What do the Japanese think about Indians?
Karen Ma, I lived in Japan for 15 years over three stays and wrote a book about Japan
Karen is a Most Viewed Writer in Japanese Ethnicity and People.
I've come across a few comments from the Japanese about India, both in India and elsewhere. I once hosted a Japanese young gentleman at our house in New Delhi (I lived in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi for five years), and after ten days in India, but especially after his visit to Varanasi, he returned to tell me that India is sugoi (incredible, or something else). Just what do you mean by that, I asked him. “The smell, the noise, the crowds of people you see, the dirt, the food…everything,” he said.
To many Japanese, India can’t be more different from what Japan is like. Japan is everything that India is not. Japanese people who have been to India for business say they’re shocked by the caste system, and how backward the villages are. Cities are better. Many are also taken aback by the fact that many common Indian people you see on the street can’t actually speak English.
Blackouts also come as a big surprise to some. One guy explained to me that the reason why many Japanese companies hesitate to put a lot of money on their business in India is precisely because of the unstable power supply. As this person put it, “the Japanese pride themselves on the quality of their products. So each time you have a power outage at your factory could mean millions of yen being thrown out of the window. “
Some also complain about how because they can’t cope with eating curry and nan bread every meal, which are rather heavy for the Japanese stomach, they desperately want to go to Japanese restaurants, which are not very easy to find still (except for New Delhi, but these can be very pricey). So food is a big problem for the Japanese men sent to work in India. (Many businessmen choose to leave their wives and children back in Japan).
But there are praises too. Once in Beijing, I overheard a group of Japanese ladies at a restaurant talking about life style choices. An older lady who’s obviously very well-traveled was listening to a younger lady trying to make up her mind about weather to settle in China or in India for the next couple of years (this second lady obviously hadn’t been to India before.) Her husband had been given a choice of the two countries, and this younger lady said she couldn’t make up her mind. “Of course you should consider India because it’s akarui,(bright and cheerful),” this older lady said. “Okay, the living conditions may not be all there yet, but people are friendly and there’s something in the air that relaxes you. You don’t have to constantly worry about saying the wrong thing…..”
So there you have it.
To many Japanese, India can’t be more different from what Japan is like. Japan is everything that India is not. Japanese people who have been to India for business say they’re shocked by the caste system, and how backward the villages are. Cities are better. Many are also taken aback by the fact that many common Indian people you see on the street can’t actually speak English.
Blackouts also come as a big surprise to some. One guy explained to me that the reason why many Japanese companies hesitate to put a lot of money on their business in India is precisely because of the unstable power supply. As this person put it, “the Japanese pride themselves on the quality of their products. So each time you have a power outage at your factory could mean millions of yen being thrown out of the window. “
Some also complain about how because they can’t cope with eating curry and nan bread every meal, which are rather heavy for the Japanese stomach, they desperately want to go to Japanese restaurants, which are not very easy to find still (except for New Delhi, but these can be very pricey). So food is a big problem for the Japanese men sent to work in India. (Many businessmen choose to leave their wives and children back in Japan).
But there are praises too. Once in Beijing, I overheard a group of Japanese ladies at a restaurant talking about life style choices. An older lady who’s obviously very well-traveled was listening to a younger lady trying to make up her mind about weather to settle in China or in India for the next couple of years (this second lady obviously hadn’t been to India before.) Her husband had been given a choice of the two countries, and this younger lady said she couldn’t make up her mind. “Of course you should consider India because it’s akarui,(bright and cheerful),” this older lady said. “Okay, the living conditions may not be all there yet, but people are friendly and there’s something in the air that relaxes you. You don’t have to constantly worry about saying the wrong thing…..”
So there you have it.
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