language dirrefences : usa and japan

On Being a Foreigner in Japan:Upon closing the book on the last page, my mind flitted back to a post on Gakuranman's blog earlier this year about becoming Japanese. A bunch of J-vloggers (Japan-related video bloggers, for long) over on YouTube got into a lengthy and heated debate about the Japanese people's acceptance of foreigners who have chosen to live in Japan.Any foreigner who's lived in Japan for longer than a week has experienced an array of special treatment in every range of the spectrum from good to bad. Sometimes you encounter someone who believes so strongly that foreigners can't learn Japanese that he'll refuse to listen to you long enough to realize that you're not speaking English. Other times, people will buy you pricey gifts or food just for the chance to practice their English on you for half an hour. At all times, though, there is an invisible wall, of sorts, a distance between you and them. There are exceptions of course, usually among younger folk who have visited a foreign country before or would like to in the future, but for the most part, you're never quite accepted.

Some foreigners (at least, among us English-speakers) are bothered by the fact that the Japanese refuse to adopt us. Others (myself included) are okay with it. If you visit that post of Gakuranman's, above, and watch the videos, you'll see an interesting array of perspectives on the topic from a variety of people whose experiences in Japan differ by length and type.Now, while I don't mind that I'll always stick out a bit in Japan, it is nice to have a better understanding of why that's so. This is where Japan & America connects to the issue.If the authors, a linguist and an anthropologist, are correct about how the association of individuals to groups and of groups to other groups make up such an integral part of the Japanese collective psyche, then it may very well be impossible for them to forget that we are foreigners. Those of us who are non-Asian stick out like bright blue thumbs in such a homogeneous society that they can't help but be constantly reminded that we're in a separate group. The rules of Japanese society practically require them to treat us like members of an out-group at least part of the time.