Keywords

1 Introduction

General knowledge of the host culture such as language or values and attitude toward the host culture and its members has been consistently posited to play an important role in influencing effective communication across cultures [1]. Although historically it has been regarded as mono-lingual/cultural country, with a drastic increase of foreign visitors [2], Japan is no exception to appreciate cultural diversity. We have to be aware that all foreigners are unique individuals, and we should not generalize them by nationality, race, and religion. Foreigners are visiting Japan for several purposes such as sightseeing, studying abroad or working. Likewise, depending on their cultural backgrounds, problems they encounter greatly vary, and there will never be a solution applicable for everyone. To propose a way to solve their problems individually, creating new media to provide foreigners opportunities to know Japanese culture at a deeper level is meaningful from a cross-cultural viewpoint.

Previous literatures have shown in terms of tourists revisiting places, the effect of motivation and satisfaction is prominent according to Yoon [3] and Bramwell [4]. Alegre [5] and Ekinci et al. [6] also pointed out the eagerness of tourists’ visiting in relation to the characteristics of places. In terms of information system, Masuda [7] and Takagi [8] suggested a recommendation system for tourists, which provides customized tour information depending on user’s need, including using smartphone applications. However, there is almost no research of using internet radio specifically as a tool for building cross-cultural understandings in Japan. In this paper, we propose place-oriented internet radio called “CCR (Cross-Cultural Radio)”, which helps foreigners to recognize Japan from a cross-cultural perspective by providing several types of place oriented contents, including local people’s interview, international listener’s impression, opinion and comments. In addition, we created original criteria “CCUS (Cross-Cultural Understanding Scale)” and conducted an evaluation experiment in Tokyo to measure the actual effectiveness of contents and CCR. The crucial aim of this paper is to analyze the cultural exchange amongst individual experiment participants through the observation of their behaviors.

2 Design of Cross-Cultural Radio

2.1 Concept

CCR works in three steps (Fig. 1): contents design by the personality, listening process by various listeners such as international tourists, studying abroad students and multinational corporations employees who are not familiar with Japanese culture, and getting feedback plus revision of the contents. There are three types of contents available for international listeners, which are “Guidebook” (audio information from famous guidebook such as Lonely Planet), “Locals” (story or tips from local people’s interview), and “Tourists” (opinions including self reflection or sympathy to the other tourists who listened to the previous two types of contents). In this paper we explicitly focused on first two aspects of the cycle, listening process by international tourists through evaluation experiment, followed by the contents design of Guidebook, Locals and Tourists.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Concept of Cross-Cultural Radio “CCR”

2.2 System

Previous research [912] show that acceptable duration of contents should be around 1 minute to 1 and half minutes. Several companies deal with production of audio guide player support the architecture of contents too.

  1. 1.

    Selecting Location. As CCR is designed for internationals visit Japan, the selection of place where contents are mapped is undoubtedly important. In this research, Asakusa, one of the most famous and popular tourist spots in Tokyo was chosen. The reason is that Asakusa has rich cultural heritages such as Japanese traditional temples or shrines, as well as dining venues and souvenir shops that attract many international tourists. Besides Asakusa is located in the heart of Tokyo and has great accessibility, which enables us to conduct fieldwork effortlessly.

  2. 2.

    Contents “Guidebook”. For contents Guidebook, several tips of accommodations, introduction of restaurants and explanation of famous architecture were picked from Lonely Planet Tokyo [13] and recorded using voice synthesize software (Fig. 2).

    Fig. 2.
    figure 2

    Example of contents “Guidebook”

  3. 3.

    Contents “Locals”. For contents Locals, a couple of interviews for locals were conducted in Japanese and story related to their daily lives in Asakusa was selected. Each story was translated into English and supplementary explanation about cultural activity was added if needed (Fig. 3).

    Fig. 3.
    figure 3

    Example of contents “Locals”

  4. 4.

