Excitement overwhelms me as I alight from the car with a womanly figure waiting for us at the beautiful house’s doorstep. This is the first time I see my aunt Emma as she has been staying in Japan after marrying her Japanese husband, Ken. However, no one would have expected this trip to be my family’s first intercultural conflict, with a kinship at stake!
Being superstitious, my mother loves to read the horoscope book and realizes that my aunt‘s bed must be positioned such that her head will face the north to attract prosperity. Without asking for permission, my mother shifts the bed out of kind intentions. After that, my family goes out to visit some tourist attraction areas till late night.
As we return joyously from the shopping and sightseeing, my mother and I notice my aunt alone in the living room crying. My mother approaches my aunt and asks her what has happened, but my aunt just keeps on weeping bitterly. Without a word, my mother furiously storms into my aunt’s room and confronts Ken. She demands that he apologizes to my aunt, without seeking for the cause of the misunderstanding beforehand. My mother’s bad temper and lousy emotional management have gotten the better of her. Soon, a heated argument emerges and things turn ugly for both families as profanities are exchanged. Weirdly, the argument sounds rather entertaining as Ken scolds in Japanese while my mother shouts in her dialect. Nonetheless, the trip ends prematurely in dismay and my aunt never contact us ever since.
It takes my mother months before she realizes what has triggered Ken’s madness. One day, my mother receives a letter from her sister Emma out of the blue. When she starts reading it, her face immediately turns red as tomato in embarrassment. My mother has learnt that the Japanese, in their customary acts, will lay dead bodies with the heads facing the north! Therefore, what my mother has done is a taboo and no wonder Ken is offended by my mother’s actions. It seems as though my mother is hoping early deaths for both my aunt Emma and her husband Ken.
Better late than never, my mother has admitted that this matter is her fault and decides to eradicate this bad blood between the two families. It takes years to resolve this bad conflict completely before we go back to my aunt’s place again. This time round, we have learnt about Japan’s dos and don’ts, while my mother has taken up anger management courses.
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3 weeks ago
Oh my, Ivan, your blog post certainly shows how serious the consequences can be when cultures clash!
ReplyDeleteJapan has very strong culture and traditional values and it is certainly not easy to try to understand everything in a short period of time. I remembered I actually wore a Yukata on Racial Harmony day back in Secondary school and I was selected to show the Japanese exchange students around the school. However, halfway through the tour, the Japanese teacher pulled me aside and asked me who wore the Yukata for me because I've been wearing it the wrong way for the whole morning! Apparently the "Left over right" or "Right over left" wearing styles of the Yukata symbolise different meanings! (I was wearing it the funeral/pyjamas way I think!)
Anyway, I feel that it will be better if the 2nd paragraph is in past tense instead of present. Do take note (:
And, you forgot to mention who 'Ken' is! He just suddenly appeared!
But glad to hear that the conflict has been resolved after so many years!
Cheers,
Yuan Ru
Hi Ivan,
ReplyDeleteJapan is always a common reference for intercultural differences. Your experience is very different and refreshing from the usual examples of Japan. I am quite surprised by the reaction of Ken though. I have always thought the Japanese are very good hosts and have high tolerance towards guests.
“…what has happened, but my aunt…” I am not sure but I think the comma is not needed.
“…my mother madly rushes…” I think “furiously” may be a better word. “Madly” sounds a bit wrong to me. (Hope you get what I mean.)
In the last paragraph, I feel “Better late than never” does not seem to link to what is after it.
Overall, your post is coherent and it is easy to understand. It also highlights the importance of good emotional intelligence.
Cheers,
Chee Siang
Thank you Yuan Ru and Chee Siang! I must say that Japan is indeed a good place to find some unique intercultural differences from ours.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder Yuan Ru, I realized that in the midst of editing, I have forgotten to mention who is Ken in the beginning! As for the language wise, I am trying to use historical present so therefore I am trying to use present tense continuously. However, it does take a lot of communication and amendments before we get back to a good relationship level with Ken.
I am thankful to Chee Siang too as you have highlighted some of my mistakes that I have overlooked during my drafting. I am not sure if the comma will be needed, but I guess I’ll just leave it there first. ‘Madly’ does sound inappropriate, so I’ll change it to another word.
As for why Ken over-reacted, I guess when it comes to taboos such as making him sleep with his head facing the north like how dead bodies are laid; he might have taken a personal grudge towards it. As to what Yuan Ru has mentioned, even the way the Yukata is worn makes a big difference in the significance of the attire. Looks like there is a lot for me to learn for Japan’s culture!
Regards,
Ivan
Hi Ivan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this interesting story. Through it I have learnt an obscure aspect of Japanese culture. It is a good post, with plenty of details provided to help the reader understand the message you are conveying.
There are some problems however. From the third paragraph, "She demands him to apologize to..." seems oddly phrased to me. I can't quite put a finger on why, so could someone more knowledgeable help out here? In any case, I think "She demands that he apologizes to..." sounds better.
Also, from the end of the third paragraph, you state that your aunt "never contact us". But later on you go on to say that one day, your mum receives a letter from your aunt, which can be perceived as a form of contact. So did your aunt cut off contact or not? This contradiction might leave your readers feeling confused. Or maybe it's just me that's easily confused haha. =P
Hello Wen Jun! Thanks for pointing out my mistakes! I do see that the sentence in the third paragraph has some awkwardness in it. As for the end of the third paragraph, my aunt did not contact us ever since. However, she randomly contacted us after several months. We do not know what the real reason is but I speculate that her husband Ken prevented her from contacting us. Just my own speculation. Thanks once more for the highlighting of my mistakes!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Ivan
I find it bewildering why such conflicts still happen in today’s well connected world. Perhaps when someone is deeply entrenched in the beliefs of one’s culture, it is easy to forget that others may have different cultural beliefs.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, with all due respect, your mother should not have imposed her superstition on your aunt. She should understand that your aunt might not subscribe to her set of beliefs.
