Japanese characteristics -5 (Lin Te Kuan)

There are two things foreigners should train themselves before coming to Japan. One is drinking capacity, the other is the strength of legs. Because drinking is a vital social skill and Japanese walk really often and they are good at walking! 飲み会is popular among Japanese. 飲み会 is an event that a lot of people gather in a restaurant and drink beer or wine as much as they want. But 飲み会 is not just about drinking alcohol, it is some kind of social events which is important for Japanese. Japanese tend to be shy and not good at expressing their real thoughts (and actually they are not encouraged to do so.)

Sometimes this kind of traits makes them hard to interact with others. As a result, 飲み会 helps them to drink a lot and with the aid of alcohol, Japanese become brave and outgoing. In 飲み会, everyone is outgoing, so all the people can talk with others without too much concern and get along with each other easily. 飲み会 is not only popular for business man or adults but also students! There are a lot of 飲み会 in my university. Every club has their own 飲み会. Some class if all the classmates are getting along well (or they hope to get along better) would have 飲み会 too. People having birthday can also have 飲み会! There is no limited purpose for 飲み会 as long as people want to have fun! There are some interesting phenomena in 飲み会. First, boys dare to talk to girls in 飲み会 because they are a little bit drunk. Second, a girl can express her love for the boy if she is drunk enough(in fact, there are some people become couples after 飲み会.) It seems that 飲み会 helps a lot of people to express themselves honestly in a good way! But there are also something I consider not very good of 飲み会. I saw many girls after 飲み会 became so drunk that they could barely walk be themselves. They almost lost conscious and needed people to take them home. I think that is very dangerous and improper. Anyway, any foreigner want to make a lot of

Japanese friends in a short time, the best way is to join 飲み会!
The first week I came to Japan, I yelled “My leg is killing me!”every day. Because Tokyo is a big city, though it has really convenient public transportation, people still have to walk a lot. Japan is not like America, in which people depend on cars to go everywhere. People in Tokyo depend on their great subway and their unbelievable strength of legs. Japanese often have muscle in their lower legs since they walk all the day. The air in Japan is also comparatively fresh than other big cities.

Because other transportation than subways, they either walk or ride bikes to commute. There are a lot of bicycles riding on the roads in Japan. Bicycle is almost the most important thing to commute. So don’t forget to buy a bike after arriving in Japan! There are still a lot of things to prepare before coming to Japan, but the most important one is always an open-minded attitude!