(2) Social Commentary

For this task, identify a current debate or topic of discussion in Vietnam which is
substantially cultural in nature and compose a response to it.
There are two main criteria for a topic. First, it should be current and real, which
means it is a real discussion (rather than a hypothetical one), usually surrounding an
event, happening around the time of our course. Second, it should be cultural in
nature. A debate about how many tests students should take to graduate may not be
substantially cultural. However, a controversy regarding whether abortion should be
outlawed can be very cultural1.

Choosing a worthwhile topic is difficult, so please talk with me about your ideas. You
should commit to one topic and have it approved by Week 12.

One key requirement for this task is that it should be shared publicly, either on your
own website/social media platform or another publication. The idea here is that you’re
participating in a public discussion, and therefore, in shaping/influencing public
opinion.

A successful product should:

- Have a worthwhile, well-defined and contextualized topic

1
See, for example https://baomoi.com/chien-dich-truyen-thong-me-oi-dung-giet-con-gay-tranh-cai-tren-
cong-dong-mang/c/28926878.epi
2
This means you may need to write in Vietnamese if your audience is mostly Vietnamese.
Topic: ANALYZE A FAILURE IN INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION

Over the past few years, youtube has affected all sides of human life and become a

“play yard” where people are free to exhibit their identity as well as accelerate

interaction with each other. This, however, has also raised controversial issues

attracting different social classes. In this essay, I’d rather mention the debate

around a recent video posted by Khoa Pug, a vlogger, when he was eating out at a

Japanese restaurant. With the title "Japanese women kneel and beg for letting

cameraman eat" and the image of her kneeling to highlight his product, many

criticize that he shows disrespect for women and a lack of understanding about

Japanese culture. Others, however, think that cultural misunderstandings are

unavoidable and his channel’s purpose is spontaneous travel to bring the most

honest experiences to viewers. From my perspective, I partially disagree with

Khoa’s action because of the following reasons.

Initially, to have an objective assessment of this issue, we need an overview of it.

Khoa went to a restaurant over 100 years old in Kyoto to enjoy traditional food. A

Japanese waitress kneeled from beginning to end to serve him. The trouble

happened as soon as she denied being filmed continuously and expected his

companion to eat together. However, due to the language and cultural barrier, they

misunderstood each other and the cameramen did not still finish her work. The
female employee cried and instantly stop serving because of her dissatisfaction

with being filmed. Later, that he intentionally posted that video with the sensitive

title, thumbnail image, and subtitle different from the waitress’s original speech

sparked fierce debate around cultural diversity, gender equality, and greedy for

fame. In a 2019 Zing poster, Vo Quoc, a famous chief, said: “nowadays technology

drove many people unscrupulous only for increasing their profit from Youtube. I

was annoyed when he took use of the woman’s image to earn money. Whether he

asked for her permission before publishing the video or not? God gives birth to

women and women replace God to produce humanity. It is impossible to "trample"

them like that ". However, according to Schannel news, there are some

commenters on facebook supporting Khoa because they assume that all his

contents incline to show a “nature” identity with viewers and need to sympathize

with his inappropriate response to a new culture.

In semantics argument, the word “kneel” in the title was understood in two ways of

2 different cultural groups. From the Japanese perspective, this word only refers to

a long-standing positive culture while Vietnamese people immediately think of

negative terms such as gender discrimination, class distinction, and ridicule.

Cultural differences create a diversity of word meanings. Khoa made a mistake of

using a “sensitive” word in her culture for the title, leading to the aversion of

domestic viewers. Besides, his thumbnail image which describes that he is sitting
and the waitress is kneeling activates the same two separate thoughts as above. In

the Vietnamese feudalism system, the inferior bowed to the superior to show

respect and level distinction or those who committed a crime would kneel to be

insulted and be convicted. In an outdated motif of family, a man was often valued

over a woman only who had to bow to her husband for forgiveness or servant. The

belief of male chauvinism used to be deeply immersed in the mindset of

Vietnamese people and be an obsession for women. Along with the development

of society and global cultural exchange, many campaigns arose to fight for both

gender and class equality; as a result, compared to the past, that belief hasn’t had a

profound impact and become a sensitive issue of our country. Nowadays,

“kneeling” is not considered as usual behavior anymore and reminds us of gender

discrimination, class distinction, humiliation, ridicule. That’s the reason why the

video is supposed to a hint of disrespect for the women.

Moreover, in an interview with Zing news, a travel blogger, Ly Thanh Co, also

criticized Khoa’s work unprofessional and stated that anyone learning about

Japanese culture knew that kneeling is a traditional way of serving in this country,

not a "plea" as Khoa had mentioned. The waitress’s sitting posture is called Seiza

which the Japanese generally adopt in their everyday lives and applies for

ceremony, prayer, and respect. In Japan, eating has been regarded as a sort of

ceremony; Therefore, when their citizens take a meal, they will sit in "Seiza" as
with the posture for ceremony, prayer or respect (Yusei, 2012). The waitress’s

behavior is to show her respect to the guests and food, unlike Khoa’s description.

