Comparing America and Japan, Part 2
Akemi: Recently, my blogger friend Hunter Nuttall visited my home country, Japan, and wrote the eBook “Memoirs of a Gaijin.” He went to Kyoto and Tokyo. I’m from Nagoya (a big city between Kyoto and Tokyo – he passed it by the train), but I’ve been to both cities several times.
So I thought this is a wonderful opportunity to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both countries. Please read the first half of the discussion at Comparing America and Japan, Part 1.
Housing
Akemi: Among the many things I like about America, conveniently designed comfortable housing is close to the top of the list. American houses are large, often comes with central heating and air conditioning system that keeps the whole house at the right temperature. Ordinary people can afford houses with a garden, which is a dream for many Japanese. I just wish we had the deep soaking bath in America. . .
Hunter: My friends in Kyoto had a bathtub that we couldn’t figure out how to fit into! It was twice as deep and half as long as what we have in America. Maybe if you’re the right size, it’s easier to figure out. 
My friends’ apartment was very tiny, and the temperature never seemed to be right. It was fine for a visit, but it would definitely bother me to live like that. I’m sure Japanese homes are small and expensive because of the population density. Japan is 90% of the size of California but has 3.5 times its population. There’s only so much land to go around.
But even though ordinary people can afford a house with a garden in the U.S., they’re often leveraging themselves to the hilt to do it. Lately we’ve seen people lose their homes because they could never really afford them in the first place. Of course, we’re still correcting from the biggest housing bubble in U.S. history, so it’s hard to comment on housing affordability right now. Not to mention that prices vary dramatically from one area to the next. Because most Americans live on the coasts, a lot of us forget that when you move towards the center of the country, homes get really cheap.
Akemi: I lived in Columbus, Ohio, for 10 years and Nashville, Tennessee, for 3 years prior to moving to Oregon last fall, so you are telling me. . .
I still think living conditions in the US is better than Japan overall. It’s not just the housing for each families. We have more parks and general breathing space here. This adds to the need to drive around, however. I think the ideal is to have small communities where we can walk or bike to go to work and to do majority of the shopping, supported by near-by larger cities and online services.
Hunter: I live in Reston, Virginia, a planned community that was designed for exactly what you’re describing. The idea is that you should be able to live, work, and play in Reston for your whole life, moving to different areas when you enter a new life cycle. I live in the “young adult” area, where I can walk to restaurants, shopping, ice skating, a movie theater, art shows, outdoor concerts, a park, and a farmer’s market. I used to be able to walk to work, and there’s a road that offers a straight shot to D.C. in one direction, and Dulles airport in the other. I really like it.
Education
Akemi: Another thing I truly appreciate about America is the school system. I walked out from college, which was an extremely unusual thing to do in Japan. Over there, you get in college right after high school (those who couldn’t get in right away go to private school to catch up), spend four years, graduate and get a job. No transferring to another college, no walking off –- if you do, there is no way to go back.
So when I decided to complete my education, it was so much easier to come to the US and attend the college here. My college (Ohio Dominican College) accepted the credits I earned at my Japanese university, so I got my BA in two years. And there were so many adult and / or international students I hardly stood out.
Japanese schools have high standards. (The college algebra I took was like a middle school course for me.) But they are just so rigid, I think.
Hunter: In the U.S. you certainly see people going back to school as adults, but I think a lot of people feel that the “normal” thing to do is to go to college right after high school, graduate in four years, and get a job. I know I would have been afraid of strange looks if I had taken longer than four years to graduate.
Obviously I never took any math classes in Japan, but it’s not hard to believe that the U.S. is near the bottom of the world rankings in math. Just look at the SAT: the verbal section tests your ability to find antonyms for words you’ll probably never see anywhere else, while the math section tests you on simple equations and triangles.
I know a very smart guy who used to write software for NASA. One day he was trying to help his son with his homework, but didn’t know how to expand (x – 5)(x – 7). That’s like not being able to find Florida on a map. I can’t explain it.
