Six days in Japan with some Taiwanese students from my Senior High School was a fantastic experience. Almost like a short version of my current exchange year. Especially because I can say, that I’ve now come home again. Home to the familiar. Home to the safe. Home to Taipei.
I have realized how little I knew about Asia in general before I cam to Taiwan. I found people kind of stupid when they believed that Asians always where sitting on the floor eating their rice when not wandering around with an umbrella as protection for the sun.
Well I guess I was the stupid one. Not only because these things actually are true, but also because the reason, I thought they were not, was something like: no civilized people live like that today – maybe once, but not today. The thing is, that just because you grew up learning a certain set of norms and rules it does not mean that this set is the only one existing. Nor that it is the only right one to use. But that can be very hard to realized if you have never seen or used another set.
Now I’ve been using chopsticks instead of knife and fork for almost half a year, and just as I thought that I had found out what was true and not about Asian culture, I came to Japan and found out, that this is the place, where they are sleeping and eating on the floor.
So just because I know Taiwanese culture does not mean that I know all about Asian culture. But one thing is for sure – I will never again judge people who tell about foreign cultures or the culture they tell about, before I’ve spend a serious amount of time experiencing the culture myself.
I can not say that I’ve spend that serious amount of time in Japan yet, but here are some hotspots, showing what I’ve learned and experienced so far.
In Taiwan they have unbelievably many 7 elevens. In Japan they have these drink machines.
In Japan you eat and sleep on this soft kind of floor.
It is hard to see on my pictures, but being with students in a Japanese high school was just like being in an anime movie. Even tough this school did not use uniforms.
In Japan you are asked to take of your shoes everywhere: in schools, at museums, in restaurants. Sometimes you have to put on this kind of slippers instead.
There is a difference between Japanese and Taiwanese food, even though I still find it hard to distinguish… J
There is a difference between Taiwanese and Japanese traditional dresses as well. This picture shows my friend from Canada Jane, who also goes to my Senior High School and therefore attended the trip, and the one of our two “host-grandmoms” that we stayed at for one night. We lived five students (here Jane, three Taiwanese students and I) at each host family.
Disney Land seems to fit better in Tokyo than in California. Japanese girls with freezing bare legs (it was only just above zero degree Celsius) simply look better with Minnie Mouse ears.
I want to give my Senior High School a big “THANK YOU” for giving me the opportunity to go to Japan with the schools other students. It has been an eye opener. Not only to Japanese culture (which I still only have seen a little of) but also to how much I love Taipei. It was so nice coming home drinking the black tea from my breakfast shop, taking the MRT without having to study the map and most of all being able to communicate with people.
Cause Japanese seldom understand Chinese. A fact that Jane from Canada and I had to remind each other several times during the trip, if we wanted to avoid getting a: “Oh, sorry. Do you speak English?” and Canadian Jane would have to answer: “Oh, yeah… I guess I do”.
Julia
