Und noch einmal. Diesmal eher für Leute, die sich hier länger aufhalten.
Bei längerem Aufenthalt steigt die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass man einmal zu Hochzeiten, oder weniger schöne Beerdigungen, eingeladen wird. Als Gast bei einer Hochzeit ist es auch in Deutschland üblich, dass man (in diesem Fall) Hochzeitgeschenke bringt. Über all die möglichen Einzelheiten und Feinheiten möchte ich mich hier nicht auslassen, aber hier gibt es einen wesentlichen Unterschied zu Deutschland.
Wenn man in Deutschland jemanden ein Geschenk übergibt, insbesondere wenn die andere Person ein guter Freund(in) und/oder Bekannte(r) ist, dann bedankt sich diese Person und damit ist der Vorgang im Wesentlichen abgeschlossen.
Nicht so in Japan. Hier geht es ähnlich wie mit dem "kono aida domo", worüber ich vor einiger Zeit schrieb.
Nehmen wir einmal an, dass man einem Freund zur Hochzeit ein Geschenk gibt, von dem (als Empfänger des Geschenkes) man annehmen kann, dass es etwa 200 Euro kostet. Dann gebietet japanische Sitte, dass man diesem Freund ein "Gegengeschenk" - die deutsche Sprache hat gar kein vernünftiges Wort dafür! - macht. Und hier nicht nur einfach ein Geschenk zurückgibt, sondern etwas gibt, was etwa der HÄLFTE des Wertes des ursprünglichen Geschenkes entspricht.
Bei Beerdigungen wird MEISTENS Geld direkt in extra für diesen Zweck erhältlichen Umschlägen an einer Art Empfang überreicht, wo diese registriert werden. Das heisst, man weiss genau, wer wie viel gegeben hat. Dementsprechend werden dann die Gegengeschenke verteilt.
Auch bei Hochzeiten gibt man oft Geld in wiederum extra für diesen Zweck erhältlichen Umschlägen. Und bei Hochzeiten erhält man dann oft einen Katalog, aus dem man sich selbst sein Gegengeschenk aussuchen kann, dass dann später von irgendeinem Kaufhaus zugeschickt wird.
Aber auch "im ganz normalen Leben" kann man nicht einfach jemandem etwas geben und zusehen wie diese/r sich freut. Die betreffende Person wird mit annähernd 100% Wahrscheinlichkeit darauf bestehen, irgendetwas "zurückzugeben" - auch wenn das vielleicht nur ein bischen Gemüse, ein paar Fische oder dergleichen ist (unter Bekannten, Nachbarn etc.).
Wie gesagt, ist es nicht "lebenswichtig", dass man sich mit derartigen Gebräuchen auskennt, aber es macht einen SEHR guten Eindruck, wenn diese Kleinigkeiten so ganz nebenbei wie selbstverständlich vorgenommen werden.
2/19/2015
Schenken -- in Japan auch anders (1)
Hier sieht da manches anders aus. Die Unterschiede sind nicht unbedingt (lebens) "wichtig", können sich aber mitunter trotzdem bemerkbar machen.
Für diejenigen, die mit diesen Gebräuchen nicht vertraut sind, ein ganz klein wenig anekdotisches.
Etwas womit man als "Ausländer" am ehesten in Kontakt kommt, sind die sogenannten Gastgeschenke.
Wenn man Geschäftsmann/frau ist und hier Unternehmen besucht etc., wird oft erwartet, dass man Gastgeschenke mitbringt. Ich bin zwar kein Geschäftsmann, aber als in Japan praktizierende Akupunkteur kümmere ich mich bei Bedarf um Ausländer, die hier zum Beispiel in Kliniken zuschauen möchten. Ein typischer Fall, in dem Gastgeschenke notwendig sind. Die Ausländer bringen auch diverse kleine Geschenke mit. So weit, so gut. Allerdings übergeben die Ausländer die ich bisher gesehen habe, diese Geschenke ihrem Gastgeber MEISTENS "unverpackt".