Akemi: OMG. I know how to expand that. Can I work for NASA?
If American people are so poorly educated, it’s no wonder we have financial problems, like you mentioned in Comparing America and Japan, Part 1.
Gee, I loved the flexibility American schools provided for me, but I’m starting to be really concerned . . .
Hunter: That’s a good point: bad math skills mean bad financial decisions. Maybe people don’t realize how fast their credit card interest piles up when they don’t pay in full.
Akemi: We need to improve education. And I’m not talking about just school systems. We need life long, both formal and informal, education. Well, that is one of the objectives of our blogging, isn’t it? I want to remind people how so many opportunities we have and I want to help people become successful entrepreneurs if they so choose.
Freedom and Opportunities
Akemi: I think America is like a huge lab. We see the best and the worst here. On one side, there are horrible things going on like drug addiction and crimes related to it, or authorities denying the progress science has made in the last several hundred years. On the other side, there are people who are truly committed to high ideals such as environmental preservation and spiritual growth that transcend religious borders.
I never had a problem finding a good job because of my ethnicity. All they cared about was my skills and enthusiasm. I guess a green skinned alien can get a job if he had marketable skills! Whereas if I go back to Japan, I know I will have no job, and will be put down badly because I am not a “real Japanese” (meaning I speak English too well).
Hunter: The U.S. is definitely much less homogenized than Japan. And yes, that’s both good and bad. I think the more restrictions you lift, the more you see who people really are. If someone wants to save the world, there’s plenty of opportunity for that. If someone wants to be a drug dealer, we have that too.
Akemi, keep in mind that we’re in a time when discrimination in the U.S. is at an all-time low. If you had been here in the early 1940s (yes, way before your time), you would have been thrown into a War Relocation Camp (depending on what part of Oregon you live in). This was authorized by President Roosevelt and upheld by the Supreme Court. Things are a lot better now, but discrimination is still a problem, even if it’s not as pronounced as in Japan.
Akemi: Thank you for pointing out the Japanese Camp during WWII. It was totally discriminative (America didn’t do that to Germans).
It is important to remember, however, that America worked on its own discrimination issues. Black Americans (I personally think African-American is a strange term . . . we don’t call white Americans European Americans) had civil right movement. Women fought for their rights, too. The Equal Opportunity regulations and awareness didn’t just fall from heaven. And now we have a presidential candidate who is black and white people are supporting him too.
Japan, on the other hand, has done little to correct its discrimination. It does patchwork job, such as setting up its own version of anti-discrimination guidelines at work, not because they want to but because they see it as necessary accessary to hang out with other countries. They call it “gai-atsu” (pressure from outside). They don’t mean it, so they don’t use it. (The regulation has no penalty.)
I think this kind of passive attitude is really hurting Japan. Most Japanese don’t have dreams, don’t aspire to do something good for themselves and others, like starting a business they believe in.
Hunter: Actually, the U.S. did intern German and Italian Americans during WWII, though it was on a much smaller scale (11,000 German Americans, 4,500 Germans brought over from Latin America, and 250 Italian Americans compared to 110,000 people of Japanese descent). I think the hugely different numbers are explained much more by racism than by any military threat.
I agree about the term African-American being strange, not to mention confusing. People will use the term to refer to a black person in England, but not an American from Egypt.
I don’t think a passive attitude is good for anyone. Maybe the Japanese should start using the word for pressure from inside. In order to break down their discrimination, they’ll need someone to be their Rosa Parks.
A lot of Americans have a passive attitude as well, taking what they have for granted. Their aspirations are to be comfortable drinking beer and watching TV. I think it’s important for everyone to have their own Everest to climb. What’s the point otherwise?
Akemi: That is a great point, Hunter!
I really enjoyed doing this writing project – it’s refreshing to get out of my personal style and have someone talking back to me.
If you haven’t already done so, make sure you read the first half of this discussion, on Food, Crime, Kaizen, and Living within their Means, in Comparing America and Japan, Part 1 at Hunter’s blog.
