatland. In that situation, strong self-expression or self-assertiveness was hated. Sometimes this attitude and behavior made it difficult for people to work together. Then we began to avoid showing our honest feelings or thoughts to others to protect our comfortable lives. I think that’s why we can’t express our feeling well. Our enigmatic facial expressions or words are maybe a kind of defensive instinct to live in Japan comfortably.

Even though Japanese are great at controlling their faces to hide feelings and thoughts, we can’t go as far at also controlling our voice tones. So when we try to know others’ feelings we may read their voice tones rather than their faces. Voice tones show our hon-ne, and facial expressions show our tatemae. I think whether we’re Japanese or not, many people can’t stop changing their usual voice tone into a high-pitched or stammering for a moment.

Everybody has different self-expression, regardless of nationality. Unfortunately, these differences sometimes lead to misunderstandings. But they also give us a chance to notice new ways of looking at things. Even though facial expressions are trustless and voice tones are changing, we can seek to understand each other. I think we can do it. Nobody is the same, that’s why having relationship with others is difficult. But it’s all worth it.

By the way, how do you express your feelings to others?

Cleaning Up

● original essay ●

Yesterday I cleaned all over my place. This time, I cleaned up all of the windows, too. They had looked like leopard patterned windows caused by rain and dust, since I didn’t clean the windows for long time.

When I cleaned the windows I remembered a question which was asked me before — “What would you do if you could wipe the slate clean?” When I was asked the question I didn’t think about it well. But this time, the leopard patterned dirty windows reminded me of the question, while I was looking at the windows were getting to be clean.

“What would I do if I could wipe the slate clean?” I couldn’t come up anything. It didn’t mean that I haven’t done anything bad or wrong. Of course, I have some… no, many regrets.

If I could see my future like an American TV drama “Flash Forward,” if my future were horrible I would try to avoid it. I also wish I could see my past by stepping into a time machine and give some advice to me like a Japanese animation “Doraemon.” But actually, I don’t want to erase anything what I felt or thought and did from my past, even though they were bitter, sad and awful, because they are parts of my history.

Even if only one piece were missing from my past, my life would change a lot. If I changed my past I wouldn’t be in the same situation as it is now. Maybe I could have many happy things and a brightest future, but I don’t want to lose plenty of memories that I can’t buy, whether they were good or bad.

I’m not completely satisfied about my all past and current situation as I said. Also, I do tons of disgraceful deeds, especially when I’m drunk. I have a lot of ashamed memories that I hate to say, but I don’t want to sweep them clean. That’s because, I enjoy my life up to now and I believe I’m a lucky person. I’m surrounded by many nice people who always care for me, help me and have good time with me. Even if a super horrible thing happens to me I’m sure I can get over it, and I’ve done. They always help me to get out from the pitch-dark situation when I’m in a really bad way. After the nightmare changes into a good old memory among us, we can drink over several hours while talking about it with lots of laughing. I could re-realize the importance of them, and enjoy having drinks with them, because of my terrible past.

I think everything which happens to me has a meaning or a reason. About 11 years ago, I had a sudden loss of my father. Unfortunately, until he died, I couldn’t recognize that how much I was protected from him and I could live a privileged life which was taken for granted because of him. His death was an unthinkable sorrow, but it opened my eyes and taught me I was awfully happy.

I always try to think like that when I have to overcome hard situations — think of my happy sweet histories as chocolate bars, and think of my bad awful histories as potato chips. If I always eat only chocolate bars, I’ll be tired of eating them and I won’t feel they’re sweet or good, even though they’re awesome. I will absolutely want to eat something salty. Then here comes potato chips. If I eat potato chips in between chocolate bars, I can really enjoy tasty chocolate bars more than when I eat only them. In the same way, we’ll lose feeling of the happiness, if all of our life is only dreamlike things. We can’t thank our current situations even if we’re happy now. We sometimes feel fear, anger, sadness or disappointment in our daily life. That’s why we can find the happiness, and we hope to be happy or try to make our life better.

