Issue

Key words: Multiculturalism, Transition, Connect

Problem:

People are often unfamiliar of the cultural eating manners and etiquette when they travel to Japan. New Zealanders have become more accustomed to the Japanese style fast food and restaurants using westernized forms of etiquette compared to traditional Japanese. This becomes an obstacle for New Zealand travelers (OE, JET program, exchange or holidaying) that go to Japan as they are unaware of the traditional/modern forms of manners and etiquette still used. This can lead to misconceptions between customs, stereotypical associations causing social exclusion and cultural shock. Eating is a way of conversing and building relationships with others. Knowledge in eating etiquette helps to build respect and gain an understanding of another culture. Therefore bridging the gap in knowledge of manners and etiquette would create a smoother transition into Japanese culture and improve their experience while abroad.

How can design be used to provide essential knowledge on eating etiquette and manners to create a smoother transition from Westernized culture to Japanese culture?

How does the use of eating etiquette and manners of Japan help to better understand the overall culture?

Who: Travelers going to Japan (OE, exchange, JET program etc.), people who would benefit from having knowing eating etiquette and manners before going to Japan
Why: Transition between two very different cultures (western to Japanese), reduce cultural shock, misconceptions, stereotypical categorization
What: Understand appropriate eating manners and etiquette often used in Japan. Traditional forms still used in the everyday life.
When/Where: Before going to or landing in Japan
How: By providing knowledge through a guide book, posters or brochures

Language and food are the core features of everyday life in any culture, and, so, they appear so "natural" to the "natives" based on their own conventional behavior. To the Japanese, "light" and "right" sound exactly the same, and they find nothing peculiar about answering yes when they mean no as when answering a negative question. Cross-cultural studies question what is normalcy in cultures.

Key Concepts

-Why eating etiquette and manners? "food systems remind us of the persuasive role of food in human life. Next to breathing, eating is perhaps the most essential of all human activities, and one with which much of social life is entwined."(food anthropology)

Japan is known for its food which is doing pretty well in NZ fast food outlets. Eating is also a way to socialize and build relationships with others. This is key to settling in, in a new environment.

In Japan chopsticks were used in ancient times because they were functional and hygienic. Chopsticks is a large part of etiquette. Tea ceremonies incorporate the etiquette of zen monks. They value courtesy and the mind.

Brief history of chopsticks

"Different cultures adopted different chopstick styles. Perhaps in a nod to Confucius, Chinese chopsticks featured a blunt rather than pointed end. In Japan, chopsticks were 8 inches long for men and 7 inches long for women. In 1878 the Japanese became the first to create the now-ubiquitous disposable set, typically made of bamboo or wood. Wealthy diners could eat with ivory, jade, coral, brass or agate versions, while the most privileged used silver sets. It was believed that the silver would corrode and turn black if it came into contact with poisoned food."

"Throughout history, chopsticks have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with another staple of Asian cuisine: rice. Naturally, eating with chopsticks lends itself to some types of food more than others. At first glance, you’d think that rice wouldn’t make the cut, but in Asia most rice is of the short- or medium-grain variety. The starches in these rices create a cooked product that is gummy and clumpy, unlike the fluffy and distinct grains of Western long-grain rice. As chopsticks come together to lift steaming bundles of sticky rice, it’s a match made in heaven."

http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/a-brief-history-of-chopsticks

History of the Tea Ceremony (influenced by the monks way of being):

It was introduced to japan by china in the nara period and was originally intended as medicine. The monk Eisai was said to have brought seeds back from china. They believed that the tea kept them awake when they were meditating. To keep their mood calm it became a custom that they prepare tea in a slow manner. This behavior soon spread to the aristocrats and merchants where they also became to adopt the custom of drinking tea in quiet yet tasteful surroundings. The greatest master was named Sen-No Rikyu. His believed that the most important part of a tea ceremony was not what people used but the relaxation and appreciation they created.

Religion (A way of understanding why Japan's manners and etiquette are the way they are):

The Japanese have a religion called 'Shinto' which means way of the gods. They worship nature and gods. The religion didn't have a great founder or prophet, however there were myths written about the religion in the first Japanese books. In the Shinto religion, people are taught that every natural object such as a lake or mountain, tree or rock and any living person living or dead had a spirit (kami) that needed to be respected. Shinto festivals began with the people asking the gods to protect the rice crops and thanking them for the good harvest.

