Podcasts to help you keep perspective

Your mobile device is a window on perspective image Karolina Grabowska

On social media, foreign residents spill their guts about their frustrations in Japan. Loneliness, interactions that leave newcomers puzzled, and of course, communication issues come up all the time. I’m not inured to these issues even though I’ve been in Japan for over 20 years. So how can a veteran or a newly arrived person cope? I’ve been listening to some psychology, philosophy, and language podcasts for some perspective.

Perceiving ourselves

When it comes to meeting people, maybe it’s not about how you show up, but how you think you do. And across cultural and language lines, this is a huge challenge for newcomers anywhere and especially foreign residents in Japan. As I grow in my language ability and cultural savvy, I become more sensitive to how people receive me, but I still have experiences that leave me wondering. Could I have come on too strong or missed a mark somewhere in communication? Thinking about how I come off can raise my anxiety level and make me hesitant to get involved.

So I was relieved when I listened to NPR's Hidden Brain interview with Erica Boothby, a psychological researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. She describes a phenomenon called the “liking gap” - people underestimating how much the other party likes them. She goes on to talk about her experience in another culture, too, where she herself thought that the people in the majority culture didn’t like her.

I got confirmation of the concept after a visit to a local bar. While there, I chatted with patrons, feeling out of place and awkward at times. Some of the topics I couldn’t respond to as eloquently as I would like, and the topics I mentioned appeared to be met with quizzical looks. On the next visit, the barman told me that the other patrons in fact were looking forward to seeing me there again. 

Loneliness

Yet another topic that comes up routinely is loneliness and the struggle to create and maintain friendships with Japanese people. BBC Radio Four program All in the Mind has been exploring the topic of loneliness. One surprising podcast episode discusses the findings of a study that suggests that loneliness isn’t determined by how many people are around you. The radio show doesn’t just leave you hanging. The podcast has a discussion with psychologist Pam Coulter of the University of Manchester in which she and the show host explore strategies to overcome loneliness. Any of them could be applied to your experience in Japan.

“Nihongo jozu!”

You’ll see the meme everywhere. It’s an interjection of many a Japanese stranger on hearing a non-Japanese person utter the most banal things in Japanese. The spirit and the timing of this compliment can either encourage or deflate you. As a Japanese language learner, there is always more to learn.

A philosophical and language-oriented podcast I’ve discovered is Thinking in Japanese with Iisaku. He slowly and methodically touches on grammar, expression, and cultural topics that help you keep perspective on your language-learning journey and where you find your ground in Japanese culture. One of the startling topics is how some Japanese people don’t necessarily always use the correct language. 

Have you discovered some podcasts that illuminate Japanese cultural topics and cross-cultural topics that help you keep perspective?