For me, the nightmare things give me chances to take a close look at my attitude, behavior, situation and myself. They also give me a chance to realize that I’ve earned my place in the sun. I think that a bad happening sometimes has possibility to become kind of a spice of our life, depends on how we accept it.

After the cleaning, I looked at the windows again. The shiny beautiful windows are OK, but the dirty leopard patterned windows were not so bad. If I see them from a different angle, I could enjoy feeling like I was at a safari park even though I was in my house. In the future, maybe I’ll face a variety of issues such as I want to eliminate them from my life. Even so I want to trust that I can overcome them and change them into good memories. It’s just like that I missed the leopard patterned windows now. So, my answer of the question is this — “Nothing. In my life, there is nothing that I want to wipe the slate clean. I don’t need cleaning up them.”

● corrected essay ●

Yesterday I cleaned my entire place. This time, I cleaned all of the windows, too. They looked like leopard patterned windows because of the rain and dust, since I didn’t clean the windows for a long time.

While I was cleaning the windows I remembered a question which was asked me before — “What would you do if you could wipe the slate clean?” When I was asked that question, I didn’t really think about it. But this time, while the dirty windows were getting to be clean, it reminded me of it.

“What would I do if I could wipe the slate clean?” I couldn’t come up with anything. It didn’t mean that I haven’t done anything bad or wrong; of course, I have some… no, many regrets.

If I could see my future like in the American TV drama “Flash Forward,” if my future was horrible I would try to avoid it. I also wish I could see my past by stepping into a time machine and give some advice to me like the Japanese animation “Doraemon.” But actually, I don’t want to erase anything that I felt or thought or did from my past. Even though they were bitter, sad and awful, they are parts of my history.

Even if only one piece was missing from my past, my life would change a lot. If I changed my past I wouldn’t be in the same situation as I’m now. Maybe I could have been happier, or have a brighter future, but I wouldn’t want to lose lots of memories that I can’t buy, whether they were good or bad.

As I said, I’m not completely satisfied with my past and current situation. Also, I sometimes do things I regret, especially when I’m drunk. I have a lot of embarrassing memories that I hate to talk about, but I don’t want to sweep them clean. That’s because I’ve enjoyed my life up to now and I believe I’m a lucky person. I’m surrounded by many nice people who always care for me, help me and have good time with me. Even if a super horrible thing happens to me I’m sure I can get over it, and I’ve done so. When I’m really feeling down, they always help me out of the dark situation I’m in. Once the nightmare changes into a good old memory, we can drink for several hours while talking and laughing about it. I can appreciate the importance of them, and enjoy having drinks with them, because of my terrible past.

I think everything which happens to me has a meaning or a reason. About 11 years ago, I lost my father suddenly. Unfortunately, until he died, I couldn’t recognize how much I was protected by him and I had a happy life because of him, which I took for granted. His death was an unthinkable sorrow, but it opened my eyes and taught me how awfully happy things were.

I always try to think like that when I have to overcome hard situations — think of my happy sweet histories as chocolate bars, and think of my bad awful histories as potato chips. If I always eat only chocolate bars, I’ll be tired of eating them and I won’t feel they’re sweet or good, even though they’re awesome. Then, I will definitely want to eat something salty. Here comes potato chips. If I eat potato chips in between chocolate bars, I can really enjoy tasty chocolate bars more than when I eat only them. In the same way, we’ll lose feelings of the happiness, if we only experience dreamlike things. We can’t appreciate our current situations even if we’re happy now. We sometimes feel fear, anger, sadness or disappointment in our daily life. Because of that, we can find happiness, and we strive to be happy or try to make our life better.

For me, the nightmare things give me a chance to take a closer look at my attitude, behavior, situation and myself. They also give me a chance to realize that I’ve earned my place in the sun. I think that a bad event sometimes has the possibility to become a kind of a spice of our life, depending on how we accept it.

