Have you ever thought American people seem strange? I have, many times!
Let me tell you about something that happened when I was studying in America years ago.
One sunny afternoon, my Japanese friend and I were sitting on the grass on campus. We were about to eat our sandwich lunch. Matt, a friendly American student, came over and said “Hi!”
Suddenly, Matt jumped and landed on the ground close to our sandwiches.
My friend cried out, “Oh my god! Unbelievable!” He quickly picked up our sandwiches and patted them, trying to blow away any dust that might have fallen on them.
Matt looked surprised that my friend was upset. He just said, “It’s just dust!”
This reminded me of a scene from the movie “Sleeping with the Enemy” with Julia Roberts. In the movie, a wife and husband argue because he left his sneakers on the dining table. I thought this would never happen in a Japanese family because a Japanese husband would not do such a thing.
You might have seen pictures of American businessmen sitting with their feet up on their desks. This position can easily spread dust over the desk!
As you know, in America, people usually keep their shoes on inside their homes. In Japan, we take off our shoes. This Japanese custom probably developed because of Japan’s heat and high humidity.
I talked about Matt’s “joke” with an American woman who has lived in Japan for many years. She said:
“He didn’t mean to cause trouble. Since Americans wear shoes indoors, we probably don’t mind dust as much as Japanese people do. But we don’t put dust on food on purpose – dust isn’t a seasoning!”
In conclusion, how much dust we can tolerate is more about culture than health. We shouldn’t call Americans dirty or say Japanese people are too clean.
What we need is to be more understanding of cultural differences. This is the key to living peacefully together on Earth.
See you next time,
Jiro
私立学校に英語教師として勤務中、40代半ばに差し掛かったころ、荒れたクラスを立て直す策として、生徒に公言して英検1級に挑戦することを思い立つ。同様の挑戦を繰り返し、退職までに英検一級（検定連合会長賞）、TOEIC満点、国連英検SA級、フランス語一級、スペイン語一級（文科大臣賞）、ドイツ語一級、放送大学大学院修士号などの成果を得る。
アメリカで生徒への対応法を学ぶ為に研修（地銀の助成金）。最新の心理学に触れた。4都県での全発表、勤務校での教員への研修を英語で行う。現在も特別選抜クラスの授業を全て英語で行っている。「どうやって単語を覚えればいいですか？」という良くある質問に答える為、印欧祖語からの派生に基づく「生徒には見せたくない語源英単語集」を執筆中。完成間近。常日頃洋書の読破で様々な思考にふれているが、そうして得た発想の一つを生かして書いた論文がコロナ対策論文として最近入賞。賞品の牛肉に舌鼓をうっている。元英検面接委員