2026 Eleen's Blog

I believe between Brunei and Japan, inviting guests is quite similar, both tend to invite people out to meet at a restaurant or a cafe rather than to the homes of the other. But there is also the fact of the generational gap, some generations may prefer one or the other; or a difference in personality because I do know people who loves inviting people to their houses. For example, because I live with my parents and siblings, when I or my siblings invite friends to our home, my parents rule to my siblings and I is that we have to clean the house. I've also notice in Western households, people can just show up unannounced to someone's house and it would be fine, whereas in some, if not all, Asian countries it may be considered rude. Even in my family usually when relatives want to visit, they usually call or text ahead of time, to make sure we are at home first. The only time that I can think of when people show up unannounced is to drop something off like right before Chinese Ne...

Cultural Awareness A simple example can be that when talking to people from different culture, they have very different ways to convey something like if they were to disagree on something, some cultures will be very direct with it while others will have show through their body language rather than saying it outright. The concept of cultural awareness is the ability to recognize, understand, and respect the similarities and differences between cultures, including one's own. Having cultural awareness is extremely important to communicate with people, it can reduce prejudice between different cultures and societies. Cultural Perspective Cultural perspective is basically how we see the world, it is shaped by the unique environment, history, and upbringing we experience. For both Brunei and Japan, both cultures values the group harmony over personal desires and/or decisions. Both cultures much rather agree to something they don't actually agree with than to disagree and "disrup...

Sleep and Rest  While sleeping is common all around the world, some may not be able to sleep for as long as the others. For example, children may have an easier time falling asleep when compared to an adult and there are truths to this. When I was a child sleeping came so easily to me, I could probably sleep for over 9 hours as a child, whereas now even though I can still sleep through the night without waking up for no reason, I find myself waking up at a very specific time in the morning regardless of what time I fell asleep the night prior. Not to mention, now when I am older, if I sleep too much, I would wake up with headaches which has something to do with our body's serotonin levels as according to the sleep foundation organization website (Meadows, 2025). As according to the Continental Hospitals website, children needs more sleep then adults due to the growth of the brain as sleep helps support brain growth (Continental Hospitals, 2025). Japan is one of the most sleep depri...

Cultural "Self" Awareness(concepts)  The theoretical concepts of cultural self awareness does include the Iceberg Analogy of Culture by Edward T. Hall is basically a theory that only a small part of culture is visible like an iceberg. For example, in Bruneian culture, when we greet each other it is like an unspoken rule to bring our hands to the heart to show respect which is know as a 'Salam'. Whereas in Japan, people usually greet each other by bowing to each other. Another example is punctuality, in Japan, people are extremely punctual where if they are even a minute late, it may be seen as a sign of disrespect. Whereas in Brunei, punctuality is seen as a more fluid thing, it is already expected that some people will be late.  In the Social Identity Theory by Tajfel & Turner there is something called the in-group and the out-group. For Brunei, the in-group can be the Malay-Muslims and the out-group could be the Non-Malays, even though they are part of the socie...

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