After the cleaning, I looked at the windows again. The shiny beautiful windows are OK, but the dirty leopard patterned windows were not so bad. If I see them from a different angle, I can enjoy feeling like I’m at a safari park even though I’m in my house. In the future, maybe I’ll face a variety of issues that I want to eliminate from my life. Even so, I want to trust that I can overcome them and change them into good memories. It’s just like how I miss the leopard patterned windows now. So, my answer to the question is this — “Nothing. In my life, there is nothing that I want to wipe clean. I don’t need to clean up anything.”

Personal Space

● original essay ●

Generally it is said that the Japanese have narrower personal spaces than other countries’ people. Especially almost all Japanese women’s personal spaces are narrow. I agree these ideas. As you know, Japan is an island country and there is large mountains area, so population density becomes high and people don’t have large space if we look for comfortable habitation area in flatland. Eventually, does Japanese geography make our personal spaces narrow?

Japanese women walk closely and sit at very close range with their friends, even though they have more space. Many my friends also have such a behavior; walk very closely just like boarding on a crowded train. They are alright with this situation, but to me it is uncomfortable. However, I had never noticed my personal space is a bit wide until some of my friends told me, “Why do you always push me away while walking?” I seem to elbow my friends aside to get more space unconsciously when I am walking with my friends.

When I am on a train sometimes people, usually women age doesn’t matter, stand very close to me even if there is more space. At that time I always think, “Please stay away 20cm more from me.” I know that if I’m not comfortable I should keep away from her because the train is not mine and she just stands close to me, not touching me. I do know she doesn’t do anything wrong, but why I have to keep away from her. I have stood there before she comes. I also like to stay a space where near a door or a corner of the train when I’m on a train. Furthermore there is more space. Why she doesn’t care staying right by my side within such an easy reach which I can feel her body heat — “Look around you lady, there is more space! Please back off!” Maybe I have a larger personal space than ordinary Japanese women.

Then, I think I found a connection between the size of personal space and Japanese women’s behavior. If it is right, I think I can understand why many Japanese women don’t care strangers or people, who are not interested in.

For example, many Japanese girls make up in public, on the train unembarrassed. If people have a nature that not care about anything outside of their personal spaces, people, who have a narrow personal space, can have more possibility to enjoy their own time in public than people, who have a wider personal space. People with a narrow personal space may not be able to recognize that other people presence around them, because others are present outside of their personal spaces, even if others sit next to them on a train. That’s why Japanese girls don’t be ashamed their behavior. They think that people around them are completely nothing, which is like a puppet, statue or background. It is more important to them to put on false eyelash and make themselves the best looking on a train. They don’t care how people think of them, because they will see their lovely darling. Depending on how I look at it, can I say that the girls might be very rationalists? It is maybe that not about the size of personal space.

Actually I don’t know other countries’ people have how wider personal spaces than Japanese. Yet I had almost never saw a situation like that people stand close strangers on a train, like in Japan. They avoided getting on a crowded train and tried to catch the next one. It was about 20 years ago — when Japan was the bubble era— at New York so now it might be a little bit changing. New York City was such the busiest city in the world at that time. There is no large space in Manhattan same as in Tokyo. I don’t wonder that New Yorkers’ personal spaces became smaller like Tokyoites. After all, is this not a matter of geography? Is it might a matter of national character?

So far, I can’t establish a connection between national character and size of personal space. I don’t know why people have diversity of sizes of personal space. However, I trust many Japanese women’s personal space is narrow for the reason listed above. Anyhow I want everyone stay away at least more than 30cm from me when they ride on a train. Even so, I am a Japanese woman.

● corrected essay ●

Generally it is said that the Japanese have less of a need of personal spaces than other countries’ people. Especially not many Japanese women have personal spaces issues. I agree with these ideas. As you know, Japan is an island country and there are large mountainous areas, so population density is high and people don’t have a lot of space. Has Japan’s geography made our personal spaces narrower?

Japanese women walk closely and sit at very close range with their friends, even though they have more space. Many of my friends also behave like this; walk very closely just like when they board on a crowded train. They are alright with this situation, but to me it is uncomfortable. However, I never noticed my need for personal space until some of my friends asked me, “Why do you always push me away while walking?” I seem to elbow my friends aside to get more space unconsciously when we are walking.

