The frugal Japanese
Japanese are known for their love of material things, or for what money can buy or do for them, the rewards for the hard work and sacrifices they make for their companies, businesses or arubaitos.
They don’t mind the high tag price as long as it is the best, high in quality, branded, rare, special or limited edition, the first in the market, endorsed or used by a popular or known personality, or something or anything that will make them “in” with the crowd, not left by the bandwagon, cut above the rest, or just plain happy.
My impression of the materialistic Japanese culture, the label derived because of utter dependence on the tangible things to measure happiness and success in life, did not change but even heighten when I came to the country two years ago. Indeed, the Japanese are crazy about shoppings, and buying is a major preoccupation, seven days a week, from Tokyo to Kyoto, Hokkaido to Okinawa. The government knows it too well that its economy is largely fuelled by the strong local market spending.
But how did my idea of frugality come up in relation to the Japanese?
This is probably a very wrong notion coming from a poor gaijin who just found herself in the rich land of the Nihons. But, probably, this is just my better way of explaining some experiences I’ve had in my two struggling years in the land of the rising sun.
Simply because, it is only here did I ever experience receiving a used handkerchief as a gift, while a friend of mine got a slightly used and open bottle of coffee. When going to parties, it is advisable to fill one’s stomach beforehand, because they don’t always mean food (as in real food with lots of carbohydrates). Usually, these mean teas and cookies even when they fall during lunch or dinner times.
Likewise, vegetables are used as tokens for participating in a speech presentation. And “recycled” gifts are given away as prizes during gathering (I do this also at times, but of course with absolute subtlety). And this really tops my list – ribbons pinned to VIP guests taken back so they can be used again to other equally important guests in supposedly international conferences (“Oh, excuse me sir, but I cant let you leave this hall without giving me back that ribbon on your chest.”)
These maybe are small and petty, but these seemingly unimportant actions really affected they way I perceive my host country, far from my expectations from a so-called first world, developed country, and the wealthy and “haves” Japanese.
Yes, probably they are known in industriousness, but not in hospitality. They are open to new and inventive ideas, but infamous for having a homogenous culture and close and skeptical to outside influences. And I just realized that they maybe a shopaholic people, but can be very frugal, at the most undesired times.
Japanese are known for their love of material things, or for what money can buy or do for them, the rewards for the hard work and sacrifices they make for their companies, businesses or arubaitos.
They don’t mind the high tag price as long as it is the best, high in quality, branded, rare, special or limited edition, the first in the market, endorsed or used by a popular or known personality, or something or anything that will make them “in” with the crowd, not left by the bandwagon, cut above the rest, or just plain happy.
My impression of the materialistic Japanese culture, the label derived because of utter dependence on the tangible things to measure happiness and success in life, did not change but even heighten when I came to the country two years ago. Indeed, the Japanese are crazy about shoppings, and buying is a major preoccupation, seven days a week, from Tokyo to Kyoto, Hokkaido to Okinawa. The government knows it too well that its economy is largely fuelled by the strong local market spending.
But how did my idea of frugality come up in relation to the Japanese?
This is probably a very wrong notion coming from a poor gaijin who just found herself in the rich land of the Nihons. But, probably, this is just my better way of explaining some experiences I’ve had in my two struggling years in the land of the rising sun.
Simply because, it is only here did I ever experience receiving a used handkerchief as a gift, while a friend of mine got a slightly used and open bottle of coffee. When going to parties, it is advisable to fill one’s stomach beforehand, because they don’t always mean food (as in real food with lots of carbohydrates). Usually, these mean teas and cookies even when they fall during lunch or dinner times.
Likewise, vegetables are used as tokens for participating in a speech presentation. And “recycled” gifts are given away as prizes during gathering (I do this also at times, but of course with absolute subtlety). And this really tops my list – ribbons pinned to VIP guests taken back so they can be used again to other equally important guests in supposedly international conferences (“Oh, excuse me sir, but I cant let you leave this hall without giving me back that ribbon on your chest.”)
These maybe are small and petty, but these seemingly unimportant actions really affected they way I perceive my host country, far from my expectations from a so-called first world, developed country, and the wealthy and “haves” Japanese.
Yes, probably they are known in industriousness, but not in hospitality. They are open to new and inventive ideas, but infamous for having a homogenous culture and close and skeptical to outside influences. And I just realized that they maybe a shopaholic people, but can be very frugal, at the most undesired times.
posted by elgnij @ 10:08 AM
