【文化】作為一個日本人，你在訪問美國時遇到了哪些文化衝擊?_風聞

【來源龍騰網】

As a Japanese person, what cultural shocks did you have when you visited the USA?

作為一個日本人，你在訪問美國時遇到了哪些文化衝擊?

評論原創翻譯：

Paul Francis

I’m American not Japanese, but I did live in Japan six years and experienced a cultural shock upon returning. After returning from Japan, I lived in the bay area and commuted using the BART train system. One day the system was having technical issues and the trains were running late. A lot of people were on the platform waiting for the next train, so I queued up behind a group of 30 or so people.

After a while the train pulls in and I was relieved to see that it was only about half full. The train stops, the doors open, and nobody moves to get on. I was wondering what could be wrong when after a few moments it dawned on me: These people think the train is full!

In the USA, a train is full when people are nearly touching each other. In Japan, a train is full when you cannot possibly squeeze another person in. The “full” train I was looking at could literally hold two or three times more people, and in Japan it would have.

I am for better or worse one of these dickheads that often think the rules don’t apply to him, and so I just walked around everybody in front of me and started to get on the train. Someone said “Hey buddy, this trains full. Why don’t you wait for the next one?” To which I said “There’s plenty of room.”

So I got on. People grumbled a bit but shifted around to make room. Still nobody was touching.

我是美國人，不是日本人，但我確實在日本生活了六年，回國後經歷了文化衝擊。從日本回來後，我住在舊金山灣區，使用BART列車系統通勤。有一天，列車系統出現了技術問題，火車晚點了。站台上有很多人在等下一班火車，所以我排在大約30人的後面。

過了一會兒，火車停了下來，看到火車只坐了一半，我鬆了一口氣。火車停了下來，車門開着，沒有人上車。我想知道怎麼了，過了一會兒，我突然意識到：這些人認為火車已經滿了！

在美國，當人們幾乎要互相觸碰時，火車上就是已經客滿的狀態。在日本，當你無法擠進另一個人的時候，火車才是滿載狀態。我所看到的“滿的”火車實際上還可以容納兩到三倍的人，在日本確實是這樣是。

不管怎樣，我是那種經常認為規則不適用於自己的白痴，所以我繞過前面的所有人，開始上火車。有人説：“嘿，夥計，這列火車已經滿了。你為什麼不等下一列呢？”對此，我説：“有足夠的空間呢。”

所以我就上了車。人們抱怨了一下，但還是挪了挪地方，不過仍然沒有人會碰到他人。

Hidesato Sakakibara

What sort of culture shock do Japanese people experience in America?

Each person is different, but I believe that most of us are shocked at the following:

1. People are far less free to say what they feel unlike what we have been led to believe, due to political correctness, etc.

2. The size of most food portions is enough to feed a horse. This goes for drinks as well.

3. There are no bidet toilets and dry paper is all you have to wipe your bottom. (Yuck!)

4. The US older housing is far larger than that of Japan, whereas the newer housing is more comparable in size to what we are used to.

日本人在美國經歷了什麼樣的文化衝擊？

每個人都不一樣，但我相信我們大多數人都對以下幾點感到震驚：

由於政治正確等原因，人們很難自由地表達自己的感受，而不是像我們被引導去相信的那樣。

大部分食物的份量足以餵飽一匹馬。這也適用於飲料。

這裏沒有坐浴盆廁所，你只能用幹紙擦屁股。（哎喲！）

美國的老房子比日本的大得多，而新房子的大小與我們習慣的房子更相似。

5. As for the large cities, they are far more expensive than Japanese cities. Especially for housing. Comparing central Tokyo (都心) to Manhattan, an equally sized condominium in New York costs many times that of Tokyo. The real estate taxes and common charges are also far higher.

6. Many of the department stores in America look very nice but the variety of goods is far less than what we have come to expect in Japan or in most Asian cities for that matter. In all the years I was there I had yet to see any store remotely like Tokyu Hands.

7. No single payer health insurance. So if your company is not picking up the tab you are on your own with that one.

8. The food in restaurants is often either over salty or garlicky.

9. People are very outgoing and friendly one day but may give you the cold shoulder the next!

至於大城市，物價比日本城市貴得多，尤其是住房。比較東京市中心(都心) 和曼哈頓，紐約一套同樣大小的公寓的價格是東京的許多倍。房地產税和普通費用也高得多。

美國的許多百貨公司看起來都很不錯，但商品的種類遠不如我們在日本或大多數亞洲城市所期望的那樣。 我在那裏待了這麼多年，我還沒有見過一個商店能夠接近像TOKYUHANDS百貨商店的程度。

沒有單一付款人醫療保險，所以，如果你的公司不承擔這筆費用，你就得自己承擔了。

餐館裏的食物通常不是太鹹就是有大蒜味。

人們前一天很外向，很友好，但第二天可能會對你冷淡！

原創翻譯：龍騰網 https://www.ltaaa.cn 轉載請註明出處

10. People feel free to wear their dirty shoes, wet or not, into someone’s home even if they have carpeting! It is just assumed that the host will “clean it all up afterwards.”

