Do You Wear Sunglasses? Ashamed to do that?

Hi, it's Sho.

   Have you seen Japanese wearing sunglasses in Japan?

We are not suffered from that severe ultraviolet rays in the sun shine. So, we don't wear 

sunglasses in our daily life. If someone wears sunglasses in a downtown, some people may look at

him/her a little curiously.

   Most Western countries people wear sunglasses and take it granted.

Because, they have a bit severe and strong UV rays, and especially, those who live in Australia 

are suffering from very harmful UV rays.

For this reason, they don't hesitate to wear sunglasses, but Japanese do. We generally do not

have to wear sunglasses on account of the mild UV rays.

   Do we see people from foreign countries living in Japan and wearing sunglasses as weird?

No. Interestingly, we take foreigners wearing sunglasses as granted.  This might be because the 

sunglasses are very suitable to Western countries people but to Japanese.
 
This is merely my guess, but that might be why.. 

If you have an opportunity to visit Japan, you do not need to hesitate to wear sunglasses.

You just do not need to WEAR SUNGLASSES in Japan!




image from  http://unkar.org/r/eleven/1277973699

Why do Japanese bow as a greeting?

   Hi, it is Sho.

Today, I will tell you an interesting Japanese custom.

Have you ever seen 2 Japanese bowing to each other?

 

 

They are greeting each other by bowing not shaking their hands.




As you always do so, American shake hands when they first meet with someone.
But, we rarely do such a thing. It looks weird for Japanese.




Here is more interesting thing. Japanese often bow to the person who are talking with them
 on the phones in spite of that he/she doesn't see them bowing.



This might be why Japanese are said to be too polite by other countries.



By the way, the majority of japanese house have doors which open to the outside.



It's perfectly opposite from Western countries, such as UK, US, Canada, and so on.




This difference is related to the difference of greeting.



Japanese are standing in front of a door, but not too close to a door because



we have to make a small space so that the door can be open and also we can bow
to the host of the house.

Japanese could misunderstand if you hug them suddenly.

 

In general, we Japanese don't hug as long as we are just friends. There are some
cases we hug each other as friends, though. It's not happening so frequently like American.



In my view, there are more unsocial people in Japan than in the US.



So, if you hug your Japanese friend, you need to be careful to not be misunderstood.

About This Blog

Hi, my name is Sho.

I have started a new blog about my home country, Japan!

I am going to write the unique and novel culture in Japan. 

This is the first post on my blog, so I would like to introduce myself to those who look at my blog.



My name is Sho, and I am from Japan. I am 21 years old. I have lived in California for 9 months.

I go to the community college in Northern California. The reason I created this blog is that I really want you to know of the culture in Japan.

On this blog, I am comparing Japanese culture with other countries, especially American.

Sometimes, I might misunderstand American culture and post impolite stuff.

When this kind of case happen, please, notify to me about it, and tell me the revised opinion if you do not care.

And, I have been studying English for 8 years, but speaking and writing for just 1 year.

My English looks so poor, though I will make my effort to write this blog, so please, have fun!