Q&A: “How long have you been living in Japan? And whats the hardest…?”

anonymous said:

How long have you been living in Japan? And whats the hardest cultural difference to get used to?

4 ½ years. there was a lot of culture shock and lessons learned in the earlier years, but at this point…  i’d say the biggest thing that i continue to struggle with is work etiquette and social norms.

regardless of where you live, there are a lot of things in life and in the work place that tend to go unsaid because people just know about these things. they’re social norms in your culture.

well, when you work/live in a foreign country the locals sometimes forget that hey, your culture is different! they shouldn’t necessarily assume that you know or are comfortable with certain things! and that certain things that you do because it’s acceptable and “normal” in your culture is less acceptable or polite in their eyes, but hey! you might not know that!

……..and then there’s the miscommunication even while speaking the same language. ugh.

this might not even make sense if you’ve never lived abroad… ^^;