She came to America in hopes of learning about our culture, and she has. At the same time, we have learned a ton about her culture in Japan. One thing that I picked up on was their music, being a huge music lover myself. I have noticed that she hums a lot in dead time. Nothing recognizable to me. I asked her what she was humming, and she told me it was a song that is Japanese. I thought this was pretty neat.
I also have heard her sing in the shower. My room is right across from the bathroom, so I could hear a bit. Not super loud, but loud enough that I could hear. From what I could make out, it was Japanese. I did not ask what she was singing, because, well, that's awkward. I assume that it was a pop song in their language. I found this to be neat, because it was something we do here, with our own songs.
The most cultural thing that I observed here was observed by the whole school. On the second day they were shadowing students, they performed at a school assembly as a form of introducing themselves to the school. They performed a dance to Japanese music while wearing a Japanese smock. It was really neat to see them all together.
They perform every year when a group comes, and I always thought that it was a dance that they were taught here. This year, I got the chance to ask what the dance was. It is a traditional Japanese dance that they do to bring good fishing seasons. This makes sense when you look at the smocks and see that they have water, like an ocean.
This learning experience was really cool to me. I love learning about culture, and music is my favorite. It shows me, and everyone that music is used in different cultures for different reasons. It makes me wonder how other cultures see our music and how we use it. Obviously we don't have songs to premiere fishing and rain, but more for entertainment. But is it more than this in other people's opinions?
