Perceptions

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about perceptions. While I was in Japan, everyone loved to point out how “大人っぽい” (adult-like, or mature) I looked, especially since I got my hair cut short. Yet coming back to New Zealand it is the exact opposite. People often look at me in disbelief when I say that I am 21 and assure me that I appear much younger.

At my age, and in either country, I guess such statements could be taken as compliments. But it has really made me think about how people’s perceptions can vary differently. In New Zealand I am shorter, and probably smaller all around than average, and this is probably the main reason people point out my youthfulness. In Japan however, I was more of an average size, and my foreigness probably contributed most to people’s perceptions of me. Other than this, I think general ideas held by each population probably have a large influence on how they are likely to view people. In Japan, for example there is a strong emphasis put on cuteness as an ideal for girls. This cuteness is associated with being small and petite, perhaps a little shy and certainly not confrontational. One’s cuteness is measured by the way they dress and the way they act; and cuteness is also often associated with femininity. I think in New Zealand, while being called cute isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it probably isn’t the primary ideal for beauty and it probably doesn’t have the same connotations as it does in Japan.

日本にいた時「エリンって、大人っぽい」とかよく言われた。逆にニュージーランドに帰ってから、「私、21歳」と言うと、「わぁ、嘘でしょう？もっと若く見える！」とビックリするように答える人が多い。なぜだろうかな。

ニュージーランド人にとって、私は背が低いし、体が小さいので、若く見えるかもしれない。ニュージーランドに大人っぽいと一回も言われたこともない。けど日本人がニュージーランドに来たら、多分同じように若いと考えられると思う。日本人ってニュージーランド人から見ると皆若く見えるから。人間の見方って、国とか性別とか色んなことによって違うことが本当に面白いですね (^^)

英語で書いたことはもっと具体的だけど、日本語でまだまだなかなか同じようなこと書けない (T_T)