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Anyone living in Japan can tell you that the words internationalization (国際化›) or globalization (グロバール化) are popular catchphrases now. Schools, companies and wider society are all caught up in this great wave called “Go Global”.

As a foreign student in Japan though, I can’t help but wonder – for a term that has gained such traction, no one has actually defined what  “internationalization” means. At first glance, it may seem like there are many credible attempts at increasing the international input in Japan but the inside story is far more mixed.

In essence, does my presence make my university make it a global institution? Does a good TOEFL score make someone a more global person? Do companies with many foreign employees automatically become global enterprises?

The Background

Right Outside the United Nations University in Tokyo

Let’s start at the background first. The current wave of  internationalization started a few years ago and has been first and foremost driven by economic reasons.

While Japanese car makers have still been doing relatively well, electronics makers have been doing very poorly. Sharp, Sony, Panasonic and Fujitsu have all been facing losses in recent years. The problem is even clearer when contrasted to the successes of Apple, Google and other silicon valley enterprises in the US and Samsung in Korea. After all, while Japanese phones used to be considered as the best – now the the best selling phone in Japan is the iPhone.

Other economic reasons include increasing moves towards free trade (like for example the Trans-Pacific Partnership) which Japan is negotiating about. In addition, a shrinking population has increased the need to increase overseas business for many Japanese firms.

Outside economics, Prime Minister Abe has also stated that it is his aim to put at least 10 Japanese universities in the global top 100 rankings by the end of the decade. The lack of international faculty and a sizable international student body hampers this. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are also another reason for the sense of urgency in internationalization.

So What’s Being Done?

Mikitani Hiroshi, CEO of Rakuten

Japan as a country has realized (belatedly) that a long reliance on a large domestic market, the homogeneity in the workforce and poor language skills have been reasons for stagnation and poor competitiveness. It is because of this that many Japanese firms are increasing their attempts at hiring non-Japanese employees.

Some parts of the business world have also been expanding their operations overseas – and I don’t mean just shifting manufacturing to where it is cheaper. Rakuten’s buying of Viber, Softbank acquiring Sprint Corporation and LIXIL acquiring multiple overseas companies are all examples for a recent trend where Japanese companies purchase foreign ones.

Rakuten in particular deserves special attention because they have made their company language English. As Japan Times reported, even internal meetings are to be held in English. Both praise and criticism have been directed at it though – Honda’s (yes the car maker’s) president once called the plan “stupid”.

Universities have also come under pressure to develop  global leaders and “internationally capable manpower”. Many have for example, made taking the TOEFL (an English proficiency tests) compulsory for all enrolled students – even to the extent that my American friend studying in Nagoya had to take it.

Some universities have also implemented degree programs in English to increase the international study body. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has also been supporting these programs with their Global 30 program.

Similarly, there have been increasing attempts to increase the number of Japanese students going abroad for their studies – which is at the moment far fewer than the number that South Korea and China send. Including for example, this video produced by AKB48 in conjunction with the MEXT to encourage people to go overseas to study. (My school makes an appearance too!)

In addition, MEXT also announced that they would be revamping the much criticized English education system in Japan – because if you can’t communicate with the world, you can’t possibly internationalize. Proposed measures include reforming the English syllabus, lowering the age at which students start having English classes and even implementing the TOEFL as a component of university entrance examinations.

But Is It Enough?

But first my own definition. As I said before, while everybody is talking about “globalization” and “internationalization”, no one has actually defined it properly. By “internationalization” here I mean gaining the ability to operate – and compete – on an international stage. It also means being actively engaged in the world, and accepting of the wider world as opposed to looking inwards. Regardless of the actual definition of what internationalization is etc., it’s often more clear what it is not.

Back to the question. The efforts above are pointing in the correct direction and I don’t mean to say otherwise. Increasing the numbers of foreigners in Japanese companies and schools is certainly important because without foreigners there can be no foreign input.

