Coming from a multi-cultural country like America, where everyone is different and unique, and moving to mono-cultural country like Japan, where everyone is Japanese, I was really worried that I would be treated like an outsider.
Living in America all of my life I see the hard time constantly given to immigrants. Time and again, I've seen Americans annoyed that the people around them don't speak English. I've overheard comments like, "Why can't they learn the language? This is America." And nothing annoys an American more than hearing the phrase "press one for English." Witnessing things this all the time in the US, I was told by many people that the Japanese were less tolerant of foreigners than Americans are!
How could that even be possible?
Since moving here, I've found that nothing could be further from the truth. Even though there aren't as many foreigners in Japan as there are in America, street signs and most business signs are in Japanese and English. Could you imagine the backlash in America if Obama announced that for now on all street signs in America were going to be in English and Spanish? He would probably be thrown out of the White House.
Not only are street signs in English, but if you take the bus or the train in Japan all of the signs are in English and so are the announcements over the PA! Take into account that as of 2013 approximately 37.6 million people live in America that speak Spanish as their native language. yet the amount of English speakers living in Japan total less than 93,000! It really makes you appreciate how considerate the Japanese are.
But what was the most shocking fact that I've discovered since moving? Finding out that Jesus was buried in central Japan!
No comments:
Post a Comment