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Natasha
writes, "At my school, there is a sophomore boy who is
Japanese. He is very nice, and he and I have much in
common. I really enjoy his company, but I don't get to
spend time with him because of our crazy schedules. He
visits
Osaka every year, and I really want to learn more
about
Japanese culture, but I'm not ready to go there yet.
I think making friends with him would help. Is that a
bad way to learn about the culture? I don't know
how
to approach him to be his friend. Is there anyway
you can help me?"
Actually, being
friends with a Japanese is probably the next best
thing than to
visit Japan. Not only will he and his family
know a lot more about Japan, he might have a huge
collection of books, magazines, DVD, etc, about Japan
that he can share with you. Who knows you might even be
able to meet with
visitors to his family from Japan.
I do the same. Since I can't
go to Japan as frequently, my wife and I volunteer
for the
American campus of a Japanese university and that
allows us to meet with many
Japanese students with whom we can share
recipes,
fashion,
music,
pop culture, etc.
I think the best thing to do is to choose something very
specific that interests you about Japan. For example,
let us say you watch a movie by
Hayao Miyazaki (if you have never heard of him,
please do a Google search on him and rent his DVDs --
even though I am in my 40s I have watched every one of
his movies). Obviously you have will have many thoughts
and questions after seeing the films. Then you can
approach him and say that you are starting to explore
Japanese anime and had a few questions for him. Can he
spare some time to chat with you? Hopefully he will be
delighted to do it.
I just meant it as an example. It could be something
else that interests you and it is fine to pick that too,
but just try to pick something that might interest him
too. For example, you might love to know
how to make
sushi at home or about
karaben but that may not interest him at all and
he might simply say that he does not know anything about
it. End of conversation. |
