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In the US the act of eating a lot very quickly is referred to as "shoveling", so the eager eating of the icecream with the little shovel is a fun pun. :)
@@himasekiwari155I'm in Texas, and can confirm, we do say, "he was shoveling ice cream into his mouth", to say someone was eating a lot, or that they were eating very fast.
it's really funny how you see Americans as super warm and close compared to Japanese, and from my point of view, they are cold and super polite compared with my (Brazilian) culture.
It is a spectrum to be sure. I found Brazilians to be a lot more open and accepting, but I find I usually get along better with foreigners than I do with other American expats regardless of the country.
I think you're right, and the Brazilian perspective is more accurate. Americans are a bit more similar to Japanese - we're cold, formal, outwardly polite and respectful, and increasingly mind our own business and keep to ourselves. /Women/ are more likely to hug and so on. Men are taught to keep their distance. Hank Hill's a great example. The main difference is volume. Americans are definitely louder than Japanese and more obnoxious. We also have a bit more agency, as we aren't feudal, so there's more of a "just go and do it" mentality.
We do eat from the chocolate gift right away to show how much we like it and we do offer others around us some as well. Same with toys and other gifts, we use them right away to show appreciation because if you take it home the giver cannot see if you really liked the gift or not.
In America how you open a gift can be personal preference, but the wrapping paper is seen more as a means to cover the gift to keep it a surprise for the person receiving the gift and not as part of the gift itself. Also, not seeming excited to receive a gift especially from an older family member (like a grandparent or great aunt) can be seen as you being rude or ungrateful
For me as a German, I have experienced both Ways of open a Gift and People have different opinions on it. Im my Family, we see it as part of the gifting rather than the Gift itself - it is like "gifting the Possibility to be a Kid again" and just rip it open. Also, it is a display of exitement about the Present, it exaggerates the feeling how eager you are to see what is inside. Also, sometimes (when the Wrapping is very nice) we do it carefully, but this is for Recycling the Wrapping; but I guess this is just our Family who thinks it is nice to reuse the former Years Wrappings from the Gift you got from that Person to wrap the Persons Gift next Year. As the "Recycling-Thought" is present, we mostly use old Newspapers and such to wrap the Presents that are meant to "get ripped open". ...I know, we are weird.
I think the American way of ripping open the package is to show excitement and pleasure at the surprise. Mostly children are the ones who do that. Adults may open it more respectfully but if you do rip it, it is no insult. In the case of food like chocolate, I think most Americans would offer to share the gift with everyone too. Eating it like that is very much what a child would do.
I feel like a woman’s reaction to a guy trying to pick her up in America varies depending on the region. In the Midwest most women will respond positively to compliments from other women, but will usually ignore compliments from strange men. As for phone numbers, some American men can be really persistent (especially at parties) so women will often give out fake phone numbers just to get the men to leave them alone.
Radio 1 in the UK had the 'flirt divert' gag for years, it was a mobile phone number they'd give out on the show which went to an answerphone. They'd play the funny/cringey messages on the radio.
@@mememaster147 Oh yeah, I remember I had a friend who did this with the God of War help line and the number for the Westboro Baptist Church or the Church of Scientology.
This is funny but yes we do have business cards and usually when you receive a card you’d say thank you and put it on your wallet or or a business card holder.
Yeah it’s the same in Germany..the fact that you are looking at the card before putting it in the pocket is a sign that you are interested..otherwise you would just throw it away many ppl don’t care..
We actually do have smaller ice cream sizes! I can't say for other companies, but Bluebell makes single-serving ice cream containers. The only downside is that they only ever seem to be in vanilla or chocolate, and they're only available in bulk.
Where I am it's a pretty popular thing so there's always four or five different brands. I've even seen several stores with these especially tiny containers of ice cream for very cheap, essentially like tasters
Actually, baseball was first introduced to Japan in the late 1800s by teachers and missionaries, not military personnel. Japan already knew about and had a growing interest in baseball more than a half century before WWII.
In America ripping the wrapping paper is part of the excitement of opening a gift, especially at christmas time. There are some people who take care to remove the paper without damaging it and are often scolded by the other party goers and the person who wrapped it. Other things perfectly ok in Japan such as slurping noodles loudly is a sign you are enjoying your meal whereas in America if you did this it would be considered very bad table manners and people would stare or maybe even come over and say something to you.
@@TheDarkMarionette Yeah I know but they also give them out if they are doing an investigation that way the people they contact can talk to them about things they left out on the investigation by accident
As an American, I prefer carefully opening the wrapping paper so I can reassemble it later. I find the effort a person puts into wrapping a present is a gift in itself. Some people clearly don't put effort in and it feels like they don't care or are doing it out of obligation than a want. Sure some people are just bad at wrapping but it's pretty easy to tell if there was effort put in or not. The present inside is one gift and the wrapping they did is the second. To me, they are two separate gifts. If I don't like the gift inside, the effort in the wrapping is enough. If I accidentally rip the paper bad enough, I might use it in a scrapbook or add it to my journal. Edit: Fully born and raised in America. I'm an odd American sometimes. Edit 2: It might also be because I'd rather not create more trash with wrapping paper and just reuse it.
