Monday, April 13, 2015

The Argument at the Grocery Store: Why Living in Japan is Better Than Living in the West - It's a Part of the Culture


I just came back from my second trip tonight to the grocery store to buy booze. I'm kind of drunk now. The grocery store is a 3 minute walk from my house.

I've been drinking booze. Did I say that I'm drunk, now? I did? OK.

As I walked out of the store, there was a couple arguing about something.

But, in Japan, when a couple are arguing (outside a grocery store or wherever), it isn't anything like what happens when a couple argues (outside in the parking lot of a grocery store or anywhere else) in the USA.

People in the USA and the west argue and they like to scream.

In Japan, people are reserved and they aren't wont to make a scene; there's no shouting or making a "scene."

Making a "scene" in Japan just won't do, you see.

The couple that were arguing outside the store I just came back from were arguing in hushed voices. I couldn't understand what they were arguing about. But they were definitely arguing about something.

The last time I was in America, I was at a Ralph's supermarket grocery store parking lot, I saw a couple arguing in the parking lot; they were screaming at each other and throwing stuff at each other out of their grocery cart.

It was like bloody murder! 

The guy (I guess he was the husband) was screaming at the top of his lungs about something to do with a 25 pound bag of dog food versus a 50 pound bag of dog food.

Not exactly a life-ending crisis, but screaming bloody murder they were. People there must be quite stressed out (or drugged out)

He was shouting, "You didn't tell me to buy the 50 pound bag!"

I think you could hear him screaming at the top of his lungs from a mile away! He seemed furious over such a trivial matter.

That would never happen in Japan. It seems to be normal in the west.

The couple I saw who were arguing at the grocery store near my home in Japan, were arguing in hushed tones. That's because that's how Japanese people argue; they never scream and shout.

In Japanese language (and culturally) there's no reason to shout and raise one's voice. 

It's just not a part of the culture.

And, as they say, if you want to understand the culture, you have to understand the language. 

In Japanese, you never know what someone is going to say until you hear the last word in a sentence.

For example (in Japanese): "To the store to go buy groceries I go not."

In English, "I'm not going to the store to buy groceries."

In English, I know before even half way through what you are saying if your intention is negative or positive.

In Japanese, you have to listen to the last word to know one's intent.

This is why there is no "ping pong effect" in Japan where people interrupt each other mid-sentence and start arguing. In the west, whilst speaking English, you can interrupt because you already heard the intent halfway through any sentence...

"I am not...." and so forth.

This makes for Japan to be a much more peaceful place. That's just the way it is.

That's one more reason why Japan is a better place to live than the west if you want to have some peace. It's also why you never hear Japanese people interrupting each other and screaming - whether they are speaking Japanese or English.

It's just not a part of the culture.

Hopefully, it never will be.


Trust me. It is inconceivable that this guy is going to raise his voice and yell about anything! It's just not a part of the culture. Ain't gonna happen,

2 comments:

  1. I can't stop thinking about this post.

    One: I feel much better about having violated the, 'no touching the keyboard while drinking' thingie/idea. HA!

    Two: I told an American woman about the, "no raising of voice" deal in Japan. ...She didn't believe me and said I was making it all up.

    Three: I think maybe I fu.... .. messed up by Not marrying a Japanese girl.

    Four: You are lucky.

    Five: You could be unlucky and be married to a Japanese girl who is unlike ALL others? I.E. raises voice? Fights? Throws things?

    Six: You are lucky. An opposite of number five? You could be married to one of those cool Japanese girls who does Not raise their voice or, cut you off mid-sentence. If so, I envy you.

    Eight: I'd like to move there...If only the Japanese people weren't so hooked onto The War Against Some Drugs and didn't allow their overlords to deny them self-defense weapons in general... Ah, who am I kidding? IMHO, No People "allows" their overlords. Overlords, just take it!

    Anyway, I'm glad to find out via your (not too harsh) Captcha, That I'm Not a robot.

    Whoo-Hoo!

    - Helot

    ...Oh, but wait! The session expired, I took too long to post, I'll have to prove I'm not a robot again.

    ...One of these days I'm not going to be able to prove I'm not a robot and the doors to Wal-Mart won't open for me when I walk up to them.

    I'm OK with that.


    [wow, you're really messing with people with that cake photos Captcha deal. that was a nEW one on me.] funny stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'fight. Fight. fight." Those words echoed in my mind as I argued with her.
    From my viewpoint, that's ALL she wanted to do!

    If ever I drink, she blames, 'The Drink' on the fight.
    When i don't drink, the blame is invisible,... and we just fight.

    Funny, that.

    Back when I was young, it's quite possible I did that whole, "Dog food toss to that bitch" thing like in your example. I'm ashamed to say.
    i never could, not even Now, understand why she argued with me so. It was fucking ridiculous!

    I was cleaning the basement this evening and I kept thinking/singing a tune with the beat of the Oscar Meyer Wiener song:: "I should'a married a Japanese girl,... they're Not men".

    [Pardon me if that song is in your head and stuck there for an hour or a day... heh.]

    Then I thought, "But wait! Even the men in Japan don't back-talk, interrupt and sass, like the American Women do! WTF?"

    I kept thinking about the article on LRC, The Art of Bribing Bureaucrats, by Jayant Bhandari and how he described how people in India are so detached from REASON.

    The same applies to AMericans, IMHO, and, it applies so Very much More to American Women.... Because they are the source of life. Shouldn't there be a natural instinct here?

    (...The men, too. In some respects, I suppose. But, they embrace: "Adolescence, forever!" ? [No, guys, it's V.H.F., not, "USA, USA, USA!" ... J/k., sort of.] ...And then I'm reminded about a story of how a war was stopped by women withholding sex from men... to stop A war. ..That was prolly just a myth, though.?)

    The women have become "button pushers", of a sorts. ? [Enabling the warfare/welfare state? I mean, outside of the LRC circle, when have you Ever heard about a group called: "American Women Against War, And Lazy Asses, and Their Enablers"? Or, "American Christian Women Against War"? ...It's embarrassing to me I've heard of no such group or encountered any such individuals in this here UnitedState of empire.

    Just think of your example of the guy with the dog food bag. ... It's likely that That woman HAD to have pushed his buttons a TON in order to get him to react the way he did.

    She likely ignored reason and probably tripped the guys trigger on purpose, or...?.

    He did too, no doubt. But, the egg came before the chicken.
    Not too mention that whole wedding vow of: "obeying" their husband in a freely entered contact, but that's another subject,... or is it?

    I dunno, but maybe understanding THIS is the key to unlocking the peaceablility in the world?

    ...Either that, or we're all freaking doomed,... as The Mogombo Guru would say?

    Have you been keeping up with Jon Rappoport's stuff? ... No?

    ..As Mr. Cooper might say: it's enough to drive a man to drink.

    Geo-engineering, be damned.

    ...And, the ultra scary part is, Martin Armstong's take on how things play out (even IF he does come across as anti-Austrian Economics at times) if things don't get reversed = total world wide nuclear war.

    Sum fun. ...It's almost enough to make you take The Blue Pill. ...Or, drink.

    - helot

    ReplyDelete

Comments must be succinct & relevant to the story. Comments are checked frequently and abusive, rude or profane comments will be deleted. I’m just one of many bloggers who answer questions online and sometimes for the press. I usually handle questions about Japan, marketing or the economy, so in those areas I’m more likely to make sense and less likely to say something really stupid. If I post something here that you find helpful or interesting, that’s wonderful. This is my personal blog. If you don't like what you have read here then, just like when you go into a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, if you don't like it, there's something at the front that has hinges on it and it is called a "door."