Photo by melissakartini
This is part of a culture shock series that I’m doing for Japan and Malaysia. Updates for “Reverse Culture Shock: From Japan to Malaysia” will be extremely erratic as I’ll mostly be based in Japan for the foreseeable future.
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I know, I know, I haven’t even been living in Japan for that long, but let me have this one. Awhile ago, I returned to Malaysia for the summer holidays, and while I felt happy and relieved to be met with things from home, there were still a couple of things that shocked me.
I largely blame this on the fact that Malaysians are a rarity in Japan. I mean, besides the fact that the country itself has a different culture from the one I was born and raised in.
Funny thing was, I didn’t even have to land in Malaysia to experience the aforementioned reverse culture shock. I experienced it first thing on my flight there. You can read about it below, along with the other instances of reverse culture shock I went through back home:
The bluntness
When I boarded the plane home, the first thing to cause reverse culture shock was watching the Malaysian air stewards and stewardesses at work. In Japan, it can be hard to gauge what the Japanese are thinking unless you are used to the culture. Thoughts and feelings either go unsaid or are let known subtly.
But on that plane, I could tell what the air stewards and stewardesses were thinking by just looking at their faces.
And the way they spoke was a lot more direct too. I remember the air steward scolding a passenger for holding up the flight by about an hour. After months of Japanese subtlety, I couldn’t help but to be a bit unnerved by that formerly familiar bluntness.
The clothing style
It’s true what some people say about burning your clothes before moving to Japan–because the style there is vastly different from other countries. When I was walking around the streets of KL, I felt a little out of place. Thanks to certain people, my clothing style and wardrobe have been adapted to one that is more Japanese.
As a result, I felt more like a foreigner as I looked at the clothes other Malaysians were wearing; there were loads of jeans, patterns, bright colours, t-shirts and traditional clothes. I was clearly dressed differently, but that’s alright, I suppose. It wasn’t too bad for me because, call it the result of having a mixed heritage, but I never really felt like I properly belonged in my home country. The culture shock for this part was mild, but it was still there.
People holding up the line
Photo by melissakartini
This one happened at a Malaysia Fair in Tokyo, but it still counts because it was teeming with Malaysians, and was thus, very Malaysian. Don’t believe me? Then tell me whether this particular scenario seems familiar to you:
I was waiting in line to buy some food items at a stall, and expecting things to be done smoothly like they usually do in Japan, I drifted off for a while. But after a few good solid minutes of waiting (I swear I must’ve been waiting for at least 10 minutes), it still wasn’t my turn.
I was like, “Wtf.” And so leaned out to have a look-see at what was going on. Were they having technical difficulties or something with their credit card machine?
No.
The customer and the stall owners were happily chatting away, paying no heed to the people waiting behind said customer. Something that wouldn’t happen if the stall owners were Japanese. At first, I was incredulous, frustrated, irritated, but then I went, “Oh, God. I remember this.”
It had made such an impression on me that I still think about it sometimes.
The nosiness
This one goes hand-in-hand with the bluntness. Though Malaysians usually try to avoid conflict (though not at as such an extreme level as the Japanese), they can be incredibly blunt in other situations. This is especially true when it comes to their kepochi-ness. For the uninitiated, this means their nosiness.
Tldr: if Malaysians want to know something, they’d just ask.
Like when I was at the Malaysia Fair, one of the stall owners suddenly pointed at the contents of my shopping bag, exclaiming, “Do you still wanna buy this drink?! I see you have some coffee in there!”
Wahlao. It was a pretty minor thing, but I still felt offended. It was as though my privacy had been invaded.
That said, I’ve always been a pretty private person, but since I was born in Malaysia, I am used to people being kepoh. And I accepted it, because I understood that at times, it is also their way of being friendly. For the most part, anyway. There are still times where I get pretty offended by the nosiness. This need for privacy was only further intensified during my stay in Japan, where privacy is valued.
The teasing and joking around
Malaysians have a jolly sense of humour. This became more and more apparent the more I traveled. As opposed to other nationalities, I’ve noticed that Malaysians are more likely to greet people, even strangers, with warmth and a teasing joke or two. They’re more open to smiling and laughing, and welcoming other people into their inner circle. And really, they’re almost always joking. This is in contrast with the Japanese; you’d only experience such a thing with them if you’re in their inner circle or drinking together. Honestly, I’m almost always mildly surprised to be greeted by such friendliness after months of the Japanese’s cautionary style of politeness.
I know it might seem like I’ve been ragging on us, but I’m not. Any source of irritation is due to my personality and preferences alone–it has nothing to do with the nationality or culture in question.
So let me end this post on a more positive note. If you’re looking for the feeling of instant warmth and friendship, you can easily find that in Malaysians. We tend to do that by easing the air with a good sense of humour. 🙂
