ONU Blog #2 - Culture Shock

Culture Shock

It will be four weeks since I came to America from Japan and I experienced culture shock many times. Today, I will introduce some of them which made me surprised.


・Bathroom
In America, the lower part of door is always open and people can check whether there is a person or not and can prevent a sex crime. On the other hand, in Japan, doors run from floor to ceiling in order to prevent secret photographing and bullying. Because I am not used to the difference, I cannot relax.

In addition, Japanese toilets have "Washlet," which comes with automatic bidet function (shower function) by using remote controller, and other features, such as hands-free seat lifter, eat heater. If you visit Japan, please try that out! 



・Taking the trash out
The thing that surprised me most was how to take the trash out in America. Because people in America do not separate their garbage, it is very easy to take it out. In Japan, garbage is basically categorized into four different types, combustible, incombustible, oversized garbage, and bottles and cans. And there are a lot of detailed rules in each community (How often can you take it out, or which trash bag should you use, and so on...)


Experiencing culture shock makes me more adjusting and adapting so that I want to find more cultural differences between Japan and America!

Critical Analysis of Reading Blog #1 - TED

TED

"The Art of Social Media" which is written by Guy Kawasaki  gives some useful websites. We explained each sites except TED and I used it to brush up my Listening Skills in Japan so that I researched it more.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a media organization and has held a conference once a year since 1984. In 2006, they started to broadcast the conference on the Internet and became famous. The speakers have eighteen-minute limit and make some of the most intellectually stimulating speeches.

I want to focus on attractive titles of the videos, such as "A woman's fury holds lifetime of wisdom", "Why you should make useless things", or "Need a new idea? Start at the edge of what is known". When you write a blog, a catchy title for a blog would attract many readers. Therefore, you can learn how to put wonderful titles from TED.


Moreover, Japanese students often use TED to study English because students can listen to fluent English. And TED can display subtitle in many languages so that it is easy for Japanese students to study English.




Please try it! And if you find something interesting, please tell me! :)

PR/Social Media Blog #1 - The social media situation in Japan

The social media situation in Japan

The social media situation in Japan is totally different from that in America. I will explain the difference between the two countries and the reason why the gap happens.

MAU (monthly active users) ranking was announced in March 2018. MAU is measured by counting the number of unique users during a specific measurement period. According to App Ape Lab (2018), American ranking constituted by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Printeret. On the over hand, Twitter is ranked first, followed by Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and Ameba which born in Japan.

Social media is used by many people all over the world, but why does it make a big difference? I guess the answer is in their different nationalities. Because Japanese people tend to post something on SNS anonymously, they prefer Twitter to Facebook which needs to use their real name.

MAU of Facebook was two billion in 2017 so that Facebook is still the most popular social media in the world. However, some people say that Facebook is declining now because of introducing new social media, such as Snapchat and Instagram. But still, Facebook is the world's largest social media.

References
App Ape Lab (2018). What is the difference between Japan and USA concerning         SNS use? Let's check social applications MAU US/JP rankings!. Retrieved                 from https://en.lab.appa.pe/2018-07/usa-jp-ranking.html

ONU Blog #1 - My first impression of America

My first impression of America

On August 9th, my new adventure has begun. It took me 20 hours to fly from Japan to America. This is my first time studying abroad.



I looked out the airplane window, and saw America for the first time. As I watched Hollywood movies, there were many large buildings. However, there was the greatest difference in a residential district. Because Japan is a small country, a residential district is crammed with houses. On the other hand, America is one of the largest country in the world so that each house has a large garden. I thought that Americans tend to have emotional leeway in their lives.
(Left: Japanese houses, Right: American houses)

When I arrived at the airport, I got lost with my big suitcases and I was wondering. Then, many kind and warm hearted people came to help me, so I was very happy. Moreover, I met an American girl, Mary who has experience studying abroad. She gave me advice about how to put it to full practical use and gave me her phone number. She was so kind to a strange Asian person and I got embarrassed because I assumed that Americans were unfriendly. However, I was totally wrong. Because of the differences in appearance and language, they seemed to be enemy, but in fact, they are so sweet.


I have come to like America, and I am excited to my new lifestyle in ONU!

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