Japanese Industry

I think one major difference between Japanese and American jobs are the uniforms. There is a general unwillingness to wear uniforms at any job and usually at most the uniform consists of a certain kind of t-shirt, maybe with the logo of the company, and khaki pants. However, in japan, I believe that work uniforms are much more involved and really are used to distinguish who is an employee and who is not. I think it might be part of the 'community' philosophy in Japan. Just as students are identified as students by their uniforms, so is the working class. I think it is all symbolism. If a man wears a suit, he is a business man. It is a visual indicator of his status in society.

Pie Chart of Love

http://chartmaker.mathwarehouse.com/create-pie-chart/the-chart.php

In my pie chart, I gave personality the largest chunk because I believe it is more important than most features. Looks change and fade and while attraction is important, ultimately it really doesn't matter. Someone with a bad personality will look worse and worse over time, I think.

Names and Addresses

I think for the most part that major, obvious emotional facial expressions are pretty easy to distinguish. For example, I feel pretty confident that I know if someone is in pain, very upset, or very happy. I DO think though, that minor expressions probably vary more from culture to culture. So, if I am in a social situation where maybe some people would rather be somewhere else, I'm sure that is harder to tell ANYWHERE.

祉　Happiness
悲しみ　Sadness
怖い　　Scared
怒る　Angry
憂うつな　Depressed
寂しい　Lonely
満足　Satisfied
いらいら　Frustrated
羨ましい　Jealous
誇らしげ　Proud

Greetings!

I greet different people different ways. If I am meeting one of my close friends, we usually hug each other. I almost never shake someone's hand, unless I'm meeting them for the first time. If I'm not sure how close we are as friends, I usually just wave or something.

When I see people I know, I usually say something like, 'Hey! What's up?' or 'Have have you been?' Sometimes me and my friends greet each other jokingly, by saying 'What it do?'

I usually touch people's shoulder or arm while I'm talking to them. I think it seems more friendly. I am usually telling a story using my hands, so sometimes I don't even realize if I am touching someone while I am talking to them. Also, if someone says something mean, I sometimes smack them. Ha, me and my friends smack each other a lot.

I don't hug everyone I know or everyone I meet though, just people I feel close to.

Buddhism

Well, I find it very difficult to find 5 ways my life has been affected by Buddhism. Only newly has the concept of 'Itadekimasu' been introduced into my life, but I like it.

I'm sure that if I spent enough time immersed in Buddhistic culture, my life would be more greatly influenced, but truthfully it has not had such an impact.


I do like the concept of gratitude and appreciation for everything. Acknowledging the togetherness of a community and how we all must work together is a very positive message that I wish more cultures would adopt. I really like learning about all kinds of new religions, so being introduced to Buddhism has been very interesting.

I would like to learn more.

New York Times: North Korea and U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/world/asia/24journalists.html?_r=1&hp

In this article, two Asian-American reporters are detained in North Korea and will ultimately be tried for 'criminal acts' committed while exposing North Korean refugees fleeing their own country because of starvation. I think a huge difference among most countries, ceratinly in this case North Korea and the U.S., is the restraint and freedoms of the press and of information that is accessible to the public.

I'm sure these reporters assumed, as I do, that journalism's core philosophies are acknowledged worldwide, but in this case it is obvious that certain governments will control information, usually negative, about the states of the countries very stringently.

Of course, this is more of a political act; one government challenging the superiority of another. I do believe it is important, though, to understand that different countries have completely separate ways of distributing information. Had these two reporters been elsewhere, the results might have been different, so awareness of your surroundings is key and could have resolved this problem that has now become a political pawn. (I also think this is interesting because they are Asian-American.)