However, a lot more needs to be done and there are deeper issues that have to be resolved. Consider Japan’s immigration system for example. Japan remains one of the hardest countries around to gain permanent citizenship for without marriage to a Japanese person. One acquaintance of mine has been living in Japan for more than 10 years and did his professorship in a Japanese university. He was denied permanent residency last year.

Many companies may also be open to hiring foreigners but utilizing them after they enter the company is an entirely different question. After all, the one thing that I keep hearing from other foreigners working in Japan is that they are treated “like Japanese who just speak another language”.

This may sound good but it is not. For one, this means that many Japanese companies expect compliance to Japanese hierarchy and unquestioning top-down company culture even towards their foreign employees. And if you can’t question and voice your opinions, what internationalization can there be?

What About Schools Then?

Cherry Blossoms at the International Christian University in Tokyo

Schools (I am more familiar with this subject) present an entirely different set of problems. For one, there are some schools which offer “English courses” – taught by Japanese professors with an inadequate command of English. Being able to read and write papers in English does not automatically qualify someone to teach in it.

Furthermore, foreign student integration is an issue. Now, this does not apply to all schools – some are quite successful in integrating the foreign and local student bodies. Furthermore, if the student is studying in Japanese this isn’t that big a problem.

However, it is not uncommon for foreign students to be living in entirely separate dormitories from Japanese students. The classes that foreign students take may be entirely closed to Japanese students. Alternatively, even if they are open to enrollment by Japanese students, the fact that they are in English puts off most Japanese students such that only a small, select bunch participate in them.

What this leads to is foreign students living in a virtually separate world from their Japanese classmates. This does not just tend to socially isolate foreign students and alienate them, but this also adds zilch to the “internationalization” of the education of Japanese students.

There Is A Lot More To Be Done

Narita Airport

This topic is far more complex than can be summarized in a single article and there are many factors mixed and scrambled around here. For example, there are problems in the systems (eg. the permanent residency system and school class systems), the numbers of foreigners (even Tokyo has only 3% foreign population) and deeper cultural problems (eg. Japanese company culture).

It seems to me that Japanese attempts to internationalize by bringing in more foreigners, enforcing standards of English etc. are simply fulfilling the prerequisites of internationalization. This does not necessarily mean internationalization itself. Because yes, without foreigners, there can be no foreign input. And without a degree of English, global communication is often difficult.

But there are deeper problems such as homogeneity which need to be addressed too. To me at least, how global Japan will become will largely rest on efforts to tackle the deeper problems and not just those on the surface.

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Looking at the website, it was apparent that two gaikokujin were available for rental. One Australian with dark hair and a smirky smile and one American with a beard and blue eyes.

Turns out they are the co-founders and they have had many clients between them… too many, in fact. If you’re a gaikokujin in Japan get in touch with these guys. They’re looking to add some folks to their roster. You can visit their website at gaikokujin-rental.jp.

Although they are in their early goings over at Gaikokujin Rental, I thought it was an interesting idea. I also had no idea what it was they were doing, so I sent them an email asking if they’d be willing to do an interview. They were very gracious and got back to my questions super quickly. What follows is said interview, and it includes stories, success stories, and information on what the heck all this gaikokujin rental stuff is all about.

#Interview START

1. Who started gaikokujin-rental.jp?

Two guys, one Australian and one American. Both have called Japan home for a handful of years: Six and ten respectively.

2. Why did (you) start it?

“Why has someone not?,” is what we have been asking ourselves for years. Peer to peer business in Japan has always been BIG. Big for both client and contractor. Yet it seems every year the market is not adequately accessed, and unfortunately for many the public space for self-promotion is in, we feel, terminal decline.

For-hire platforms available at present are largely top-down corporate to individual, not peer to peer, and we think peer to peer is important and remarkable. We think it makes for new economy.

Also, we feel Gaikokujin Rental serves as an alternative meeting space to the usual foreigner/Japanese social venues which exist in Japan today.

