Japanese do really well in these aspects!(Week11)[Assessment]

Hofstede concluded six culture dimensions to described a culture.

a comparison between Japan and China.

At 92 in uncertainty avoidance, people in Japan are intolerant of the unexpected and threatened by ambiguous. Using the cultural relativism view to say, they think take precautions are the right and necessary things. This characteristic of Japanese is attributed to the fact that Japan is constantly threatened by natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.

  

Japan Practices Disaster Prevention Drills

Here is another example of their well-prepared ability. In Japan, kids travel to school on their own from very young age, earlier than China and some western countries.

They do worry about their Children's safety, so they designed this school bag for primary school students.

randoseru, the large, sturdy backpacks used by Japanese elementary school children

This bag uses the material which can make you float when you fall into the water and can protect your head when earthquake.  Each students also have a phone with GPS, so parents can know children's positions.

While in China, without some emergency measures, parents worry about the children's safety, so they pick up their children from school everyday.

There exits plenty of differences between cultures, one of the aims of anthropology, is to reduce our ethnocentrism when facing different cultures. 

I admire for Japanese ability of planning everything carefully to minimize the uncertainty. They try to figure out what's the problem and then find out how to solve the problems from the roots. 

Under these precautions, Japanese can keep calm no matter what happens, and try to live peacefully with the uncertainty. While with a relative low level in uncertainty avoidance, Chinese do not take precautions as much as Japanese, we just let it happen which lead to panic when uncertainty happens. That's where our culture should learn from.

a big issue between Japan and China (Week 10)[Assessment]

Japan and China have a a long historical origins' complicated and tension relationship. From the second world war to the contesting of the Diaoyu Islands(called senkaku islands in Japanese).

Nowadays, the 'big issue' in tourism between these two countries maybe the consistently mutual unfavorable impressions between the general population accompanied by the increasing number of Chinese tourists in Japan.

tourists increasing in Japan

Here is a A Japan-China Relation poll.


Only 11.3% of Chinese public hold a favorable impression of Japan, but approximately 90% people in each country have a express antagonism towards another.

However, recent years, Chinese spending power have become the biggest part of Japanese visitors income. 'About a quarter of the $17 billion outlaid by tourists in Japan in 2014 came from Chinese visitors.'

Despite the anti-Japan sentiments, Japan has strict food and medicine safety supervision system, and also prior technology, Chinese public prefer to shop overseas due to China's frequent product safety scandals.

Japanese store use Chinese slogan to attractive Chinese visitors

Chinese customers receipt in Japanese duty free

With the unfavorable impressions, Japanese media create a word 爆買い (crazy buying or buying spree) to describe how Chinese people shopping in Japan. 

While around 95% people in Japan and China said they access the information about each other through the media. People in Japan may resent to Chinese tourists' behavior due to these kind of word-with-prejudice. While response to Japanese' antipathy, some people in China may have extreme views, such as to boycotts of Japanese products.

As far as I am concerned, we should not forget the history, the past. To remember is not to bear grudges, but to draw lessons from the past and apply to the future. Japan and China can benefit by associating together, achieve a boom is tourism.

Essentialism of Japan(Week 9)

Japan has a multifaceted culture and does really well in balancing traditional and modern culture.

on the one hand it is steeped in the deepest of traditions dating back thousands of years; on the other it is a society in a continual state of rapid flux, with continually shifting fads and fashions and technological development that constantly pushes back the boundaries of the possible.

If you are looking for the infinite boundary of possibility you are sure to visit that fascinating country! 

The country's identity has long been associated with learning and creative.

Standing at the far-eastern end of the Silk Road and drawing influences from the entire continent, Japan has spent millennia taking in and refining the cultural bounties of Asia to produce something distinctly Japanese.

It take advantage of Chinese traditional culture but develop far from it, Japan people gives their own special characters in that culture. Here's a video from China's CCTV talks about the impact of Chinese culture on Japan in the history.



However, Traditional culture is only half the story, the other half may be the pop culture, it evolving contemporary-art scene, design a dynamic and various-appetite culture which suits the young. This pop culture helps shape the fascinating old-meets-new cultural landscape

Travelers to Japan have always found themselves entranced by a culture that is by turns beautiful, unfathomable and sometimes odd.

Staying in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) is utterly different from staying in a hotel. Sitting in a robe on tatami (woven floor matting) eating raw fish and mountain vegetables is probably not how you dine back home. And with helpful locals, spotless facilities and excellent public transport, you can experience this exoticism with ease

However, in China, our shortcoming compared to Japan may be there exists an ideological obstacle of 'stressing the past,not present', we thought we have plenty and rich history culture, but less some motivation about innovation and develop new elements, that's what we should learn from Japan.

One of the confused eating manners in Japan (week 6)[Assessment]

Japan, as a country attach vital importance to the social conventions and has a plenty of etiquette, people their picking up this unique culture and respecting the tangible or intangible rules. There are many complicate aspects that a foreign visitor may not expected to know, so if you have no idea of Japanese culture may experience culture shock when they first go to Japan, even for me, an asian girl.

The first thing that shocked me was Japanese people are supposed to making so much noisy when they eating noodles! In Japan, sound you make while eating the Ramen conveys deliciousness. So maybe your quietly bite without slurping may regards as you don't eat them deliciously or the food is not delicious.

