why do westerners experience a bigger culture shock in Japan than the Japanese in a western country?

Answer 1

One big thing is the written language. Japanese are very used to Romanji (western alphabet) even if they don't know the meaning. Plus Japanese typically study English from junior high to college. Then there's all the Hollywood movies and TV shows Japan watches which many have elements of modern western countries especially America.

While America and other countries get a lot from Japan such as electronics, anime, martial arts, ninja, etc... we don't get alot in the way of modern everyday Japanese culture. Studying samurai or watching naruto anime isn't exactly going to prepare you for life in modern day Japan. And back to the written language - if one hasn't studied kanji or hirakana, one feels completely illiterate with all the indecipherable signs all over the place. Then there's the urban chaos of Tokyo to deal with that sends many people into catatonic shock.

Answer 2

I don't think that's necessarily true.

I've met some extremely homely/shy/introverted Japanese, and I can assure you they're shocked when they go overseas.

How about the incessant comparing some Japanese do when they're overseas, the constant "In Japan..."?

Also, there's the realization that the West isn't all like in the movies. Not all the guys are Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. English is more difficult than expected for some people too.

I would say it depends on the person.

I know some Westerners get quite shocked when in Japan. The language might be much more difficult than they expected. Maybe instead of instant fun in karaoke, sexy Japanese girls, being the only good-looking white guy in town, etc., they forgot about having to work with difficult people, not being able to do basic things like read a menu, etc. They might not even be the one good-looking foreign guy around. They might be compared daily to the other guy or girl.

Maybe one reason you see this in your life is that the Japanese you meet are calm, non-reactive, etc. Maybe the Westerners you tend to spend time with are the opposite. Maybe the Japanese are already fairly content with their life, so don't look to be shocked, but the Westerners build up the anticipation, then when it doesn't come exactly as they thought, they get down.

Answer 3

I think westerners get much more a culture shock going to Japan because if you think about the US was only founded a little over 230 years ago... whereas Japan has been around for thousands of years... the Japanese culture is so much more rich in history that the US could never compete with... As for the Japanese in the US, I think there is less of a culture shock becasue the US does not have many old traditions... We don't have as much of a historical culture as the Japanese do so they are so much culture shocked as they are shocked at the lack of culture

Answer 4

1. Japanese people are interested in western countires more than westerners are interested in Japan.
2. Lots of Japanese people either go to western countries a lot, or read books/websites about those countries while just a few westerners do the same things about Japan.
3. Some parts of Japan are westernized

Because of those reasons, in my opinion, Japanese in a western country experience a smaller culture shock.

Answer 5

Reading some of these answers I think the one about race does stick out to my mind. Majority of western travelers to Japan are of european descent, they are used to being the majority in their area. When going to a country where they have been thrown into being the minority its a real change, on top of a new culture, language and customs. I find this aspect interesting, I would like to hear individuals experiences of culture shock from different ethnic groups of the west traveling to a homogeneous nation. (I find this really fascinating since I am not part of the majority of the west, would i have less of a culture shock as opposed to one that is part of the majority?)

In opposite with the Japanese, yes I think being able to "blend in" and having pre-knowledge of western culture makes the culture transition easier.

Americans having only limited exposure to other nations would indeed cause one to be shocked by the real culture. Because what we are exposed to is mainly sterotypes or generalizations, not modern times.

Answer 6

This is an educational issue. The more one knows about another culture the less shocked one will be because of the difference between the two cultures.

Take someone from the old west and put that person back into the same place now and you will see some real culture shock. From horses to cars. From candle light to electrical light. From news that is days old to news that is seconds old. We will not even discuss computers and the Internet.

Now think of how many things that one would consider to be oriental that are in the west compared to things that one would consider to be western that are in the orient. I believe that people in the orient are more used to western culture than westerners are to oriental culture. Thus, it would be a bigger culture shock for someone to go from the west to the orient than for someone from the orient to go to a western country.

Answer 7

Westerners tend to have stereotypes about Asians because we don't know enough about the other half of the world. Therefore, when we get to Japan, we are greatly impressed and shocked. We never read Sunzi's The Art of War or any other Asian classics. We merely watch movies such as The Last Samurai.

However, in Japan (and other Asian countries), the children are often immersed in Western values starting from a very early age, the first step taken being learning English, and then reading translated versions of English/American classic novels.

Answer 8

A few factors:

1. Japanese who go abroad often go abroad in packs, either package tours, or study abroad programs geared toward groups of Japanese.They bring a "Japanese culture bubble" with them, thus culture shock is not a concern.

2. Exposure through movies and TV. Japanese know a lot about what to expect. As a foreigner, I only knew to beware giant monsters and creepy video ghosts.

3. Language (reading) barrier. Most Japanese can at least read English, most foreigners need a year or two of Japanese study to even get basic things like menus and maps.

4. The culture. If you act individualistic abroad, nobody cares. If you go against the groupthink in Japan, you are, to say the least, swimming upstream. New ideas are ignored, no matter how good they are, merely because you are young, or foreign, or just not part of the group. This is extremely frustrating. Meanwhile, Japanese don't even bother to propose new ideas abroad, because they've been brought up not to. Thus no frustration for them.

5. The most basic reason. Race.
Most foreigners stand out in the crowd, literally, in Japan. You can't sit on a train or walk down the street without people staring at you just because you're gaijin even in the most cosmopolitan areas. It really, really, really gets to some people.
Japanese abroad in mixed-race societies can walk around anonymously.

Answer 9

Because look around you in Japan, or China, you got all but one race coming all around you, I would probably be in culture shock in 15 sec

Answer 10

because in japan the youth are subjected to all that is western civilization. keep in mind English is a required second language for both public and private educational facilities there. while learning the English language we discovered much about our culture. i was born in Tokyo, an American citizen, of Irish and Japanese parents, and educated there until my second year in high school.