Author Note: Oh, so it’s like AirBnB but for people and their skills/time. Now I’m starting to get it.

3. How long have you been renting foreigners?

Gaikokujin Rental officially launched on November 29, 2013.

4. It looks like you have two people being rented out. Who are they?

They are the co-founders, Austin and Adams.

5. Are you looking to add more people to rent out?

We are actively looking to add more foreigners as well as increase Japanese readership at our site – We wish to bring as many people together and build as many success stories as possible. To this end, we have invested energy and time into the idea, sustainability and scalability of Gaikokujin Rental.

Author Note: There’s a contact form on their website if you’re interested.

6. What kinds of things have you done? I need a bedtime story.

Austin:

I once had a woman hire me to look after her children and clean her house.

I was hired by a Japanese women to go shopping with her and pick out a birthday present for her husband because he was a foreigner.

I was asked to attend a bonenkai with a group of salary men and speak only English with them.

I was asked by a young Japanese couple to come to Kyoto and take pictures of the two of them.

Author Note: Now Austin tells a story:

Well, it started around 8:00 on a Friday night. I got off from work and was asked to meet my client at Nagoya (Meieki) station. We engaged in small talk for a few minutes, after which she asked me if I could do two things. The first was to check some English paper work which she had been given by her boss. I was asked to explain it and help her with some possible answers.

After that, she wanted me to join her for dinner. My client enjoyed eating spicy food but none of her friends or family enjoyed spicy food. We had exchanged mail previously and found that we both had a liking for spicy food. She had already found one of the spiciest Nabe restaurants in Nagoya and made a reservation.

After making our way to the restaurant we entered, took a seat and decided what we wanted to eat. I then helped my client with the paper work which had been mentioned earlier after that our meals arrived and we chatted while we ate. She asked me some questions about what it was like living abroad ( because she was thinking of doing the same one day).

And also asked me questions about my country. The rental period was for 2 hours. So after the 2 hour period was up we talked about the possibility of meeting again, paid the check and went home.

Adams:

I’ve had clients ranging from housewives to businessmen to ramen chefs to entrepreneurs to bohemian outcasts – a motley cast of characters. Once I was asked to work in a Ramen shop to take orders from Russians, because apparently the Ramen shop Master “couldn’t understand the Russians.” I’ve done interpretation work between Italian businessmen and a Japanese apparel firm, but most of the work involved making reservations at onsens for the Italians.

I’ve been in front of and behind the camera for modeling and photography work, behind a desk as a freelance journalist and webshop master, a private mail courier for digital products, Santa Claus… YES, Santa Claus, an English teacher, a flyer boy, a bar server, and a BIG buyer of Switzerland-made outdoor clothing for a Japanese Trading company.

7. Have you run into any problems while running this service?

Yes, but not the kind one would bemoan about. Actually at present there are simply too many orders to fill for our current line-up of two foreigners. This is the scenario we envisioned, and to ratchet up both the supply and demand we are working in earnest to promote our service via virtual channels, magazines and ultimately word-of-mouth.

8. What’s the best success story of someone using gaikokujin-rental.jp?

It would be difficult to only talk about the best success story and not mention all the really good ones. On the Japanese side of it, students have increased their TOIEC scores, hobbyists have procured parts and various nick-knacks from abroad that otherwise could not have been gotten, local businessmen have been fed detailed information on foreign market trends, party-goers have been entertained, and the list goes on.

On the foreigner side of it, success is in the MAGIC. The magic being that once your profile goes up online at Gaikokujin Rental you can get paying customers who deal with you directly. Furthermore, your new customer is an in-road into their own network – ehem, your new network.

9. What are you hoping to achieve with gaikokujin-rental.jp?

In a word, symbiosis. We want to turn the disconnect between peer-to-peer business into uber-connection! To us growth means lots of little success stories the length of Japan, new networks forged, smiles, and satisfied customers. We plan to make this happen by staying online as a professional go-between for that all-important first connection between Japanese and foreigners.