When I am on a train, sometimes people, usually women of all ages, stand very close to me even if there is more space. I always think to myself, “Please move 20cm more away from me.” I know that if I’m not comfortable I should be the one who moves because the train is not mine and she is just standing close to me, not touching me. I know she isn’t doing anything wrong, but why should I move, when I was there first? I also like to stand near a door or in a corner of the train. Furthermore there is more space. Why doesn’t she see that there is more space, and why doesn’t she notice that we are close enough to feel each other’s body heat? — “Look around you lady, there is more space! Please back off!” Maybe I have need more personal space than ordinary Japanese women.

Then, I think I found a connection between the amount of personal space and Japanese women’s behavior. If it is right, I think I can understand why many Japanese women don’t care and weren’t interested in strangers or people in general.

For example, many Japanese girls put on make up in public, on the train, unembarrassed. People who don’t embarrass easily. People who don’t care about social boundaries regarding what’s public and what’s private. These people may not notice other people’s presence around them, because they are present outside of their personal spaces, even if others are sitting next to them on a train. That’s why Japanese girls aren’t ashamed of their behavior. They think that people around them are completely nothing that they are like puppets, statues or nearly a background. It is more important to them to put on false eyelashes and make themselves the best looking on a train. They don’t care what people on the train think of them, because they are only thinking about themselves and the boyfriend they are going to meet. Depending on how I look at it, I could also say that the girls might simply be practical about their time management. It might not be about personal space.

Actually I don’t know how the amount of personal space differs between countries, but I know that I’ve never seen the same behavior outside of Japan. People avoided getting on a crowded train and tried to catch the next one. This was about 20 years ago in NYC — during Japan’s bubble economy — so now it might be a little bit different. New York City was the busiest city in the world at that time. Manhattan is just as dense as Tokyo. I’m not surprised if New Yorkers’ sense of personal space is becoming more like Tokyoites. After all, is this not a matter of geography? Or is it a matter of cultural difference?

So far, I can’t establish a connection between cultural difference and the sense of personal space. I don’t know why people have different sense of personal space. However, I trust many Japanese women have less a need of personal space for the reasons listed above. Bottom line, I want everyone to stay away at least 30cm more away from me on trains. Even though, I am a Japanese woman.

Not a Fox Means …

● original essay●

What does come to your mind when you hear, “It is an animal, not a fox.”?

I usually don’t really feel I am Japanese in my dairy life. Yet, on rare occasions, I recognize that I am Japanese at an unexpected moment. Take, for example — when I can leave my bag while I am leaving my seat at a restaurant, when I am bowing my head while I am talking on a phone, when I feel nothing if I board a crowded train, when I wait for a cab’s door will be opened automatically, when I am nodding my head more than necessary while I am listening to others, when I feel happy and really tasty while I am eating Natto with raw egg and when I describe a raccoon dog to non Japanese people.

One day, one of my English teachers asked me, “What is Tanuki?” He read my electron lesson record and found an enigmatic word, “Tanuki.” Tanuki is a raccoon dog in Japanese, but unfortunately I didn’t know an English word. If I knew the English word of Tanuki, I couldn’t notice a difference to explain of Tanuki between the Japanese and foreigners. On the contrary, I would never know that my explanation was completely unique method and feeling to the Japanese.

Tanuki, raccoon dog and Kitsune, fox are familiar animals to the Japanese, however, it doesn’t mean that we usually see them in our dairy life but countryside. I have seen real them only a few times at zoos so far in my long life. To me, maybe to almost all Japanese, their illustrations are more familiar than the real. That is because Tanuki and Kitsune are common characters of Japanese folk stories and we have grown up with reading the folk stories’ picture books, which were written many illustrations of them.

In the Japanese folk stories, they are written as clever characters. They can transform to anything, even human being. Kitsune often transform to beautiful women. They try to cheat people or animals around them in stories. One of the differences between Tanuki and Kitsune is that Tanuki is a bit goofy.

