Strangers

The “niceness” of strangers is an interesting part of a culture to study and experience. In the United States and Europe, for example, if you ask directions, you genrally get a “left,right” answer. In Japan, however, when you ask directions, people many times will drop what they were doing and take you all the way there! Here are a few of my experiences (in the same weekend) with the “niceness” of Japanese strangers…

We were invited to a cooking class. After getting lost and showing up late, we were warmly greeted and added to groups that were already cooking. We cooked and talked with older Japanese people for several hours. They did the class without pay, and wouldn’t even let us help clean up the huge mess at the end. They were very nice and wanted to know about our countries and lives. Because of the language barrier, it is sometimes hard to find older Japanese that you can talk to, but they are very interesting to talk to about their lives. At the end, they even gave us 500 yen to cover some of our transportation costs! That was a totally unneccessary (but appreciated) gesture. Especially considering that the class was free, and there was a LOT of food. I know that these things happen around the world, but it was nice to experience it first hand.

After we left that, we were headed back to the train station when we came across a map of the area. Spur of the moment, we decided to go for a hike to Swing of Stars bridge, which looked nearby. We needed directions and asked the first man that walked by us. He eagerly changed his direction and took us on a one hour hike to get there. We were stunned- why would someone give up their plans to take perfect strangers on a hike to see a bridge?! He didn’t talk much, but he never even looked at his watch or complained when we stopped to take pictures. We treated him to ice cream after we got back to thank him for his random act of kindness. Just a small gesture in return for the several hours of his time that he gave up to help us.

We experienced the “niceness” of the Japanese once again the following day at the flea market in Kyoto. I was getting ready to buy a kimono, and the owner gave it to me for half price because I was a foreigner- even though I sopke to him in Japanese. Kindness similar to the Japanese is sometimes hard to find in other parts of the world. You come across people that are that nice (and they seem to increase in number around Christmas) in the western world as well.

When I wrote this, I remembered the cards that my mom had made. They are act of kindness cards in memory of Dan Lunger. Kindness like this even seems to release stress and definitely adds adventure in my experiences- and I am sure that the guy that dropped his plans to take a nice nature hike would say the same thing.

Sunset

It goes without saying that a beautiful sunset is truly an experience that people from every culture enjoy and perceive similarly. Although the darkened foreground of a picture may change from oceans to mountains to neighborhood power lines, a rich colored sunset is an event that people around the world share and love. Enjoy this picture- taken with my new Canon S5 (another cultural experience-buying expensive electronics in Japan)- from the roof of Seminar House 1 in Hirakata.

Baseball

An American tradition that has become a Japanese obsession. The Hanshin Tigers may very well be the most well-known Japanese team due to their notoriously energetic fans, but what are the Colorado Rockies known for? Losing. Until now, that is. When I flipped open the English version of the Asahi Shimbun- a Japanese newspaper- the Colorado Rockies claimed almost the entire sports page! It has been an interesting week in the world of baseball. As a short review for those of you that don’t follow baseball- the Tigers lost on a grand scale at the final home game of the regular season, while the Rockies won when all odds (or maybe just their history) were against them.

What truly fascinated me about the Rockies’ front page sports article in a Japanese newspaper wasn’t the fact that it is a part of my culture and my local team. If you look closely, the picture is of Rockies 2nd baseman, and Osaka native, Kazuo Matsui, who played an integral role in the Rockies’ 13th inning tie-breaker win for a playoff spot against the Padres. Kazuo Matsui is the perfect picture of the globalization of sports. With Japanese players in the Major League, and American players in the Japanese League, baseball is no longer purely an American sport. It was an eye-opening experience for me to see a team that I grew up watching…in a Japanese newspaper…with an Osaka native playing…for my local team. Whew. Confusing? Well, it definitely brought the whole idea of globalization closer to home for me. After talking about baseball in Intercultural Communications class, and watching the film Mr. Baseball, it was interesting to see the flip side- a Japanese succeeding in the Major League.

Congrats to my Rockies!!! And keep up the good work Matsui!!!