Buddhism in Japan:

The Japanese learnt Buddhism from priest sent from Korea. Buddha was a title given to the followers of the Indian teacher Gautama. In his teachings he explained that if people lived a good, considerate and unselfish life they could escape being born over and over with the disadvantage of the pain and suffering humans’ experience. Buddhism was already over 1000 years old by the time it spread through japan, Korea and China.

The Japanese were interested in Buddhism because it taught you about what happens to people when they die. The Shinto religion was focus more on life. They were complementary. They even believed that Buddhist gods could be Shinto spirits in another form.

-Why Japan? More New Zealanders are going abroad each year. In 2016, Japan was in the top ten predicted places New Zealanders wanted to travel to.

In 2016, "Expedia's State of the Nation report claimed 93 per cent of Kiwis, over the age of 18 have been overseas, and 69 per cent have explored a different country in the past two years."

"3,000 New Zealanders are currently living and working in Japan, engaging in a variety of professions. Perhaps most noticeably, a significant number work as English teachers, both under the Japanese Government’s Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET), and under private contracts. - New Zealand foreign affairs and trade"

"Less noticeable signs can catch us off our guard and rob us more insidiously of our sense of security. Most of the picturesque (vivid) details that strike travelers as weird have to do with table manners."

A poetic description of going abroad:

"I am like a mouse in a cage. We seem to have more freedom but we don’t. Since I came here, I felt a week has gone so quickly. But I just repeat the same things over and over. I feel like running in a wheel like a mouse in a cage."

"The metaphor of a cage seems to represent the idea that international students have only a limited amount of information about experiences in the host environment and therefore, feel trapped in a small cage."

Differences in social customs:

"It is rare in Japan that people say hello or something whenever they meet. In Japan we do such a thing only between people in close relation-ships. But here, even strangers greet each other when their eyes meet.I became used to it and got to understand how to do it."

Study on Irish students in Japan:

"Across all six diaries three themes emerged as significant in both reflecting and affecting the students’ cross-cultural adjustment process:social networks, food and language. Interestingly, they correspond to three basic concerns common to students going to study abroad: Will I be able to make friends? Will I be able to eat the foreign food? Will I understand and be able to communicate in the foreign language?"

"For the Irish students in Japan, becoming familiar with new tastes and textures, learning to eat things they would normally not consider as food, and mastering a new mode of eating with chopsticks, all required considerable adjustment. Since eating is a basic necessity for survival, it was part of the host culture that the students could not avoid interacting with on a daily basis."

"Japanese culture exerts strong conformity pressure on both Japanese and foreigners to adhere to strict codes of behavior and strong in-group/out-group boundaries make integration difficult for a foreigner.As ‘adapted 'gaijin’ students often encountered difficulties around food and food practices with Japanese hosts, due to no longer fitting the expected stereotype. This resulted in the paradox that the more they cross-culturally adjusted to Japan, the more they tended to feel excluded from Japanese society (Gudykunst, 1983). These findings refine understanding of Babiker et al.’s (1980) Culture Distance Hypothesis, suggesting that although surface differences in variables such as food may predict cross-cultural problems, of far more relevance are the differences in underlying core values of cultures."

-examples of core values are Japan's customs, etiquette and manners.

"Naomi (Host family sister) made me a piece of fish and everyone else got this amazing fish rice and soup mixed up with chopsticks and I got a knife and fork. I’m so pissed off. She wouldn’t even give me rice. Why is she singling me out. Dad came home and gave me a cake, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him so I said I had to study.Jesus I can’t believe how upset I am. Hopefully I can sleep this off. I can’t stop crying oh please let this week be good, I don’t think I’ll make it through the year. I’m so lonely. (1.10.95) Lucy’s interpretation that receiving different food symbolized exclusion from the family unit, underlines the central importance of food in creating and maintaining social relations (Fischler, 1988)."

Byram, M., & Feng, A. (2006). Living and Studying Abroad : Research and Practice. Clevedon [England]: Multilingual Matters.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE3NDg4NV9fQU41?sid=d1d3b5b0-368e-4b9d-925a-fb7a29ca705b@sessionmgr105&vid=0&hid=112&format=EB

-There is the issue of being stereotyped by others. For example Americans may be seen as loud, immature, wasteful, informal, and ignorant, but obviously they aren't all like that and other cultures may be stereotyped a similar way.

