I asked some questions to my host mother for homework to know cultural differences. Her nationality is Canadian. She speaks three languages, English, French and aboriginal.
I asked her what the work ethic is like in Canada. She said, ‘on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s 6, and Most people have good work-life balance. In Japan, many people work and stay at offices for a long time. I heard that some of them worry about not being able to have enough time for themselves or their family. In my opinion, Japanese tend to be not good at saying NO and adjust themselves to others all the time. Therefore, they stay at offices and do overtime work if other coworkers or their bosses still work.
Also, I asked her about family relationships. She expressed that Canadian are independent because it is not common to live with family such as grandparents. In Japan, it depends on the people, but many people live with family and look after their parents when they get older.
Furthermore, I learned Canadian cultural values from her. She commented that freedom, being nice, friendly, warm, and welcoming are part of the cultural values.
It was interesting to know different culture from mine because I cannot learn such things in a textbook. I can learn them because I am in Canada.