Cultural "Self" awareness & Self-Introductions

 Cultural "Self" awareness & Self-Introductions

    According to Elizabeth Stallman Madden in her article published in Sage Reference, "the concept of cultural self-awareness is the fact that a person has a conscious ability to critically view and understand the objective and subjective cultures to which the individual belongs. A person with self-awareness may also be able to see the selfs from different point of view.". This week's topic made me realise on how much my cultural background reflects my today's identity. 

Before coming to Japan I rarely questioned my habits or assumptions but now that I am actually living in a different country with people coming from all around the world, I have realised how much culture is important nowadays. I noticed that I can have different behaviours and ways of communication since I arrived. In addition, in my opinion France and Japan are so opposed that it is hard to find some similarities. It is a different political system, the food is totally opposed, the people behaviour is new for me etc. Moreover, meeting others for the first time in Japan highlighted how culture influences first impressions. It is clearly represented in the video of Conan O'Brien with those humorous misunderstandings moments. Furthermore, I discovered in class the "Cultural Iceberg Model (Edward T. Hall, 1976) and it really made me reflect on my own "underwater" values with for example the attitudes toward authority and I would like to take a simple example illustration. In France, when the crosswalk is red but there's not traffic, I cross the road. Here in Japan, even if there is no car, people are waiting for the crosswalk to turn red. It therefore made a little self-introduction about my attitude toward authority and now I am waiting for the light to turn green before crossing the street in order to adapt myself to the country I just moved in.

Overall, cultural self-awareness is for me essential when interacting with others. It helps me to understand better my own behaviour while also appreciate the diversity in front of me. By recognising both differences and similarities, the communication is improved and allows me to create meaningful connections with people coming from all around the world. 

Commentaires

  1. WeiJiang20 avril 2026 à 23:20

    I love how you use the reference as the starting of the blog and glad to know that the difference between Western cultures and Japan cultures

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  2. Kenn20 avril 2026 à 23:20

    Good job, amazing 🙏🙏

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  3. Jorshan20 avril 2026 à 23:21

    Really interenting and true, the differences between countries is amazing and what you can learn about them.

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  4. Jnie20 avril 2026 à 23:21

    Woahhhh really detailed and in Thailand we dont wait for the pedestrian crossing lights also, we just cross whenever we want. Unlike here people are responsible to the max and they really follow rules.

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  5. Joaquin20 avril 2026 à 23:22

    I found the post very interesting as someone experiencing the same situation of having just moved to Japan. Attitude towards authority is not something that is often talked about but i believe it is one thing in which cultures vary a lot. Coming from Costa Rica i had a similar attitude towards this topic and it is now something that i continuously think about while walking outside or simply being in a public space. I believe Lise summarized it quite well in her blog.

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