Cultural Observations Through Japanese Textbooks Part 2: The Art of Lying, Cash, and Personal Hygiene

Time for another edition of interesting things I found while looking through Japanese English textbooks! Yet again, the presentation of English in Japan continues to amuse and offer interesting cultural insights. Starting with this beauty.

Are you ANGRY?!

Wow, looks like someone likes Dragon Ball Z, cause that "angry" guy looks to be powering up for a big alien battle. Or perhaps Rock Lee opening the 6th gate. Yikes, "tired" looks more like starved! I know I don’t look that gaunt no matter how tired I am.

Carry much money. MUCH money.

Carry much money – yes, if you’re living in Japan, you will find yourself carrying much money to make any purchase over a few hundred dollars. Despite the advancement in technology, Japan is still really far behind in certain aspects of society, and while there are credit cards, debit cards don’t exist in Japan, and cash is highly favored over plastic anyway. Case in point, I'm set up with a basic Japan Post Office bank account – yes, that’s the post office. No credit cards with the post office, so I have an ATM card and have to go withdraw cash every week. It’s a total pain. Luckily I haven’t reached the point of carry this much money on my back yet. Maybe if I bought a house. (Although I feel I read somewhere paying cash for a house is an actual thing here..?! I wouldn't doubt it.)

Spend much money. MUCH money.

Again, paying for things also looks like this, handing out dozens of bills. Although apparently Uzbekistan would actually be a more suitable fit for these pictures, where due to the exchange rate you have to stuff your bag with cash just to have the equivalent of around twenty dollars. Yikes.

To tell the truth or not? That is the question in Japan.

Wow, they really captured the sentiments of Japanese people with those parenthases! Japanese society revolves around a little something called honne and tatemae, meaning one’s true opinion versus their censored, society-approved one. Even if they don’t agree with you, they might still say “I agree.” This is a problem in business when you need to assert your opinion to make things happen, but usually everyone just agrees with the same one person’s idea to save face. After all, “the nail that sticks up is pounded down.” Dealing with the Japanese involves some understanding and a bit of reciprocating of honne and tatemae to foster harmonious relations.

Obviously the first B on the page isn't Japanese – don’t you know you’re not supposed to say what you mean?! Stupid foreigner. All the rest of the Bs on this page are definitely Japanese. Basically, lying is ok. In fact, it’s good. Just straight up lie. That won’t confuse anyone. Good luck figuring them out, Westerners.

Talk about sucking up to the teacher student 4! Get your act together student 3. Learn to lie!

Wait, what was so interesting about that? Read it again. When did they wash their face? And when did they cook breakfast? Wait, how long did it take them to wash their face?! That’s right, it took them thirty whole minutes just to wash their face. This reminds me of when I lived in the dorm in college and there was always a Korean or Chinese girl in the bathroom who was literally washing her face for over ten minutes, just lathering over and over again. No wonder they have such flawless skin, but who has time for that?

Are you a good student? Answer carefully.

Ok, these kids are being humble and perhaps new to the art of lying, but things just suddenly got a little sexist! "Are you a pretty girl"?! Obviously the student is going to answer “yes, I’m so ugly,” because they have to save face. Now that’s just mean asking that. And what if student 2 is a boy? This is getting weird. (Although, it is sometimes difficult to figure out if some Japanese are boys or girls…Short hair is really popular here, and the body types are quite similar, plus men are more polished here.)

Ah, the pleasure of taking a bath.

Wow, hygiene is super important for the Japanese. They spend a whole hour in the bathtub! Yikes. And going to bed at midnight – well, nothing out of the ordinary here. Look how red his cheeks are from bathing a whole hour. Why not bathe for twenty minutes and get an extra forty minutes of sleep in?! Stop falling asleep in class kids, take shorter baths. Your sweat doesn’t smell anyway, so you don't have to worry about that.

Lastly, what to make of this?

Rather profound for a junior high textbook, wouldn’t you say?

Well, that's all for now. Until the next installment! Hope you enjoyed!

Sources:

新しく学ぶ英語の世界

新英語要覧

大修館書店

すぐに使える

英語の言語活動

大修館書店

New Horizon English course 1, Tokyo Shoseki