Anyway, I tried to explain of Tanuki in English. “It is an animal, not a fox!” After I told it I was waiting for my teacher’s answer. It was because I had believed that I gave him a perfect clue, but he was waiting for my next explanation. After a short silence I realized very important thing. It would take excessive amount of time if I continued to tell other animals’ names, because there are various animals in the world. Who could know what a Tanuki is with such an awful clue, if people are non Japanese? Then, I decided to explain with how they look. At the same time, I kicked my brain computer into high gear to remind how they looked. There was no useful information in my head. I had only the clue which was never helped him to get an answer, Tanuki is a hairy animal, having 4 legs.

In Japan, when people hear a color “Red”, almost all Japanese people might “White” cross their minds— no “Blue”, “Green” or “Yellow.” The Japanese usually make “Red team” and “White team” when we need to divide into teams. The most famous Japanese music program is “Kouhaku-Uta-Gassenn, called ‘Kouhaku’,” broadcasting on every New Year’s Eve. The show is a “Red and White teams’ songs battle”, many popular artists of the year are divided ladies’ team, “Red team” and men’s team, “White team” and compete. Many elementary and junior high schools hold athletic meetings with dividing into red team and white team, and compete.

In other case “Edokko, who is born and raised in Tokyo. Their family are also born and raised in Tokyo over the three generations” makes an image of “Sekkachi, festinate person” to the Japanese. We associate Soba noodles with the Kanto area. Udon noodles, the Kansai area. In Japan, pink color is used to describe about sexual or erotic things; pink movies, which means blue movies in English.

Unfortunately, he needed to check the word on the internet because I couldn’t tell him what a Tanuki is with my explanation.

If I said, “Not a fox,” it mean “Raccoon dog.” “Not red” means “white.” “I am Edokko” means that I am a festinate person. It is like that when you hear “Not a dog,” “Cat” will come to your mind.

After all, what does come to your mind when you hear, “It is an animal, not a fox.”?

● corrected essay●

 

What does come to your mind when you hear, “It is an animal, not a fox.”?

I usually don’t really feel I am Japanese in my daily life. Yet, on rare occasions, I unexpectedly recognize that I am Japanese. Take, for example — I can leave my bag when I leave my seat at a restaurant, I bow my head while I am talking on a phone, I feel nothing special when I board a crowded train, I wait for a cab’s door to be opened automatically, I nod my head more than necessary while I am listening to others, I feel happy and my taste buds light up when I eat Natto with raw egg and I describe a raccoon dog to not Japanese people.

One day, one of my English teachers asked me, “What is a Tanuki?” He read my electronic lesson record and found an enigmatic word, “Tanuki.” Tanuki is a raccoon dog in Japanese, but unfortunately I didn’t know the English nomenclature. If I had known the English word for Tanuki, I couldn’t have known a different way to explain Tanuki between the Japanese and foreigners. On the contrary, I never would have known that my explanation was a completely unique method and feeling for the Japanese.

Tanuki, raccoon dog and Kitsune, fox are familiar animals to the Japanese, however, it doesn’t mean that we usually see them in our daily life but you may see only in the countryside. I have seen real ones only a few times at zoos so far in my long life. To me, maybe to almost all Japanese, their illustrations are more familiar than the real ones. That is because Tanuki and Kitsune are common characters of Japanese folk stories and we have grown up reading the folk stories’ picture books, which have many illustrations drawn in them.

In the Japanese folk stories, they are written as clever characters. They can transform into anything, even human beings. Kitsune often transform into beautiful women. They try to cheat people or animals around them in stories. One of the differences between Tanuki and Kitsune is that Tanuki is a bit goofy.

Anyway, I tried to explain Tanuki in English. “It is an animal, not a fox!” After I told him I was waiting for his answer. It was because I had believed that I gave him a perfect clue, but he was waiting for my next explanation. After a short silence, I realized a very important thing. It would take an excessive amount of time if I continued to tell other animals’ names, because there are various animals in the world. Who could possibly know what a Tanuki is with such an awful clue, if they are not Japanese? Then, I decided to explain using how they look. At the same time, I kicked my brain computer into high gear to remind myself how they looked. There was no useful information in my head. I had only the clue which would never help him to get the answer, “Tanuki is a hairy animal, having 4 legs.”