In Japan, opening wrapped gift carefully shows respect to the person who put time in wrapping and making it look beautiful, but I like America’s idea as well
I know right! I'm Mexican and the best part of birthdays,graduations, quinceañeras, or Reyes magos, has been watching the little kids tear open the boxed gifts with absolute excitement and glee. I could care less for the time I spent wrapping it. We also have piñatas so I this were just more destructive culturally lol.
I’ll never forget during my home stay in Japan, the baseball players always stopped to bow and greet us whenever we walked by and they did this during practice once and a student got a baseball to the face and didn’t even flinch! We all freaked out and apologized even though he insisted he was okay but man, I still feel bad about it.
Dang, I hope he is okay what a crazy difference, in America we don’t even call out upperclassman anything in particular to show that they are “above” us just greet them like an friend
for number 6, we americans try to avoid this from happening in the first place by just having a completely separate computer / laptop for purely work purposes. because if such a thing happened during, say, your lecture at a university, you would definitely become the gossip of the day haha
Honestly I've never seen that happen myself--ive never seen anyone get a text on their laptop, let alone during a presentation. The closest I've seen to what happened In the video is if an instructor got a text or call on their phone during a lecture. Most of the time they would quickly pull their phone to glance at it. Occasionally they might say something short like "oh that was Blah Blah Blah... They just wanted to know Blah Blah Blah"... but I think that wasn't so much a reflection of professionalism as it was to humorously alleviate any annoyance felt in the room by the brief pause. One time an instructor actually took a phone call, but he quickly ducked out of the classroom and upon returning, admitted it was an emergency.
@@feral_shade Yeah, maybe it could happen on like an iPad but laptops don't have pop up notifications like that unless you set it up that way, although you might get a notification sound effect.
@@hadhamalnam I think browsers have notifications. I always deny permission when asked, so I have no idea how they work. But I guess theoretically a notification may appear if someone Tweeted you or something?
American here. Even as a child, I drove my family crazy during any presents-receiving occasion because I _didn't_ rip the paper apart! I always thought the wrapping was just so pretty so I wanted to keep it as intact as possible. Somebody would always end up throwing it out, unfortunately. Not so as an adult! I became hip to their game, & tucked it carefully aside. I'll use it when wrapping gifts for others, or even for frame backgrounds & scrapbooking. I believe it's the spirit of abandon & plenty that fuels many American families' tradition of tearing open their presents. It's mostly a celebratory thing rather than being motivated by greed or entitlement.
Exactly - if the wrapping is pretty, and could be reused, then why destroy it? In Poland, where I live, I've seen it both ways - some people try to unwrap carefully, while others don't care for the packaging. This might be partially because the older generation is used to scarcity, so they may have learned to be resourceful, and some of the younger generation may have learned it from their parents or on their own (especially if they live on a tight budget)... while other people seem to do the opposite and act wastefully to 'show off their wealth', and 'impress people' with their carefree attitude. As of late, within my family we often give gifts in paper gift bags, which makes it easier to get gifts out without destroying the packaging, and means you can buy some slightly more expensive / prettier bags, knowing they'll be reused many times. I even once got a gift in a really nice, exquisitely decorated textile gift bag (I think it had sequins and embroidery), stylized with a Japanese theme, and the giver told me that the bag was considered part of the gift (though it was obvious enough anyway). I thought this was a really nice gift. There's just this small issue now that I'm not likely to reuse that bag anytime soon, since it's so nice I want to keep it for myself xD
Yeah, from my experiences the people watching will get really impatient with slow/careful unwrappers and tell them to just "hurry up and rip it." 🤷🏼♀️ I guess we're just in a hurry to get things done.
@@Tennouseijin You realize your comment contradicts the original one, which explains that people tear the wrapping not out of greed but more as a celebratory thing. Sure if you plan on reusing it it makes sense to be careful but what's the point in doing so if you aren't going to? How does that make you a show-off?
I was really surprised to hear as an American how Japanese open their gifts, but it makes a LOT of sense! Lol- growing up in America though, I remember it being more respected to REALLY rip your present up to show how excited you were and thankful for the present! My uncle even told me one time “is that how you open gifts?! Come on, put some excitement into it!” When I wasn’t ripping it too fast lolol. But that’s why culture is so interesting:))) Woaaaaaah dang I don’t think I’ve gotten this many likes before, thanks y’all🙇🏻
Lol I get how you feel. I'm the awkward american that tries to not rip the paper and I get messed with because of it. Also... we have the small ice cream containers. But it's like 3 times the cost to get the same quantity. That's why mostly people pay for the bigger one. A half gallon is like $4 or $5 usd. But it's like $2.75 or $3 for the 4-6 oz. quantity.
My mom taught me as a kid to open paper neatly and save it for another gift! Bc she’s Chinese but took college & grad school in Kyoto so she picked up a lot of Japanese habits haha so I have some of her odd habits as well. So this is odd to me.
Yeah! Rushing and ripping apart the wrap is a sign for excitement for those that received the gift, like truly something like "I am so excited you brought me something and I cannot wait to see what is inside". Not opening the gift or so slowly is really a party-killer, everyone get disappointed and almost feel like to the person that brought the gift that you are somehow disappointed or not impressed by it even before you had opened it.
