Things in Japanese people that drives me nuts

[lineartube]

This is not intended to be a negative thread. Read on. :)

Last week I had a Japanese friendthat came to visit me, so we hang out most of the week and for the first 2-3 days she almost drive me nuts because of a particularity: Everytime I was talking to her, she would say yes many times, but I MEAN a lot of the times, like "yes", or "hm" or "hai"., and after a few hours, that had pass of plain annoying to starting to give me a twitch.
Anyway, after a few days, she stopped doing that because I guess she started to notice how everyone here interacted with each other and constant positive feedback isn't required. That and she got more relaxed.

Anyone has more stories?

[Grachan]

In similar vein - all the Japanese people I've heard on the phone:

'Uh.....uh..... uh..... uhuh......uh......uhuh.......uh.....uh...uhuh'

(once again - no offence intended. One of them's the wife!)

[samuraitora]

I have a friend that I met through General Motors about 4 years ago and this still bugs me. He lives in Japan, Tokyo. Every time we either talk or he comes here, he is so indecisive. I ask him what he wants and he tries to figure out what it is that I might want and go with that. We have talked about it and he basically told me that most Japanese people are like that so they don稚 upset anyone. He also said that since the culture is so positive and doesn稚 like to hear negativity or rejection, he does it out of habit.

[budd]

edit

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by samuraitora
I have a friend that I met through General Motors about 4 years ago and this still bugs me. He lives in Japan, Tokyo. Every time we either talk or he comes here, he is so indecisive. I ask him what he wants and he tries to figure out what it is that I might want and go with that. We have talked about it and he basically told me that most Japanese people are like that so they don稚 upset anyone. He also said that since the culture is so positive and doesn稚 like to hear negativity or rejection, he does it out of habit.
Yeah, I'm mostly used to it now, but this still kind of bugs me too. Everything needs to be prefaced by something like "I don't know why I like it exactly -- I suppose it's just a matter of personal opinion or taste or the way I've always been. " End of discussion. I even tried the sentence "Beautiful music cleanses our souls" out on a friend the other day and all he said in response was, "Well, what one person thinks is beautiful isn't necessarily what another thinks." Just as he once read for me the 10 Commandments out of the Bible, got to the end and summarized something to the effect, "That's the way it goes, isn't it? Since the beginning of time, there has always been murder, adultery, rape, etc hasn't there....." :eek:

[samuraitora]

"That's the way it goes, isn't it? Since the beginning of time, there has always been murder, adultery, rape, etc hasn't there....."

I love their out look on things some times though

[kirei_na_me]

Originally posted by Elizabeth
"That's the way it goes, isn't it? Since the beginning of time, there has always been murder, adultery, rape, etc hasn't there....." :eek:

This goes along with that whole "it's natural" way of thinking that I was trying to explain in my thread. Just like, "oh, it happens...we can't do anything about it...it's been happening since the beginning of time...it's natural".

[Elizabeth]

One positive side of this, though, is that I've never heard it used as an excuse for underperforming or negative behavior as much as we get away with in the States blaming our families, a poor childhood, lack of intelligence, etc for pretty much anything wrong. It has to be applied to cirumstances truly out of the person's control.....and even then I'm never really sure how much they take it to heart themselves a lot of times. It's probably a bit analogous to the more upbeat "there's always next time" or "I'll try improving tomorrow" or the like that we have in English.

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by Grachan
In similar vein - all the Japanese people I've heard on the phone:

'Uh.....uh..... uh..... uhuh......uh......uhuh.......uh.....uh...uhuh'

(once again - no offence intended. One of them's the wife!)
And while we're on the topic of pet peeves, I really don't like the way Japanese people sigh either, in kind of a short, irritable gasp or give out meaningless and condescending replies such as "betsu ni" "nuruhodo" or "nani mo." :o Although perhaps I'll understand better and thus be more forgiving next time I am actually there...... :D

[budd]

"This is not intended to be a negative thread."
the title sounds pretty negative, though :(
i was avidly trying to recruit native japanese people to this forum
now what is gonna happen if they, in their level at and knowledge of english, just scan the forum's titles?

[ghettocities]

Alien Hatchlings.

Josh

http://www.ghettocitiesclothing.com