It's quite much, but it's really, really nice to mingle with Japanese students.
That's kind of like a student society.
>> So I will pick a topic especially for Muslims and vegetarian people.
[LAUGH] Like in Pakistan, 97% of the population is Muslim.
And they had this huge problem of finding halal food.
And before going to any other country,
they think that they might not find halal food easily.
And they might have these problems, a lot of problems.
Even before I came to Japan, I was thinking like,
I might not be able to get halal food easily.
Because I don't know Japanese,
and on foods you cannot find ingredients in English.
So it might be a bit trouble for me.
But in Japan, you can find halal food easily.
There are many shops, even there are websites and Facebook pages,
which explains which items are halal.
So halal food is not a problem.
So I could suggest for people coming here from Islamic countries,
or even from India, there are many vegetarian people.
So to find vegetarian food or halal food, it's not a big issue.
>> Well, it's a little bit hard to say about the cultural issues.
I told recently that everything was different.
So the culture is still totally different.
And understanding a new culture, especially the Eastern culture,
the respect.
I mean the way they work, the way they held the events.
And even the dresses were so different for me.
About the food, I can say as a foreigner, when I come it feels like a shock.
How can I eat raw things?
And I really don't understand it.
Because in Middle East if you come,
everything is highly cooked and lots of spices.
I mean it could be sour, it could be sweet,
it could be anything, but it's not raw.
[LAUGH] And so for me it was really a big problem.
And how should I eat?
But nowadays, after a long time, I said, my God, I should eat sushi every week.
[LAUGH] >> Actually,
one of the things that kind of bothered me at first is that I don't really like eggs.
[LAUGH] And I think in Japan, everything has eggs.
The noodle bowls have eggs, rice bowls have eggs, just everywhere.
And also me too, I was kind of squeamish around raw food.
So the idea of raw eggs was two things that I don't like in one.
[LAUGH] So then I see a great rice bowl like gyudon, a beef bowl.
And they're like, wait, we're not done yet.
And they add a raw egg on top.
[LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> We have a lot of Japanese restaurants in Australia, so everything is normal.
But then it's just the price of it, it's totally different to Australia.
So in Australia, the meat is cheap.
And vegetables and stuff, they're kind of affordable.
But in Japan, everything is so expensive, especially meat and
vegetables, other than eggs.
[LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] Eggs.
>> [LAUGH] They put everything in eggs.
So I started to prioritize eating vegetables,
which turned out to be healthier.
So I think that is a huge thing for me.
And they put a lot of herbs in it.
Being of Chinese background, it's not of a cultural shock.
But I know that a lot of people can't stand the traditional Japanese toilets.
They see it, they'll just be like, I can't do it.
[LAUGH] They're like, how do I do this?
How do I- >> You mean squat toilets?
>> Yes, the squat toilets.
They had no idea how to start, how it ends.
>> In the Middle East, this is normal, actually.
The traditional style was like that.
But I mean seeing the Washlet and
lots of button and electronic- >> [LAUGH]
>> I'm like, my God.
This one I should buy this, it's very useful.
[LAUGH] [MUSIC]
Yujin YaguchiProfessor
Yuko ItatsuAssociate professor
