Topic 3 ”Culture Shock”　異文化対応スキル

Hello and welcome to this Bizmates
tell me about video series.

And today's topic is culture shock.

Hmmm... It's something that if you've lived
overseas, you've certainly experienced.

Ahm, but you know, culture shock isn't
something that we feel just when we go overseas.

It's something that you could feel when
you change companies.

You work for a new company, the culture is different.
You have shock.

Ahm, or you moved to another city,
even within your own country,

you know, if you go from Tokyo to Osaka,
I'm sure you could feel some culture shock.

Ahm, and today I thought I could explain my experience.
The culture shock that I felt when I came to Japan.

And when I see this you might think,
Hika, you felt culture shock in Japan?

Well, I did. But a lot of people are surprised
because one, I look Japanese, right? Yeah.

And I speak Japanese. Konichiwa.
And ah, I have a Japanese name.

Well, Hika is, is kind of a unique name.
But Ito is a Japanese name.

And I had visited Japan many times before
when I was a child, for short periods.

But after I became an adult,
and actually moved to Japan,

it was completely different from when I was a child
and I just visited my grandparents for two weeks,

it's completely different. And I did feel the
same type of culture shock,

that a lot of other foreigners feel
when they come to this country.

OK. So let me talk about that a little bit.

Now, when I first came to Japan, I was in this,
what a lot of people call "the honeymoon period".

Where, I just loved it! Everything was new.
Ahm, you know, I went to karaoke with my new friends

and we sang for hours. Beatle songs and
Carpenters. And I just had a blast.

People you know, drank a lot. They were so polite.
They poured me drinks and I felt really special.

And I just loved Japan. Ah, the products,
the food, the transportation,

the trains are always on time.
Everything was just right.

However, after a few weeks, you know,
and the honeymoon period kind of ended,

I got into this phase which a lot of foreigners
if not everyone, gets into.

And it's that phase of culture shock of stress
and anxiety. And I felt like, I just wanna go home.

I missed my family. I missed my friends.
I missed the food back in Canada.

And ahm, I had a lot of frustration.
Ahm, and I remember this one time.

Ahm, when I first came to Japan, I stayed in this
Gaijin house. And it's like a house,

with many foreigners living in it.
They're like 20 people living in this one house.

We shared the kitchen, we shared the living room.
But we all had our own separate rooms, really small rooms.

And I stayed there for the first couple of months.
You know, it was great, it was fun.

But then, I moved to my own apartment.
I had saved up enough money to get my own apartment.

And that's when the real culture shock came.
I didn't know anyone.

I had to go to city hall and register.
My Japanese wasn't that good.

But I looked Japanese so there was a lot of confusion.
Ahm and there's this one time right after I moved,

I went to a convenience store to get something to eat.
And I bought a bento.

You know, just one of those convenience store
bentos. I took it home.

And I realized I didn't have any chopsticks
or knives or forks or anything to eat it with.

So, what I had to do was to eat it with my hands
and there was like ahm, rice with kara-age,

and some other food. And I was eating it with
my hands and I just felt,

so lonely. So depressed. So sad.
And I just right there, I cried.

And I called my Mom and said,
Mom, I just wanna go home.

And after I had finished eating, I realized
the chopsticks were actually stuck to the bento.

The convenience store persn had put it in there.
But I didn't notice it when I was eating it.

And, anyway, that's just some of the experiences
that I had with the culture shock.

And after a few more months, I started to
get used to the environment.

And I got to this point where you know,
I felt, well nothing I can do. It's shoganai.

And I accepted it, this new unfamiliar culture.
I wasn't happy. But I just kind of accepted it.

And I lived that life for quite a long time.
For maybe a few more years like that.

And then finally, I got to this stage in Japan,
where I was comfortable.

My Japanese started to get better. I began to
understand all the Japanese culture, tradition.

You know, like Japanese weddings and you give money. And then there's
the okashi and all these things which I didn't know before.

I started to understand, accept and feel comfortable.

And the culture shock went away.
But it took many years, yeah.

And now, when every time I go back to Canada.
I go back every year to visit my family there.

And when I go to Canada, I have reverse culture shock.
I go to Canada and I'm like, wow! I love in here.

You know, the streets are wide.
The trees are big. The air is clean.

But after a few days, I get into that stage of,
oh I want to go back to Japan.

There's too many things in Canada that I don't like.
So I have this reverse culture shock, yeah.

So anyway, ahm, this is my experience
and I'm sure it's,

it's experience that a lot of foreigners, if not everyone,
you know have, when they come to Japan.

So next time that you meet a foreigner,
why don't you ask them?

What was culture shock like when you came to Japan?

And they'll probable give you a similar story like this.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this topic.

And we'll see you in the next lesson.
Thank you.