EAP Term 2 2022

 I think this cultural dimension model helps us a certain extent. The model shows us overviews at cultures and this is useful to get certain extent understandings before going to abroad. However, it is not enough to get full extent of understandings because culture differ among person in my opinion. The findings align with my observations. For example, I thought that Japan preferred “long Term Orientation” because they disliked risks and that New Zealander was more indulgence than Japan. I have felt the tendencies since I visited here. I think Kiwi are more quite expressive. On the other hand, I was surprised that Japan was one of the most Masculine societies in the world. However, we woman are preferred to be feminine in Japan so the true is confusing for woman. In my opinion, limitation is that this viewing can’t measure difference among individuals or families. For example, my mother and I more prefer to do by ourselves. Also, I feel I focus on “I” more than other Japanese peo...

 I found that it is good way to know culture, but there are some points of different from the actual state. First, I think masculinity is depend on people. This survey says Japanese society will be driven by competition, achievement and success. The percent was 92.  It is too high. There are many people who want to enjoy work with other people. In fact, I'm not focusing on results, I'm focusing on assumptions. If we focus on only results, the life will not fun.  On the other hand, Indulgence is almost correct. I realized that New Zealanders value holidays more than Japanese. For example, on Sunday, the shop clothes about 5:00pm. I was surprised because Japanese shop clothes about 11:00pm on Sunday.   By comparison between the two countries, I found that there is stereotype in this survey. I felt it can’t see everything about culture.

  Through the Hofstede ’ s Cultural Dimensions,  I realized that the level of satisfaction in life is completely different between Japan and New Zealand. For example, in Japan, work takes precedence over private life, so desires remain locked up in the mind. New Zealanders, however, prioritize private life over work. They can fully do what they want to do. Therefore, they do not feel stress. I would like to live in New Zealand someday myself.

In many respects, the comparison between Japan and New Zealand was as expected. However, there is one point that surprised me. That is the difference in competitiveness. I had assumed that this competitiveness was derived from Western capitalism, so I did not expect to see higher points in Japan than in New Zealand. If it did not come from the West, I would also make a new guess that it probably originated from the Chinese Imperial examination. Anyway, this is too difficult to find an answer. However, this is interesting, and I like this kind of things.

  Through the Hofstede ’ s Cultural Dimensions, I was surprised at differences between Japan and New Zealand.  As for Japan, I think that this finding align with my observations. For instance, about Uncertainty Avoidance, Japanese people tend to avoid the risk of immigration or the system of the government. Second is Indulgence. In Japanese culture, people have a thinking that people should not express their feeling in front of others. This finding shows that Japan is 42 for Restraint, New Zealand is 75 for Indulgence. Therefore, I suppose we can prepare the others country ’ s perspectives before we meet them. However there is a limitation of viewing the cultures. It might be included stereotype of countries. This result covers the almost fact of country ’ s perspectives, but not all of them don ’ t act like this result. There are some people who don ’ t match these ideas so we have to concern and act these kinds of people.  

    I thought New Zealand and Japan are quite opposite. Where Japan's numbers are low, New Zealand's numbers are high, and conversely, where Japan's numbers are high, New Zealand's numbers are low.      I found the INDULGENCE section particularly interesting. In this section, Japanese scores are considerably lower than New Zealanders. I too think New Zealanders are optimistic. I get very impatient and frustrated when buses are late or go early or do not arrive on time. I think it is because of the ingrained time-bound habits of the Japanese.      I felt that I was quite right about the Japanese tendencies presented by this site.　Especially in terms of masculine society in a section of MASCULINITY. And the reason for this is not so much overt gender discrimination, but rather the persistence of fields in which men are naturally strong, such as manufacturing and presentation.       Of course, this is not true for all pe...

  I think viewing the countries through the lens of the cultural dimensions model greatly helps us understand the two cultures and their differences. I understand it’s difficult to measure cultural differences with few things, but these dimensions clearly tell us them. The findings mostly aligned with my observations. On the other hand, I thought masculinity in New Zealand was quite low, but the result was higher than I imaged. I estimated that Japan was low in individualism, but it was not low. These results surprised me significantly . I think we can know other people’ culture before we meet new people from all over the world with Hofstede’s dimensions. That’s really helpful to everyone such as businessman. However, we should still be aware that the indicators represent the culture of a country, not personal characters of the people of the country when we attempt to establish personal relations and communicate successfully.