Für die meisten Japaner ist es beim Austausch derartiger Geschenke aber WENIGER wichtig WAS da gegeben wird, als WIE es überreicht wird. Und bei diesem "wie" handelt es sich vorwiegend um eine "ordentliche", den Umständen angemessene Verpackung. Das heisst für Japaner gewöhnlich: man kauft etwas im Geschäft, lässt es dort "nett" einwickeln, und die Sache kommt dazu noch in eine nette Papiertasche oder dergleichen. Bei Überreichen der Gastgeschenke wird dem Gastgeber entweder das Geschenk in der Papiertasche des Geschäftes mit den einer ganz "nebensächlichen" Bemerkung, dass es sich nur um etwas ganz banales handelt, überreicht. Oder aber, je nach den Umständen, aus der Papiertasche herausgenommen, bei Beschriftung/Muster der Verpackung etc. diese dem Gastgeber zugewandt mit beiden Händen mit einer Verbeugung überreicht.
Ich habe auch schon bei geschäftlichen Verhandlung gedolmetscht, wo dann die Deutschen den japanischen Verhandlungspartnern schweizer Taschenmesser in den kleinen Papierschachten vom Geschäft "überreichten" - mit einer Hand.
Ein Japaner wird einem ausländischen Verhandlungspartner dies NIEMALS negativ anrechnen ... aber trotzdem als seltsam empfinden.
Leute die einmal in Japan waren, sind vielleicht mit den "Furoshiki" vertraut. Quadratische Tücher aus den verschiedensten Materialien, die zum "einpacken" verwendet werden und mitunter sehr praktisch sein können. Wenn man jedoch nur einen EINIZGEN Gegenstand hat, dann fragt man sich als Ausländer immer, wozu dann das Furoshiki noch gut sein soll.
Ganz einfach. Es erleichtert/ermöglicht das "Zeremoniell" in Verbindung mit der Verpackung.
Aber auch hier gibt es sicher Leute mit unterschiedlichen Meinungen ...
2/13/2015
ISIS -- "Islamic State"
Dies gehört hier eventuell nicht hin, aber ich habe das Bedürfnis, mich nun doch einmal zum Thema zu äussern.
Well, I DO NOT understand politics with all its paranoid conspiracies and secrecy.
I AM NOT a follower of ANY religion. So I am not entering a discussion pertaining to religion.
BUT ... as long as I have the right to "speak my mind" (theoretically) ... I hereby execute this right and voice my opinion. That's what it is: my opinion. Not more and not less.
Hoping that the time elapsed since their latest atrocities will distance my voice from the sensation hungry media reports etc.
ISIS? - Disgusting!
The news about this particular group of terrorists and other, somehow similar groups that all have in common, that they pretend to "fight in the name of the religion Islam" and therefore doing the work of their good Lord Allah.
Probably I am too stupid to understand these matters, but if their god is as claimed "almighty", I fail to see why an almighty entity with the power to create the universe needs armed killing squads. If this god, call it Allah, God or whatever you want, should wish to punish or even kill one or many people ... there should definitely be no need for any guns!
And these people are often called by the media as "fighters" or "warriors" ...
As with everything else I am probably MUCH too naive to understand this correctly, but to my mind it would seem "appropriate", that anybody who calls him/herself a warrior, should have enough pride to abide by some form of "code of conduct". These "people", seem to consider themselves hired by an almighty but very blood thirsty entity to kill and destroy everybody and everything in their path. No rules, no signs of any form of civilization. Their mental sanity has to be seriously questioned.
Even when they themselves appear on one of their lovely home video shows, hiding in some dark cave, they have to cling to their guns like unloved infants to their pacifiers. A sign of pathological insecurity .. to put it mildly.
Not to mention, they are too afraid to show their faces or "pick on someone their own size", who might fight back.
At other times, they have 10-year old children scream into the video camera, that they (the children!) will burn and kill everything and everybody. They don't use girls for that. Girls and women are used as suicide bombers. And naturally, education of little girls is a mortal sin, so the named blood thirsty god sends heavily armed execution squads to shoot unarmed little girls who do not fight back. Wow, what a glorious, heroic feat. Their beloved almighty MUST be pleased!
It seems almost "natural", that they should be so afraid of education, because education is a thing, that exposes them as barbaric hell hounds. Education/information is also powerful enough to eradicate them without a single bullet!
That is probably also the reason, why they are frantically "burning books", quite literally. Everything after the 13th century, even poetry and literature, is considered evil and ONLY books of a VERY restricted range of topics and by very few authors seem to be considered acceptable.
