TOKYO東京
During Spring break, my friends and I went to Tokyo for 4 days and 3 nights and what an experience it was! After coming back from Tokyo, and even during my stay there for that breif amount of time, I realized that there are many differences, some subtle some not between the Kanto region of Japan and the Kansai region of Japan.
In tokyo, people stand on the right side of the esculator, while in Osaka people stand on the left. When I arrived there I was suprised and kind of felt weird when standing on the opposite side of the esculator, when I was used to standing on the other side. Although, this may sound not like a big deal, the subtle difference was strange because it was like it was an un-written law that everyone knew and that their even was a difference threw all of us Kansai International students off.
The next difference was is an obvious one. Tokyo is very very very busy. Of course Tokyo has a higher population and is more condensed city in contrast to Osaka, but the when seeing gigantic crowds cross streets and crowd the train stations, it can be a little overwhelming. There was one time when my friends and I were taking the train back to our hostel in Asakusa, we saw at least 30 people run at top speed, up 5esculators while almost smacking the person standing on the esculator with their suitcase. It was 6:00am on a Friday. Boy, are Tokyo people busy!
In tokyo, there are many places to shop, as in Osaka. But in tokyo, the places to shop are way larger in area, more condensed with shops and named brand stores, and has stores that are only located in Tokyo. For an expample, Forever 21, Abercrombie and Fitch, CherCher store, and even the famous Final Fantasy store. All of the stores mentioned are only located in Tokyo. For us Kansai students, we thought it was unfair, but maybe one day they will open some of these stores in Osaka.
While on trains or even walking in the street or eating in a resturant, Tokyo people
seem more reserved and/or serious. People on the train barely speak and if they do it is extremely quiet, when walking on the street they seemed more busy and into themselves, and in resturants they seem much more quiet and restrained. In Osaka, when on the train, people talk much louder than in Tokyo. It seems like you can hear people laughing and joking with each other and the ride seems more relaxed. On the street, you hear people talking, swearing, laughing much more louder than in Tokyo. And also when in resturants, it is when I think Osaka people are at their loudest when enjoying their food with friends or family members. In tokyo, we felt like we had to be at our best behavior not to stand out more than we already did.
One last thing that was startling to me was that it seemed that a lot of people in Tokyo speak english! Yes of course, I know Tokyo is the country's capital and Industrial capital too. But the amount of people that not only spoke english but fluenty with no accent at all was really shocking. It seemed that either there were people who spoke fluent english, and there were people who didn't speak english at all. My friends and I encountered 10 people during our trip that spoke english fluently. One time when my friends and I were on the train heading to Shibuya at night to see the nightlife scene, we were talking to each other about all the things that we can do there. All of a sudden this young Japanese guy, that looked around our age, spoke to us saying "So what are you guys up to tonight?" was very suprising. After talking to him for about 5 minutes or so, I asked him if he was Japanese, and he said yes. When I asked him how was his english so good, he just told me he studied. That was it. And of course these just studying english japanese people we encountered spoke it fluently that we were suprised and not at the same time. My friends and I wondered at that time that how can people who study abroad to learn japanese live in tokyo, where a lot of people speak english? In Osaka, not many people besides college students speak english, and most are not even as fluent as the people in Tokyo.
In all, there are much more differences and similarties about Tokyo and Osaka, but my experience there made me realize that there are slight differences in the culture,
and way of doing things that are not the same in the Kansai area. Of course the dialect as well. Tokyo people speak the standard Japanese called Kanto-ben. And Kansai people speak Kansai-ben. As an internation student of course we are learning the standard Japanese in class, but when we get out and speak to our japanese friends outside of class, Kansai-ben is where it is at!
なんでやね～?！ Kansai-ben =What are you doing? (nan de ya nen)
なんをしてんの？！ Tokyo-ben =What are you doing? (nan o shite iru no)
あほ Kansai-ben = Stupid/Fool (aho)
ばか Tokyo =Stupid/Fool (baka)
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