Cultural differences - after reading The Canterville Ghost

 The Americans in this story are very different to the British. 

How are Americans different to people from your country?

One of our main customers for electric shaver is American’s company. I often communicate with them by e-mail and a few times to meet them in a year. Whenever I go to America, I am surprised two points on the difference between Americans and Japanese.

One thing is the volume of meal. I love steak and pizza, but everything is too big for me to eat up. The cups for drinks are also big. I never drunk it up. Americans, however, can eat and drink up. I can understand why their body is very big.

The other thing is the endurance of cold. I feel that Americans are very tough even if it is very cold. I cannot stay in the room without outerwear, but Americans wear half sleeve shirt. I also saw some Americans who visited Japan wear half sleeve shirt even if it was winter.

Honestly, I don’t want to live in America as it is not comfortable on the meal and temperature. I, however, like to visit America and enjoy talking with Americans and finding the difference between America and Japan.

Posted for Chinasa

Bathing etiquette and advice for foreigners

With the arrival of Kevin next week, there has been a lot of opportunity to exploit the "foreigners in Japan" topic. Besides the obvious questions we might like to ask him about his country and his experiences (look out for the pod-casts later on), it is also a good time to extend a hand of friendship, anticipate any problems he might have in his first few months here and offer some valuable advice regarding cultural taboos, and customs.

To this end my adult class this morning devised a list of pertinent points regarding a visit to the onsen (hot spring public baths). It goes something like this:

* Before entering the hot bath you should wash your private parts and armpits.
* Don't wear a swimsuit in the bath.
* Don't put your towel in the bath (but on your head is ok!)
* Don't wash your underwear in the bath! (taken from a real sign)
* Don't swim, splash or dive in the bath.
* If you suffer from high blood pressure, you should not enter the bathtub for a long time.
* You should dry your body with a towel before going into the changing area so you don't wet the floor.
* Sweep the area after using the hair-dryer.

MY HOME WORK The hotel reservations

To The Residence

Reservation for August

Dear Sir
I am writing this e-mail from Japan.
I would like to reserve the twin room for 2 person from　August 2 until 5 for 3 nights.
I would like to know if there is with view of the gardens in the room.
I would like to know price.
Please let me know if there is available to make a reservation.
Also, if there are any special concerns (no-smoking / cancel policy), I would like to know them as well.
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully.

Kazuko Maruyama

How about this?
Please check my e-mail for mistakes! ;D

Azumino tourism 104

I was briefed to teach a group of 16 or so people in the local tourism industry on Wednesday evening. They had decided they were 'intermediate' level. I had decided this might be an ambitious estimate (if the other options were 'zero/beginner' or 'advanced'), especially in my experience earlier in the day.

I was expecting a group who were involved in running museums, galleries, outdoor activity businesses etc, so figured I'd base this lesson on my experiences working, travelling, and taking tours to New Zealand. The ideal material was listening to a fast talking foreigner (Scottish) talking to a Kiwi (tourist info officer). After that, the scene was set to have similar exchanges modelled on the original, then to less structured work based on their own backgrounds & demands as potential tourists.

Having four guys from the same business was a blessing; my original role play idea became a lot more realistic as I challenged them to do some sales/respond to enquiries, and the rest of the group to get some key info as well as a discount if at all possible.

Now, some of the people who came along were not 'intermediate' level by any stretch of the imagination, but even they realised that if a local retiree can batter them down for a discount or answer simple questions (from people who know their product/service) then they'd better pull their socks up. I was delighted with the effort everyone made this evening, becoming 'genki listeners' and responding to what potential guests would like to do.

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