I find it entertaining how often I see on his videos, "The Japanese way of doing X makes a lot of sense." No joke. That's why it's the way they do it. It makes sense to them, and likely would to others if they were exposed to the culture. That's what videos about other cultures are for. To show and educate how to act abroad and how it makes sense. This isn't an attack or making fun of you. You just reminded me with your comment, so i wrote it here.
Yes, if someone takes a business card in America it's typically put away immediately. It's the business equivalent of putting someone's phone number in your phone. It's merely a practical item to contact the person. Paying too much attention to the card might come off as creepy tbh. They're rarely handed out anymore - they're often placed out for customers to take.
I am glad you pointed out the looking it over. Yeah, honestly, I didn't even think about really checking out someone's card, just a note with a name and number in my head. I could see if someone went to the trouble of making a personal one though why that reaction would be disappointing.
Yes! This exactly. They're regarded basically the same as if someone put their phone number on a post-it for you. They're information on cardstock. Unless you are on a job interview you can shove it in your jeans butt-pocket it without any insult. On a job interview use a business card holder, a suit jacket pocket or your folio for a slightly more formal decorum.
The gift unwrapping is definitely true when it comes to excitement. Im in NY & my family/friends would get jokingly annoyed if I opened the gift carefully. I'd start to hear "oh goodness just rip the paper".
I agree. I’m in NY as well. People tend to get super annoyed if you take too long opening their gift. They want to see your reaction to what they gave to you. Opening the gift slowly just means you’re disinterested in the person’s gift giving. After all the giver too lots of time to find that perfect gift. The least the receiver can do is be excited for what’s inside.
Partially that and partially because when business cards get handed out, it is an invitation to give them or their business a call. Everyone knows that time is always limited in the situations where such commonly happens, but they want to extend the opportunity to keep in contact.
In that flirting scene, often times, the girl will drop the "boyfriend" line earlier, and a be a bit more subtle. Something like. "Oh yeah, I love shopping here. My boyfriend and I come here often."
@@Iisho a lot of the time, if you look into it, "being a creep" is defined as "attempting to start a conversation while not having movie star level good looks". I'd like to think that was a rare minority, but it's apparently depressingly common.
Number 5). In the South we have entire conversations with complete strangers just out and about. Also random compliments to someone walking by is one of my favorite things to do- always makes their day 😀
Thank you very much! 😊 Although i believe the USA could learn quite a bit from Japan. Japanese society is extremely respectful and organized in most aspects which I'd love for us to utilize here.
@@mememarie2040 I agree that there are many things we should learn from each other. While I would love to see our vending machines to be as partially decent as Japanese ones, I personally don’t want to see the Japanese toxic work culture (obligatory post-work drinking parties, overtime with no pay, overworking under the disguise of productivity, etc.), the education system that emphasizes too much pressure on young students (studying for hours in a day is the norm) and the extreme collectivism implemented here in the US because most Americans are favorable toward more paid-time off and more vacation time. You should understand why Japan has high suicide rates amongst high school students and something called karoshi amongst working adults (death due to overwork). Yes, the Japanese are known for being organized but they are also known to be extremely hierarchical and non-confrontational even when the problems greatly affect their well being and mental health. And not to mention that Japanese bureaucracy is a nightmare to deal with. I’ll take German practicality (we already did to a degree because our highway system is based on the German Autobahnen) over Japanese stifling collectivism any day. Japan is not the paradise you want it to be.
As a depressed American, I definitely eat ice cream straight from the container. Myth confirmed. I haven't tried a shovel though, so maybe I'll try it next time.
The humor translates very well. I was just a little shocked that many Japanese would not give up their seats for those who need it more. In Austria they would get called out by other passengers.
Oh yeah. You would definitely be considered rude if you didn't. It's both nice but also a double-edged sword. As a person with an invisible chronic illness, it's horrible when people who look obviously like need a seat ask you to move and you have to explain that you need it becuase you're in pain. I feel like a jackass and then sometimes people won't believe you. Usually, I just give up my seat and deal with the pain because it's easier than arguing.
@@pappanalab Yeah, It's very hard to deal against people... They willn't believe any invisible pain because They cannot see or felt It while even if They give US the seat and We showing no sign of Pain, They will think of us lying and if We showing It then They think of us doing too much 🗿🗿🗿 maybe people need the Illness person to died in front of Them first before believe if It's visible Illness 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿
It depends where you are in the US but, most people are very nice to strangers. It isn't uncommon to have small talk with strangers if you are in close proximity, like an elevator or in line for some event.
as you say, it's highly dependant. my best friend is from the opposite side of the US, and her culture is very talkative and open, while mine is more private, reserved, and focused on politeness.
My experience about Americans from traveling is, they're the most friendly. But they complain a lot. And they're arrogant at airports and planes. Like they feel so proud about themselves for traveling abroad and talk loudly about it. So they're friendly to strangers in interactions, but they don't take into account their surroundings. Finns are the opposite, we act quietly in public and don't talk to strangers.
As someone who lives in the West, it is so refreshing to watch people so comfortably talk about their own cultures and that of foreign places and not be afraid to laugh and have humour.
In that case you'll love Brazil. Here we laugh and make fun of everyone and everything, including ourselves and we have a blast doing so on a daily basis. Seriously, the unofficial motto in the country is "you have to laugh not to cry". In that sense I think Brazilians are more at ease when joking around since I often hear about how serious and not so outspoken foreign people are in comparison. I barely met any foreigners, so I can't say for sure that's the case, but those acquaintances who did go abroad tell me we are more easygoing in comparison.
