Discover Hungarian life with a foreign student - Rina Taira

Kata Deák

  Some days ago I met a Japanese girl, one of my friend’s Erasmus-students. I found her interesting, and we had a nice talk about her culture and traditions.

It is really nice to meet you. How do you feel in Hungary? What are the Hungarian people like?

It is really great here In Hungary. The people are really friendly, much more friendlier than in Japan.

It is good that you mentioned this, because I have always been curious about the Japanese people. How do they differ from the Hungarian people?

Well, they are really, really different. For me, the strangest thing is how much they express their feelings. They say to each other ”I love you”, they kiss in public places…and it is really embarrassing for me to see! (laughing) I find it really disgusting, because in Japan, kissing each other, or saying ”I love you” in public places is taboo. We have a word for ”I love you”, but we don’t say it, and I think that it comes from the samurais, because they always had to be cool.

Really? Wow, I did not know that. And are there more differences? Did you notice any bad habits? You can say it honestly! (laughing)

Well, there is one really strange thing… Everywhere I go and ask Hungarian people about their history; they always say more than I want to hear, and what I am curious about! It seems to me that they know everything about their history, and it is a very important thing in this country.

Yes, unfortunately, there are a lot of sad episodes in our history, and this is a very popular topic here, and it will always be. I heard that you live in a village called Niigata, and I’m curious whether there are those typical Japanese trigonous-shaped houses which Japan is so famous for?

There are only a few houses like this in my village, because it is really expensive because of the wood of which it is made. They are built of special trees, so that the houses resist the earthquakes. But most of the people cannot pay for a house like this.

And what about your famous traditions? Do you follow them? Or are they already outdated?

To be honest with you, in my experience, most of the Japanese people don’t know much about our traditions today. As you said, they seem to be outdated. Maybe a tradition, called Ohanami, is our only holiday which is still celebrated by a lot of people. It is a tradition, which we celebrate in spring, because of the blooming of the cherry blossom tree. These days, we wear a special custom, sit under this tree, and drink a typical Japanese drink, called Sake. But you need to know that Japanese people cannot handle alcohol!(laughing) They don’t need to drink as much alcohol as Hungarian people do. I think it is in our genes.

Wow, interesting! I did not know that. So, you said traditions are already a little bit outdated, but what about Christmas? Is it as important for you, as it is in Europe?

Well, I think this holiday is the one which we only celebrate because other people also celebrate. Most of the people don’t even know what Christmas is about. It has no meaning for most of the Japanese people.

You really are different in a lot of things, but it is very exciting! Well, it was nice to meet you, I hope we’ll see each other again! Bye, Rina.

Bye, Kata.