Do you find this blog informative and inspiring?
Please subscribe (free) 
by Reader or by email
Comments
Comment from Hunter Nuttall
Time: July 7, 2008, 4:29 pm
Akemi, it was really cool to do this project with you. It’s not that often that I get to discuss these things with a native of Japan. Maybe one day we can start our own country that combines the best of the U.S. and Japan!
Hunter Nuttalls last blog post..Comparing America and Japan, Part 1
Comment from Al at 7P
Time: July 7, 2008, 8:48 pm
Akemi, Hunter - this was a pretty creative combo-post you had. Congrats on a great job!
I thought it was very cool to see how you compared the two cultures. Looks like there are things that can be learned on both sides, but there certainly are a lot that we can learn from Japan right now.
Regarding African-American… I agree that it’s not consistent, since we don’t call people “European Americans” as you said. The key is to figure out who’s doing the naming. Black people were called a lot of unfriendly names, and the term “black” kinda carried some of that negativity as well, so we decided to give ourselves a new name, one that gave us pride. Hence, “African American.” I think African American vs Black is less of an issue than it has been in the past, but ultimately, every group should have the final word on what its own preferred name should be.
Al at 7Ps last blog post..If Life Was Predictable, It Would Be Boring
Comment from akemi
Time: July 8, 2008, 7:54 am
Al,
I’m glad you enjoyed the article. It sure was fun to write! (It took us 6 drafts to come to this version)
Regarding the term black vs African American. I have absolutely no intention to offend anyone. And it’s true words come not just meaning but certain feeling. Some words come with historically loaded feelings.
Sociology teaches that the majority group of the society doesn’t need names but all minorities do. When someone just say “Americans” we typically imagine white people. Everyone else need names like Asian Americans or Hispanics. It’s a social mechanism and doesn’t necessarily mean the names are derogative.
In Hawaii, where whites are minorities, they have a name “howly” (pronounced ha-u-li, I hope I spelled right). I heard one person ask to her neighbor about the man who recently moved to their area “So what is he? Polynesian? Howly man?” So I hope we can come up with a good name for black people, and further that we all can feel we have our good place in the society, rather than marginal space as minorities.
Comment from Cath Lawson
Time: July 8, 2008, 8:06 am
You two are awesome. I loved both parts of this series and the way you’ve openly shared the positives and negatives of both countries.
I am shocked that someone from NASA could be so bad at maths. And I’m appalled that Akemi would be treated so badly by prospetive employers in NASA just because she has good English. I’m glad you enjoy living in America Akemi.
I think many countries treated POW’s more badly than many of us realise. My husband’s grandfather was a POW in Japan. They chopped off his fingers and they were just about to execute him when it was discovered the war had ended. I guess he was really lucky.
It was kind of surprising to learn that many Japanese people lack entrepreneurial spirit. I had assumed that the opposite was the case but that’s probably because the few Japanese people I have met seem to have a great deal of motivation and enthusiasm.
Thanks again. I really loved this series. Will you both be writing some more? You could probably co-author an excellent book.
Comment from Cath Lawson
Time: July 8, 2008, 8:07 am
Sorry Akemi - I meant prospective employers in Japan - not NASA. I’m guessing NASA would probably welcome you with open arms.
Comment from Hayden Tompkins
Time: July 8, 2008, 9:31 am
“I agree about the term African-American being strange”
When I lived in Miami, I knew many black people who were offended by the term ‘African American’. They considered themselves Jamaican-American or Haitian-American, not African. In that case, they preferred ‘black’.
Hayden Tompkinss last blog post..Rev Up Your Marriage! Retro Edition
Comment from akemi
Time: July 8, 2008, 10:40 am
Cath,
I’m so sorry to hear what happened to your grandfather-in-law. War drives people really crazy, I guess — what they did to him is awful. And I am fully aware that Japanese did many many more horrible things during the war. . .