I was also taught this. My wife is from Ecuador and she thinks it's wierd how we can have whole conversations with strangers lol I've noticed that this isn't unique either, a lot of the people I met doing international training run in tue military also thought it was woerd and off outing how quick we are to start a conversation and how much we smile and laugh
I think its a hold over from the more Genteel western ways stemming back to royal Court and gatherings. The pleasantries must be maintained in public and otherwise is rude and uncivilized type of thinking. I don't think either way is wrong Per se. Just cultural.
Definitely in the US I've seen people put business cards in their pockets. What usually happens is they will receive the business card, look over it briefly to acknowledge that they will remember the information to the person, and stuff it in their pocket. But no one thinks twice about this. I think it's part of the reason people don't really give business cards anymore, and when they are given, it's just complimentary. People just kinda know they will probably throw it away anyways unless they need it haha
15:50 I'm shocked about this one! In a culture that puts so much emphasis on following rules and being considerate of others, this is the opposite of what I expected.
Same in America. No one in their right mind would eat a whole box at once. However the large box is the most commonly purchased size since it's a lot cheaper than the small ones and ice cream doesn't really go bad.
@@AllUpOns Yep, Americans love to buy in bulk. Even at restaurants, if they load up your plate, it's expected that you ask for a to-go box. They want to make sure you don't leave hungry, so this results in you typically getting about two meals out of it.
The girlfriend one is definitely not exaggerated, I've had a teacher get a text by their significant other and reply. Eventually, the significant other would end up coming to class to meet everyone because the students were asking for it.
in Scotland we wrap gifts full of tape and lots of layers so you have to rip it apart. if something isn't wrapped securely and its easy to fold open, it may be seen as lazy. I have an aunt that makes gifts impossible to open neatly, its part of the fun!
With how girls in the US act towards strangers, we are friendly but that’s partially a defense mechanism. There is a big problem here with being attacked if you turn the wrong person down “rudely” so we often will be nice until we can find a way to get away. It isn’t ideal. Most women I know would prefer the Japanese method of ignore and keep walking away
@@tentedkarma7465 1- not your bro 2- yes it is. I’ve personally experienced it as have the majority of my friends who are women. All people are different, but it only takes one to really hurt you so we gotta be careful. There’s more than you’d think
@@Miradori I have definately felt unsafe when I turned down advances and will be friendly, so that they will accept my excuses to leave without thinking that I refused them outright. If I had refused outright then they would have made it a scene. I feel this statement to be true
In my experience as an American, if a spouse or girlfriend texted me during a presentation, I'd be embarrassed and apologize then close the notification. It comes off unprofessional
Engineering program manager in the US here. Yes, we have business cards, but in my field, we treat them as access directly to us. They're not given out of politeness, but to get personal access. I would never give my business card to a low-level engineer or tech because I don't want a low-level engineer or tech calling my cellphone. I WOULD give my business card to another program manager because I DO want to have cell phone access to others on my level or above me. Yes, I do put them directly in my pocket because it's access to them personally and should be protected in that way. If it sits out, others could get access to an email address or cell phone they shouldn't have access to.
Growing up in the Netherlands we opened the gifts in the same way as the Japanese. Not out of respect tho, but more from an economical standpoint of 'if it comes off in one piece, we might be able to use it to wrap something else with it later' 😅
We do have little containers of ice cream, those big ones are meant for large families. That is not always how they are used. Usually, business card exchange is only done with a casual acquaintance. Someone you meet may be socially or while networking and may want to start a business relationship with. It is a casual thing. The more formal thing happens when you make the decision to do business with that person. People unwrap gifts differently. Some people even feel insulted if someone is very careful when opening one. My family is very careful as my Grandmother was. She always reused the paper and we do too. We are very much schooled to give our seats to those who need them more than we do. Not everyone will, but they will be looked at as a bad person. We also don't like strange men complimenting us on the street it is creepy. She said she had a boyfriend so they would go away, she said thank you so they would not call her a stuck-up B$^^*&, and gave a compliment so they could get time to get away.
Personally, where I'm from at least, the only ice cream containers I've seen that are that small are ones that come in bulk or were served as cheap deserts for kids at restaurants, the normal one-person ice cream container is still comparatively bigger.
@@andreaprochowski4717 It could be just that I live in a large city. There are tons of places including the grocery stores that carry single-serving Hagandas and lots of other gourmet brands. I have to admit I haven't shopped for food in the more rural areas of my state unless it was a tourist area.
While living in Japan, I was there so long that I actually forgot some English words for things. I remember being asked what something was called in English, and I had a difficult time recalling. It was at that point that I realized...yeah, I think it's time to come home. lol I enjoyed my 7 years there...part of me wouldn't mind living there again, but only if I had a good job.
I am not a completely fluent Spanish speaker, yet for some reason when I was studying Japanese, every time I would want to say “hai”, I would think “Si”.
@@keithtorgersen9664 I do the same thing with French and Spanish. Even though I barely know any Spanish, sometimes I'll use a Spanish word on accident when speaking French.
