Column in Serial] Former TV TOKYO’s Miyu Iketani Thinks “Bad Manners of Chinese Tourists! Problem

I recently traveled to Hokkaido with my husband. Hokkaido is rapidly becoming popular among Chinese tourists. When I ask my Chinese classmates, “If you were to go to Japan, where would you like to go?” I ask my Chinese classmates, “If you were going to Japan, where would you like to go?

Why not Tokyo or Kyoto? It is because Hokkaido is the filming location for the movie “Love Letter.

Love Letter” is a Japanese movie starring Miho Nakayama and Etsushi Toyokawa (62), and although many of my classmates would not have been born when it was released in 1995, the movie is apparently loved by many people in China. In fact, when I visited Hokkaido, most of the tourists around me were Chinese.

While I have many cute friends around me who love Japanese culture and are looking forward to traveling to Japan, videos of “Chinese tourists are too ill-mannered” are often talked about on Japanese SNS, and I feel the temperature difference between the two.

During this trip to Hokkaido, I thought again about “manners.

I think it is “impossible” in the Japanese sense. ……

To begin with, what does “bad manners” mean?

In China, there are people who spit phlegm on the street, aunts who for some reason do not lock their toilets, and uncles who walk around smoking. I even saw an unleashed Yorkshire terrier running hard after its owner’s motorcycle on the main street in front of the university. It is an amazing way to take a walk.

Things that Japanese people would consider “impossible” are done on a daily basis. When they come to Japan and do the same thing, Japanese people are surprised and even angry.

I agree with the opinion that “you should follow Japanese rules when you come to Japan. When I myself travel abroad, I try to communicate in the language of the country as much as possible, and I respect the culture of the people living there and enjoy the differences.

Therefore, I do not like arrogant people who do not respect or despise other people’s culture when I travel, and I do not get along with people who think that their country’s values are the standard in the world.

On the other hand, when I travel abroad, I am not confident that I can perfectly observe the manners of the country I am visiting. There is a possibility that somewhere along the way, I may have made someone feel uncomfortable. It is the same for foreign tourists in Japan.

In Japan, there are many detailed rules that do not exist in China, such as “flush and throw away toilet paper,” “make room on the right side of the escalator,” and “be quiet in public transportation. Tourists who are said to have bad manners in Japan are probably not doing so with malicious intent. Therefore, I would like to be lenient toward those who violate manners without malicious intent.

Of course, it is also true that there are Chinese who do not have goodwill toward Japan and dare to cause trouble. In a sense, I think it is an amazing dynamic to go out of your way to pay a visit to a country you dislike and then harass them. However, there are a certain number of such people not only in China but everywhere in the world. I feel a little sorry that even decent Chinese people are lumped together with such people.

When I actually lived in China, I was surprised to find that Chinese people are much more conscious of improving their manners and morals than most Japanese, including myself, would imagine. I live in a relatively urban area, but some Chinese from urban areas seem to think that those from rural areas “don’t know manners because they are from the countryside” or “country people like that will tarnish their image if they go sightseeing abroad.

You cannot choose where you are born or what kind of family you grow up in. And as one’s location changes, so do one’s values and standards of judgment. I try to understand this well and never be arrogant, even if I am in the majority.

Selfless like a pirate: ……

In Japan, where manners are strictly enforced, there is a kind of “peer pressure”. As a member of society and a sensible adult, manners should be observed. However, it is not only for foreign tourists, but also an unspoken pressure that everyone in Japanese society should follow. While the many rules make for a comfortable life, they can also be constricting.

There were moments when I felt how much fun it is to live in China and be exposed to different values!　There was a moment when I felt that I was in the right place at the right time.

When I was having a meal with Chinese friends, crabs and shrimps were brought to us. I thought to myself, “How am I supposed to eat them?” Would it be considered bad manners if I grabbed them with my hands? I wondered, “How is the right way to eat it? However, my friend who was in the same room with me grabbed the crab with his bare hands, put it in his mouth without removing the shell, and finally spit out the shell on the plate with a “Pek! and spit it out on the plate.

A famous actress also ate crab in the same way in a TV drama. In other words, it is not wrong in manners. I was surprised at first, but the tension I had felt in Japan that it might be against manners disappeared at once. I felt a sense of liberation and immorality. Eating crab like a pirate, with my mouth and hands sticky with the juices – it was so much fun, and I was thrilled to think, “Oh, I’m in a foreign country! I was thrilled.

When I announced that I was going to study in China, there were people who were very definitive and negative about China, partly out of concern, but I think they were largely influenced by the various videos on social media and the anti-Japanese demonstrations on TV.

I was the same way before I visited China, so I understand how they feel.

That is why I say to acquaintances who have some interest in China but are not sure about going there by themselves, “I will show you around, you should come to China once! I say, “You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to like it. I just think that what you feel with your five senses, whatever the outcome, is worth it as a life experience and memory.

A few days ago, I really decided that my friends will come to China. I am very much looking forward to it, as it will also be my first debut as an interpreter guide.

I will report back to you all!

The paid version of “FRIDAY GOLD” carries the first seven installments of “Female Graduate Student Miyu Iketani’s ‘Unusual Study Abroad'”. In the seventh installment, we present her real voice, in which she talks about the problems she had as an announcer, such as being told that she was not “sexy enough.