BTW, though, what Hunter and I are talking about is not about POW. America put ordinary civilians living in America to concentration camp just because they had Japanese ancestries. Many were US citizens. They were told to move at short notice, forcing them to sell everything they earned for practically nothing, had to live in custody in another states, etc. Just because they had Japanese ancestries. There was a movie called “Snow Falling On Cedars” I didn’t like the story line, but it does depict the situation well.
Japan can be extremely discriminative, even to its own people. I know I will be put down badly if I go back.
Hayden,
That is an interesting point. Surely not all black people have African ancestries, and we need to be sensitive to their background.
Comment from Tom Stine | Living from Consciousness
Time: July 8, 2008, 11:56 am
Hi Akemi…. Great series of articles. I enjoyed the cultural comparison and the insights into the two cultures. Nice work.
One point: the term you wanted for whites in Hawaii is HAOLE. My ex-wife’s family is from Hawaii, a large Chinese family. My ex was half Chinese, so she was HAPA-HAOLE.
In any case, haole meant “foreigner” in Hawaiian. It has been used for quite some time as more of a put down of the minority whites. Hawaii is an amazing mix of races and cultures, which tends to mellow things out, but there is a certain distrust of non-locals especially.
Comment from John Hunter | Curious Cat Investing Blog
Time: July 8, 2008, 1:22 pm
Very nice posts. This is the kind of thing that you couldn’t find without blogs. It is nice to see blogs providing something interesting and useful (so many are just a waste of electrons).
John Hunter | Curious Cat Investing Blogs last blog post..Solar Heats Up Desert Real Estate Market
Comment from akemi
Time: July 8, 2008, 2:56 pm
Tom,
Thank you for that word! With such a special history and so many tourists around, I can see that local Hawaiians may have negative feelings about non-locals. The instance I saw seemed friendly enough, but I appreciate your input about the word and its connotation.
John,
Well thanks. I strive to deliver good quality — I hope you find my other posts interesting too ^_^
Comment from Hunter Nuttall
Time: July 8, 2008, 5:17 pm
@ Al, I thought this was a good format for digging beneath the surface. If one person writes a post, that’s pretty much it, but with the back and forth you can go deeper. Thanks for providing additional perspective on the term “African American.”
@ Cath, I thought that part about Japanese employers discriminating against good English was strange. Do prospective employees have to prove non-fluency in English!?! As for a book, like Akemi said, she can write “Japanese Women Don’t Get Fat!”
@ Hayden, I guess that shows that we have to pay attention to what each individual person prefers, and not make too many assumptions.
@ Tom, it sounds like haole is similar to the Japanese word gaijin. It means foreigner, but it often refers to white people, and is sometimes a put down.
@ John, thank you. Akemi and I try to make the best use of all the available electrons!
Comment from akemi
Time: July 8, 2008, 5:37 pm
Hunter,
Thank you for your follow up!
Just a few points to supplement my view: it’s not just the Japanese employers who are discriminative to atypical persons. The whole society believes in uniformity at the expense of killing uniqueness. At best, I may be able to get a job with employers who want to utilize my English skills, and when the language work is done, I’d be put aside. It’s hard to explain — I used to work as translator at a Japanese company in Ohio, and they treated me like a language converter machine. They didn’t know how to treat me as a whole person . . .
I think Gaijin refers to not just white people but all kinds of foreigners.
Comment from Cath Lawson
Time: July 9, 2008, 1:13 pm
Akemi - that is terrible. I had no idea they did that when no war was even going on. That is the trouble with living in the UK - we mostly learn European history. I will have to expand my knowledge - especially if I’m going to be moving to the other side of the Atlantic.
