June 15, 2007
Differences between Japan and New Zealand
Hi Everyone!!
My name is Ryosuke Yano. I am Japanese but was brought up in New Zealand and I have recently come back to Japan to find out more about the Japanese way of life. I have just joined the Seiritsu soccer club and I am starting off as a first year student. Although I have only been here for a few months, I have found many differences between Japan and New Zealand including culture, food and the most difficult of them all…language. Japan for me has been a major culture shock and isn’t quite Home-Sweet-Home.
Everybody in Japan does everything to perfection. At first it was hard to adjust because everything just seemed to be “rushed”. However this made me realize how much could be done in one day, one month or one year. Back in New Zealand there were 365 days per year. In Japan there are only 24hours in a day, 30 days in a month and 365 days in a year and there is so much to do!!
Club sports are also very different. Club in Japan is very important and the competition is very intense. With school soccer in New Zealand I only trained two or three times a week and played one game on either a Saturday or Sunday. Since I’ve come back to Japan I haven’t had one break which has been longer than two days. Everyone in Japan is ultra fit and the reason is that we train five or six times a week and have at least one game at the weekend (usually two). We play our sport over twice as much as we did in New Zealand and I am definitely getting better and fitter at a much quicker rate.
Language is the hardest of all to adjust to. Here in Japan they have what they call keigo. This is the way that they talk towards senior people to show respect. It is probably not much of a difference to the Japanese people but to us it is like a whole new language (obviously a little exaggerated, but really it’s really different). The rules for keigo are hard to learn and being brought up in another country, we will only find out about these rules once we break them, but the Japanese do understand our situation and they will forgive as long as you don’t make the same mistake twice.
Japan is very enjoyable as long as you try your best in everything. People will trust and respect you just for putting an effort in and giving 100% every time. Overall I am enjoying Japan and am confident to say that I know this experience will get better.
Ryosuke