Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

Few days ago, an Earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale struck Japan. If it were in Singapore, most people would probably panic and run out of the building. However, this was not how the Japanese react to the natural disaster. Most of them were calm and cool throughout the disaster. The video below shows what happened in one of the supermarkets in Japan during the Earthquake.

After watching the clip, I thought to myself, "Wow! They are actually more concern about the wine bottles than their own lives." I think this is largely due to their culture and upbringing. As most anthropologists say - culture is the full range of learned human behaviour patterns. Growing up in a country that sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" has certainly gotten them used to earthquakes and tremors, so much so that even a tremor that big does not send them into frenzy. I believe they are well taught from young on ways to survive and react during natural disaster. As opposed to the Singapore culture, Singaporeans grow up in a place safe from natural disaster and even social unrest. Many Singaporeans tend to be complacent and take it for granted. When faced with disaster, most people are clueless as to what to do because it is not in our culture and education system to learn and practise such measures.

Clichéd as it sounds, as the world becomes more globalised, it is inevitable that we interact with other cultures, especially in a cosmopolitan city like Singapore. Thus, in order to communicate effectively, it is important that we learn about the different cultures and understand why different culture have different practices so as not to have a cultural shock when we go overseas to work or study.