Understanding the Japanese culture before will reduce the distance of the relationships between cultures.

Cultural stereotypes:

"In the United States, individuals of East Asian descent are often depicted as the “model minority.” They are usually stereotyped as industrious, educated, polite, quiet, and skilled in math and science"

"asserted that stereotypes allow for categorization of people from different groups with certain characteristics. The development of stereotypes occurs when beliefs or generalizations are made by perceives in social conditions regarding a group of people."

Wong, R., & Niu, W. (2013). Cultural Difference in Stereotype Perceptions and Performances in Nonverbal Deductive Reasoning and Creativity. Journal Of Creative Behavior, 47(1), 41-59. doi:10.1002/jocb.22

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=9c7231ee-ccc3-47bf-b1c5-583769bcbcc3%40sessionmgr4005&hid=4103

"The students’ cross-cultural adjustment showed parallel changes in their alimentary tastes, and they suddenly found themselves liking Japanese foods they had initially found off-putting. In November, Roisin reacted negatively to raw fish in a sushi bar: ‘I looked at all these slimy bits going around on the conveyor belt and felt ill’ (4.11.94). Yet by December she was commenting on how delicious sushi was (4.12), and her first real feeling of being ‘at home’ in Japan was when wandering round a Japanese shrine eating yakisoba like all the other Japanese tourists (2.1.95). Closer identification with their host society saw them consciously choosing Japanese over Western food, sometimes in contrast to their Japanese friends: ‘It was a bit strange, I was the one eating rice and fish with chopsticks, while Seda-san had her curried rice, salad, knife and fork’ (Roisin, 30.1.95).Bourdieu’s (1986) assertion that food preferences are often a conscious expression of changing identity is supported in the diaries. It is most clearly  expressed  by  Lucy,  for  whom  eating  Japanese  food  was some how a way of ‘being Japanese’ "

Byram, M., & Feng, A. (2006). Living and Studying Abroad : Research and Practice. Clevedon [England]: Multilingual Matters.

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE3NDg4NV9fQU41?sid=d1d3b5b0-368e-4b9d-925a-fb7a29ca705b@sessionmgr105&vid=0&hid=112&format=EB

-Japanese food has been introduced to NZ but the eating etiquette changes to suit western tastes and the country we live in. (we could look into the Japanese foods introduced here and how they eat it here compared to in Japan- Is it different?) Also, the taste of food isn't the same from country to country even though it's called the same thing.

(from what we found at interim it seemed that people are aware of other culture's manners and etiquette. They try to follow them if they are aware and know the people (respect aspect) or they just go with whatever seems natural to them.)---

Foreigners aren't expected to know all the appropriate etiquette but it makes the transition between cultures smoother. I guess the issue is whether the etiquette they think is correct etiquette is correct etiquette when they go to Japan.

another point to add is that modern day young Japanese don't necessarily follow the etiquette and manners that their parents or grandparent's followed. There has been a change in etiquette and manners. 
looking into the extent that etiquette and manners are used in everyday life would be useful in deciding which manners and etiquette we decide to include in our project.

An example of not knowing specific manners are the chopsticks taboos:

From personal experience I probably have done half of these not knowing that they were taboos. This includes Saguri bushi, mayoi-bushi, sashi-bashi, neburi-basi, Hotoke-bashi, hashi-watashi, Namida-bashi. But the people I'm around don't seem to care or take notice. (however, this isn't around Japanese people)

"...young people in Japan have become contaminated by global modernity and have lost their native manners. He says, “Exposed to the corrosive crudeness of Western popular culture, young Japanese are abandoning the sometimes stifling codes of politeness for which their country is famous, while older people look on in horror.” (Miller & Bardsley, 2011)

(An Ethnography of dinner entertainment in japan) reading:

"Superficial understanding of a culture is often said to be worse than no understanding at all."

"..it gives one a false conviction that he knows it all."

-In addition to the point above, understand Japanese culture and eating etiquette and manners compared to western. For example Japanese people being raised to think of themselves as part of a group.

