High Context Culture Essay

In MAIN READING of UNIT2, we learned the dichotomy between a high-context culture like Japan, Korea, China, and many Latin American countries and a low-context culture like the U.S. and many European countries. In a high-context culture, the context of the situation and the relationship of the interlocutors play a vital role in the message being communicated, in a low-context culture, everything is direct, straightforward, and individualistic, often times to the point of redundancy. Besides, in the handout given in this class, we learned the present circumstances in Japan that foreign residents are increasing and because of the mixing of different cultures, various problems arise. When I read the handout, I thought that if things remained as they are, a high-context culture would disappeared, because the U.S. that has a low-context culture is the leader of global society and we may have to adjust it in the future. I think that a high-context culture which has a lot good points a low-context culture don’t have should be protected, so I don’t agree that Japan is globalized too much. I am going to explain the good points. First, in a high-context culture, people are outstanding in that they are considerate of others. Before I begin to explain it, I need

You will see a lot of clerks greeting. When you go to a restaurant, what do you see first? You will see a glass of water that is free of charge. When you get on a taxi, what do you notice first? You will notice that the door opens automatically. People who live in Japan may think that these things are natural, but foreign tourists are surprised at them and made an impression. These OMOTENASHI are peculiar to Japan, because Japanese can expect what the users hope and have energies to come true them without only expecting. This OMOTENASHI culture can’t be seen in a low-context culture and I think that it is a very good point of a high-context