Weddings, Escalators, and Laughter

Japanese culture is most definitely different than American culture. From commuting to eating, the difference between the two can easily be seen. The most prominent cultural difference I noticed are the weddings. Over the course of the DOC, I have visited many Shinto shrines and have seen at least a total of 4 weddings that have taken place at the shrines. Shinto weddings are traditional weddings that involve a priest who purifies the shrine and calls the attention of benevolent spirits. These weddings are small and usually limited to close family and friends. It is relatively easy to notice the bride and groom (who are dressed in traditional clothing) at the shrine. What struck me as different was that they (the groom/bride and their families) encouraged onlookers to take a picture of them and WITH them! There were many a time when my fellow NEU students were led by families of those betrothed to take a picture. Apparently, it is thought that having others in the photos during the wedding further validates it.
Besides weddings, there are a bunch of other smaller cultural differences as well! Coming to Japan, it definitely took me a while to adjust to using the escalator. That’s right. The escalator. Where in the U.S most people stand to the right, Japanese people typically stand to the left whereas the right is only for people who want to walk up/down the escalator. Another thing I had to get used to was crossing the streets. As anyone from Northeastern knows, jaywalking is common in Boston. In Japan however, it is just not a thing. Even on small streets where there are no cars in sight, people would wait until the light was green before they would even think to cross. The next thing I had to get used to was paying. Whether at the convenience store or at a boutique, money is usually placed in a small container by the customer which the cashier then takes the money out of. It is considered disrespectful to directly hand the money to the cashier. If there is one thing that was the hardest to become accustomed to, it was the noise level. Americans are normally stereotyped as being loud and I believe that in most circumstances, it is 100% true. Even after 5 weeks in Japan, neither I or the other NEU students are able to lower our voices or silence our boisterous laughters all the time. We can’t help it because we’re just having too much fun.