Changing impressions

おもしろい日本（funny Japan）

When I first come to here, what we were introduced are rules, rules and rules. What we cannot do in Seminar House, what we have to do at school, what procedures we have to follow in the orientation period. And also, you can see sign and warning everywhere. In the kitchen, in the toilet, or on the road. Everything is telling you about rules you should follow. Japan is serious. Japanese are serious. It is the first impressions of Japan.

The first time when you meet Japanese, you will feel that they are very polite. They keep smiling and listening. Sometime, you will feel boring and hard to continue a conversation with Japanese. They are good listener but they won’t talk about themselves. They will always build a wall between themselves and others. You can hardly break the wall and see the real personality of Japanese. 建前(tatemae) is a word to describe behaviors and opinions one displays in public. And it might not be the real feelings of that person. Japanese are always covering themselves.

But there is a change of my impressions of Japan. Japanese also have many funny faces.

When they are get use to one, they will start talking more and acting more funny! They will only show their 本音（honne）in front of the people they believe and really want to make friends with. They don’t talk about rules anymore but about their daily life. They don’t only listen to your story but also tell you about their boyfriends. These, is the face of Japanese which was hide behind a mask for a long time.