2025 Max’s Blog

 In the last class we discussed about the differences between many things in the education field, such as: Behavior when answering or making questions Manners in how people talk to their teacher  Cram school Preferences in teaching methods (Lecture/Discussions/Projects) As usual, most foreigners agreed on the kind of behavior we should have when we are answering the teacher’s question or when we make questions, although we didn’t have japanese students this class we had chinese students as guests and they gave us interesting insights and differences in this topic; it seems that asian students rather stay quiet instead of saying “I don’t know” because they think this is disrespectful, while the foreign students believe that being quiet after a question is very disrispectful. Probably this can be explained because a lot of japanese students are not confident with their answer or themselves, sometimes they’re scared of the teacher because they may be too strict and they’re afraid...

In the last class we talked about the working culture and how it changes depending on the country, also we ranked the most important things when looking for a job. The most important factors were: - Salary - Oportunities - Work/Life balance - Company values - Personal Interests Most people agreed that the most important thing when looking for a job is the salary because is the main reason why people work, but also it was interesting to see that some people prefer personal interests or company values above work/life balance. Then we discussed about what do you think is the most important when hiring people? Is it work performance, titles and degrees, race and diversity or maybe seniority? Also most people agreed that the most important quality in order to hire someone is the job performance because you want your employee to perform as needed regardless of their degree, although, even if I agree I also think that it is important to look into someone’s CV, to review their degrees and expe...

In the last class we talked about our sleeping habits in many different cultures, we had some differences but in general it was very similar, we like to sleep in average 7-9 hours, also there are similar factors that can make it difficult to conceal sleep such as anxiety, noises, study and work. I think sleep is really important basically because if you don’t sleep properly during your life, you’re going to die early, poor sleep quality can lead to heart disease, diabetes, mental illness and among other terrible outcomes for your health, something I didn’t understand from the documentary is that japanese people sleep less than 5 hours per day but they use weekends to recover this time so they stay healthy? You can recover sleep hours in weekends and be healthy like it’s maths? And about the japanese schedule, I think it’s to wild; even if they’re allegedly healthy they should prioritize sleep above studies or part time job, if it’s not a life-death matter then just sleep. Japan has man...

 In this class, we talked about Cultural Other Awareness, which refers to the understanding and appreciation of the differences between our own culture and the other’s cultures. We discussed about the differences when we’re meeting others for the first time and we found differences in many countries, for example: - Germany: They may don’t speak to strangers at all, in scenarios like metro, elevator or street they rather wear headphones and look at their phone instead of socializing, but this context can change and in some cases they’re friendly to strangers. - Japan: In this country, when you’re meeting strangers for the first time it could be difficult if you’re from a western culture because japanese people are so polite and formal, they don’t use humor or confident language at all, they may want to project a formal and educated image of themselves instead of a friendly and confident one, also is not common to meet people in public spaces because they’re silent and focused on the...

 In this class, we talked about the japanese cultural self awareness and how is different from our countries, like how we talk to strangers and people we know. Things in Japan are quite different from my country (Mexico) because it is kind of difficult to make many friends here because people are to shy, they’re so polite and kind but at the same time they rather spend time alone or avoid social interaction than making new foreign friends, but I know deep in their heart they actually want to make friends! Also, it is really different to talk to strangers because in Mexico we are so open and we may talk to a stranger like if they’re our friends, in some cases (specially with old people) this is not like that and we rather use formal and polite language, but still we are not shy and most of the times we say what we think with no hesitation. Although American cultures may be more confident and friendly, Japan still wins in kindness and politeness, because even if in Mexico the people ...