Finally we are starting so feel at least a little bit of the spring in the air! It's good weather today and can say that it makes a big differens for me and how I feel! If the sun is out and shining so will I be! Have been feeling quite slow and tired the last couple of days so nice that it's finally getting better!
But now to the topic of today brought to you from my favorite coffe shop (Espresso House of course)...
Two things that is the same in Japan and Sweden!
When you hear about Japan as a person living in Sweden, it will most likely bring to mind an exotic feeling to the most of us. Usually you will think about temples, geishas, anime and food as sushi. Nothing that makes you think that we might have things in common. So the perception is usually that Japan has a culture vastly different from ours. But after livning in tokyo for one year I realized that we are not only different, we also have some things in common. Things that people in Japan actually thought of as something very special to their culture and that normally should be a big difference to us.
So what are these things exactly?
1. Take off you shoes when going inside.
This is something that in japan is a big part of the everyday culture and in the entrace to every house and apartment you will have a 玄関（げんかん) genkan. Genkan is like a "entry hall" where you will take off you shoes and then put them nicely agains the slightly higher part of the genkan that leads in to the rest of the house (see picture below). This you HAVE to do and it is very rude, even unthinkable that you will enter the house with the shoes on.
this thought and custom is also practiced in Sweden. The same way you CAN'T enter a Swedish home with your shoes on. It will be considered rude and weird (exception: If it is you own house and you are just running in to get something you forgot and mom is not home to scold you for it). We don't have the exct same Genkan idea but when you enter a Swedish house you will se a place by the door to put you shoes. This is also not something only Sweden does, other countries in Europe is the same. So I think Japan thinks this is something special for them because they mostly compare their culture to the culture of USA. For me the idea of having your shoes on inside is more of a shock to me then taking them off. So in Japan that was nothing that shock me at all. Even if some of my Japanese friends thought I would think so and wanted to explain why I had to take my shoes off..it was an interesting experience!
Japan also have this idea at school, you take off your shoes! (this is not done at university) Sweden is actually the same. But we stop doing it around junior high school. But until 5th grade it is not that unusual that you take of you shoes and have indoor slippers in the classroom to.
2. Not talking to strangers! (being non-social in public)
This is also something that Sweden and Japan has in common. Japan often get that the people is shy and doesn't talk to someone they don't know. Like on the train, store, parks and so on. They are very privet and will not just start talking to you on the street (unless they are drunk). This is also the same as in Sweden. We are also consider to have only "shy people". You don't talk to stranger or just randomly starts talking to your neighbor on the train. If someone is making a scene in public in Sweden the most people will just watch and walk away and don't interfere. Which is also mostly the case in Japan.
So as a Swedish person I felt that I fitted in with this "keep to yourself" public mentality. But I had friends and of course you usually see foreigners (mostly for the USA or souther eurpoe) on the internet that think this is very werid and sad. That Japan was such a shy country and that they couldn't see the harm with talking to, or beeing social with strangers. I think this again is because Japan culture usually compares to the culture in the USA where being more "social in public" probably is a part of their public mentality.
This is two things that may not be big, but is something what got stuck in my mind after living in Japan. A lot of the mentality is not that different from ours after all and this may explain why I never got any real "culture shock" that you hear about all the time from people going to Japan.
I hope this helpt you understand a bit more about Japan and maybe feel like it is a bit more approachable now and if from Japan or Asia, you got more interested in visiting Sweden, a country not to different after all.
Until next time!
Hugs!
〜living the dream〜
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