I have heard/read sometimes that Japanese and German have some similar personalities.
Nationality is not the point in some cases because everyone is different.
But still, I found out that some basic notions and thinking are similar between Japanese and German.
I’m Japanese living in Germany for more than five years.
In my experience, I would like to write about similarities between Japanese people and German people.
1.punctual
I can say that both Japanese and German people are likely punctual.
German people, German transports come around 5 mins late often.
Japanese is more punctual.
Japanese people normally arrive at the meeting point around 5 to 10 minutes before the meeting time.
If the train is delayed even 2 or 3 mins, you get an announcement of an apology for the delay.
In my case, when the time is completely fixed, such as at the movie theater or the arrival of the train, I am punctual.My parents, siblings and friends are also punctual.
My grandparents are even more punctual than any other people in my family.
They were always ready 10 to 30mins before the meeting time.
I had a friend who is not punctual even though she is Japanese but I think it’s a rare case.
2.attitude to work
I read some articles saying German people and Japanese people are careful to proceed with a project.
They consider the worst case and make sure that it is working well.
Both Japanese and German work hard.
Japanese people work longer hours than German people do.
I often hear that Japanese people work overtime daily.
To work overtime for 30 hours a month seems normal in Japan.
My previous company in Japan was flexible and there was not so much overtime work
but I was working overtime on average around 10 hours every month I think.
I feel German work less hours than Japanese people.
German people think that spending time with their family is the first priority in any way instead of working longer.
My boyfriend doesn’t work overtime but the company runs well so I guess German people work productively.
The guy who works at a shoe shop refused me entering in the shop because the shop will be closed in 10 mins or so.
There are still 10 mins left and there is a possibility that I buy something.
But it’s in Germany.
People prefer to finish working than selling products.
If it’s in Japan, it doesn’t happen.
There is also another experience in Germany.
The lady who works at the city-hall clearly told me that she needs to take a train soon so she can’t do much of my paperwork today.
That sounds improper.
If it’s in Japan, Japanese people would be surprised by what she said.
Workers would not tell their private problems to customers in Japan.
I would say Japanese people think that to work hard is important no matter what.
My parents’ generation is really that way of thinking.
3.follow the rules
I think Japanese people respect people following the rules.
That means Japanese are likely to follow what people around you are following.
Japanese people think it’s comfortable that everyone is on the same line together.
When the rules are decided officially, German people likely follow them properly as well as Japanese people in Japan.
I think German people have strong justices and they speak out to follow it to people around.
I have seen many scenes in the train or tram that German passengers point out the rule to other passengers.Few examples are as below.
A lady in the tram was wearing a mask but it didn’t cover her nose.
So one other random lady told her to wear it properly and explained why it is necessary.
Here is another example.
I was waiting for the elevator and some boys were also doing it.
The elevator came with a lady and some boys got in the elevator as soon as the door opened before the lady got off.
And she told them with a clear voice “To get off first”.
Japanese people might say nothing even if they face those kinds of scenes but many German would.
I wrote about similarities between Japanese people and German people.
As I mentioned in the beginning, the information I wrote is from my experience.
There were also some other cases.
If I rethink my experiences, there are some differences as well as similarities even in the similarity’s topics.
I was about to write about similarities “rational”.
But if I compare Japanese people and German people, German people are more rational.
If I compared to other European countries, German is the most rational people as I know.
According to some of my friends who had dates with people who is German, Italian, Spanish, French, Icelandic etc.
For example, German people like making a plan, checking the furture vision and follow the proper order to proceed the next step for the relationship and so on.
Statistically, we realized that German is usually rational.
While I was writing about the similarities between Japanese people and German people, I found some differences between Japanese people and German people.
But I could say there are some similarities especially about “punctual ”, “attitude to work” and “follow the rules” between Japanese people and German people.