I’m originally from Mexico (now the USA) and I can’t hardly imagine the gift wrap culture shock your mother would have experienced here…. 😳 Because creating “impossible to open gift wrapping,” is basically an Olympic sport in our family and surrounding area. If it doesn’t require the recipient to use a knife and it takes less than 2 minutes to get open (or the wrapping is still in tact at the end) -you failed at gift wrapping.🤣
I've been living in Tokyo for over a decade, and out of the blue I realized that I've been living here in Japan for too long when I unconsciously bowing when I talk on the phone !! 🤣🤣
I had only been in Japan for 2 weeks, and by the time I came back to the states, I caught myself nodding/ bowing to anyone I accidently caught eye contact with, or bumping into someone, or when receiving something from people, or thanking anyone. 😂😂😂 I had to catch myself and stop! 😆
I’ve yet to go to Japan, but catch myself doing that all the time. Then again, for some reason, my dumb brain decides to adopt people’s mannerisms and speech patterns quickly upon meeting/watching others. I might be watching too many Japanese channels lately trying to study the language. 😅
The woman one (America) is slightly inaccurate to me because I do something in-between--being friendly but also ignoring the advances because it's kind of creepy that a guy would try to pick you up while going about your daily life (this has happened to me a few times, when I was just trying to be kind and generous), so I tend to try to exit the interaction as soon as that starts happening. The Japanese women are right to ignore the man lol
The Japanese language class I took for three years in high school definitely caused me to have this issue outside of class. We'd learn Japanese etiquette and culture alongside the language, so within the week of putting it in practice in class, at least one of us would end up weirding out our friends or other teachers. I remember getting weird looks in my history class when I ended up blurting out うるさい because people were talking during a documentary we were watching. It was embarrassing, but weirdly enough it got my point across to whoever was talking.
@@satorukuroshiro I literally get weird looks for studying GENKI kanji book haha. I’ve had a couple people come up to me and call me a “Ching Chong bing bong” 😔
From my experience, while it is more common to have physical contact with people you are familiar with, we americans tend to really like our personal space. There's actually a joke from a French comedian where they show the difference between how cultures react to having to social distance compared to their normal behavior in a greeting situation. The French version was all over each other normally, then depressed and tragic when force to not go near each other. Meanwhile the Americans were fine being 6ft apart and when not following the guidelines were actually way further apart when saying hello
Buisness cards are more of a marketing thing. One might come in a free sample if youre trying to become a vendor for a store. Or if you work in a marketing job where you develop your own clients, massage therapists, therapists, real estate agents, insurance agents, accountants; jobs of that nature are more likely to have business cards. There is no standard or polite/impolite way of accepting them either.
Getting gifts: American: rips the wrapping open like a madman Japanese: s h o o k WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT Japanese: carefully unwraps the gift Chinese : s h o o k ARE YOU THAT SHAMELESS TO OPEN THE GIFT IN FRONT OF ME?!?! We dont open gifts in front of the giver unless they ask u to
Just like in the video, in Japan we would ask the person who gave us the present if we can open the gift or not too!😊 But I think in most cases we would usually open it in front of the person who gave it to us, we should show them our reaction towards the gift as a way to express our appreciation☺️
Story time. There were Japanese exchange students at my high school years ago, and they shared some snacks. A boy said “Do you want this?” Instead of “Do you want one?” So I said thank you, and took the whole bag of cookies… He was confused and I was embarrassed after I figured out it was a misunderstanding.
“In japan, it’s like we consider the wrapping part of the gift.” OMG YES!!! I am the only one in my family that really gets into nice creative and unique wrapping. I almost always try and stick to the theme of the gift
It makes sense that you don't shake hands in Japan. Handshaking as a tradition started in the west, as a gesture of peace. It shows that the hand holds no weapon.
I found the not giving seats up for elderly in Japan quite surprising as I thought it would transfer from the general notion of having respect for those that are senior to you. Here in Hong Kong, people are usually mindful of giving up their seats for the elderly/ pregnant/ injured.
Business card etiquette in the U.S. is kind of on a case by case basis. If you're at a job fair, a convention of some kind or any situation in which it's expected of you to keep moving you would accept the card, take a quick glance and put it in your pocket. But if you're in a one on one situation with someone who's just introduced themselves and handed you their card, you should take the time to look at it and take in the information they've just presented. That's just my experience. One of the things I really like about conventions is going home and looking at all the business cards I grabbed. Over the next few days I sort out the cards of businesses I want to engage with again, and the ones I simply grabbed to be polite. It feels bad to get rid if or recycle cards, but it feels even worse not to take someone's card in a polite situation. I wonder if that's that's common situation in Japan as well?
Funnily enough - where I'm from, the gift wrapping we treat more like the Americans (just tearing it open), but since I was young, I acted more like the Japanese (carefully opening it). It went on so much, that my family always tolde *just tear it open already, you take so long* 😂😂
Oh yes I’m a native Texan and in my experience. People here are very nonchalant about how the interact with “higher ups” you could say. Business cards are exchanged casually with no specific etiquette. Same with toasts with clients in sales or even coworkers and bosses. When drinking with others it’s more a rambunctious interaction then a calculated interaction with careful politeness. I’m sure people in Japan know how to have a fun time out as well, however I’ve never really seen the specific type of camaraderie that’s out here in the states.
