Video Analysis: 6 Stumbling Blocks

Situations where two or more people from different cultures have difficulties or hesitation in taking communications, are know as the “6 Stumbling Blocks”. As I watched the three videos, I realized that in all of them, there were at least one of the “6 Stumbling Blocks”, intercepting the communications made within two people from different cultures. Since it is hard to understand what the companion is thinking about. These stumbling blocks are indeed very cruel things. It can be a thing that triggers collapse among people’s relationship. Also, I really understand the feeling of misunderstanding the other’s thoughts, as I myself have actually lived abroad, where they have completely different cultures as the ones here in Japan. Therefore, I
His first mistake which he continues to do for the whole video is having his knees above the table. Americans sit on chairs with high tables, so the man was not used to sitting very low, which caused him to sit in a position like that. Furthermore, his elbow and only his right hand was on the table which is known as bad manners in Japan. Another thing he did wrong was that he did not pick up the plate when he was eating the noodles, and was not holding the chopsticks in a proper way. This assumption of similarity occurred because in countries such as America, people use forks and knives to eat which does not require them to hold up the plates when they are eating. But in countries like Japan, where they use chopsticks, people who were eating without picking up the plate were compared to dogs eating their food, because the Japanese used low tables. Moreover, he was told by the Japanese woman that making noises when eating noodles, was polite. Which caused him to make enormous slurping sounds, even when he was drinking sake. The last and the most impolite thing he did was sticking his chopsticks into the bowl of rice. This way of using the chopsticks is used in funerals in Japan, to mourn the dead. Thus, people with Japanese culture should never do this, since it is extremely sinister. The American man made a lot of mistakes relating to table
He gave a bunch of Chrysanthemum flowers to a good-looking woman as a gift. However, Chrysanthemum flowers are not always given as a “good” gift in some countries. It sometimes has a meaning of sadness and a symbol for funerals. This is related to “Assumption of Similarities” and “Language Difference” from the six stumbling blocks. The man gave the flower, to show his feelings towards her, but the people there caught the meaning in the “funeral” way. This shows how the man assumed the meaning for the Chrysanthemum flower was the same worldwide, when it was not. Not only flowers, but doing something which shows politeness in one culture, can mean the opposite thing in another