How about the "foreign fighters" who join the ranks of the beasts? What exactly are they fighting for? Religion??? I cannot see ANYTHING religious about murder. And I take the liberty of assuming, that the VAST MAJORITY of all believers in Islam DO NOT sanction indiscriminate killing.
Freedom??? I don't know, as I said above, about all the political games, but APPARENTLY these people, the so-called warriors, are oppressing AND killing even their own kind = Arabic people.
Business??? Sure. They kidnap and kill people for millions of dollars ransom. Most likely considered to be a "divine business".
So, I ask YOU --- the ISIL warriors joining ranks from any "developed" country: Would YOU like to raise your daughter in total ignorance, so she can be used as human cattle? Probably sold to some well-off "husband" like a goat. Would you like to destroy every form of culture/civilization (which you actually ARE doing already) and live in a world, where there is only ONE VERY RESTRICTED way of thinking / behaving. And go about killing whenever you feel like it, because your "god" has told you so and backs you???
Now THAT must be real utopia ... a goal to strive for!
Some years back there was a "religions cult" here in Japan, that also started killing people, first individuals then families and finally large groups indiscriminately with Sarin, a poisonous gas (chemical weapon), classified as a weapon of mass destruction. Even highly intelligent and educated people followed their "religious leader", who claimed to be capable of "astral projections" (flying through space and other dimensions) and told his "followers", that killing is for a higher purpose. That person himself AND his followers also considered him some sort of "prophet".
I and MANY other people could/can not understand, why those highly educated people were following that guy. Similarly I am incapable of understanding, why anybody might want to join the ISIL henchmen.
Or let's ask you this.
What exactly has your wonderful "Islamic state" every produced or created ... I mean except death and destruction? The clothes you wear are probably "Made in China". Your guns are likely "Made in Russia" or even "Made in USA". How about your cell phones? Maybe Korea? Not to mention the internet you use to make your threats. Or the energy = electricity you use … I doubt very much, it is "Made in Islamic State". The cars you drive madly through dusty streets, flashing your beloved guns ... are "Made in Japan". Probably the FOOD you eat too, comes from somewhere else. And if you kill everybody else, who would then buy "your" oil to keep you alive???
Where does that leave YOU???
You live and thrive on the products of the labor of other people, producing nothing yourself in return and in this process might even kill the host. THAT is the definition of parasite. Maybe, if you have not yet burned all available dictionaries, you could even look it up in one of those evil books. That is what the ISIL "warriors" are: parasites. Question. What would the ISIL guys do, if they themselves were infected by parasites? I think the answer is rather obvious.
The one and only contribution to the world, civilization, mankind ... etc. YOU make, is your "divine death and destruction". For everybody else on this planet, this makes YOU a very evil pest. As such, for the common good of the world, you should be sent back to foul underworld hence you came.
Now that I have spoken MY mind (a little portion of it), it is probably time and "appropriate" to send one of your holy execution squads over here and to kill and old and unarmed man. Wouldn't that be another glorious achievement in the name of your wonderful religion?
Well, I DO NOT understand politics with all its paranoid conspiracies and secrecy.
I AM NOT a follower of ANY religion. So I am not entering a discussion pertaining to religion.
BUT ... as long as I have the right to "speak my mind" (theoretically) ... I hereby execute this right and voice my opinion. That's what it is: my opinion. Not more and not less.
Hoping that the time elapsed since their latest atrocities will distance my voice from the sensation hungry media reports etc.
ISIS? - Disgusting!
The news about this particular group of terrorists and other, somehow similar groups that all have in common, that they pretend to "fight in the name of the religion Islam" and therefore doing the work of their good Lord Allah.
Probably I am too stupid to understand these matters, but if their god is as claimed "almighty", I fail to see why an almighty entity with the power to create the universe needs armed killing squads. If this god, call it Allah, God or whatever you want, should wish to punish or even kill one or many people ... there should definitely be no need for any guns!
And these people are often called by the media as "fighters" or "warriors" ...
As with everything else I am probably MUCH too naive to understand this correctly, but to my mind it would seem "appropriate", that anybody who calls him/herself a warrior, should have enough pride to abide by some form of "code of conduct". These "people", seem to consider themselves hired by an almighty but very blood thirsty entity to kill and destroy everybody and everything in their path. No rules, no signs of any form of civilization. Their mental sanity has to be seriously questioned.
