Intercultural Experience Paper

I am from Japan which has a population of about one hundred twenty-seven million. Japan is small country, but it has developed its economy and culture such as Japanese food and anime. I grew up in Shizuoka which has three million seven hundred thousand people, until I graduated from my high school. Then I moved to Osaka which is one of the biggest city in Japan and has population of eight million eight hundred thousand. Although Japanese people only speak Japanese, there are many different dialect each area. Thus, when I moved to Osaka at first, I could not understand what people said because dialect of Osaka is too different from that of my hometown. I still often talk about differences of dialect with my friends who are from different areas.

If you think your ethnic/ cultural background has little influence on you today, what other variables do you feel have a significant influence on your perceptions, values and

Japan values harmony within the group, that means it is important to be interdependent, cooperative and sympathetic rather than independent. Therefore, Japanese people are likely not to directly criticize people and they anticipate what others feel to keep the balance of the harmony. Based on this idea, I usually try to be neutral and objective if some conflicts happen within the group.

Briefly outline your intercultural experiences?

I was not familiar with racial and ethnic issues until I came to the US because Japanese society are not diverse. However, now I encounter those issues or other topics such as homosexuality and adoption in family almost every day. Especially in terms of adoption, I have never heard about people who were adopted around me in Japan, so I was surprised that it is common in the US and students introduce about it openly. In addition to American culture, I have learned about other different culture through interaction with other international students in Hiram.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses in intercultural