Overall, thanks for sharing this story which has shown the possible disastrous effect of being ignorant to other people’s beliefs and practices.
Hi Xiang Min! Thanks for your comment! Indeed, one's belief in superstitious aspects is rather unpredictable. At times, I will unknowingly influence others with my own religious beliefs and not really consider other religions in mind. Perhaps that is something that I have to start working on along with my mother. I do have to agree with you that my mother is at the wrong, and although her intentions are kind, it has turned out to be an offensive sign instead. I am glad that my story has somewhat given some idea of how disastrous it’ll be if we just plead ignorance over everything we do.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Ivan
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ivan, for sharing this interesting (and somewhat shocking) series of events. Wow! What a way to begin a trip in Japan. I hope your family has recovered!
ReplyDeleteYou describe everything in fine detail. What seems questionable to me though is whether this is more intercultural than interpersonal. Your evaluation hinted at this when you mentioned your mom attending anger management sessions.
For starters, going to someone's house, going into the master bedroom and changing the bed's direction is...well...a bit bizarre, no matter what the logic of doing so might be. In any culture I can imagine many people would find alarm in that. If it were my house, I would (though maybe I wouldn't fight abruptly about it).
That your aunt and her husband were upset -- maybe wit your mom, then with each other as well, if your aunt had had to explain to her hubbie earlier something about her sister's irrational behavior -- would seem quite normal.
That your mom would then attack her brother-in-law would seem to be another overreaction, seeing how everyone had just gotten together for a vacation meeting.
Etc.
On the culture side, the bit about which direction Japanese typically point their bed seems far-fetched to me, having lived in Japan so many years. In fact, even in hotels and inns I know I've slept in beds that were arranged not by such a consideration. I'd be very surprised to discover that many Japanese people even know which direction is north or south in their apartments in cities nowadays. More people in the countryside might, but whether they care about which direction the futon (hardly ever a bed!) points that is another question.
So what happens here in your evaluation is a bit of a logical leap. A presumption that X has caused Y. Do you see what I'm getting to?
In any case, this is a good place to start a discussion.
Hi Brad! Thanks for your great review of my blog! Indeed, this incident has taught my family quite a thing or two about the importance of intercultural or interpersonal skills. The trip to Japan was supposed to be a place whereby I could seek peace and quiet from the examination stress in my younger days. The part about my mum taking up anger management courses does hint that she used to have a very short temper. However, in the story, my mum’s short temper was triggered due to the misunderstanding and her love for my aunt Emma. After all, they are sisters and have not met for decades! Nonetheless, I was trying to portray the cross effect of bad interpersonal skills with intercultural conflict (or vice versa).
ReplyDeleteAs for the changing of the bed direction, I have to say that my mum is really at fault. She did that purely out of love for my aunt Emma and perhaps expressed it in another way, which triggered the animosity between my mum and Ken. I never really got the chance to talk to my mum about this incident, but based on the recollection of my memory and what I observed from my point of view. An overreacting mum perhaps, again, points to the love part I mentioned earlier about my mum for her sister. Even though it was a vacation, my mum would tend to overreact and was in her crazily ‘high’ mood. That could be the only reason I would propose as to why my mum jumped and shot Ken down.
With regards to the culture side, my uncle Ken is a devoted Buddhist. Personally, I find this cultural belief a rather weird one. However, before I embarked on this blog, I went on a few websites to check for its validity. To my surprise, I happened to read up on something that was relevant to why my uncle Ken overreacted. The website listed on the next line will be of interest to people whom are keen to know a little more about Japanese’s religious belief on ‘Buddhism and Death’.
http://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/buddhism.shtml
The gist of what I have gathered is that for Buddhist funerals in Japan, the body of the deceased will be cleaned, dressed in white robes and laid with the head facing north (Therefore it is unlucky to sleep with your bed facing north). As for how applicable is this belief in the present Japanese culture, I have to say that it depends on how devout is one in his or her belief in the Buddhist culture. From what I know, Japanese which are better-off, with bigger houses, will continue the traditional Buddhist funeral that requires the deceased’s body to be placed at home, and head facing the north.
Most of what I have mentioned is based on the recollection of my memory and the content that I have gathered from my aunt Emma’s letter to my mum. I hope I have delivered the right information to everyone. Thank you all once again for your precious comments!
Regards,
Ivan
Hey! I was just thinking your post actually has a fine balance between intercultural and interpersonal issues. You have shown that intercultural conflict between asians and japananese. You also describe your mother's lack of EQ pretty well. Why is it that it was more interpersonal than intercultural?
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt about the funeral customs being followed. What would surprise me is that a person would freak out about their bed facing north. That's all. But this is clearly interpersonal...and yes, intercultural in that Ken is Japanese. I just wonder of the cause of the argument was an intercultural issue or a personal one.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Sarah, Japanese consider themselves as Asian as you!
It's been donkey ages since this blog is visited once again. Thank you for the clarification Brad, I believe certain issues are really extraordinary for us while others are just cultural for some. Perhaps in the view of Ken, this is a very serious issue, whereby for me I also find it rather queer.
ReplyDelete