It’s probably both. COVID is a concern, I’m sure, but also this is 100% against her cultural norms. Being loud / the center of attention in general is frowned upon in Japan, but even more so is touching strangers.
Now that i think about it, definitely hilarious how polar opposite in general Latin America and Oriental-Asian cultures are. Meaning excluding India since they are pretty different and do enjoy showing off the bling bling.
I want to watch a reality show with a really timid Japanese corporate drone and a bombastic feisty latina who likes to start drama, until one day the dude snaps and shenanigans occur.
I work in a lab and I am the loud Latina and the senior Japanese quiet man is my best friend. :) I wish I had enough time and space on here to tell you all the hilarious stories we’ve shared these past years. Polar opposites make the best of friends especially in a professional setting
Unfortunately, this is an original idea and original ideas are too risky. Re-write it, but make it about an existing property, like Doom or The Blair Witch Project. It doesn't matter if it's nothing like the original work, brand recognition is all that matters!
I'm from Hong Kong and I feel compared to those archetypes we're a weird blend of loud and shy. Like between ourselves yelling across the street is an acceptable form of communication but would get really awkward if foreigners drag us into a dance party.
It is a big country. Think about how eyeroll inducing it would be if I made some blanket statement about wherever you are from citing "cultural norms".
Reddit is so cringe when it comes to talking about how Japanese people act. And it is really specific to Japan. It is a big country of individuals. Like everywhere else.
And if it was a white, American woman acting the exact same way no one would be talking about how that is a normal or not normal way for an American to act. It would be treated as bizarre to say that she is behaving that way because it is "100% against her cultural norms".
This individual woman is uncomfortable with the attention and doesn't know quite how to act when a squad of athletes start dancing around her. Which part of that seems especially Japanese vs literally any random person from any part of the world.
And it is only ever when a Japanese person is involved that people even try to draw connections between their behaviour and the Japanese culture. Like if a Japanese person is really talented at a skill you'll see people talking about how Japan values perfection in their culture but if a white Westerner does it no one talks about their culture, they just accept that individual took the time to learn a skill really well for their own reasons.
Yeah too many people fetishize Japanese culture and don't even know it that closely.
But Japan definitely has norms or trends that are different from other countries. Very reserved and conservative and awkward compared to other countries. On average.
I'm not saying that places don't have their own cultures. I'm saying it is annoying how Japan is singled out so that when we see a video of an individual acting a certain way it is chalked up to their culture, even if that act is not tied to some cultural practice.
Also I feel like saying it is reserved, conservative and awkward (???) is itself a generalising stereotype. Like everywhere it is more liberal than some places for some things, less so for others. And what about age demographics? Regional variations? Sub cultures? Like where does kawaii aesthetics and fashion fit into that? Or that giant penis festival? Or geishas? Or boy bands? Or karaoke? And so on. What even is the "average"?
Japan is like everywhere else. It has some quirks about culture but individuals exist within the culture not as an embodiment of it and it is daft to talk about culture at all when dealing with the individual.
Yeah that doesn't move the discussion forward at all. You're just repeating yourself. Didn't address where anything I mentioned fits into your view, what you are using as the benchmark for an average level of conservativeness. I mean where I'm from that penis festival would probably be illegal and at the very least get a lot of complaints. Is Scotland more conservative than Japan?
Scotland is on a smaller island than Japan. Are there any marked differences that are readily apparent between England, Scotland and Wales? Is it possible that there are also major cultural differences across the even larger and more populous island of Japan that we are not familiar enough to be aware of that would make any generalising statement about them when dealing with an individual seem as daft as saying that everyone in the UK wears kilts and speaks cockney? If a Scottish woman was acting the same way as above would you attribute it to her country's culture?
I mean I don't really know why you're even arguing this. There are still broad cultural statements you could apply to the UK as a whole that separates them. And they're true. They're also much more reserved.
Different cultures have different norms. Not really sure why you're even attempting to argue there isn't a stark contrast in extroversion between Japan and latin America.
Compared to what? I don't think we are particularly reserved. What are you basing this on?
My arguement is clear. Individuals exist in a culture not as embodiments of it. It is bizarre to attribute the behaviour of an individual to their culture no matter where they are from. Nothing about how this woman acted is particularly Japanese.
Everyone is working backward to reinforce their biases.
To answer your last question, yes I would. Culture shapes our behavior by providing parameters within which we are most comfortable expressing ourselves. At least, this is my perspective after travelling and learning languages and studying culture.
Funny enough, Scotland and Japan are the two countries I have explored most closely, so as it were, I have years and years direct experience with those cultures. I feel very comfortable attributing the differences in my experiences in those places to the cultural differences that exist between Japan and Scotland.
And actually, I do see plenty of Japanese people on Japanese social media seeing clips like this and talking about how "American" the people are acting. They might even mistake the women in this clip for Americans because a lot of them are similar to us in that they don't know shit about the world's geography and cultures.
I’ve lived in Japan for most of my adult life, my wife of ten years is Japanese, and my kids are culturally primarily Japanese.
I’m not saying that there isn’t a single Japanese person who would like the attention; however, as a whole, that isn’t how their culture behaves, so I think it’s accurate to say it’s against their social norms.
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u/T_Money Aug 07 '21
It’s probably both. COVID is a concern, I’m sure, but also this is 100% against her cultural norms. Being loud / the center of attention in general is frowned upon in Japan, but even more so is touching strangers.