"One important rule to be followed in dinner entertainment of a small party of five or six persons is to center the conversation of the entire group on one topic."(An ethnography of dinner entertainment in japan)

"face to face interaction is like a drama. in which each actor knows what the others are supposed to say."

"When an American is invited to a dinner party in aryootei, he naturally goes in without rehearsal and without the practice of improvising lines in the way appropriate to a Japanese social scene. He lacks the social accouterments necessary to act with grace and without flaw. The result is somewhat like an American wrestler having to play a match of sumoo with a sumoo athlete using sumoo rules. The result is a most awkward match. Since Japanese are too polite to tell their guests they are clumsy people, guests leave the scene believing they played their part according to the script."

"they try so hard to make American guests believe they play their role like Fredric March that in reality the Japanese are the Fredric Marches heroically helping clumsy and inexperienced American actors"

In summary, what you think is correct etiquette and manners might not be. The american thought he was using appropriate etiquette and manners but actually he wasn't and the group of Japanese people were being polite in going along with it.

"In Japan the wife serves her husband’s parents, a child serves its father and mother, but  here it is the practice for the husband to serve the wife. "

Miller, L., & Bardsley, J. (2011). Manners and Mischief : Gender, Power, and Etiquette in Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzM2MDA2M19fQU41?sid=d1d3b5b0-368e-4b9d-925a-fb7a29ca705b@sessionmgr105&vid=4&format=EB&rid=2

(below from this book too)

Manners posters displayed in tokyo stayions Brett Bull- Punchy Posters Urge Tokyoites to Mind Manners

"The theme was “Do it somewhere  else.”"

"The posters  were striking and somewhat comical, with a bespectacled man appearing in each as the unfortunate witness to the behaviors."

"Although various acts of social behavior are not uniformly attended to by all members of society, and may differ by sub-culture, generation, class, or region, graphic representation changes these acts into behavior that everyone ought to recognize as rude."

"There have even been online parodies of the posters, such as one that has the observing man vomiting and shows the caption “Please do it at the pub.”"

"...changes affect the playing out of gender roles in the face of conflicting expectations, decisions about appropriate workplace and family relations, the constitution of satisfying friend-ships and romantic partnerships, and just in general, how to be a better person. Notably, they affect all segments of Japanese society."

"unspoken yet ever- present rules laid down by dominant ideological constructions of the good person, the good family member, the good lover or friend— in short, they are often advised to undertake a project perhaps best described as “ideological etiquette""

"eating etiquette to a child. This image accords well with Ikegami’s analysis, showing ideal rather than incorrect behavior.By contrast, today’s etiquette advice often includes models of what not to do and other prohibitive formulas."

"The prevalence of a new curriculum that contains models of “what not to do” illustrates the notion that unless we know what constitutes the offensive and un-befitting we will not know where the borders are or when we are crossing them."

"A bad- mannered maiko who pours sake one- handed adumbrates general advice we later find given to all women."

video on what maiko are

"Hot Pepper, a free monthly coupon magazine and restaurant guide, often includes pieces on public manners. Most issues carry tips for good behavior when one is at an “all you can eat and drink” restaurant. For example, advertisements for restaurants that offer such deals have sidebars concerning nomi hodai tabe hodai no mana (manners for all you can drink, all you can eat) that advise party- goers to make sure that when ordering food they order enough for everyone."

magazine link: http://magazine.hotpepper.jp/dcms_actibook/hotpepper1605/_SWF_Window.html

-When going to Japan resulting factors would be cultural shock which makes a rough transition between cultures. "Without a fixed cultural identity, the multicultural person is forced back on her or his own subjectivity to interpret experiences. It is easy for the multicultural person to be overwhelmed by the cultural context."

Where to after this?

-mostly researched into how people represent bad manners in media and how manners and etiquette is translated across western culture to Japanese and vice versa. Also, did some on people going abroad (westerners in Asian countries).

-I haven't got much information on all the different types of etiquette and history but all that stuff would be good to add too. Probably should write a list of all the manners and etiquette in relation to eating that we want to include.

But yeah above is just where I think we could go for the project.

let me know whether the stuff above is okay or what we could change if you have a different view.

