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High Power Distance as seen in the scene “Greetings” Nguyễn Mai Lan Hương... POWER DISTANCE Scene: Bob arrives from the airport at the hotel and is welcomed by the Japanese staff.. Japan

Lê Thị Diệp Hương

Question: Where can we experience the differences among cultures?

American-Japanese cultural clash in the movie “Lost in translation”

TRAILER

Bob Harris: American actor, comes to Japan to shoot a commercial and

participates in some game shows

Charlotte: a recent Yale graduate, goes to Tokyo with her husband- a busy

photographer

 Both of them are looking for the meaning of their lives and have difficulties adjusting to the surrounding life.

 They meet each other, get acquainted, start the

“adventure”, explore Tokyo, explore a brand new foreign culture, explore each other and explore themselves.

 2 Americans encounter Japanese culture in several

situations, get confused and surprised for many times

JAPAN AMERICA

High power distance Lower power

distance Collectivism Individualism

High Power Distance as seen

in the scene “Greetings”

Nguyễn Mai Lan Hương

POWER DISTANCE

Scene: Bob arrives from the airport at the hotel and is welcomed by the Japanese staff

The staff people greet him, give him presents and

business cards by both hands.

The hotel staff shake hands and bow to him.

Japan - a high power distance country

+communication of respect is important

+subordinates and superiors differ in communication behaviors

Example:

• Giving Bob presents [Picture]

• Presenting business cards with both hands [Picture]

• Bowing [Picture]

 Signifies the respect

 Shows the hierarchical relationship, the comparative status of the people involved

 The subordinates must bow deeper and longer to the superiors

Back

Back

America - a lower power

distance country than Japan

Bob is a little surprised because he is American The US: slightly lower than the median on

power distance the social status and communication roles are less marked.

people shake hands rather than bowing when greeting

Japanese maintain parts of their traditional culture and include guests in it to a certain extent.

They don’t expect foreigners to bow properly, a nod of the head is sufficient.

Individualism seen in the scene “Charlotte’s phone call”

Lê Thị Anh Thư

Charlotte is alone in her hotel room

She calls a friend at home, trying to explain and express her worries,

including her relationship with her husband, which is not going well

But to her distress, the person she calls

is busy and does not have the time to listen to her and help her out, so she is left as lonely and alone as before

Analysis

They don't connect.

Then he asks about the kids and she gives him the usual response "they are fine but they miss their father, but

they're getting used to your not being there"

She is distracted, and they cannot lead a normal conversation

Individualism vs Collectivism

as seen in Japanese vs American karaoke

Nguyễn Ngọc Bảo Châu

Kelly

INDIVIDUALISM VS COLLECTIVISM

Japanese Karaoke American Karaoke

Charlotte and Bob go out

with some Japanese

friends of Charlotte's and

end up in a karaoke

place

Kelly, unlike the Japanese, Bob and Charlotte, sings karaoke

in the hotel bar, which is quite open and public

Japanese Karaoke American Karaoke

crazy singing and dancing singing and dancing

Singing in a small room,

behind closed doors

[Picture]

sings in a hotel bar, open and public

sing with a group of close

friends sings alone

Back

Japanese karaoke:

Japan is a collectivist country where feelings of inclusion is very importantKaraoke is a sort of entertainment is only enjoyed with a particular group of friends or people who belong togetherDoing something together which might

be embarrassing for you individually strengthens the feeling of belonging together, of belonging to one group

American karaoke:

America is an individualist country, people are comfortable doing things by themselves

Kelly sings alone, which means that she

is not included in the collectivist system

As Kelly is doing something in public which Japanese would only do behind closed doors with friends, she loses face But she doesn’t really seem to notice it [Picture]

Conclusion

Thank you for listening!