#5 - 一个美国人在日本的生活

大家好，欢迎收听《跟尼尔学英语》播客，在这里你将通过美式英语扩展词汇量并提升听力技巧。我是尼尔·汉弗莱，本期主题是《美国人在日本的生活》。本集我将围绕三个要点展开：第一是待遇问题——作为美国人，我在日本受到怎样的对待？

Hello, and welcome to the English with Neil podcast where you will build your vocabulary and improve your listening skills through American English. My name is Neil Humphrey, and the topic of this episode is living in Japan as an American. So in this episode I'm going to be covering three main points. Point number one is treatment. How am I treated here as an American in Japan?

第二点是在日生活面临的挑战；第三则是日美文化差异。让我们从第一个话题'待遇'开始。作为美国人，我在日本受到的对待如何？应该说整体上相当不错。

Number two, some of the challenges that I face here living as an American in Japan. And number three, just some cultural differences between the Japanese culture and the American culture. So let's get started with topic number one, treatment. How am I treated here in Japan as an American? I would say that I am treated pretty well here in Japan as an American.

我知道网络上有很多类似《外国人在日本生活》的视频，多数人分享的是不愉快经历——因为这些内容更吸睛。但就我个人而言，我觉得日本人对我的态度很友善。他们待我与常人无异，并不会因为我是美国人就区别对待。

I know if you go online, you go to YouTube, there's a lot of videos, living in Japan as a something. I know there's a lot of videos about people sharing their experiences, mostly bad experiences because that's what gains a lot of attention. For me, personally, I think I'm treated pretty well here in Japan as an American. I think people treat me just like a normal person. I don't think they really look at me and treat me any differently because I'm an American.

虽然偶尔会因外貌或日语表达不畅遇到小状况，但总体而言待遇良好。这可能与我居住的区域有关——我住在对外国人很友好的海滨地区，附近有许多旅游景点，常年有来自美国、亚洲、非洲、欧洲等世界各地的游客。

I mean, sometimes I have that just because of how I look or if I can't explain myself well in Japanese, but for the most part I think I'm treated pretty well. Also, I think I'm treated well because of where I live. I live in an area that is pretty foreign friendly. Foreign friendly just means they're open to a lot of non Japanese people. I live near the beach, so there's a lot of tourists in the area and not too far from where I live there's a lot of tourist attractions where there's a lot of tourists.

本地居民对外来者接纳度很高。关于在日本的待遇，我实在挑不出什么毛病。接下来谈谈第二个话题：挑战。作为在日美国人会遇到哪些困难呢？

There's a lot of Americans, a lot of people from Asia, people from Africa, Europe, pretty much all over the world come to my area. Where I live, people are pretty open to foreigners. I don't think I have anything to say, any bad thing, anything bad to say about my treatment here in Japan. Okay, number two, some of the challenges. So what are the challenges that I face as an American living in Japan?

首当其冲是穿衣问题。我身高1米93（约6英尺2英寸），比多数日本人都高出许多。

Well, of them is clothing. So I'm actually very tall. I am six foot two, so in centimeters that would be about one hundred and ninety two, one hundred and ninety three centimeters. So I'm really tall. I tower over a lot of Japanese people.

'高出许多'意味着我的视线能越过大部分人头顶——日本男性平均身高约1米5到1米6，基本只到我肩膀位置。这种身高差带来的实际困扰是买衣服，普通日本百货商店根本找不到合身的裤子、袜子，尤其是鞋子。

Tower over just means I look above or I'm, you know, my height is much different than a regular Japanese person. I think Japanese men tend to be around one hundred and I would say maybe one hundred and fifty, one hundred and sixty centimeters, so they come to about my shoulder. But I look over a lot of Japanese people and the challenge that comes with that, my height, is finding clothing. It's very hard for me to find clothing in just a regular Japanese department store. I have no problem finding shirts.

我的美码鞋号是13号（日码31厘米），这在普通鞋店根本买不到。本地商店最大只到29厘米（美码10-11号）。现在我要么通过亚马逊购物，要么去专门的大码商店Sakazen——这家店类似美国的高个专属商场，售卖XXL服装和33厘米等特殊尺码鞋款。

The problem I have is finding, pants like jeans or finding socks, specifically finding shoes. So I have a very, very big foot. So in America my size is size thirteen and in Japan that would be about, thirty one centimeters and you cannot find that size in a regular shoe store. In my experience, where I live, the biggest shoe size that I found here is about twenty nine centimeters, so that's about a US ten or eleven. So for when I buy shoes, I either have to buy them from Amazon or I go to this store we have here called Sakazen.

