Social differences between Japan and America
Japanese society is ethnically and linguistically homogeneous, with small populations of primarily Ryukyuans (1.5 million), North and South Koreans (1 million), Chinese and Taiwanese (0.5 million), Filipinos (0.5 million), and Brazilians — mostly of Japanese descent — (250,000), as well as the indigenous Ainu minority in Hokkaido.
About 99% of the population speaks Japanese as their first language. On the other hand the United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. (Eisenstadt, 1995)
As Japanese students enter American schools, they face many cultural differences that baffle them as well as their American teachers. Of course, some issues are less serious than others. For example, Japanese students are surprised and delighted at not having to clean the bathrooms as they do in their schools in Japan.
They may be equally surprised but less delighted to learn that the time in the halls between classes in American schools is not the raucous time to let off steam that it was in their Japanese middle school, where running, jumping, shouting, and playing catch were the norm after intense periods of study. And an American teacher should not be surprised by differences such as the pains taken by a young student to erase a mistake.
It is not simply a matter of turning the pencil upside down to use the eraser. Rather, the pencil case must be opened, a polymer eraser selected, the mistake erased, the crumbs neatly swept away, the eraser carefully replaced in its holder, the pencil case closed. (Zinn, 2003)
Economic differences between Japan and America
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, emphasis on education, and a comparatively small..........