-------------

"Adler (1974) suggests that increased cultural contact is resulting in a new type of person who orientation and worldview transcends that person;s indigenous cultural identity, which he calls 'multicultural'. "The multicultural person's identity is inclusive rather than exclusive in appreciating both the similarities and differences between, among and within cultures."

"Without a fixed cultural identity, the multicultural person is forced back on her or his own subjectivity to interpret experiences. It is easy for the multicultural person to be overwhelmed by the cultural context."

The Five Stages of Culture Shock: Critical Incidents Around the World

By Paul Pedersen

https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=bgksySFDILQC&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=eating+etiquette+and+cultural+shock&source=bl&ots=E6GP0YCVue&sig=0mzcA7_8u17RS7Gk9htriorCuQc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRsa_9raPMAhWCpJQKHVu_BMMQ6AEIPjAG#v=onepage&q=eating%20etiquette%20and%20cultural%20shock&f=false

------------

Cultural Shock Article:

http://jri.sagepub.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/content/12/2/155.full.pdf+html

"Culture shock is manifest as anxiety, stress and disorientation, and arises when an individual is confronted with an unfamiliar environment, where existing familiar social patterns are rendered ineffective (Mumford, 2000). It is often heralded as a negative phenomenon, and more than five decades of research have demonstrated how culture shock, at its worst, can lead to depression and even breakdown. A plethora of studies (for example, Brown and Holloway, 2007) have delineated the debilitating influence of culture shock upon some international students abroad. In addition, research on business organizations has surmised that culture shock is the catalyst that precipitates an inordinate number of premature returns by expatriates deployed abroad (Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985)."

"Culture shock is correlated with ‘cultural distance’ (the difference between the host and home cultures) (Babiker et al., 1980, cited in Ward and Kennedy, 1999: 671). UK sojourners travelling to South East Asia might therefore be expected to experience a high degree of culture shock, and this was evidenced in this study (Mumford, 2000). Participants displayed behaviours and emotions considered typical of culture shock: disorientation, homesickness, stress, loss, role confusion, depression, rejection of host nation and idealization of home country (Oberg, 1960). The findings evidenced distress and disorientation when familiar social patterns were rendered ineffective in their new surroundings. Also, confused about their role and work expectations, several began to question their skills and felt de-professionalized. Although some homesickness was evident, this was probably ameliorated by impending visits from family. Language problems might have been mitigated too because it was not necessary to learn the local language in order to interact effectively, as host nation staff and many ‘locals’ spoke some English. Depression was most evident in regard to work situations as travel and social events continued to be enjoyed. In line with research about culture shock, the teachers formed strong, exclusive conational relationships which served to protect them from the stress of culture shock. In addition they were strongly critical of host nation characteristics while simultaneously idealizing aspects of their home country."

-----------

In 2016 Japan was in the top ten predicted places NZders wanted to travel to.

Expedia's State of the Nation report claimed 93 per cent of Kiwis, over the age of 18 have been overseas, and 69 per cent have explored a different country in the past two years.

Article on top 10 destinations:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/kiwi-traveller/74921820/Top-travel-destinations-for-2016

Article on more NZders wanting to travel:

http://www.m2now.co.nz/new-zealanders-are-travelling-now-more-than-ever/

--------

What could we make?

For people who want to travel to Japan:

Poster- outlining the issue and facts
Instruction manual/guide to food etiquette

Booklet/brochure- in flight instructional guides for visitors before they land in the country (how they eat the food in japan and what manners and etiquette.)- could be in relation to the fast food we find here or maybe region specific traditional foods (specialties).

Invitations, how do we converse around the dinner table in Japan? other eating etiquette information for those travelling to Japan.

Eating manners and customs people could understand beforehand to create a smoother transition into their cultural ways.

----

Sushi origin

Shintoism, was another important influence on the Japanese diet. In the A.D. 700s, the rise of Buddhism led to a ban on eating meat. The popular dish, sushi (raw fish with rice) came about as a result of this ban. In the 1800s, cooking styles became simpler. A wide variety of vegetarian (meatless) foods were served in small portions, using one of five standard cooking techniques. All foods were divided into five color groups (green, red, yellow, white, and black-purple) and six tastes (bitter, sour, sweet, hot, salty, and delicate). The Japanese continue to use this cooking system.

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Japan.html

----------
less in depth summary