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  • Thought I was American....

  • Beer Country....

  • Than we thought.....

  • You hear it a lot "I went there"

  • Trendy at university

  • That makes us happy.

  • Well, at least I was happy.

  • The Japanese medical system...

  • I think we have some similarities there...

  • Hi guys it's me Cathy Cat.

  • If you don't speak German be sure to tick on the little gear down there and...

  • Tab on the English subtitles because this time we're gonna talk in German.

  • Off we go! The topic today is.... what surprises German in Japan...?

  • If I frill up like this in front of Japanese people, they are sometimes surprised too...

  • In case they don't know this fashion well.

  • But there are also things that surprises normal Germans

  • when we communicate with Japanese people.

  • Or spend time. About those we will talk today.

  • You will often be mistaken for an Amerian or an Americanee....

  • Americanee...???

  • Take 2

  • You will often be mistaken for an American.

  • That can happen so many, even if they're from Europe or similar.

  • Even if you don't look American at all.

  • The first thought of many Japanese people seem to be "are you from America?"

  • America is represented a lot in Japanese media, a lot more than....

  • any other country!

  • So the first thought is... "She's a foreigner ... looks caucasion... could be American."

  • And when you say you're German the reaction is generally "OH!"

  • And I still really don't know why the common reaction is "OH!"

  • Japanese people will then often try to say some stereotypes they know about Germany....

  • And those will also be mentioned.

  • The Sausage and Beer Country.

  • We will NEVER ESCAPE this cliche.

  • We're never gonna live it down. Because...

  • after the first initial "OH!" that I mentioned, Japanese people will say "Sausage! Beer!!!"

  • I hear that ... every

  • time

  • There must be something to it I guess. I am quite picky about the sausages here too.

  • But me and my German friend Sarah don't drink that much beer.

  • But still people expect us to drink it.

  • Or that we ought to like drinking it....

  • And we are no TRUE germans if we don't drink beer.

  • I think that's up to everyone's opinion.

  • But we will NEVER live this cliche down.

  • What many Japanese have here even more than the sausages...

  • is Baumkuchen!

  • And many Japanese don't even know that Baumkuchen comes from Germany.

  • I mentioned that in another video, if you are curious, find it in the Germany-Japan playlist.

  • Yes?!

  • Number 3.....

  • Japanese people can drink a lot more than you might think!!!

  • Maybe that's another reason why we get hit with the beer country stereotype so quickly.

  • A reason for that is probably that Japanese people do love to drink beer too.

  • And many can drink a lot more than a German might expect them to drink

  • Many get red cheeks quickly, but I do too.

  • Many can drink a lot and the after work hours in Japan often start with....

  • a glass of beer for many. First the beer before other drinks are choosen.

  • Beer here is a lot more popular than you might think.

  • Not just the rice wine and similar! Beer is part of the daily life for many here.

  • My old host family dads had their evening beer and when people of a company go for drinks....

  • everyone has their end-of-work beer.

  • Many Japanese have been to the romantic street in Germany.

  • If you speak to Japanese people who have traveled a lot more....

  • They will often say "Yes I have been to Germany's romantic street..."

  • I must be honest, I didn't at first know where that was....

  • and what it connects. But I was still happy....

  • that many Japanese said they have been there already.

  • Unfortunately many see it on power bus tours where you rush through Germany and don't see much

  • But this seems to be a very popular travel path.

  • That also includes the Neuschwanstein Castle.

  • It is very famous and popular amongst Japanese visitors.

  • There used to be a time when the German language was pretty trendy at University.

  • If you talk to an older generation of Japanese men and women....

  • they might tell you that they used to learn German at the university.

  • It was a boom during university but now everyone stays with English.

  • And many try to learn that language as good as possible.

  • Every time someone says "I used to learn German."

  • That's when they generally are good sports and try to speak some German that they still remember.

  • Of course many young Japanese are still studying German now.

  • But there used to be a popularity wave in the older days.

  • Especially one older generation... hard to say how old they are.

  • Many of those will tell me it was the thing to learn German back then.

  • Glad to hear that.

  • What really will surprise Germans is that... some Japanese who are interested in Germany....

  • Sometimes tend to know more about Germany than I do.

  • I once talked with a Japanese man who was interested in Classical Music from Germany....

  • He knew more than I did. I was so amazed.

  • I was a little bit embarrassed that I didn't know all the people he mentioned.

  • Or which symphonies he meant.

  • But it's flattering to hear that someone is interested in your culture.

  • Especially if it is not the mainstream culture.

  • It makes people happy... at least I was happy.

  • The Japanese medical system used to be partly based on the German medical system.

  • Who would have thought?

  • Many Japanese doctors used to go and study medicine in Germany.

  • And the patient card is using the German word for it still.

  • And many German medical words used to be used in hospitals in Japan.

  • This has changed now, everything is a little bit more digital and....

  • of course English is being used more now than German.

  • But some older doctors who have their own offices now...

  • Still tend to know some complicated German medical words.

  • I once was talking to a doctor and he said....

  • and tried to use some German words in our conversation. I was impressed.

  • Germans and Japanese are very similar.....

  • I hear Japanese people tell me that a lot.....

  • I am happy to hear that because it's often the punctuality and hard work that gets compared

  • Even some emotional aspects are said to be had in common.

  • I hear that a lot to my delight. Especially punctuality, we Germans are over-punctual.

  • And Japanese love it when you are over punctual too

  • I think there are some surprising similarities.

  • Well.....

  • What surprises you when you are talking with Japanese people? Let us know in the comments.

  • We have more videos with me speaking in German....

  • even though I generally speak in English and Japanese.

  • I always have to get back into the habit of speaking German again.

  • I hope you enjoyed these videos.

  • If you enjoyed them a lot it would be nice if you could subscribe to us

  • so I can see more of you around. I have an Instagram account too, would be nice to see you.

  • I wish you all the best until next time. Hope to see more of you on Ask Japanese. Bye!

Thought I was American....

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