Japan Culture Shocks

You’d think that after living in a country for a year and a half, I’d have overcome most of the culture shocks that burst through in the first few months. I feel that I’ve pushed past most of the obvious shocks, things that I already kind of knew about, but never really thought about, I guess. I feel I was prepared for things like addressing people by their last names and bowing, but there is so much more to get accustomed to.

Having been completely immersed in Japan for this long, I actually had to think pretty hard about what culture shocks I’ve experienced. The list ended up becoming way, way too long, so I’ve decided to only include shocks that I feel still have a bit of a hold on me. So, let me tell you a bit about what still surprises me!

No Small Talk

I am very aware that most people hate small talk, but the small town Canadian in me finds this so difficult to deal with! To me, having a quick talk about the weather, the day you’ve had, or even sharing some kind of story is a fun way to interact with (dare I say) strangers. Maybe it’s something poetic about moments of connection occurring between otherwise meaningless interactions, I don’t know.

Imagine my surprise when that is absolutely not the case here. And I’m not talking about full on small talk conversations. For example, a regular interaction between a cashier and customer in Canada would consist of something like “Hey, how’s your day going?” “It’s going pretty well, nothing too bad”, or even “Nice weather today, eh?”. It is non-existent here. If you’re the customer, you’re barely expected to respond to the mandatory greeting of “irasshaimase (welcome)”. During the first few months of checking out at the grocery store, the Canadian inside of me was tossing and turning with “How are you doing?” on the tip of my tongue each time.

Granted, I had a nice giggle when I was back in Canada with my boyfriend, who is Japanese. We were renting a car and I was having a wonderful small talk chat with the agent, only to leave and have my boyfriend ask, “Why were you both talking so much?”

Dressing the Part

This, I would say, I am about just over halfway to acclimating fully. However, at this moment, there’s still a little part of me that goes…huh?

In Japan, the way you look says a lot about you. Not only in how you choose to present yourself, but also in your day-to-day workwear. Long story short, Japan seems to love a good uniform. From train conductors, to construction workers, to taxi drivers, to sales associates, everyone has their uniform. This I can understand since there’s so much talk about dressing well, even in Canada.

What I don’t really understand requires a bit of backstory. I’m obviously going to be focusing on this within schools since that’s where I work, but I’m sure that it’s visible in other work settings, too.

Basically, within Japanese schools, there are a lot of ceremonies that are more formal than the typical assemblies that are held. They are often held to start or close a school term or year. Now, these ceremonies are usually pretty short and to the point, at most they are about 45 minutes long. Everyone is expected to look professional. What I don’t understand is the wearing of casual clothing to work, changing before the ceremony into formal clothing, then changing back into the casual clothing after the ceremony.

I feel like it’s one of those things that shouldn’t really be so noticeable since it’s not really affecting anyone. I just think it’s so strange that, although the entire student body and staff see everyone in their casual clothes, and everyone knows that after the ceremony the casual clothes will return, there is still this idea that professional attire is required for the ceremony.

Job Rotations

In Japan, there seems to be a very “jack of all trades, master of none” approach to work. From the workforce to the classrooms, there is a huge emphasis on rotation.

In education, this involves shuffling the students’ seating (to my understanding, there’s no rhyme or reason to their placements, but I could be wrong), having the teachers switch desks in the staff room, and even bigger than that, rotating the teachers between all the schools that fall under the board of education in that city. The average length of time that a teacher will remain at one school is about three to five years. Newer teachers typically get moved around a bit more while older teachers tend to stay at the same schools for longer.

However, it’s not just the teachers who need to deal with these rotations. Most workers in Japan fall under this type of switch-up. The other area where I mostly notice it is among office workers, specifically those related to government jobs. For example, the board of education, municipal infrastructure, hospital clerical staff, and finance all fall under the municipal government. So, if you sign a contract with the municipal government as an “office worker”, they can place you in any of these areas whether you have knowledge of that field or not. The rotation then typically comes in every few years or whenever a new city official is elected.

It’s definitely a weird concept coming from a place where people can work the same job for over thirty years.

Indirect Feedback and Communication

If there is something that drives me crazy, it’s the lack of direct communication here. I don’t want to come from a place of frustration, but it really is so difficult to not only need to navigate language barriers, but also the intricate web of silent communication. And this isn’t even just for non-Japanese people. I’ve heard multiple Japanese people also admit that it’s difficult to understand passive communication and “kuuki wo yomu” (reading the air/situational awareness).

While Canadian communication culture can be a touch passive at times, it mostly is relatively direct. Open communication is valued and feedback is taken in stride. That is not the case here. Japanese culture has a huge emphasis on harmony, and the foundation of this harmony is pretty much avoiding any and all confrontation. However, that means that if someone has a problem with how you do something, they’ll squash it down and deal with it in the most passive-aggressive way possible.

It was so hard to get used to this when I first arrived, and even now I find myself second-guessing half my actions. Take for example, there’s a period of time where a teacher doesn’t ask me to make an activity. To my understanding, I’d assume that what was being taught in the class at that time didn’t warrant an activity. Now, I have thoughts like “Was my last activity terrible? Is that why they’re not asking me to make another one?” or “I made this comment about a grammar point. Was that considered offensive somehow?” that plague my head.

I was so caught up in that spiral of overthinking that I found myself in a position where I thought all my coworkers hated me because I was an annoying nuisance. Of course, this wasn’t – and isn’t – true at all, but add on about six months of post-moving exhaustion and homesickness, and you have no idea how your brain will spin things.

Funnily enough, when I visited Canada for the first time recently, I also found myself being weirded out by how aggressive people were. It didn't take me long to realize that I had become so used to passive communication that I forgot what it was like to experience such directness. I don't really know what to make of that - be happy that I'm getting used to this aspect in Japan, or be a little sad that I've lost some touch with Canadian culture.

Religion in Japan

If you look from a statistical viewpoint, it would seem that Japan is a relatively atheist country. I remember when I studied religion throughout university, this was one of the first points that my classes covered. On paper, Japanese people rarely declared themselves as religious, but in practice, many Japanese people attend and participate in religious events.

A lot of this is due to the fact that Japanese religion and Japanese culture have become tremendously intertwined. Not only because Japanese religion tends to observe a type of “lifestyle” rather than a faith, but also because much of Japanese religion (Shinto particularly) was incorporated into government practices during the Christianity prohibition era. I’m sure there are many other pieces to fit into this puzzle, but I’m unfortunately not well-versed enough in this topic to really dive into it.

Anyway, back to modern life, religious practices have become tradition. Among most Japanese people, beans aren’t thrown on Setsubun because they actually ward of demons, kagura isn’t performed because the dancers actually believe they are channeling spirits, fires aren’t lit during Obon because they’ll actually lead the wandering ancestral spirits back to the afterlife. They have all become tradition; we do this because this is what we do.

This is possibly one of the shocks that has stayed near to me the longest. I myself am a religious person, so I am more than aware of how someone’s perspective of the entire world can be shaped by what they believe in. Participating in the religion, but not holding the belief is such a confusing idea to me. I guess Canada also follows this to an extent – most people celebrate Christmas despite not being Christian. It just feels a little more visible in Japan since there are so many “cultural” holidays, festivals, and celebrations that have clear, deep roots in religion.

And there you have it! These are some culture shocks that I still find difficult to navigate.

With the course that my life is on, it seems that I’ll have enough time to find where I land with all these cultural differences. I’m hoping that I’ll slowly adapt a little more to add on to what I know rather than replace it.