In Japan, when people hear a color “Red”, almost all Japanese people might have “White” cross their minds — not “Blue”, “Green” or “Yellow.” Japanese usually make “Red team” and “White team” when we need to divide into teams. The most famous Japanese music program is “Kouhaku-Uta-Gassenn, called ‘Kouhaku’,” broadcasting on every New Year’s Eve. The show is a “Red and White teams’ song battle”; many popular artists of the year are divided into a ladies’ team, “Red team” and a men’s team, “White team” and compete. Many elementary and junior high schools hold athletic meetings with division red team and white team.

 

In another case “Edokko” — people who are born and raised in Tokyo. Their family are also born and raised in Tokyo over three generations — calls up an image of “Sekkachi, festinate person” to the Japanese. We associate Soba noodles with the Kanto area. Udon noodles, the Kansai area. In Japan, pink is used to describe sexual or erotic things; pink movies, which means blue movies in English.

Anyhow, unfortunately, he needed to check the word on the internet because I couldn’t tell him what a Tanuki was with my explanation.

If I say, “Not a fox,” it means “Raccoon dog.” “Not red” means “white.” “I am Edokko” means that I am a festinate person. It is like that when you hear “Not a dog,” “Cat” will come to your mind.

After all, what does come to your mind when you hear, “It is an animal, not a fox.”?

 

Blood type

● original essay ●

“What is your blood type?” It is a common question to Japanese people, but I heard a little rumor that foreigners just can’t understand why Japanese people want to know their blood type, though they are not doctors.

l  People who are A-type blood tend to be sensitive, methodical, hardworkers,perfectionists and realists.

l  People who are O-type blood tend to be generous, sociable, sloppy and taking good

    care of people around them.

l  People who are B-type blood tend to go their own ways. They also tend to be moody people, selfish, full of curiosity, passionate and doers.

l  People who are AB-type blood tend to be calm, dual personalities, odd, rationalists, genius and sarcastic.

※　These are general theories about each blood type’s character in Japan.

What do you think about these theories? Do you think they are true?

Many Japanese people believe blood type can help them to understand other people’s character. However it seems such a mysterious question to foreigners, especially to European and American people.

I think, A-type blood people’s character seems express just Japanese people’s stereotype, and if I could add “wearing glasses and having cameras” it would be perfect. Unfortunately it is not a proof of that people’s character can be distinguished from their blood type, even if I could add an extra sentence, because stereotype is an ordinary fixed idea and an image.

The graph above from a website, it is each country’s ratio of blood type in 2005. Whether I believe that people’s characters can be divided from their blood type the same as Japanese theories, I am interested in the data above. There are different ratios depend on each country; especially Nicaragua has a big difference.

If people were expressed their characters from their blood type, each country’s ratio of blood type would express each country’s national characteristic. If the theories were right, almost all people in Nicaragua must have been generous, sociable and sloppy, and there is nobody odd and sarcastic.

One of my friends knew her correct blood type after giving birth to a boy. Until that time, she had believed that she was B-type and spent her life as B-type for 20 years, even though the truth is AB-type. She told me as soon as she saw me when I visited her hospital. “Can you believe this?  My real blood type is AB. As you know, I had spent my whole life as B-type until now. It’s too late to know I am AB-type.” To her, her real blood type was bigger news than childbirth. I am sure her character is expressed by B-type’s general theory; she goes her own way and she is moody, little bit selfish, and passionate. However I am also sure her character is expressed by AB-type’s general theory; she is calm, dual personality, odd and sarcastic.

In my case, people who don’t know me very well guess my blood type; “Your blood type surely is B or O, isn’t it?” People who are getting to know me well ask to; “Is your blood type A?” Actually my blood type is AB, so I answer “No. I have AB-type blood.” After they know my blood type, they change their guess; “Yes, you are absolutely AB, as my expected! I had thought you were a little bit strange.” or “Oh, really! I’m sure you seem AB from your character.” What the hell is their guess before they know the truth? If they believed I was AB, they should have asked to me; “Is your blood AB-type?”

