【文化】作为一个日本人，你在访问美国时遇到了哪些文化冲击?_风闻

【来源龙腾网】

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

作为一个日本人，你在访问美国时遇到了哪些文化冲击?

评论原创翻译：

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.

我是美国人，不是日本人，但我确实在日本生活了六年，回国后经历了文化冲击。从日本回来后，我住在旧金山湾区，使用BART列车系统通勤。有一天，列车系统出现了技术问题，火车晚点了。站台上有很多人在等下一班火车，所以我排在大约30人的后面。

过了一会儿，火车停了下来，看到火车只坐了一半，我松了一口气。火车停了下来，车门开着，没有人上车。我想知道怎么了，过了一会儿，我突然意识到：这些人认为火车已经满了！

在美国，当人们几乎要互相触碰时，火车上就是已经客满的状态。在日本，当你无法挤进另一个人的时候，火车才是满载状态。我所看到的“满的”火车实际上还可以容纳两到三倍的人，在日本确实是这样是。

不管怎样，我是那种经常认为规则不适用于自己的白痴，所以我绕过前面的所有人，开始上火车。有人说：“嘿，伙计，这列火车已经满了。你为什么不等下一列呢？”对此，我说：“有足够的空间呢。”

所以我就上了车。人们抱怨了一下，但还是挪了挪地方，不过仍然没有人会碰到他人。

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.

日本人在美国经历了什么样的文化冲击？

每个人都不一样，但我相信我们大多数人都对以下几点感到震惊：

由于政治正确等原因，人们很难自由地表达自己的感受，而不是像我们被引导去相信的那样。

大部分食物的份量足以喂饱一匹马。这也适用于饮料。

这里没有坐浴盆厕所，你只能用干纸擦屁股。（哎哟！）

美国的老房子比日本的大得多，而新房子的大小与我们习惯的房子更相似。

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!

至于大城市，物价比日本城市贵得多，尤其是住房。比较东京市中心(都心) 和曼哈顿，纽约一套同样大小的公寓的价格是东京的许多倍。房地产税和普通费用也高得多。

美国的许多百货公司看起来都很不错，但商品的种类远不如我们在日本或大多数亚洲城市所期望的那样。 我在那里待了这么多年，我还没有见过一个商店能够接近像TOKYUHANDS百货商店的程度。

没有单一付款人医疗保险，所以，如果你的公司不承担这笔费用，你就得自己承担了。

餐馆里的食物通常不是太咸就是有大蒜味。

人们前一天很外向，很友好，但第二天可能会对你冷淡！

原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

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.

人们可以随意穿脏鞋，不管湿不湿，进入别人的家，即使他们有地毯！人们只是假设主人会“事后收拾干净”。

美国被认为是世界上最富有的国家，但这只适用于最富有的5%。其他大多数人只是勉强过得去。即使在我工作的一家美国公司，也有很多人互相借钱。我不止一次被要求借钱(40美元或50美元或其他数额)。

LGBT人群在城市里可以更自由地表达自己，但在农村地区却很容易遭到袭击或杀害。

大多数餐馆都没有牙签。

一般来说，公共照明偏暗。我在人们的家里也注意到这一点。无论我走到哪里(除了拉斯维加斯大道或其他一些炫目的地区)，我都觉得自己好像在一个黑暗而肮脏的酒吧里。

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谓的“发达”国家中最糟糕的。至少在纽约，我原本以为那里会有一流的地铁系统，但其地铁系统却是看起来像个地牢，经常晚点，而且经常很脏

对于长途旅行来说，高速列车是不存在的。美铁使用的火车在很大程度上是其他国家博物馆里的火车。

对于一个由许多不同的民族的人组成的国家来说，大多数人都非常孤立。许多人不想出国旅行，有些人甚至不想离开自己的社区。当我邀请他们去日本时，我不知道有多少次，他们告诉我：“哦，不。对不起。我还没有看完所有的州呢。”美国有50个州！他们的意思是，在出国冒险之前，他们是计划走遍每个州吗？

在美国，老房子的质量远比新房子好，除非你愿意花一大笔钱。这与日本正好相反，在日本，我们的老房子质量很差，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.

公共厕所严重缺乏。这也适用于他们的许多地铁站！不止一次，我不得不下车，离开铁路系统，找一家百货公司或餐馆，在那里上厕所，然后回到地铁！这在日本和许多其他国家是难以想象的。

根据你居住的州，大多数餐馆的账单至少会增加25%。一旦你考虑到你“必须”支付的小费和税款，你的账单将至少高出25%。

尽管有人认为美国是一个大熔炉，但我注意到的是极端的自我隔离。融合主要是表面上的，但除了表面，其实融合的没有那么多。

这就是我和其他人一开始观察到并感到震惊的情况。然而，随着时间的推移，我们习惯了，这似乎很正常。