Once upon a time, I was with a colleague welcoming guests from Japan. After the session, we were having dinner, and my colleague started sharing a story about his Japanese friend in his clumsy English.
‘I used to think Japanese and Korean people were similar until I realized that’s not true because of a Japanese friend I had. Here’s what happened once. We were supposed to go somewhere together, but when I came back from the restroom, he was gone. I looked around but couldn’t find him, so I hopped on my bicycle and headed to our destination alone. Then, after a while, I saw him walking ahead. When I asked why he went ahead, he said he thought it would match our pace better since I was on a bike. That’s when I realized, wow, Japanese people are really logical.’
What kind of hasty generalization is that? And seriously, what’s logical about it? Anyone can see he just didn’t want to walk together. The Japanese guests were all tilting their heads in confusion when suddenly, another story began.
‘And Japanese people are truly amazing. You know, when the atomic bomb went off, people lined up at stores to buy water, taking just one bottle each….’
Oh, for crying out loud. Shut up!!
I screamed inside my heart. 😤
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