In short, we can’t rely on each blood type’s theory, it is just preconception.

People look for some expressions and try to fit in their character from some theories; birth place, the sign of zodiac and blood type. If I talk myself; born in Tokyo, AB-type and a Sagittarius, by using those theories, I would be impatient, warm hearted, calm, dual personalities, odd, genius, loving freedom, very curious and a person of action.

Those might become good topics and help to make conversation with acquaintance, who likes a personality judgment from birth place, blood type and the signs of the zodiac.

I think some of them might be true, but those are only statistical tendencies.

 

● corrected essay ●

“What is your blood type?” It is a common question to Japanese people, but I‘ve heard a little rumor that foreigners just can’t understand why Japanese people want to know other’s blood type, though they are not doctors.

l  People who have A-type blood tend to be sensitive, methodical, perfectionists, hard workers and realists.

l  O-type tend to be generous, sociable, sloppy and to take good care of people around them.

l  B-type tend to go their own way. They also tend to be moody, selfish, full of curiosity, passionate and doers.

l  AB-type tend to have dual personalities and are calm, unusual; as well as, rationalists, geniuses and sarcastic.

※　These are general theories about each blood type’s character in Japan.

What do you think about these theories? Do you think they are true?

Many Japanese people believe blood type can help them to understand other people’s character. However it seems such a mysterious question to foreigners; especially to European and American people.

I think, A-type people’s character seems to express the Japanese people’s stereotype, and if I could add “wearing glasses and having cameras”, it would be perfect. Unfortunately that (or this) is not a proof that character can be understood from blood type; even if I could add an extra sentence, because stereotypes are ordinary fixed idea and an image.

The graph above is from a website. It shows each country’s ratio of blood type in 2005. Whether I believe that people’s characters can be determined from their blood type, the same as Japanese theories, I am interested in the data above. There are different ratios depending on country; Nicaragua has a noticeably big difference.

If people were expressed their characters from their blood type, each country’s ratio of blood type would express each country’s national characteristic. If the theories were right, almost all people in Nicaragua must have been generous, sociable and sloppy, and there would be nobody unusual and sarcastic.

One of my friends discovered her true blood type after giving birth to a boy. (or One of my friends knew her true blood type only after giving birth to a boy.) Until that time, she had believed that she was B-type and spent her life as B-type for 20 years, even though the truth is that she is AB. She told me as soon as she saw me when I visited her hospital. “Can you believe this?  My real blood type is AB. As you know, I had spent my whole life as B-type until now. It’s too late to find out I am AB-type.” To her, her real blood type was bigger news than childbirth. I am sure her character is expressed by B-type’s general theory; she goes her own way and she is moody, a little bit selfish, and passionate. However I am also sure her character is expressed by AB-type’s general theory; she is calm, unusual, sarcastic and has dual personality.

In my case, people who don’t know me very well guess my blood type: “Your blood type surely is B or O, isn’t it?” People who are getting to know me well ask: “Is your blood type A?” Actually my blood type is AB, so I answer, “No. I have AB-type blood.” After they know my blood type, they change their guess, “Yes, you are absolutely AB, as I expected! I had thought you were a little bit strange.” or “Oh, really! I’m sure you seem AB from your character.” What the hell is their guess before they know the truth? If they believed I was AB, they should have asked me: “Is your blood AB-type?”

In short, we can’t rely on each blood type’s theory, it is just preconception.

People look for some expressions and try to fit in their character from some theories － birth place, the sign of zodiac and blood type. If I look at myself － born in Tokyo, AB-type and a Sagittarius, using those theories, I would be impatient (hasty), warm hearted, calm, genius, unusual, freedom loving, very curious have dual personalities, and a person of action.

It might become a good topic and help to make conversation with acquaintances, who like a personality judgment from birth place, blood type and the signs of the zodiac.

I think some of them might be true, but those are only statistical tendencies.