One theme I write about often is the Japanese idea of 常識 joshiki, translatable as the knowledge that every (Japanese) person possesses by default, a sort of “universal common sense.” Joshiki is all around you in Japan, the list of knowledge and behaviors and attitudes that nearly everyone seems to share…except us poor gaijin, who are doomed to always be on a slightly different wavelength from everyone around us. I’m from San Diego where it’s usually warm, so I’m more than happy to wear short sleeves on a warm day in March, though this often surprises Japanese, who are trained by their school system to only wear summer clothes from June 1 through October 1. Another bit of “common sense” in Japan is that the only time outdoor swimming is permitted is July and August, and Japanese people I knew were shocked when I went to the beach on September 1st. The combination of not being aware of these subtle cultural facts and our normal tendency to mis-understand some Japanese words means that foreigners are often viewed as “KY,” slang for 空気読めない kuuki yomenai, which means “cannot read the air” (i.e. are usually unaware of subtle social situations). In the end I don’t worry about trying to follow the Japanese way too closely, preferring to be マイペース (“my pace”), a phrase used to describe someone who lives life at his own pace and in his own way.
Foreigners are often on a different wavelength from Japanese.
