■ 2003年12月23日(火)
米国アリゾナの友人から&メリークリスマス
Reference: Dr. Tobin's Interview (July. '03, Business English from NHK radio)
Tobin: So I'm sure when you first came here, you had many experiences that really made you look at your own assumptions and perceptions. And what kind of reaction did you have internally? How did things affect you? Because you're a person who sees a lot.
Anton: Yeah, I think, you know, one of the first really waking up experiences for me was really seeing that I couldn't just be here the way I was in other places, in the United State or Europe, I would say, or in the West. And that there was really a different way of doing things and that…and if I wanted to build relationships and have friendships and expand my world, really, in Japan I had to really leave my own little box. I didn't think of it as a little box at the time…of being an American who does things in one way and thinks in one way and that's the only way. I'll give you one example. As Americans, we very often talk a bout, you know, speaking straight, or you know, giving it people straight and being honest and saying what you think. And I remember very early in my experience here in Mishima I was talking to someone in English whom I knew and just speaking as I would normally with some American friend and being honest. And I literally saw in her reaction, I mean, it was well masked because she Is Japanese, but at the same time, I realized that I had stepped over a line. I had gone too far in a way. I hadn't been rude or offensive but even honesty can be self-serving, you know. And so, to think of that as some absolute value that is only ever, I think, was wrong.
(See page 22 on the textbook)
|