A chance to grow culturally is something that almost everybody aspires for. Being able to travel and experience a variety of traditions and cultures is not just stimulating but also eye-opening. And that was pretty much how a group of Chinese and Japanese who are in the city described their Hyderabad experience.
They are part of a club called Hippo that creates opportunities for people from Japan and China to visit other countries and stay in the homes of volunteers. The aim is to give Japanese and Chinese a true cultural experience by living with their hosts. They eat the same food as their hosts, perform chores like washing their own clothes and so on. And making their trip more authentic was the wedding of a relative of their hosts. Sure enough, they were quite taken in by the splash of colours at the marriage.
Zhang Yuwen, who goes by the name Daisy to make it easier for people, says, “For many of us, the prospect of going abroad is always dominated by the choice between the US and the UK. Language is always a determining factor. And once we do go abroad, we always end up making friends among our own community. So these kind of trips are important for us to interact with other cultures and understand that there are no barriers - we make friends based on their characters.”
Daisy, a student from Shanghai, is here with her mother Qian Qunli ‘Lily’. She has spent the past eight days mingling with people and watching a few Bollywood films. “Indian films and music are very popular in China. I watched 3 Idiots and immediately loved it! When I was watching the film, I also came to realise that problems in education are the same here and there. We learn the how-to but don’t really understand the why or the practical side. I also watched another film on education which had one of the same actors from 3 Idiots. I don’t know what it’s called but the meaning was stars on the land!,” she explains, referring to Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Pe.
For the others, just soaking up the Indian winter sun was experience enough. Kumiko Hattori, a housewife from the Japanese town of Nagoya, jokes while introducing herself, “Do you know Hattori means Ninja? I’m sure you know what Ninja means!” Wearing a kimono, the traditional Japanese attire, Hattori says of her stay, “Indian people are very kind and our hosts have been most accommodating. Cultural differences extend not just to the kind of people we are, but also food habits like eating with your hand. Also, we are used to paper towels in our bathrooms. I was surprised to notice no paper towels anywhere over here! But it’s all good. It’s been very interesting.”
Sumi Miyake, who came along with her toddler son Yuki from Japan, observes, “Indian people have such big eyes and they communicate so well with them. And such big smiles!”
Another stark difference that everybody pointed out was the number of Gods that Indians seemed to pray to. Points out Nao Shimizu, a 19-year old student studying humanity and development, “In Japan, we have almost no religion. Some pray to Buddha, there’s a a smaller percentage of Christians, but the rest of us do not have any religious beliefs. Sometimes, we pray to our ancestors. Indians, however, have so many deities. That was something that fascinated all of us.” The presence of beggars on the streets also took the young lad by surprise. “I was very shocked when I saw a young girl begging on the streets. In Japan, there are no beggars.” Other Indian traits like the importance on family ties and the voluminous traffic and absolute disregard for traffic rules were other aspects that stuck out for the group.
“People just cut across the road from different directions. But everyone is a good driver,” chuckles Kumiko. Vigourously shaking her head, Daisy’s agrees, adding, “There are always so many vehicles on the road, and then there are people walking in between while vehicles zoom around. Sometimes it can be a little scary. But everyone seems to be confident.”
What’s the Hippo
The Hippo group was hosted in the city by The Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS). Headquatered in Tokyo, the Hyderabad leg of operations was started in 1996. Currently, a total of nine AOTS Alumni Society chapters are in the country and train people with business interests in Japan on a variety of aspects from etiquette, language, cultural differences, marketing pointers etc. A training programme takes place where selected members are sent to Japan where they learn the language et al, who then come back and train others in the association. Ravindra Kalur, president of the AOTS AP chapter, along with other committee members played hosts to the tourists. Currently 71 Alumni Societies in 43 countries have been established, and are working towards the economic and industrial development of their own countries and to the enhancement of friendly relations with Japan.