Comment from Marelisa
Time: July 9, 2008, 2:48 pm
Hunter and Akemi: Great work both of you, I enjoyed both posts on comparing America and Japan. Your example of the guy who writes software for NASA made me think of an engineer who goes to my gym who can’t figure out sudoku puzzles. Another of life’s mysteries, I guess. I’ve heard that in Japan people ride bicycles really fast all over the place, and when you’re crossing the street the best policy is to simply look straight ahead and hope that the people on the bicycles whizzing past you know what they’re doing
Also, I like the idea of small, self-sufficient communities where you can basically walk to where you need to go. I walk a lot here in Panama, but it’s certainly not part of the culture (people drive to go to a store that’s two blocks away).
Comment from akemi
Time: July 9, 2008, 5:40 pm
Cath,
Well, it was during the WWII, but it was about civilians. I will do more complete explanation on my Friday post.
Marelisa,
Haha . . . it’s true there are many bicycles in Japan. Many Japanese don’t drive and rely on public transportation and bikes.
Comment from Hunter Nuttall
Time: July 9, 2008, 6:53 pm
@ Akemi, that seems strange that they treated you like a language converter machine. Do they know you’re multi-functional?
What I heard about gaijin is that it can refer to any kind of foreigner, or even someone who’s not a foreigner but an outsider in some way, but that it is mainly used for white people. Wikipedia says this:
“While all forms of the word mean ‘foreigner’ or ‘outsider’, in practice gaikokujin and gaijin are commonly used to refer to racially non-Japanese groups, principally Caucasians.”
@ Marelisa, some sudoku puzzles can be very challenging, like samuari sudoku. But I guess that’s not what you’re talking about. And yes, they ride bikes very aggressively, but fortunately they seem to be experts at avoiding crashes.
Hunter Nuttalls last blog post..Indulging Your Inner Child
Comment from Barbara Swafford
Time: July 9, 2008, 11:37 pm
Hi Akemi and Hunter,
I love this continuation of the original posts.
Speaking of homes. I had Japanese friends (who have since died) whom I knew when I lived in Alaska. They said that in Japan their house (in Alaska) would be considered a mansion. It was about 1600 sq feet. When their friends came to visit from Japan, they were all very impressed at how well their friends had done for themselves in America.
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..Why Didn’t You Say Good Bye
Comment from akemi
Time: July 10, 2008, 7:34 am
Hunter,
Well . . . that puts the whole discussion back to the black people. What do Japanese call them?
Barbara,
You are right. Japanese houses are usually so small. The price of one house may be similar (to make it more affordable) but check out the size and utilities!
Comment from Evelyn Lim | Attraction Mind Map
Time: July 10, 2008, 8:43 am
Nice work! I enjoyed the exchange between the two of you. I’m not sure if you read the comments on Hunter’s site for the first post, I said that I may be going for a vacation end of this year but can’t decide between the U.S. or Japan. Reading your post has been a good one for me. Of course, my husband and I are inclined to visit Japan as none of us have been there!
Comment from akemi
Time: July 10, 2008, 10:38 am
Hi Evelyn,
I read and responded to your comment on Hunter’s blog. For skiing, I think US may be a better idea, but visiting Japan would be fun for you too.
Pingback from Gratitude Friday, Week 5, Gratitude And The Gift Of Life | Yes to Me
Time: July 11, 2008, 8:47 am
[...] week, Hunter Nuttalll and I wrote joint posts Comparing America And Japan. While discussing Freedom and Opportunities, we talked about the War Relocation Camp the US [...]
Pingback from Out On Business Travel | Yes to Me
Time: August 29, 2008, 10:12 am
[...] Hunter Nuttall has invited me to come see him in DC for his interview, so I’m skipping my regular Gratitude Friday post. Sorry. It’s an extensive interview on my Akashic Record Reading service. The link will take you to his part of our combo writing we did awhile ago, comparing the US and Japan. Maybe it will entertain you while you wait for my return. (And yes, after reading his post, be sure to come back to read the latter part of discussion here.) [...]
Pingback from Comparing America and Japan, Part 1 | Hunter Nuttall . com
Time: July 7, 2008, 4:01 pm
[...] here we go. When you’re done with this part, you can read the second half of the discussion, Comparing America and Japan, Part 2, on her [...]