This time, let's talk about things that weren't really shocking enough to be culture shock to me, but that definitely piqued my interest.
First, lets talk about gender equality in Japan.
As an American-born woman, I was definitely used to woman being treated equally as human beings, and not only that, but women being considered even stronger than men in certain situations. Coming to Japan really reminded me how that is not true everywhere in the world. It isn't that they are extremely sexist or anything like that, but there is definitely the prejudice that women are supposed to be weak, quiet, cute and helpless. As I really do not fit that stereotype, I often get comments such as, "Oh Miyako, you should leave that to the guys," or, "That's not womanly." In the video I mentioned this as guys being misogynistic, however it is not only guys who force that stereotype on women, but also the women themselves here who reinforce the stereotype. It isn't a bad thing, however I do hope in the future that women will come to be seen in a more equal light.
As you guys might have seen on my other channel, on my face is Igari face makeup (although I kept saying Agari in the video ._. )... But this makeup style is super popular in Japan, and a lot of times, more so than shown in my video, the cheeks are even BRIGHTER exactly like a cartoon character, which surprised me when I first came here because in America it is definitely all about blended contouring and natural blushes and highlighters. In terms of fashion in general, guys wear purses here, which is something new to me. Women also dress like they're stuck in the 60s with long skirts past their ankles and scrunchies in their hair. It's cute but definitely not what I'm used to seeing in the US.
In my video, I talked about several new vocabulary words that I learned about through experiences while in Japan with Japanese friends. The first one is people who are ura ga aru 裏がある, which in other words means that they have two sides to their personality. Due to the Japanese society really encouraging politeness and consideration, people are also encouraged to hold back their true feelings so as not to be rude or hurt others' feelings. In turn, it makes it so it is really hard to gage what exactly their opinion is towards you.
Next is burikko 振りっ子, which is basically a girl who acts cute by pretending to be innocent or weak. Usually this is done in front of guys. I have definitely seen this in America as well, however it is much MUCH more exaggerated in Japan, and I took notice of it.
Another trend that I noticed was that words that are used a ton in anime as a joking insult, can actually be taken super seriously if used in real life.
Prime example of this is the word baka バカ which means stupid. I don't want to say you CANNOT use this word jokingly, because you can if you are with super good friends. HOWEVER, I would still be very careful when using this word, because it is basically the equivalent of telling somebody with confidence issues, or a mental health problem, that they are stupid or retarded. It just isn't the nicest thing to say. Along with that are words such as shine 死ね, which means go die. It is basically the equivalent of telling somebody who is depressed and suicidal to go die. There are tons of other words like these, but I would say as a basic rule if you learn an insulting or cuss word in Japanese, do not use it until you ask a Japanese person on whether it is a bad word or not, or until you know the true meaning of the word. These words have a lot of weight, and I definitely would not recommend for anybody to use them unless you know for sure that you are best friends with this person and they aren't the type to get mad easily.
Moving on to more positive things, another thing I noticed is that EVERYBODY DRESSES UP HERE EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! When I was applying for college one of the things I was looking forward to was lazing around all day in sweats with no makeup on. I'm not joking that was actually one of the things I was anticipating. Unfortunately, coming to a Japanese college, that is considered strange, and people will stare at you if you aren't wearing nice clothes. Or makeup, for that matter. Most girls will come wearing facial masks and glasses if they don't have makeup on, which I definitely laughed at when I first came here.
The last thing that surprised me when I came to Japan is that some things that happen in anime are actually true! Being honest, although I do love anime, I am a hard-core advocator against people believing that everything that happens in anime is exactly how Japan is, because it is not true. HOWEVER, when I actually came to Japan I was very surprised to see that somethings in anime are, in fact, true! The example that I love to tell people is that the first time that I came to Japan for a trip, I got off the airplane and at the same airport as us was a high school group that had just come back from a trip. All of the 'popular' girls had their skirts rolled up super high, dyed, curled hair, a ton of accessories and blinged out phones, while all the 'not popular' girls had large glasses, long skirts, and braids. It was definitely the biggest shock when I came to Japan.
Thanks for reading this super long post guys! Until the next one!
XOXO,
Meowko
No comments:
Post a Comment