For Japanese, we hope to attract anyone and everyone, including businesses, who seek to employ foreigners in one way or another.

For foreigners, we hope to attract everyone from young transplants to long timers to even those residing abroad who perhaps offer services via the Internet, and in general anyone here who seeks odd-jobs, freelance stuff, part-time work, one-off arrangements, and basically new money and customers. That’s teachers of all sorts, musicians, caregivers, models, IT people, photographers, artisans, entertainers, self-proclaimed ambassadors and more.

#END interview

So there you have it. At first I thought Gaikokujin Rental was some kind of joke. Something someone put up as a kind of commentary about how “differently” gaikokujin were viewed in Japan. Or, at the very least I thought it was a hobby that a couple of dudes set up because they thought there was an opportunity to make some extra yen.

It turns out, in my opinion, to be a pretty smart business idea. Of course, they have to find new people on both sides (Japanese and gaikokujin), and they are eventually going to have to deal with the problems that come with bad experiences, etc., but in Japan I can see this business model working. Anywhere else? Not so much. Just imagine if there was a “Rent a Norwegian” company in America, where you would get your Norway-related needs filled. There would be a small mob outside the Rent-A-Norwegian office demanding that this racism stops.

In Japan, however, I doubt this is going to be seen as racism. There’s actual need for gaikokujin-related tasks in Japan, as was illustrated in the stories above. A Japanese person needed an opinion from a foreigner about a gift for her foreign husband. Some people needed someone who could speak English. Another person just wanted to eat spicy food with someone (which I can attest to, Japanese people don’t know what “spicy” really means).

I hope they keep on trucking along and start to grow and do okay. Maybe we’ll see if we can meet up with them and see what they’re doing the next time we’re filming in Japan.

Website: http://gaikokujin-rental.jp

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My own experience has been between the two. Search the internet (and even this blog!) and you’d probably get tons of articles written by foreigners in Japan. But very few of them come from people who actually can blend in, and this in itself brings an entirely new and different set of issues.

The Good Stuff

Not standing out can be a very good thing sometimes. Many foreigners complain about the constant staring that they receive – if they speak English in public they get stared at. If they speak Japanese in public they get stared at. In the toilet doing their own business they get stared at. Some people embrace the attention – some do not.

In addition to this, seemingly harmless and often well-meaning Japanese remarks such as “oh you are so good at using chopsticks!” or “oh you can write kanji!” are perfectly fine – at first. After a few months in Japan however, these start grating on many people because it just signals to them how “foreign” they are in Japanese society.

For us however, we never do receive that kind of attention unless perhaps we open our mouths and speak a different language. And while I do get “do you use chopsticks where you come from?” or “oh you can write Kanji” (my race invented it dammit!), I most certainly do not get it as much as the majority of the other foreigners in Japan.

Another very true thing is that many Japanese get very self-conscious around foreigners because, quite simply, they simply do not know how to act around someone from a different cultural background. This is partly because the Japanese are very keen to avoid offending other people – however, when placed in a situation with someone visibly different and probably from a different country,  their offense-avoiding radar goes into overdrive. As East-Asians we don’t naturally put the Japanese “on guard” by default, sometimes because they think you’re Japanese, but also perhaps because you don’t look that different from them. Therefore, perhaps on a subconscious level I am not recognized as being that “different” too.

Furthermore, if you register yourself as a resident of Japan, you are even allowed to create a Japanese common name (tsuumei), or basically a Japanese alias for yourself. Nothing stops you from using it to apply for jobs, use at school or printing it on your name-card. Basically, if you make a tsuumei for yourself and can speak an at least near-native level of Japanese, there is nothing stopping you (except for the “nationality” box on forms… and grammar mistakes) from passing off as and living life as a typical Japanese person. This is in fact what many ethnic Koreans, especially those descended from families who came to Japan before the end of World War II, do in real life. Japan’s original peoples, the Ainu, had to do it too.

The Not-So-Good Stuff

Unfortunately, not standing out has its drawbacks too.

