Imagine that! (Fo!F)

Japanese people have no imagination!

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. A little one. lol.

Japanese society focuses on the whole. The group is more important than the individual. Quite the opposite of Western society.

This might seem like a little difference, but the group mentality is the root of a slew of differences between Japan and the West. One of the big ones for me: the inability/decision not to use imagination.

I found this out the hard way when I first came to Japan. I was playing a game with the elementary school 6th graders, and I let them choose team names. 10 minutes before class ended we were finally able to start the game.

Because they don't use their imagination, they expect the obvious to be spelled out. When they tell jokes, they often explain the punch line after they say it!

For me, one of the interesting forms this difference in thinkingg takes is in the naming of movies. It's never anything close to the English title. For example "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" becomes "Somebody Kissed Me"



"It's complicated" turns into the "Love-making Bakery"


"The Proposal" turns into " You will become my groom"



And "Up" becomes "Grandpa Carl's Flying House in the Sky"



Well, well. Imagine That!

And here's the 4th instalment of Iwate Swan.



And in case you wonder, yes I can do that dance :D