From Malaysia 64th: English blog is started
Finally I decided to write a blog in English as well as in Japanese!
Before writing the main topic in this blog, let me introduce myself.
"I am Keita Kato. I am from Japan. I am a third year student at Kanazawa University. My living place, Kanazawa, is the capital city in Ishikawa Prefecture. It is located on the Sea of Japan coast, and the city is known as one of the most honorable historical and cultural places in Japan.
I major in International studies in my university, especially I have interested in Diplomacy in US &Asian counties and Halal food. (acceptable food for Muslim)
Now I am studying in University of Malaya as an exchange student until July in order to deepen my academic knowledge, to brush up my English skill, and to broaden my mental horizons. "
It's me. I started this blog on this August to share my idea, thought, and experience as an exchange student who goes to Malaysia. I have written it only in Japanese so far, but I decided to write it in English as well as Japanese mainly because I would like to get more people read this blog. I also would like to cultivate my writing skill in English and Japanese. If you have more inquiries or comment, feel free to write down it.
In this blog, I will introduce one Japanese word and my idea and experience connected with the word in every article. By and large, The contents in English is almost the same as Japanese ones, but sometimes different due to the difficulty of translation. Besides, I expect that I can't fully express my feeling in English because of my poor English proficiency. lol
In addition, my article is sometimes redundant as I don't get used to write it in English. Please comment on that if you don't understand what I wrote.
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Today's Japanese word is "コミュ症" .(Comyu-Shō) This word is abbreviation of the word, ""Communication Shōgai" (Communication Disorders) It cannot be translated into English directly, but the closest meaning is "extremely shy."
We tend to regard the shyness as a sort of "disease". (disorder) This is why, this word is used toward shy people. In most of the case, this word is used by oneself, in self-abuse way even when the person or people don't have such disorders. This word is also used especially by young people in Japan.
Ex) Ohhh....I couldn't say anything to her.... I am Commu-Shō.....
It is said that a bunch of Japanese people are "shy", sometimes "too shy" like me. lol Of course, just because you are Japanese, it doesn't mean that you are shy. It depends on the character. I think, however, a lot of Japanese people including me have tendency not to open their mind against others immediately. Besides they keep silent instead of insisting their individual opinion in order to avoid their squabble.
Let's say you go to Tokyo. How can you find Japanese guys who speak to strangers for no reasons? Everyone in train or bus keeps silent without speaking to other people. Most of them are reluctant to talk to strangers.
(It doesn't mean you cannot ask them the location or something when you go to Japan. Most of them are generous enough to tell you that.)
Let me give another example. Suppose you take lecture with Japanese students in Japan. The lecturer would ask you to speak up your opinion. Then how many Japanese students would raise their hand to insist their opinion??? I guess zero or one.
In my view, there things are closely connected with a lot of complicated factors, but one of the biggest reasons is 'shyness'.
Most Japanese people are aware of this fact that they are so shy. Therefore, we tend to use this word in self-torment way, I guess.
This cultural aspect sometimes seems to be hard to understand for foreign people. We cannot say that it is good or bad because It is a kind of 'culture'. However, even if I am shy and not good command of English, I firmly believe that it is greatly important for me to have my own opinion and spread my thought and experience by using my own words from my own viewpoint as a Japanese.