In China, slurping your noodles is really a bad manner, I think it's same in some western countries. In my family, if I make any noise when I am eating, my grandpa will criticize me severely, because it's a manner that kindergarten children may know.

To better adjust to the local culture, we may try to do as Japanese do. But not all kind of slurping is polite during eating, so how to slurp your noodles in right ways? 

Meals are always accompanied with drinks, next, we'll talk about the drinking etiquette. One of the conventions is do not pour for yourself.

Japanese often pour up the glasses for the people seated closely. You should accepted it and then reciprocate. 

While in China, the younger or the lower in positions should pour for the senior of the bunch first. But when peers hang out for a meal, you can just help yourself and do what you would like to.

Start our travel from Tsukiji Fish Market(week5)

There is a place that almost appear literally in every guide book of Japan and every tourist's traveling plan. That's Tsukiji Fish Market! Whose official name is Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market. Located in Tokyo, it is the world's largest marketplace for seafood and nowadays a significant landmark of Japan.

A view of Tsukiji Market from top

This market established in 1935, by Tokugawa Leyasu, during the Edo period, the fishermen are asked to provide food for Edo Castle--nowadays, Tokyo.

the insight of market

One special thing you can do at Tsukiji Market is seeing the tuna auction. This auction happens before the sun rises most mornings. However, as a protection for the normal working, there are only 120 tourists allowed in the auction a day, you cannot booking but just first come first serve basis, so you may stay at the market overnight to get a number of visiting!

Meanwhile, we cannot ignore the global stocks dwindling of bluefin tuna. As the overfishing becomes a sever problem, government are regulate on the catching of them.

tuna auction in Tsukiji

Besides the visiting, if you are a foodie, and love sushi, Tsukiji market can make you satisfied, you can find sushi that making by the freshest raw fish in the restaurants near the market.

Influenced by the landform, Japanese always acquire food from marine resources, aimed to be fresh, healthy, and low in fat. They also emphasized on using simple seasonings in order to enhance the natural flavors of the ingredients used.

Sushi

However, seafood is less prominently in Chinese dietary structure, we prefer red meat and do not eat raw fish. Our cuisines using stir fried, fried or some other methods, tend to have stronger flavors, such as soy sauce, chili and pepper.

Spicy chicken

Cha!Cha!Cha!(week4)

When we talking about Japan, one important thing that couldn't be missed is the Tea! Japan is really a tea heaven, and especially famous for its tea ceremony, called chanoyu or Chado(hot water for tea in Japanese). It is a spiritual experience more than just drinking tea.

The tea ceremony springs from China, which can tracked back to Zen Buddhism. Chines tea plant traveled to Japan during the Tang Dynasty, then Japanese learned to plant and created their own drinking traditions. Thus, the tea using in Japanese tea ceremony is really different from its Chinese counterpart. In Japan, they will use finely ground powered tea, which has a balance in traditional Japanese sweets and the bitter taste of the tea, whereas Chinese people always used the dried leaves from tea bushes, which focus on the bitter taste.

matcha

Chinese tea

Tea ceremony is a ritualistic traditions and a symbol of Japanese culture, which represents harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. The whole process of Chado, like graceful movement in pouring water and serving, and the strict etiquette about how to consumed it, is in a 'zen' way, and moreover about aesthetics. 

etiquette of Chado

As Harper and White(2010) described, a clear and effective symbol may readily reproducible and easily disseminated, tea ceremony of Japan is similar to pavlova of Australia, Tacos of Mexico, they are reproducible in other way, people learn the skill of tea ceremony performing, and then this performance can be part of the city sightseeing for local tourism. This symbolic traditional custom gives Japan  a national significance and provide a shorthand way for foreigners to gain a brief understanding of Japanese Culture.

Does this blog excite you with explore more on Japanese tea ceremony? Why not go on a travel and book online to experience a orthodox tea ceremony!

Writing at the beginning

こんにちは(Hello!) This is Kelly, a Chinese girl who lives in Melbourne now, a  student who is keen on traveling, moreover, a blogger who want to inspire the readers to travel and to live an active life.

Why do we travel? 

To me,  travel carries so much more meaning than simply seeing different parts of the world and tasting the different food of delicacy.

I find Pico Iyer describes the reason perfectly 'We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.'

Travel does help me to discover and redefine myself. We, as ordinary people, waste so much time on speculating what others think and do. We follow others while being unaware of what we truly like, dislike, enjoy doing or are good at. Perhaps when I travel, I see myself from different angles and different perspectives, that helps me to figure out the mysteries of my self.

Travel enriches my life as a whole. I believe that TRAVEL is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.

What will this blog talk about?

YES! As you may guess at the very beginning when seeing the 'hello' in Japanese, this blog is talking about Japan!

Japan has a fascinating and pluralistic culture. This blog will through a Chinese girl's angle, talking about the difference between Chinese and Japanese culture.

Many western people may think that all the Asian countries are almost the same, China and Japan located close to each other and may have a similar culture or lifestyle. Actually, no! There are so many differences not only in language and visible performance but also in eating habit, lifestyle, and mindset. I have never been to Japan before, but get familiar with it by Japanese cuisine and TV programmes. In this blog, I will tell you my feeling about Japanese culture and discuss some of the things that surprised me during my researching.

Chinese home cooking

Japanese cuisine

I hope you can get excited by reading my blog then feeling the infinite possibilities and amazing freshness! Cheers!

Kelly in NGV