By 
It is wild to live in a culture where everything is different from the place you are used to.
Though I have lived in the U.S. for five months as an international student, there is still not a day that I don’t find something new.
In many aspects, American culture contains a lot of unique customs – tipping, dinner at 5:30 p.m., or way too large gaps in bathroom stalls, to name a few. Those cultural differences can be overwhelming sometimes, but they also can be very exciting things to discover.
I will share some of the things that are different about the U.S., compared to my home country, Japan.
- Many types of bills and coins
Let’s talk about money. More specifically, the variety of bills and coins and how all of them look alike.
In Japan, there are three types of bills (10,000, 5,000, and 1,000 yen) and five types of coins (500, 100, 10, 5, and 1 yen), and they all have different colors and designs which makes them distinguishable.
In the U.S., there are five types of bills and coins. The problem is, they all look pretty much the same.
On the day I arrived here, I went to a convenience store to get something to eat. Little did I know, I ended up taking out all of the coins I had at the cashier’s counter and letting the clerk count them. That gave me a fast lesson in how to put aside my shame and ask people for help, a skill a lot of international students have.
- Greetings
Technically, it is not an American thing, but if you are living in the U.S. or any other English-speaking country, you probably use the words “how are you?” or “how’s it going” 100 times a day. This is different because Japanese people usually don’t ask about a person’s feelings when greeting someone. Instead, they just say “hi,” “good morning,” or “good evening” with their hands waving or a bow if it’s a formal situation. (And they don’t put their palms together when they greet, in case you’re wondering).
What’s even more difficult to understand is “what’s up,” to which I’m still not 100% sure how to respond. People use this word in so many contexts and the responses vary such as “not much,” “sup,” or “yo, what’s up bro.”
Even though it is a little bit tricky at first, this is one of my favorite aspects of American culture as I found it very nice to ask how that person’s doing when you see someone.
- How people dress in class
Lastly, I want to talk about the way people dress for classes. When I started taking classes here, the first thing I realized was that almost all the people wear very comfortable clothes. This is one of the biggest differences between Japan and the U.S.
You might be surprised, but at Japanese universities, a lot of students dress up or wear makeup just like when they go out with friends. But, they do it literally every day in their classes. It could be because Japanese universities have more students living off-campus than American universities.
I really like this part of Japanese culture because it’s fun to dress up and to see people dressing up at school. However, it can be stressful sometimes – like before the final.
I think both cultures are cool in their own ways and I’m fascinated by the huge cultural differences like this.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about the U.S. and Japan.
If you want to talk more about cultural differences with people from various countries, feel free to contact me! You are always welcome to attend many intercultural activities which will be held by Carroll College’s National & International Organization (NISO). For information about NISO contact nisocarrollcollege@gmail.com.
Rin Yanase was raised in Tokyo, Japan. She attends Seikei University in Musashino, Japan, where she studies cross-cultural studies. She is spending the 2022-2023 school year at Carroll to study languages, communications, and sociology. She dreams of a career where she writes articles and columns about cultures, music, fashion, or art.