Even when they themselves appear on one of their lovely home video shows, hiding in some dark cave, they have to cling to their guns like unloved infants to their pacifiers. A sign of pathological insecurity .. to put it mildly.
Not to mention, they are too afraid to show their faces or "pick on someone their own size", who might fight back.
At other times, they have 10-year old children scream into the video camera, that they (the children!) will burn and kill everything and everybody. They don't use girls for that. Girls and women are used as suicide bombers. And naturally, education of little girls is a mortal sin, so the named blood thirsty god sends heavily armed execution squads to shoot unarmed little girls who do not fight back. Wow, what a glorious, heroic feat. Their beloved almighty MUST be pleased!
It seems almost "natural", that they should be so afraid of education, because education is a thing, that exposes them as barbaric hell hounds. Education/information is also powerful enough to eradicate them without a single bullet!
That is probably also the reason, why they are frantically "burning books", quite literally. Everything after the 13th century, even poetry and literature, is considered evil and ONLY books of a VERY restricted range of topics and by very few authors seem to be considered acceptable.
How about the "foreign fighters" who join the ranks of the beasts? What exactly are they fighting for? Religion??? I cannot see ANYTHING religious about murder. And I take the liberty of assuming, that the VAST MAJORITY of all believers in Islam DO NOT sanction indiscriminate killing.
Freedom??? I don't know, as I said above, about all the political games, but APPARENTLY these people, the so-called warriors, are oppressing AND killing even their own kind = Arabic people.
Business??? Sure. They kidnap and kill people for millions of dollars ransom. Most likely considered to be a "divine business".
So, I ask YOU --- the ISIL warriors joining ranks from any "developed" country: Would YOU like to raise your daughter in total ignorance, so she can be used as human cattle? Probably sold to some well-off "husband" like a goat. Would you like to destroy every form of culture/civilization (which you actually ARE doing already) and live in a world, where there is only ONE VERY RESTRICTED way of thinking / behaving. And go about killing whenever you feel like it, because your "god" has told you so and backs you???
Now THAT must be real utopia ... a goal to strive for!
Some years back there was a "religions cult" here in Japan, that also started killing people, first individuals then families and finally large groups indiscriminately with Sarin, a poisonous gas (chemical weapon), classified as a weapon of mass destruction. Even highly intelligent and educated people followed their "religious leader", who claimed to be capable of "astral projections" (flying through space and other dimensions) and told his "followers", that killing is for a higher purpose. That person himself AND his followers also considered him some sort of "prophet".
I and MANY other people could/can not understand, why those highly educated people were following that guy. Similarly I am incapable of understanding, why anybody might want to join the ISIL henchmen.
Or let's ask you this.
What exactly has your wonderful "Islamic state" every produced or created ... I mean except death and destruction? The clothes you wear are probably "Made in China". Your guns are likely "Made in Russia" or even "Made in USA". How about your cell phones? Maybe Korea? Not to mention the internet you use to make your threats. Or the energy = electricity you use … I doubt very much, it is "Made in Islamic State". The cars you drive madly through dusty streets, flashing your beloved guns ... are "Made in Japan". Probably the FOOD you eat too, comes from somewhere else. And if you kill everybody else, who would then buy "your" oil to keep you alive???
Where does that leave YOU???
You live and thrive on the products of the labor of other people, producing nothing yourself in return and in this process might even kill the host. THAT is the definition of parasite. Maybe, if you have not yet burned all available dictionaries, you could even look it up in one of those evil books. That is what the ISIL "warriors" are: parasites. Question. What would the ISIL guys do, if they themselves were infected by parasites? I think the answer is rather obvious.
The one and only contribution to the world, civilization, mankind ... etc. YOU make, is your "divine death and destruction". For everybody else on this planet, this makes YOU a very evil pest. As such, for the common good of the world, you should be sent back to foul underworld hence you came.
Now that I have spoken MY mind (a little portion of it), it is probably time and "appropriate" to send one of your holy execution squads over here and to kill and old and unarmed man. Wouldn't that be another glorious achievement in the name of your wonderful religion?
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