另一个挑战是空间问题。日本是个高度集约化的国家，所有设施都非常紧凑。以我的居住环境为例，除了乡下地区，城市里所有东西都紧密相邻——这是人口密集的必然结果。这种局促感体现在方方面面，比如过某些门框时我都得低头弯腰。

It's like it's basically like an American big and tall store. They sell a lot of large clothing like XXL or they might have shoes that are, you know, thirty three centimeters and that's like a specialty store. So you don't find a lot of normal sized people and that's so that's usually for like bigger people or taller people so that's usually where I shop so clothing is a problem and another thing is the space so Japan is a very tight it's a very tight knit country so everything is so compact. Everything is is right next to each other. So, for example, like where I live everything is so small, and I think that's most of Japan.

You won't really find a lot of space unless you go to the countryside. But if you live in a city like I do, everything is so close together because it's so populated. Populated means there's a lot of people here and so there's not a lot of space to do things. So that's another challenge especially like some of the door seals. I have to duck my head under to get under the door.

You won't really find a lot of space unless you go to the countryside. But if you live in a city like I do, everything is so close together because it's so populated. Populated means there's a lot of people here and so there's not a lot of space to do things. So that's another challenge especially like some of the door seals. I have to duck my head under to get under the door.

就是类似这样的事情。我觉得这有点挑战性。最后我想谈谈日本文化和美国文化之间的一些差异。我认为最明显的两点是：第一，总体而言日本人更为保守——这不是在代表所有人发言，但相比美国人，日本人更内敛。保守意味着他们某种程度上较为封闭。

So just things like that. I find that a little challenging. And the last thing I want to talk about are some cultural differences between the Japanese culture and the American culture. So I guess the two biggest ones I found are number one Japanese people in general, this is not I'm not speaking for everybody, but compared to America, Japanese people are more conservative. Conservative means that they're kind of closed off.

他们会把想法藏在心里，相对更传统。而在美国，我们倾向于直言不讳，想到什么就说什么。但在这里，日本人非常避免冲突，他们回避争论，因此很多事都埋在心里。所以我认为最大的区别就是日本人更保守，而美国人更开放，更愿意表达观点。

They, you know, they keep their opinions to themselves. They're relatively more traditional versus like in The US where we kind of speak what's on our mind. If we have something on our mind we usually say it in The US, but over here Japanese people really like to avoid confrontation. They avoid, you know, arguments, and so they keep a lot of things to themselves. So I think that's the biggest thing that I've found is just Japanese people are more conservative versus you know American people are more open or more, or they speak their mind a lot more.

另一个发现是日本凡事都有体系。一切按章办事。如果你想做某事，总有一套对应的流程。这个在播客里很难解释清楚，但请记住日本的所有事情都有既定体系。如果你试图挑战这个体系，人们会觉得你在违背常规。

And the next thing I found is in Japan there's there's a system for everything. Everything goes by the book. So if you want to do something, there's always some type of system for it. It's kind of hard to explain on this podcast, but just know that everything in Japan has a system. If you try to challenge that system, people kind of go against the norm.

如果按章办事是常态，人们就会循规蹈矩。如果你不遵守规则，他们会用异样的眼光看你。所以日本社会结构非常严谨，这和我来自的加州形成对比——我们那边更随性。

So if the norm if it's normal to go by the book, people go by the book. If you don't go by the book, they kind of look at you differently. So Japan is very structured. It's a very structured society versus where I'm from in California. We're more laid back.

我们对事物更灵活，这是我发现的另一个重大差异。但这不算坏事，双方各有优劣。总之作为美国人生活在日本，我觉得自己受到的待遇不错。面临的挑战主要是身高问题——很难买到合身衣服，还有空间限制，日本实在太紧凑了。

We're kind of more flexible with things and so that's one of the that's another big difference that I found. But it's not too bad. Know there's good and bad to both sides so that's some of the things. So again, living in Japan as an American, the treatment, I think I'm treated pretty well, the challenges I face you know since I'm so tall I it's hard for me to find clothing and just a space issue. Japan is very small.

再强调下文化差异：日本人更保守，美国人更开放；这里讲究体系，美国更随性。除此之外，我觉得在这里的生活很棒。来日本十一年了，短期内没打算回美国。我在这里扎根了，有自己的事业。

And some cultural differences again, Japanese people I find are more conservative versus in America where we're more open, and the structure here versus being more laid back in The US. But other than that, I think my life here is pretty great. I've been here for eleven years and I don't really see myself returning to The US anytime soon. I'm pretty established here. I have my business here.

家人也在这里，所以应该不会离开。这些就是我在日本感受到的一些挑战和不同之处。好了各位，今天的视频就到这里。希望你们喜欢这期播客。感谢观看和收听。

I have my family here and so I don't think I'm going be going anywhere anytime soon. But those are just some of the things that I find, you know, challenging or different being in Japan. Alright everyone, that is it for today's video. I hope that you enjoyed today's podcast. Thank you for watching, and thank you for listening as well.

如果想观看下一期，请考虑订阅频道和播客。期待下期节目再会。大家保重，下次见。平安。

If you'd like to watch the next episode, please consider subscribing to the channel and the podcast, and I look forward to talking to you in the next video. Okay? Take care everyone. Talk to you soon. Peace.