Fruit Customs

Before coming to Japan I read all about different customs and traditions and all about typical life in Japan as to better prepare myself for fitting in, as well as an American could, in Japan. Today I learned something new that I never saw or read anywhere. Granted, a lot of what I know about customs comes from manga, anime, and Japanese movies and TV shows. But even with all that I had never seen or heard about what I learned today.

I eat lunch at my base school with one other teacher and a few students. We eat. They talk in Japanese and I try to keep up. Every now and again I make them speak in English and I only speak in English to them (usually). Today, however, the body language was very clearly in communicating the students' shock as they watched me bite into an apple. ...I know. It struck me as very odd that they would think it was strange that I was biting into an apple and not peeling, cutting, and then eating it slice by slice. In my head I quickly ran through every manga or anime where I would have seen a character eating an apple. Of course Light and Ryuk jump to mind first. Did L eat apples? What about Naruto? Surely the uncouth Naruto would have simply bitten into an apple, perhaps without even washing it. Then I realized just how much I rely on Japanese pop culture--manga and anime in particular, to base my everyday experiences and expectations on. Truly astounding when I realize just how accurate those characterizations truly are in general. Now, of course, people are not exactly how they are in manga and anime just as not all Americans look and act like they are portrayed on Family Guy or South Park. But some of it is based in reality, based on a general stereotype of Americans.

All in all, I just thought it was funny that my students were so shocked at something so very commonplace for me. I wonder what will shock them next week...