Intercultural Encounters

For our individual assignment under the Intercultural Communication course, Dr Massila instructed us to pick a country and analyze its culture in the intercultural context. Each week, we had 2 to 3 students present the country they chose. Masaya Ono, our Japanese exchange student, chose his home country - you can view his presentation in the video above.

Intercultural Day 2016 was held last year for the first time ever by semester 4 students of Interpersonal Communication, with the purpose of promoting different culture and to bridge the gap in understanding cultures from around the world. The event hosted a variety of booths representing the culture of each country chosen such as Germany, Thailand, Japan and United Arab Emirates. The students who organized the event also invited the exchange students in UiTM from other faculties to the event, where not only were they able to learn more about the various cultures presented, but due to the Malaysian culture exhibition, they were also able to learn more about the country they were living in for the time being by playing traditional Malaysian games and tasting Malaysian food. Video taken from MASSCTV's Youtube channel Japanese exchange student, Masaya Ono, explaining the Japanese culture exhibition to the Dean, Prof. Dr. Azizul Halim Yahya and Deputy Dean, Dr. Massila ...

By Masaya Ono In 2020, Olympics is going to be held in Japan. You will see so many Japanese news or culture on media. You may already know about japan or have some knowledge through movie or other media, but it could be different from current Japanese culture. So many food, culture, and full of hospitality are in that country. It has 4 seasons in one year and each season has different enjoyment: cherry blossom bloom on spring, lots of beaches open on summer, red leaves cover mountain on autumn, and it snows on winter. Japan is created with several islands and spreads north and south. Each part has different weather, nature, and dialect, so many things to discover there. However, Japan is a country that is known as one of the most expensive country in the world. Their average income of 20's is around JPY 2,700,000(MYR109,000). It's ranked on 11 th of highest living fee in the world. Average living fee is aroun...

By Eleeza Ismail Do’s and Don’t In Certain Countries (Taboos) Taboos according to the Oxford dictionary can be defined as a social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing. The word has been somewhat expanded in the social sciences to strong bans relating to any area of human activity or custom that is sacred or forbidden based on moral judgment and religious beliefs. "Breaking a taboo" is usually considered offensive by society in general, not merely a subset of a culture.   As we consist of different culture backgrounds, religions and races around the world, an act may be taboo in one culture and not in another. It’s a great big world out there with billions of people who everyday live their life with new and different experiences. Traveling is one of those activities that safe to say, is everyone’s favorite. There is nothing quite like traveling, that feeling of witnessi...

By Muhammad Aman Rusli Travelling is an activity that can give you real experience about various places. You can travel to anywhere at any time according to your heart’s desire. People have various reasons to travel such as to promote brain health and keep the mind sharp. When your brain is introduced to new experiences and environments it becomes challenged and builds resilience at the cellular level so degenerative disease is potentially delayed. Besides that, traveling offers opportunities to meet new people that you otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to connect with. When you are outside of your comfort zone in a different country, you may have to look to others for guidance, which can create a sense of connectedness. Traveling within our own country should be easy because we are somewhat acquainted with the general local culture. If compared with travelling abroad, there is no language barrier for people travelling within t...