Ya American here, we are definitely casual with how we do most things with others in our business. I had a friendly/casual relationship with my area manager at my last job. We talked about basketball and whatever else came to mind. It just seems weird to me that you would purposely put yourself below another of the same species. We’re all human. I mean I can see being more respectful toward your higher ups but not to the extent that Japanese people do.
Me my little cultural shock living in Texas was the "country/cowboy tuxedo". Gosh, it was a shock when it occurred to a local fundraising event. You know I was expecting you should come to it with tuxedo, white shirts and ties. And here you had these generous donators (local business owners) dressed with a blue jeans, boots, and a white shirt while wearing a blazer/tuxedo vest.
@@abooogeek you'll see the same here in Kentucky. I'm pretty casual with my boss too...frankly, I don't think I've been formal with him in the 3 years I've been at my current job since I moved down here
How you handle giving your seat to an old person on the train: You say absolutely nothing, just get up like you're gonna get off, then hope that the person quickly catches onto what you did... and inevitably the seat will get taken by a college student and you'll be fuming.
From my experience as an American, I’d say we’re more open to strangers, so we tend to be both more friendly but at times more mean-depending on who it is and where you live at least! I’ve seen my fair share of road rage 😆 Loved this video btw! Made me laugh a lot!
Shogo: "We usually make educational videos for you to learn something, but I though once in a while we can do these easy going just for fun videos" Proceeds to make very fun video where we get to learn about some differences between Japanese and western cultures.
If you are a very fancy, wealthy American you receive the business card and put it in a small metal business card holder that has a shiny metallic silver surface and a silver metal clasp to hold it closed. It's a small object not much bigger than the business card itself. If you are an average American business man, you calmly and casually put the business card in your wallet with your paper money. In general, Americans are more casual and less cautious with business cards.
This has been really entertaining, when it comes how us Americans open gifts, as my own personal reason for ripping the paper off, sometimes people use too much tape when wrapping the gifts so it feels necessary to just straight up rip the wrapping off or use scissors or something to help
Hi Shogo! Having lived in a few different states and cities within, working in multiple industries (Automotive, I.T., Resturaunt staff, Construction, Engineering) I can say based on my own experience that business cards are pretty rare these days. I have also just a card right in my pocket, not knowing how disrespectful it is. Most situations are handled with smart phones, or even email exchanges, unless working in high profile industries such as banking, law, investors and probably higher end real estate. The ice-cream scoop is a thing for depressing days lol! Thanks for the video!! ~Stephen
When we were in Japan we would always offer our seats to any elderly person we saw especially if the train was packed. Most of the time they seemed to at least try to refuse. We thought maybe because we were visitors they would do this but maybe they are too accustomed to this?
In Asian cultures, you lose face if you accept something the first time it is offered. The person offering must offer 2 or 3 times before the offer is accepted.
American here 🙋🏻♀️ People don’t really use business cards that much anymore, but when they do, it’s not considered rude to put it in your pocket. I think many people would put it in their wallet if they didn’t want to lose it. Also large size food is called “family size” and it’s supposed to be for sharing with family and friends (multiple people).
Most at the managerial level, sales, professionals, still use cards. NOT having a card can have you considered "unserious." Hovever, COVID has changed some of that, and technology may make the practice obsolete. But, Americans are much more casual with cards in general. I use them daily and it is appreciated by my potential clients.
@Wildmage Nobody it's not nature, there's just actual healthy food options in Japan that are quick, and also the portion sizes as you mentioned. Same on second point at least for most of Europe
@@ms.pirate your appetite adapts to your eating pattern. I used to be able to eat several pizzas in a sitting, now I struggle to get through a small bowl. If the food is meaty or fatty, it gets easier to get full as well compared to anything with carbs or anything "snacky"
In my family, we prefer putting presents in gift bags or boxes so we can save ourselves from gift wrapping. It’s also reusable for the person accepting the gift. I’m Filipino, I don’t know if that means anything to this. But, I also feel slightly embarrassed when I open presents in front of people. I don’t know why, but I do.
reusable bags and reusable paper fillings for the win! Yeah wrapping paper is saved for big ticket items and the wrapping kind of flies off like confetti!
9:22 with stuff like Christmas its also a turn base thing where everyone takes a turn and then there are the people who don't put their gift in a box so the wrapping paper is already crumpled into a irregular shape
the present wrapping has me so bewildered with the differences, to be so careful with wrapping paper is so funny to me lol. We teach our kids to rip it up, part of the fun of getting a present!
In most Europe, when we receive a bottle of wine or something eatable we usually share it with all the people. I saw some people taking my expensive champagne bottle away instead of using it to celebrate. It felt strange, as if they were waiting for a better occasion to drink it without me :D Apparently Swedish people often come with their own bottle of alcohol and drink it without sharing. They are often viewed as very rude by the rest of us...
But if it’s a gift why would you share it. It has an intended receiver so the receiver should be the one eating or drinking it. If you just brought it with the intention of sharing it with everyone that’s not a gift.
@@BL00DYR0S31 Because it's a way to say thank you and to share a good time. I find pleasure in making other people happy and sharing good moments with friends who can appreciate it. It's like when you travel alone and wish your friends would be here to see a beautiful place. If someone comes with a bottle of Champagne to celebrate something that happened to me I'm not going to put it in the fridge and open a cheap one, it would feel disrespectful, like I'm taking advantage of them. Unless they tell me otherwise, if it's food or drinks I will share it. I have big meals and parties in my place with a beautiful view. I buy some food and everyone brings something to eat or drink that we share. There's usually between 8 to 16 people but we don't spend much so we can do it whenever we want (once or more per week). If I had to buy all myself it wouldn't be as often or I would feel like they are taking advantage of me. If I kept what they bring for myself they would feel the same thing.
