There are several reasons to learn about Japanese culture while you are studying Japanese. Some of these reasons are very obvious and a few are not so obvious. Of course it can be interesting and learning about the history and customs of a place makes it easier to travel there. In fact I would say that the number one way to avoid culture shock is to properly educate yourself about the lifestyle of the culture whose language you are studying; in this case Japanese. I spent two years studying Japanese before I first went to study for a summer semester in college. I found myself having a much
Japanese Media
Media alone couldn’t have protected me from culture shock, as many western Otaku may come to realize when they first come to Japan. Drama is a caricature of daily life, it doesn’t reflect perfectly. I read all kinds of articles; Japan’s English newspapers to learn what issues were currently being talked about, tourist books, studies on cultural phenomenon and aspects of culture (including the salaryman, NEET, gender issues in Japan, suicide, hikokomori, dialects, and so on). I didn’t limit myself to one outlook and always looked for another perspective from both natives and foreigners and most importantly, never assumed I understood very well, even after reading extensively. I also made sure to stick to textbooks which provided cultural information as well and learned about gift giving, in and out groups, ancient culture that has survived modernization such as tea ceremony and flower arranging. I did my own research on all of these as well.
Japanese Culture
Culture is like a giant web that you get more and more entangled in. The easiest way to get a grasp on culture is to build on what you already know. Here is an example. When I first decided to study Japanese, I would compare what different kinds of people said about different places in Tokyo and in Japan. I recognized the name Ikebukuro as a town my friend lived in when I heard of a drama called Ikebukuro West Gate Park. I watched the drama and became used to the way the town looked and experienced a dramatic representation of it. Then I did some of my own research, asked a friend how much was realistic about the show (much was not) and when I first went to Japan went to see it for myself. From this show I also became familiar with many other cultural issues, notably subcultures. After doing my own research on subculture and labels that people use for different kinds of people in Japan, I learned of the term salary-man and found the concept interesting and from there I learned a lot about the working culture of Japan.
When you just study about culture it doesn’t have any real meaning to you. It’s all facts. Rather than just studying a guide book from front to back, read about the places and topics you already know and start with topics that interest you. From there build on your knowledge with related issues and topics that you encounter as part of your Japanese study.
Learning about culture puts the language in context but it also gives you more to talk about. Some Japanese students who come to Japan even with good conversation skills find themselves stuck in very basic conversations. Aside from international issues and world-famous media, they have nothing to talk about. Japan obviously has a very rich culture and Japanese people bring up some aspect of it in every conversation. The same way your American friends may bring up South Park or the democratic or republican party or local diners, a Japanese person is likely to bring up Downtown, Shuushoku Katsudo (the process of looking for a job in Japan), or Fami resu. If you know what they are talking about, the conversation continues smoothly, and if you don’t but make a note of it, it will next time. You can create a much more dynamic and fun experience when you study Japanese if you let yourself enjoy about all the different aspects of culture.
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