Take for example something which is utterly obvious to most foreigners in Japan – being a foreigner you get to take many liberties that the Japanese cannot themselves take. For example, you will be allowed to be much more direct, honest and critical about issues in a way that would invite bullying if you were Japanese. Can’t really understand how to divide the rubbish? It’s okay, after all you’re a gaijin. Some people do take this to an extreme though – there are some who, for example, buy the cheapest train ticket available and pretend to be lost when they get to the station they wanted to go to. The station staff often apparently just let them exit – after all, they are just a bunch of lost gaijin.

To give an extreme example, can you imagine three East Asians doing the same thing (not that they should)? It is clear that they would have much less success doing so than if they were visibly foreign. Similarly, in terms of being able to speak freely and other things, we don’t get that many “gaijin liberties” living in Japan.

There are many different reasons to this. As said earlier, because you look the same, people will subconsciously assume that you are the same. Secondly, one strand of logic, which isn’t actually wrong, goes: Hey you’re Asian. Shouldn’t you know how Asia works with all the rules and politeness?

Exoticism

There’s a subtler dimension to this though. This appeared on one of my friend’s Facebook wall one day.

“Was with a group of white friends last night. Japanese guy approaches, introduces himself, talks to all the white guys, looks at me, ignores, walks away. Maybe it’s time I put on makeup to make my eyes bigger and nose taller…”

Perhaps said Japanese guy mistook him for another Japanese person but the point is clear: There are actually lots of Japanese people who want to make friends with foreigners. Often, this is because they really do want to know more about the outside world or really just because they want to be friends. However, sometimes it’s just because foreigners are “exotic.” Thus, it’s no surprise then that they gravitate towards the more “exotic” looking ones over the Asian ones.

This is also expressed in other ways. For example, many of my friends who are looking to teach English say that private English schools and people looking for private English tutors prefer to hire non-Asians over visibly Asian people – even if said Asian person is a native speaker of English.

How To Deal With It

The above does not mean that Asians cannot make themselves stand out though. As said earlier, get a weird haircut or a tattoo or speak loudly in a different language (especially English) and voila – you’ve announced to anyone that you’re different. Likewise, be extremely extroverted, frank and/or rude in a stereotypically gaijin way and you’d be treated like a full-fledged gaijin at least by the people who have known you for a while.

The extremely odd thing, and the counter to the point said above about how being Asian allows you to lower the guard of the Japanese that you first meet, is that sometimes, you have to go through this “gaijin coming out” process. If you can’t speak fluent Japanese, this is often after the Japanese person realizes that your Japanese is a bit off and asks you where you are from. If you can speak fluent Japanese, this is often after the Japanese person has had a perfectly normal conversation with you and asks where in Japan you are from, your name or about your high school.

You then tell them that you’re from this-and-this country and the conversation usually simply continues, after the customary 日本語上手ですね (Your Japanese is so good!). Occasionally there is this sense of awkwardness – then you know that the offense-avoidance radar is getting scrambled. And very occasionally, as described by a friend of a friend: “you feel that a wall comes up and that the conversation stops.”

As you can see, very coming out-ish.

It’s Not About Which Is Easier

It really is not. Neither is it about who has the advantage or who has the disadvantage – because we all have our different advantages and disadvantages. Some people would much rather have the freedom that comes with being obviously different but then to some people being stared at by nearly everyone wherever one goes is extremely stressful.

What is true is that each situation has its different challenges and they often require different approaches to handle them. Some use the opportunity to lie low and under the radar; others make the extra effort to stand out.

But then again, everything has its own challenges. Being Japanese in Japan definitely has its challenges too. So, all else being said, all there is to do is to recognize your own situation, and choose your method of life.