@@BL00DYR0S31 Cause it's part of the culture? We talk about drinks and food here, there are often shared. Especially alcohol like the other person said. Or when you have a party at your house it's common for guests to bring something like some food and alcohol, it's just good manners and culture
@@Nuti196 Not immediately offering a gift you've received to the person who gave it to you doesn't mean sharing isn't part of the culture. No one is bringing expensive champagne to a house party, that's completely different.
Even as a European I've always unwrapped gifts the Japanese way for two reasons: 1. To enjoy the experience and feel the last bit of anticipation before knowing what's inside. 2. To annoy everyone else in the room who's curious to find out what's inside🤣.
Single serving ice cream cups are totally a thing in America. You can buy individual ones or a bag of them. They're smaller than the one shown in the TikTok. Blue Bell makes them, and they are sold basically everywhere in America, at WalMart, Safeway and Safeway affiliates, and possibly also at Kroger brand stores?
As a pure Japanese who was brought up in Australia since 4yrs of age I've always been kinda torn between two cultures so I totally get the difference. It's so opposite. The skits were hilarious tho.
It's situational. Deflecting with "polite conversation" can also signal that you are interested and want more attention. There's a difference between politely refusing and rudly ignoring I think. Either way, predator types will sense fear or weakness and seize the opportunity either way
When yielding your seat to someone else on mass transit, etiquette says that you should move to a place behind the seat (if possible) and not engage them further. If you use this opportunity to strike up a conversation, it may feel transactional instead of altruistic. If they can see you after you've yielded your seat, it could make them feel guilty.
Business cards are a bit old-fashioned in the US now. It used to be a much more common thing. But yeah these days, it's uncommon enough that if you do get given a business card, you likely won't have one of your own to exchange, since most don't have them, so it's usually just 1 person giving the card, and it's just a quick way to give someone your phone or email address. And yeah this exchange usually happens at career fairs or meeting during travel, so you likely won't have anywhere to keep the card because all you have is your packets most of the time, so yeah we usually just say thanks and stuff it in our pockets and it's no big deal. It is polite to at least look at the card for a second and say thanks, but again it's not a very big deal.
A big difference by wrapping a gift is that in Japan you have people who are “specialised” in wrapping gifts so it looks really neat. But I think quite a lot of western countries we do it ourselves and it looks bad, so it doesn’t really matter whether or not we open it neatly or just rip it open…
We have pro gift wrappers here in the USA too, however it's normally a seasonal department store sort of thing that's only offered during Christmas time. There are plenty of companies who offer specialized gift packaging for special occasions and other holidays though. USA...wherever someone can make a buck because someone else is lazy it's happening. LMAO 🤣 I love wrapping gifts!!
My mom is a professional artist, and she loves to wrap presents as if they were these beautiful store decorations- I'm used to it by now, but it's funny to watch how people suddenly don't want to open them and ruin the decorations!
@@hanthonyc I also wrap gifts carefully and thoughtfully, often with a theme if it is for a holiday or large party. When I unwrap a gift, I wait until everyone has finished their tearing apart (people don’t tear mine apart, as it is obviously an art), then when it is quiet, I carefully unwrap my gifts to conserve the paper, ribbons and bows. I think it’s an OCD artist thing, as I’m also an artist.
I'm not comfortable with hugs and physical affections either and I come from and live in the USA. I was always an odd ball and used to joke that I was originally reincarnated from somewhere else.
@@Eric_X You be shocked at how many Americans, where I live, will randomly talk about their lives and business to total strangers or people of the same race along with hugging them. Well up until current events.
I was the group hugger and my wife comes from Ecuador and I guess the sight of seeing men hugging women they aren't in a sexual relationship with or related too was a shock to her lol
6:31 Yes we still use business cards, but often they are on display on a desk or a shop counter, so if customers or anyone is interested they can take one. I will put it safely in my bag where it won't get bent. I can't speak for everyone else though.
You guys are so likable, I wanted to say I really appreciate the editing in these! An understated effort that really changes the value of the videos and makes them so easy to follow and nice looking! Thanks for working hard on all your videos!
When I was in the Marine Corps, we had a company gunny (older senior enlisted guy) who had been stationed in Tokyo for a brief period. The cultural differences and some other incidents had caused quite a bit of problems between us servicemen and the locals (especially in the red light districts) so his entire battalion made them all wear shirts that said "I'm a foreigner and a Marine, if I am rude please understand that I am outside of my culture and I am in a new environment. I also might be slightly retarded" It helped out quite a bit because where he was at was in a poorer area where most of the people really didn't care if you were a foreigner or not and that little shirt wound up being the best thing for us because it helped a lot of people come together and teach us stuff. Oh, something I forgot, at this time, enlisted were not allowed to enter Tokyo and had to stay "on base" (it wasn't a base, it was an apartment complex called a barracks and that battalion was there because we thought China was about to invade) well by the time gunny go there in the early 80s, that policy had changed and Marines being Marines, we got in quite a bit of trouble. It is the way if our people. Longer story short. He met his wife because of that shirt. The translator had miss spelled one of the words and it the lady who helped him fix it (because it was stenciled black paint on a whit t shirt) wound up dating and marrying him after teaching him some Japanese
I’ve been living in Japan for 8 years now and I still can’t wrap a gift correctly, my gift wrapping looks like it was done by a child. But yeah, when someone gives me Valentine’s choco, I still just rip it open and start eating the chocolate right away lol. That train seat video was so true! When I first came to Japan, I would give up my seat for any woman standing, even if she was younger than me and the women would be shocked that I gave them my seat. It’s just being a gentleman; but now, I don’t. I mean,I’ll still give myself to an elderly person, but not to a young woman lol.
