2025 Ali's Blog

Everything is going to be short here, but i hope i explain everything clearly. Power distance in Indonesia and japan i would say is pretty accurate. Indonesians government nowadays is like a family business because the last president and the current vice president is father and son, and a lot more families are in the high position. Also if there is like a disagreement between the families to other people, a lot of times its not going to be good for that people. In japan, idk for sure, because i heard that japan is a democrat country, so in my opinion a lot of decision made by a group of the people in the government rather than in a specific people. Individualism and collectivism is not too accurate. I would say indonesia a bit more individualism score, (because now its only 5), it happens because the modern era is starting to get the country culture. Everything can be done online made the people more independent because the have less social interaction than before. Japan, of course is ...

Today we discussed about asking a favor in Japan and also in other countries. Base on experience and also living here for almost 4 months, it can be said that I know how Japanese culture are like. Asking a favor is very indirect, my opinion it happens because the last thing that people want to do here is bothering other people, and asking for a favor make them thinks like that. It also happens because the person that is being asked for the favor can't really deny it, so even though they didn't feel like it, big chance that still give the favor. Japan is a country where kindness and politeness are being met, being indirect is the result. Should i have an opinion about that, then I would say that giving a clarity like "yes" or "no" is better so that it doesn't make the other people overthink. In Indonesia, being indirect is also one of the culture, especially in the main island of java, which where the capital is located. Again i would say that most of the...

Parenting is a big thing and will always be. Peoples have different ways to educate their children, and there is no absolute correct ways to do it. It always depend on the environment, and what kind of a person that their parents want their children to be. I would say that i didn't really know how Indonesian parents raise their children, because again each of them has their own ways, but base on my experience is that my parents raise me to become masculine and teaches a lot about leadership and independence. I can relate to that because im the oldest son and they think that i need to be prepared to lead my own family and also have responsibilities to my siblings in the future. For Japan parenting pov, i would say that they are trying to do the same thing, especially about independence. I've seen multiple times that child from a very young age like around 5yo going to their school alone without having any adults as their companion, one crazy thing is that i've seen elementar...

The concept of long-term and short-term relationships is something I only became familiar with after coming to Japan. In my home country, not many people talk about whether a relationship is meant to be short-term or long-term. I used to believe that all relationships should naturally aim for the long term. To me, if a relationship is only based on physical attraction or temporary emotions, then it probably shouldn’t have started in the first place. I think couples should be clear from the beginning about whether they’re serious and potentially looking toward marriage. If the answer is no, then I don’t really see the point. In my view, using “short-term” as a reason to avoid commitment sounds more like an excuse, and I believe putting desire above your future is not the right path. Romantic life in Indonesia isn’t very different from Japan in terms of public behavior, but it’s quite different compared to many European countries. For instance, when we’re in a relationship, showing affec...

Living for almost 3 months already, it can be said that i know how Japanese lifestyle on different aspect. Like for example today we talk about the activities and extracurricular in Japan, and my assumption just by reading the title is, they train in a far more serious than most of the people, and it turn out to be true. Having 42 hours of study time, and 21 hours of training per week is something that only Japanese people can do. It took a lot of discipline, and dedication to do it. Personally i agree that of course we have to take thing seriously if we really want to, but chasing two things in the same time and without having enough time to have fun for yourself is what i call imbalance. First they practice so much for their club activities, which i think is good if they really want to take it into professional level. But at the same time they also study so much even sacrificing their own time, and this is the part that didnt align in my agreement. Because the person that i see in a ...

Today we talk about the comparison between shopping culture in Japan and our countries. There is not much to say here because its almost the same. The only significant difference i see is that in Indonesia there is nothing like self checkout cashier (if that what you call it). I think its because of the trust issues we have to the society, actually i would say Indonesia is as a safe country like not too much gun and crazy case happening around, but there is still a lot of stealing happening around.   Another thing is about the topic of Masculinity and Femininity. According to Hofstede it is one of the key dimension of how a society approaches gender role and values. In the modern era that we live in right now, i believe most of the people believe in whats so called gender equality. The way in interpret it is how different genders have the same responsibilities, should be treated the same, and should act the same. I kinda disagree with this concept, because god (or whatever ent...