It's been a while since I've been back to Japan. I miss England so much. Through my experiences living in England, I learned many things, and I have grown a lot as a person.
Today I want to focus on how people in England interact with each other. Mainly I want to talk about things I admired in people in England and differences compared to Japan. I hope you enjoy it!
Hospitality with tea In England, when you visit somebody's house, it doesn't matter if you are a friend or not. They will definitely serve you a cup of tea. When I had a job interview in England, the interviewer offered me a cup of tea.
I wasn't sure if I should accept the offer or not. I was a bit scared if this was a part of the interview. And he was checking to see how I take my tea.
But that time, I couldn't say no to the offer, because I love tea so much. One of the staff made me a cup of tea. What surprised me most was the staff served me my tea in a huge mug.
I loved it. English people drink a lot of tea a day, when they return home, before going out, before eating, after eating, before going to bed, etc. I love tea so much too.
I was drinking at least 7 or 8 cups of tea every day, maybe more. I think it's still less compared to English people. What I was impressed by was when someone makes tea, most of the time, they ask if other people want another tea.
and make tea for others. I feel the value in tea made by English people, so I savour the flavour each time someone makes tea for me. However, when I brought back English tea to Japan, and I had it, the taste was different.
Where I lived in England was a hard water area. So I always boiled the tap water and used it for tea. But in Japan, most areas have soft water, so the taste was so different when I made tea in Japan.
I don't know what kind of water is suitable for brewing tea, but the taste I loved the most was tea brewed with English hard water. When I was in England, I enjoyed having tea, chatting and relaxing. And I loved that people ask each other if they need tea and make tea for one another.
It's a great culture with great hospitality. Neighbourly Relationships When I got home, I found a delivery notice in my mailbox. I looked at it, and it said, "Your parcel is next door.
" I was like, "WHY? " I was shocked. I had never thought of the idea of depositing the parcel at the neighbours.
But It seems this option is pretty normal in England. As I searched, apparently, Japan used to have this option a long time ago. But in my lifetime, I have never experienced it and never heard of it.
That's why I was surprised, at the same time, I worried if It's a burden on the neighbours. But since then, I sometimes receive neighbour's parcels and the other way around. The good thing is my neighbour was an elderly man, and when I visited his house to get a parcel, I had a little chat with him each time.
Getting to know each other is a good thing, especially because it makes both of us relieved to know who is living next door. And I could check if he was fine and healthy. So if something happens, we can help each other.
Even though English people tend to move house a lot, interaction with neighbours is quite frequent. In the beginning, I was shocked by depositing a parcel next door, but now I think it's a good option to help and communicate with each other. The spirit of give-and-take When you bump into someone at the door or while walking down an alleyway, and there is not enough space for two people.
In England, most of the time, you can hear the phrases "you first" or "after you. " Even if you are driving on a narrow road, people give way immediately. By the way, relating to the car topic, as part of my culture shock experience, I was surprised that most English people could drive a manual car.
In my generation in Japan, most of us can't drive a manual car. None of my friends in Japan has a manual driving licence either. That's why I was amazed when I saw my English friend who is around my age or younger driving a manual car without any trouble.
Actually, I have a manual driving licence too. I had to have it for my job. I was proud to have a manual driving licence in Japan, but it's totally normal in England.
Kindness I've had some experiences where I was helped by English people. For example, when I was on an aeroplane, I needed to put my bag in the overhead locker. A lady asked me if I needed help.
I said, "yes, please". She was taller than me, so she put my bag in the locker for me. The other day, I got lost and looked at google maps to find a way, and a lady asked me, "where do you want to go?
" and she explained the way to the destination kindly. In another instance, I got off a train, and there was a lady with a baby buggy. Two guys helped to carry the buggy off the train safely.
So as you can see, these situations occur quite often in England. On the other hand, I think a lot of Japanese people tend to hesitate when helping others. Japanese are shy and have second thoughts like "Might it be an unwelcome favour?
or "It might be weird to talk to someone suddenly". This may end up stopping us asking for help. Of course, some people will help without hesitation, but I don't often see or experience it, compared to England.
I have already stated how English people are friendly. For example, a cashier might talk to you casually at the supermarket. They might speak to you about the weather or some casual topics.
I've often experienced having a little chat with shop staff. On the other hand, in Japan, it's a very rare experience being casually talked to by shop staff. This is because, in Japan, there is a saying, "the customer is a god.
" I have worked in multiple companies in Japan, and some of them were customer service jobs. So it's pretty normal that customers don't say thank you to clerks. There are many kinds of people.
Some people say thank you, some people just bow, some people say nothing at all. However, in England, everyone says thank you or cheers to clerks. For example, I saw most people say thank you to the bus driver when they got off the bus.
I love how people in England are polite and respect each other. English people are very good at expressing gratitude in words. It's not only gratitude.
English people are good at praising people too. No matter who I met, each of them was very courteous. Also, there are so many words to use when complimenting in English, such as brilliant, fantastic, amazing, lovely, wonderful, gorgeous.
People use these words daily. I often hear the word "lovely. " People often use lovely as a compliment, but also sometimes as a reply.
When I ordered a drink at a cafe, the waitress said "lovely" as a way of saying okay. I was surprised when I heard that the first time, but I slowly understood that lovely could be used anytime. It's definitely better sounding than just saying okay as a reply.
It's lovely to use positive words in daily conversations like this. Cherishing relationships with people: In England, there is a culture of sending cards to each other on special occasions such as Christmas, birthdays, valentines day, mothers day, etc. They send greeting cards to their friends, coworkers, neighbours, and families.
When you go shopping, you can see many kinds of greeting cards. You can write a message and send it to someone. Then, after they receive the card, they may display it at home.
When I was living in England, I had the chance to receive greeting cards multiple times. I'm impressed with this culture. It made me realise the warmth of sending a message in handwriting.
This is all for now. There are still more things that I learnt from my English life. I want to talk about the remaining things one day.
England definitely broadened my horizons in many ways. Please let me know about your experiences or anything you want to mention. Please leave your comments too.
I'm excited to see your thoughts. Thank you for watching!