14:26 Idon't know about other countries, but here in Brasil we could never think it would happen in Japan. We're taught that japaneses have a huge respect for the elders. I imegine it should happens more urban areas. I'm really shocked. 😱
Well the thing is people here often get scolded by the elderly themselves. I have 2 experiences like that after coming here in japan. Of course i had always given my seat in my country for needed. First time I did it in tokyo I got scolded by this elderly woman. She straight up said “Do you think I am that old?”. And the second time this old man just ignored me and walked other side. After that i started not giving up my seat for elderly as long as i am not seating on priority seat.
I generally do give my seat when I have the chance but there are times when some elders refuse the offer. In those case I do try to persist one or two times but when it doesn’t work I give up and try not to push the subject too far. Another way is to try and subtly give up the seat pretending this is your stop while moving to another cart but this rarely works because as soon as you give up a seat usually young students or salary man will literally make a dash for it before the elder has the chance to take it.
Hilarious! In the UK, although this was perhaps a little unusual, we actually unwrapped presents 'Japanese style' without knowing it - because my Mother wanted to reuse the paper if possible (I had several older brothers and sisters so money was tight before). Thinking about this with the wrapping being part of the present (which is excellent) that seems a little strange ...
Business cards are more of a less popular way to show where and what people do for work in America. I think they were more popular before the internet in the 1980s and 1990s in America because people would generally put phone numbers and the location of the business instead of a way to anouce what they would do for work in a introduccion in Japan. I actually really like business cards it makes me feel nostalgic in a way hahaha.
I’m not from the USA or Japan and I think that the video is very entertaining! When I receive a present I always open it carefully because nice wrapping paper can be reused ! Have a nice week and greetings from Germany!
I am very glad you say so! Reacting to their videos, doesn’t mean that we value the cultures of the US and Japan more😓 It’s just simply because Kazu and I have experiences of living in the US when we were small, and we will be able to give more comments from my own experiences😊 Once again I’m very happy to know that you enjoyed this video!
Here in Toronto, Canada, business cards are generally being phased out in many fields. I worked in foods and services, a laboratory, a legal transcriptionist company, a university's research institute, and we did not use business cards at all. My instinct is to say that they're only used among certain businesses and social circles and events associated with them, but even those who don't use business cards will politely put it into their wallet when offered a business card. The wallet is where you keep other cards and other odds and ends that are important, so putting a business card into your wallet signals that your filing it away, as if you were ever going to retrieve it and use it eventually, even if you never intend to actually use it. Pockets are sort of an emergency if you don't have your wallet on you (left it in the car, etc.).
I have always seen men who receive business card place them into a card holder or wallet which sits in the inner breast pocket of their suit coat, or tuck the card directly into the coat pocket, but never into a back pocket where it would get bent and damaged. My dad always put the cards directly into the upper suit pocket because that way it would not get damaged, so putting it into his pocket immediately was seen as a gesture of respect by the giver.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the most common place to see business cards is... sitting in a rack on the reception desk doing their best pamphlet impression. You grab one if you need the contact information for later, and generally stick it in the side pocket of your pants or top (or in a purse, I suppose). Next most common is st the end of an appointment with a specialist or something, they'll grab a generic business card for the business/institution/whatever, and then write any extra details for contacting them specifically, and maybe a couple of notes on it then hand it to you. You tend to be a little more careful sith those ones because you can't so easily just look up the information if you lose it. If a tradesman does a job for you there's decent odds he'll hand you a bill/invoice/etc. with his (or his employer's) business card Stapled to it. I've got no idea how it works when various businessmen interact. I have a sneaking suspicion the business cards may be, in many contexts, made redundant by headers or footers on the documents involved, and otherwise similar to the example with specialists and consumers. You generally wouldn't stick them in your back pants pocket, but that's because those pockets are garbage and anything put in them ends up stuck and/or going through the washing machine. And being a literal pain in the butt every time you sit down if it's not just paper.. Like, even if you were litteraly bin the card as soon as you got out of sight, the back pocket isn't used. I've seen people hang tape measures off them, sometimes, but that is it, they're hopeless.
@@laurencefraser You're right, I totally didn't think about the business card stapled to the invoice. Here in Canada, I've definitely seen that as well.
When I was a kid I would mostly rip the paper off presents. As I got older I would sometimes be careful and save the paper if I thought it was pretty and I could reuse it.
Business card exchanges would be casual in the US. You'd thank each other and put the cards in your wallet. No feelings are attached to it. It's just an exchange of necessary information after discussing possible business (in US culture, I mean).