His description is based on subjective judgment and inference. The waitress’s

behavior and words were distorted into her sorrow over the cameraman and gender

inequality. Although Japan has high levels of gender inequality (in the global

gender equality rankings of the 2017 World Economic Forum, Japan ranked 114

out of 144), it will be a stereotype if the waitress’s sitting posture, service way, and

words in that situation is indicated to be derived from gender inequality. During

the video, some of Khoa’s speech, like “Japanese women are discriminated too

much”, show his stereotype about the status of gender discrimination in Japan.

On the other hand, in the video, some of her sayings and actions mean her

disagreement about being continuously filmed. Besides pushing the camera away

and covering a part of her face, she said: "I am not a thing to look at, please stop",

which proved that she felt disrespectful and embarrassed. Owing to language and

cultural differences, Khoa may not succeed in communication with the woman to

achieve their goal, but instead of making up, he can have a person fluent in

Japanese translate the correct sub before publishing such a wrong content. In

addition, it’s unacceptable that she said “stop, stop, please” in English and gave

clear gesture many times but Khoa deliberately ignored. Japanese attach much

importance to personalized security image and feel uncomfortable with those who
shoot themselves without permission. It is no coincidence that phones produced by

Japan or South Korea cannot be muted when shooting. Currently, although Japan

has yet enacted a law to ban photographing people in public, in case visitors still

deliberately take and use personal photos of other people, they have the right to sue

for violations of portrait rights (Nam Giao, 2019). Furthermore, It’s impolite to

film and comment ceaselessly during the meal, which is taboo in Japanese culture,

especially in restaurants (Anh Tú & Nam Giao 2019). Khoa's actions are in

violation of both Japanese law and norm.

However, in terms of cultural relativism, this behavior can be forgiven because in

our country, we do not value personal image too much and some are so excited

about being filmed or taken photo with the celebrity or the foreigner. Vietnamese

culture also expresses the essence of collectivism pertaining to more dependence

on social networks. For example, in restaurants, every time important football

matches take place, most of guests are ready to sit at the same table with strangers

to cheer for the local team and others are free from saving the moment by their

smartphone without anyone’s permission. Vietnamese are also interested in sharing

food, daily life or travel photo on social application; nonetheless, we should

instantly stop our behavior toward others as soon as see their clear objection. This

signifies a strong sense of individuality and respect for others.

norms in Japan, impose his stereotype on displaying the other’s behavior, delivers

dishonest information different from another group’s culture to increase the

number of views and get fame quickly. I also disagree with the excuse that his

travel vlogs are aimed to bring about the most honest experiences for first-time

tourists and he can not have enough time and ability to learn about the culture of

all destinations. As we know, media considerably impacts the viewers’ cognition

and opinion about cultural identity of any country. With 2.26 million subscribers,

Khoa needs to be conscious of his influence on the community. Each video is a

media message considered as a transmission of other cultures, a representative of a

part of our culture, and his own identity. Such “low-quality” products, instead of

useful lessons, will be a push for misconception, others’ failure in intercultural

communication, the destruction of personal image or even the violation of

morality. Subjectively, I also do not approve of evaluating Khoa as a man who

despises women or adheres to the idea of male chauvinism through his selection

for the title and the thumbnail as some commentators. To exactly know “who

someone is”, it takes us a certain period of time to analyze his/her behavior,

personality, and perception.

In conclusion, in the position of consumers, they should not look at the only

mistake to judge human nature or deny all previous valuable contributions. In

and applied. For Khoa, instead of efforts to justify his mistakes, he should post a

video on his channel or facebook account to apologize to the waitress and his

viewers. Besides, learning the most popular language, like English, plays a vital

role in introducing his own identity positively and effectively to the world,

understanding more deeply about international culture and avoiding the same fault.

Before coming to any destination, he should also find out its typical culture to

convey to everyone valuable and accurate messages.

(Words: 1577)
 References

Nam Giao (2019). Khoa Pug làm vlog thiếu chuyên nghiệp, triệu view cũng vô nghĩa. Retrieved

from https://news.zing.vn/khoa-pug-lam-vlog-thieu-chuyen-nghiep-trieu-view-cung-vo-

nghia-post1010271.html

Anh Tú và Nam Giao (2019). Khoa Pug bị tố dựng chuyện phụ nữ Nhật quỳ khóc, cầu xin.

Retrieved from https://news.zing.vn/khoa-pug-bi-to-dung-chuyen-phu-nu-nhat-quy-khoc-

cau-xin-post1010182.html

Phương Linh (2018). Phụ nữ Nhật Bản… chưa thể “tỏa sáng”. Retrieved from

https://tuoitrethudo.com.vn/phu-nu-nhat-ban-chua-the-toa-sang-d2053452.html

Yusei, T. (2012, July). Historical study of sitting in Japan: with “seiza” as main topic.