Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Don't be shy!
I'm continually amazed by so many Japanese students' inability to speak to a group of people. I have been in a small school club at my university in Japan and even some of the most outgoing people find it difficult to speak in front of more than five people. The club I'm in consists of no more than 30 people all of which have been friends for the last several months. Besides the few leaders of the club hardly anyone ever speaks up. Half of the meetings I am unable to understand through the rapid pace of every one's Japanese, however, sometimes I feel obligated to interrupt everyone so that a new voice or opinion might be heard. I can very easily see how business in Japan is done through authority roles expressing ideas and the majority quickly following without hesitation. If I ever get the chance to teach in Japan I think I am going to stress public speaking for all the students. And for any Japanese out there who are interested, don't be shy! Please!
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At a boy, Benny! A chip off the old block! Just be careful not to tred on their culture or you will be considered to have no manners. I signed up to receive automatic blog updates and am anxiously awaiting for more news and stories. I totally missed your point on the sleep blog, but enjoyed the blog on orderliness. Sorry to hear that us Americans are all considered to be gun-toting crazies. I should not be too surprised, though, because it was not too long ago that the world thought that we were all cowboys. Whatever the world sees in the media is what they assume we all are. As we become more of a global society, we will all realize that everyone has their own personality, their own preferences, and their own beliefs. Stereotyping is going on continuously by everyone and it causes all of us to be less sensitive to the individual, less tolerant of the diverse.
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