Japanese students compare 2 cultures

Exchange students from Ryokoku University in Japan, attending Mt. Hood this month, have enjoyed their stay in the Pacific Northwest despite the wet climate.

“Very rainy,” said Kyohei Yamagishi, one of the exchange students, about the soggy weather. Yamagishi noted that most residents here don’t use umbrellas.

Still, he rates the experience highly: “Being here, it awesome. Very good place.”

The students do find the food in America very different, Yamagishi said. Even items that are considered “Japanese” here are, in reality, foreign to the visiting students, he said. California rolls were an exotic discovery when students went out to have sushi.

“I miss Japanese food,” he said.

Table etiquette in the U.S. is sometimes a challenge. In Japan it is acceptable to slurp food, something considered rude in the U.S. That has caused some amusing incidents for the exchange students, a guide said.

“I think we went and got them burritos once, and they somehow managed to slurp a burrito,” said Justin Sage, a Japanese language student who volunteers to help students navigate their way around the Northwest.

Interaction between the exchange students and their English helpers helps build language skills for both groups, Sage explained. “I can have full conversations with them in Japanese, and they’ll correct me or laugh at me because I do it wrong, and then I’ll reply in English, and correct their English,” he said.

“They can sometimes be awkward, so there’s a little bit of silence,” said Elisa Simon, another helper and Japanese language student. “I just like to listen to what they have to say first, because it is important for them to try and learn how to speak English.”

While neither group has mastered its second language, the exchange students are grateful to converse with the helper students, and according to Yamagishi, their Japanese is very good. “I appreciate it,” he said.

Exchange students have noticed other significant cultural differences.

Japanese people don’t like to hug. According to Tsukasa Okabayashi, another exchange student, “American couple is very close, but Japanese couple is not close.” In Japan, individuals don’t express their sentimentalities through physical contact, she said.

Eye contact is another distinctive slice of American culture not commonly found in Japan, Yamagishi said.

Yuka Inoue was not very pleased to note that in America, the toilet and the shower are in the same room. They are “definitely separate” back home, she said.

The exchange students arrived from Japan on Feb. 15 and are due to return March 10. During their time in the Northwest so far, they have gone to Café Delirium, downtown Portland, and Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.

The group did some silkscreen printing on campus, and are anticipating having a culture table set up in the Student Union to celebrate a Culture Introduction Day on Tuesday.

Mt. Hood’s helper students have been enjoying the experience. “They’re all great people,” said Ben Dougherty, another Japanese language student, about the visitors. “They’re a lot of fun to hang out with, and I think it’s been a great experience for both parties,” said Sage.