My husband and I met in Kyoto, Japan, where we were both working. The first culture shock I experience was when he showed up to one of our early dates in roller blades. You may wonder what the problem with that is, but I felt so embarrassed by it. It’s something that would never happen if you were dating a Japanese guy, as roller skates or roller blades really leave a corny impression on us because of an old fashion male idol group called 光GENJI(Hikaru-genji)

They were popular from the end of 80’s to the beginning of 90’s. NOT modern times. What was he doing on roller blades?

Is this a cultural difference?

It’s sometimes called “a love beyond borders”, but there are obviously many cultural differences experienced while dating a non-Japanese person. In my case, of course the roller blade story was not the only one. Long before meeting him I had learned from movies and television that Western people aren’t shy about kissing in public, but I didn’t know that they also wouldn’t mind farting in public. I don’t know. It may only be my husband. Yeah, it probably is.

However, my point is that many things that we may think to be a cultural difference may just be some personal attribute. So, I’d like to point out that the following list I’m going to utilize to explain what it’s like to date a non-Japanese person are simply examples of what some people in relationships with someone outside their own nationality have noticed and there it is likely that many people won’t fit or agree with these examples. Please don’t be upset if they seem not to fit your perceptions. At this point in our lives we must all be aware of how opinions can vary.

Preliminary Information

As I just mentioned above, we gain some sort of preliminary information from movies, TV series and other such productions. As in the movies, my husband has the “ladies first” spirit and he felt weird when he realized that a man is actually the first person to be served in a Japanese restaurant or such. He also does refer to me with various kinds of affectionate names, such as ‘Honey’, ‘Babe’, ‘Sweetheart’, ‘Dear’, and ‘Cutie’. If I was called such things by a Japanese guy, goosebumps would likely appear on my arms because I would find it too cheesy. However, when my Canadian husband calls me those things, it’s fine because I was already aware that this was a common thing.

Now, because Canadians often pronounce ‘t’ as a soft ‘d’, it made the name ‘Cutie’ sound like the Japanese word ‘Kyuuri’, which means cucumber. My mother was a quite surprised to learn that my husband was calling me ‘cucumber’, as well as a little upset to learn that he named me after a well known pig from the Australian movie ‘Babe’.

However, some background knowledge can be very misleading. We watch people say “I love you” in movies all the time. I was even taught in school that you only use ‘like’ to describe things but never ‘people’ and if you were to say ‘I like you’ to a person, that would be rude, especially if they were saying “I love you” first. Darn Japanese English classes!

I still remember when he first asked me what I thought about him shortly after we started seeing each other and I answered ‘I love you’. His face turned red and his expressions contorted the meaning of, ‘really? love? what?’, although he should have considered the possibility that I hadn’t had enough experience with English to know that that phrase was a VERY big phrase. Anyway, I felt embarrassed. At the time I didn’t know that a more appropriate starter would have been ‘I like you’ and once you actually feel ‘love’ for the person is when you change the word.

After saying “I love you”, I quickly realized from his reaction that it was the wrong answer and stopped saying it until I actually felt so, but my English was so bad at the time that I couldn’t even explain why I said that. A couple years later, I arbitrarily opened his email inbox and found an email that he had written around that same day that I first said it. I forget to whom it was written to, but  he wrote “Mami said ‘I love you’ lol”. I was kind of shocked to see it and felt embarrassed again. Well, of course we had a little fight afterward and he changed his password, too. Good thinking.

Misleading English-Japanese Background Knowledge

Speaking of misleading English that I had learned in school, ‘should’ and ‘maybe’ might be two of the most commonly misunderstood words. As for the former, I was taught that it’s translated into ‘verb+べきだ(bekida)’, which is used in Japanese to strongly advise something. So, whenever he suggested something for me to do, I sometimes thought he was playing the role of the “commander” until I learned it’s actually just used in a suggestive way.

If he said “We should go see a movie this weekend”, I considered that to be a plan that he has made. However, when the weekend comes and I ask “What movie are we seeing today?”, he’ll have no clue what I’m talking about or even how I came to think we were going to see a movie. I would tell him that he told me that’s what we were going to do, but he’ll say “I said no such thing”. It got a little confusing at times.

