Japanese contradictory characteristics (Lin Te Kuan)

Some people say that when you start to feel that everything in Japan is normal, it means you have been living in Japan for too long. It is true that for non-Japanese, there are a lot pg strange things happening in Japan every day. I personally take these things as distinctive things instead of strange things. And I found these distinctive things are what make me feel Japan is a cool country. I would like to share some of my experience to show that one of distinctive things in Japan is their contradictory characteristics.

First of the contradictory characteristics is that Japan is a conservative country with state-of-the-art technology. I found it really strange and conflicting because how can these two things exist in the same time? But that’s really happening. Japanese protect their tradition in great effort and Japanese follow their tradition very well.

They encourage people to be in a group instead of being a distinctive individual and tell everyone to obey the rules and the elderly. It’s far different form America which encourages people to be innovative and break old rules. But Japan still beats America in many ways. Japanese great technology is needless to say, for instance, Japanese robots make the world amazed every year. And living in Japan can totally feel their reliance on highly developed technology. So this is one characteristic contradictory: conservative people with modern technology.

Second, Japanese are workaholics, heavy smokers and alcohol drinkers. But in the same time, they have the longest average of life span in the world. When I came to Japan, I couldn’t believe they are so many smokers in Japan and tobacco vending machines are everywhere. Even in my university, there are a lot of people smoking regardless of men or women. And Japanese love 飲み会which is a event that let everyone drink alcohol as much as they want, they like. And Japanese tend to work late, having drinks with coworkers after work. Though not everyone but in my point of view, Japanese are so hard working that seems they are afraid of losing. With high pressure and hard working attitude, it seems nearly impossible to live really long. But they also know what kinds of food are good for human body and most Japanese women are good at preserving their youthfulness. So even they love liquor and smoking, Japanese still hold the record of highest average life span in the world, and that’s so cool and strange to me.

There are still many contradictory characteristics in Japan. In Japan, any strange, conflicting things can exist. After I came to Japan, though strange and conflicting, I am trying to get used to these unbelievable truth. And this something I found so cool about Japan.