Interesting communication style

Recently, I got a chance to talk with  Hawaiian friends, and I got a interesting information which is part of the Hawaiian communication style is similar to Japanese one. So, I want to share this similarities, but I want you to remind this is a tendency and not everyone’s case.

This is my friends’ story.
8 people were going to eat out, and they were choosing the restaurant. 7 people said good for restaurant A, but 1 person said “No. I want to go restaurant B”. Then, they decide to go restaurant B. The interesting point is that the 7 people were Hawaii people, and the 1 was white.
  

If this was Japanese, at first we don’t say “No” when everyone else agreed even if it’s not good choice for own self. Also, if there is a person who say “No”, I would follow the person, because I don’t want to break the harmony.

some similarities

• like to do with group ( like to be in a group)
• read air (understand the atmosphere or mind his/her feeling )
• don’t say “No” directly until we get close

I think this is because many Japanese people moved to Hawaii in the past, and they might brought some Japanese communication style with Japanese culture.

My college life ~Taiko circle~

I belong to Taiko circle. What do we do? Well, we enjoy playing the Japanese drum with studying abroad students. We practice twice a week, 2 hours a day. Right now, we have 7 Japanese, and 6 Americans as a member. Our teacher is working at TIU, and he is Japanese drum master, so he teaches us how to play and many songs. We perform at Christmas party at TIU, Hyakumanto festival, Kawagoe marathon, JSP closing ceremony. While we practice, we talk in English and Japanese. It’s about half and half, so we can improve English and Japanese from each other. Also, it’s really good exercise! I bet you sweat if you really played a whole song, and you can get little bit muscle.

Tohoku (north east of japan) was hit by the big earthquake last year. So, in this August, we are going to go to Rikuzentakata in Miyagi, and perform some songs to cheer up people especially children. 

Again, this circle is really good environment for English learners, good exercise, and really fun! And, all our members started playing Taiko after entering TIU, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve never touched Taiko. Actually, you don't have to be a member, but if you are interested in this circle, feel free to come and have fun!!

The building 2 is a kind of new building, and it’s very clean. There is a lounge on second floor, and it is the place students hang out, have lunch, study, and relax and so on. Also, many JSP students (students studying abroad to study Japanese) gather there, so I can see many Japanese students and international students are having fun together. I have JSP friends, but I don’t know the detail of JSP program, so I would like to research about where they are from, how many students are in the program, how they study Japanese, and why they study Japanese.

・How many JSP students are in the program?
There are around 30 students in this program in every year.

・Where are they from?

They are from America (Hawaii, Seattle, Boston, Los Angeles, Arizona)、 Italy, Mexico, and Germany.

・How do they study Japanese?
They study Japanese from books, in class, watch dramas, etc. Also, they said talking to Japanese friends can be fun to study.

・Why do they study Japanese?  
Because studying Japanese makes them happy, or they like Japanese culture, Kanji, etc. Some of them are Japanese American, so they study Japanese to get Japanese identity. Also, some of their ancestors were Japanese, so they want to study their language.

In conclusion, around 30 students are studying abroad in Japan as a JSP student. Most of them are from America, but some are from Germany. They study Japanese through books and class of course, but watching dramas and talking to Japanese friends are fun stuff to study. Interestingly, some of their family and ancestors are Japanese, but they grew up in English environment, then it becomes a reason to study Japanese. And the lounge is very comfortable international place.