Photo by Melonparty

As for the latter (maybe), I was taught that it’s translated into ‘たぶん(tabun)’ or ‘verb+かもしれない（kamoshirenai)‘, which can mean ‘maybe’ but sometimes it also means “probably”. Either way, my point is that when my husband uses “maybe”, I know now that it is much less likely to happen than I expected it would be. For example, let’s look at the conversation below.

Mami: “So, my birthday party is on April 9. Can you come?”
Friend: “Maybe/Tabun I will.”

If the friend is a Japanese, she/he will most likely show up, or at least call or text you to let you know if they can’t show up. However, if it’s he/she is a Westerner, things are quite different. So let’s say my party finishes and they wind up not coming and they never notified me of it, it’s needless to say that I’d be pretty disappointed. However, if at this point I asked them why they never showed up, apparently an acceptable answer is “I said that maybe I would come.”

Although none of the occasions on which this happened were actually my birthday, my husband and I have had conversations similar to these many times. I finally learned that the answer ‘maybe’ doesn’t always mean that the person is actually considering the suggestion unless someone brings up the idea again later on. Most of the time, however, what it actually indicates is that the thing is not likely to happen because it’s an answer that shows minimal interest.

Punctuality

Another difference that you may want to be mindful of if you are dating a Japanese person is punctuality. Many Japanese people are very punctual, except for people from Okinawa. Again, it may not be everyone from Okinawa, but people there tend not to be too bothered with time. We call it Okinawa Time.

When I was working in Kyoto I had a colleague from Okinawa. He told me a story that illustrates the concept of Okinawa Time. One day, he was supposed to meet his classmate at 6pm. On his way there he received a message from his friend and he was shocked because it said “Sorry, I’m going to be 5 minutes late.” In the end, my Okinawan friend arrived after his “5 minutes late” friend. To him, 5 minutes is nothing because he was on Okinawan time. I think Okinawa Time and many foreigners’ time is very similar.

Now, I wouldn’t say that foreigners aren’t punctual, but I feel that many of those that I’ve met so far also think that ‘5 minutes’ isn’t a big deal. My husband wouldn’t consider that as being late and he definitely wouldn’t feel the need to text me about it. I’m not a strict person either so I’m not bothered by 5 minutes, but I may send a text to my friends because some Japanese people place a considerable amount of importance on punctuality. They think it’s rude to be late without any notification, even if it’s only 5 minutes. Whether it’s for social events, business meetings, or getting onto a train, punctuality is so important in Japanese society, so make sure you pay attention to the time!

The Evil Bathroom Door

After I came to Canada from Japan, the first cultural difference I faced that I needed to get used to involved the bathroom door. Here in Canada, people leave the door open if nobody is in there. It also shows that it’s not occupied. However, in Japan, it’s not good manners to leave the door open. It took me a while to get used to leaving the door open, but also, and most importantly, not to open the door if it’s closed. I finally learned this when I made my brother-in-law rather upset by interrupting him when he was enjoying a long sit-down and reading Harry Potter. We now call this ‘Harry Potter time’.

Love Conquers All Evil Misunderstandings (Hopefully)

All in all, you and your partner will get accustomed to many differences and soon come to not be bothered by such things anymore, so long as you love the person. It’s also kind of fun to learn of those differences, isn’t it? There is also always some communication barrier and no matter how much improvement you make, there will always be another conversation that you completely misunderstood. At times, you may struggle to explain what you are thinking or how you are feeling in that moment, so it’s important to be patient and listen to what is being said until you understand each other.

It’s clear that with a topic such as this, one could go on and on about all the funny, frustrating, silly and dramatic things that can arise in a relationship simply as a result of the partners being from different countries. It’s a great experience, but one you may just have to try to experience on your own. Do any of you have experiences like these that you’d like to share with us? Do you have any questions for me about this topic? Did you enjoy this entry? I love hearing from you, so please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Arigatou!

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