11. America is thought to be the richest nation in the world, but that only holds true for their top 5%. Most others are just getting by. Even in one American company I worked at, so many people would be borrowing money from each other. I was asked more than a few times to lend money ($40 or $50 or other such amounts).

12. LGBT people are far freer to express themselves in the cities but can very easily be assaulted or killed in the more rural parts of the country.

13. The lack of toothpick availability at most restaurants.

14. In general public lighting is on the dark side. I noticed this in people’s homes as well. No matter where I went (save the Las Vegas strip or some other glitzy area), I felt as if I was in a dark and dingy bar.

人們可以隨意穿髒鞋，不管濕不濕，進入別人的家，即使他們有地毯！人們只是假設主人會“事後收拾乾淨”。

美國被認為是世界上最富有的國家，但這隻適用於最富有的5%。其他大多數人只是勉強過得去。即使在我工作的一家美國公司，也有很多人互相借錢。我不止一次被要求借錢(40美元或50美元或其他數額)。

LGBT人羣在城市裏可以更自由地表達自己，但在農村地區卻很容易遭到襲擊或殺害。

大多數餐館都沒有牙籤。

一般來説，公共照明偏暗。我在人們的家裏也注意到這一點。無論我走到哪裏(除了拉斯維加斯大道或其他一些炫目的地區)，我都覺得自己好像在一個黑暗而骯髒的酒吧裏。

15. Public transportation is perhaps some of the worst for any so-called “developed” country. At least in New York City I thought there would be a top-class metro system but instead got what looked like a dungeon, with constant delays and often dirty.

16. For long distance travel, high-speed trains are non-existent. Amtrak for the most part uses trains that would be in museums in other countries.

17. For a country that is made up of so many different people, people for the large part are very insular. Many don’t want to travel abroad and some don’t even want to leave their communities. I don’t know how many times I have heard people tell me, when I invited them to Japan, “Oh no. Sorry. I haven’t seen all the states yet.” There are 50 states! Do they mean they plan to see each and every state before venturing abroad?

18. The quality of older houses in the US is far better than that of newer homes unless one is willing to spend a fortune. This is the opposite of Japan, where our older homes were/are of crappy quality whereas the newer homes are far better if not excellent.

公共交通可能是任何所謂的“發達”國家中最糟糕的。至少在紐約，我原本以為那裏會有一流的地鐵系統，但其地鐵系統卻是看起來像個地牢，經常晚點，而且經常很髒

對於長途旅行來説，高速列車是不存在的。美鐵使用的火車在很大程度上是其他國家博物館裏的火車。

對於一個由許多不同的民族的人組成的國家來説，大多數人都非常孤立。許多人不想出國旅行，有些人甚至不想離開自己的社區。當我邀請他們去日本時，我不知道有多少次，他們告訴我：“哦，不。對不起。我還沒有看完所有的州呢。”美國有50個州！他們的意思是，在出國冒險之前，他們是計劃走遍每個州嗎？

在美國，老房子的質量遠比新房子好，除非你願意花一大筆錢。這與日本正好相反，在日本，我們的老房子質量很差，而新房子即使不是很好，也要好得多。

19. A severe lack of public toilets. This goes for their many metro stations as well! On more than one occasion I had to get off the train, leave the system, find a department store or restaurant, use the toilet there, then get back into the metro and on the train! This would be unimaginable in Japan and many other countries.

20. Depending upon the state you live in, most restaurant bills are padded by at least 25%. Once you take into consideration the tip that you “must” pay and the tax, your bill will be at least 25% higher.

21. Despite the notion that the US is a large melting pot, what I noticed was extreme amounts of self-inflicted segregation. Mixing is mostly on the surface, but not that much other than being superficial.

This is what I and others have observed and were shocked at, at first. Given time however, we got used to it and it seemed normal.

公共廁所嚴重缺乏。這也適用於他們的許多地鐵站！不止一次，我不得不下車，離開鐵路系統，找一家百貨公司或餐館，在那裏上廁所，然後回到地鐵！這在日本和許多其他國家是難以想象的。

根據你居住的州，大多數餐館的賬單至少會增加25%。一旦你考慮到你“必須”支付的小費和税款，你的賬單將至少高出25%。

儘管有人認為美國是一個大熔爐，但我注意到的是極端的自我隔離。融合主要是表面上的，但除了表面，其實融合的沒有那麼多。

這就是我和其他人一開始觀察到並感到震驚的情況。然而，隨着時間的推移，我們習慣了，這似乎很正常。