Comparing America and Japan, Part 2

(Photo by Sir Mildred Pierce)

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.