    Contents “Tourists”. Design of contents Tourists is slightly different from the other two contents. After the listeners listened to either contents Guidebook or Locals, they had free discussion about comparison with their own culture. Listener‘s conversation is recorded and certain parts including their opinion or impression of the place are selected, then added to the previous two types of contents (Fig. 4). Therefore, this type of contents encloses the real voice of listeners, both spoken in English or Japanese (in this case the conversation is roughly translated into English).

    Fig. 4.
    figure 4

    Example of contents “Tourists”

  5. 5.

    Mapping Contents into CCR. Once place oriented contents are prepared, they are mapped into CCR website (http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~ayk/ccr/map.php, see also the QR code in Fig. 5) using JavaScript and are available for smartphones or tablets. Each contents are connected into one speech icon relevant to the place and when users click or tap the icon corresponded contents are played.

    Fig. 5.
    figure 5

    CCR available for smartphone and website QR code

3 Measurement Cross-Cultural Understanding Scale “CCUS”

To validate the credibility of CCR, evaluation process with appropriate criteria is essential. Since CCR has a unique concept, inventing new and suitable measurement is more realistic rather than using conventional criteria without localization. Measurement design and cross-cultural adjustment are demonstrated by Benson [14], Cui & Awa [15] and Yellen [16]. In the reference of related literature, Ito [17] determined ten dimensions of cross-cultural understandings, which are:

  1. 1.

    Mobility. An individual’s ability to find his/her way around in the foreign place is one of the most important dimensions of cross-cultural understandings. Knowing local geography and usage of public transportation systems are two potential items for this dimension. Capability to ask staff around in the face of uncertainty for directions, or usage of appropriate tools such as map application on smartphone is included. When mobility is improved, an individual feels more confident to explore new places and shows an enthusiasm to find cultural aspects in unfamiliar venues.

  2. 2.

    Food/Diet. Although food allergy is not the case, this dimension involves being open-minded to try new food, and how he/she can be adaptable for the change of diet. Accepting foreign food and culinary manners cannot be omitted when understanding certain culture, as for many people eating food is an entrance of cultural exchange. In relation to CCR contents, information such as recommendation of restaurants or grocery stores might affect this dimension, and ideally an individual would represent an appetite for certain food, connected to either his/her own or host culture.

  3. 3.

    Flexibility. As Hofstede defined “uncertainty avoidance” in his prominent work [18], more or less people from any cultural background may face culture shock and attempt to escape from that anxiety. Being flexible and patient for such uncertain activity or unexpected cultural norm is one dimension. Listening to local people’s story which is exotic to his/her own culture or having an interaction with them will cultivate a tolerance of general matters and help them to hold positive image for foreign culture.

  4. 4.

    Knowledge. Whether he/she accepts it or not, acknowledgment of host culture is an essential aspect of cross-cultural understandings. In terms of socially appropriate behaviors, host country nationals have certain expectations as to how foreigners in their country should behave includes avoiding offensive actions toward locals. Webb et al.’s unobtrusive measure [19] could be useful in this regard, including the shared notion of “common sense”. Compared to other dimensions, cultural knowledge is visible and recognizable information, which is easily gained by contents Guidebook.

  5. 5.

    Language Skills. This dimension appears consistently as a core factor of mutual understandings as former literatures are reviewed. However we should be aware that when cultural adaptation or acculturation occurs, adapted individual will learn the language, but individual who learn the language may or may not adapt. It is worth clarifying that this dimension is not about calculating an individual’s language proficiency like speaking or listening, but it is rather about how open he/she is to learn host language regardless of the level. For instance, in Japan visitors only use English manage to survive but whoever tries to learn Japanese will make life easier.

  6. 6.

    Interaction. The nature and frequency of interactions with host country individuals is an indication of cross-cultural understandings. This involves one’s ability to initiate interaction, as well as the extent of his/her eagerness to communicate to Japanese people, regardless of language ability. This dimension is closely connected to mobility, because when individuals feel comfortable to start interaction with locals (mainly conversational greetings such as “Excuse me” or “Thank you”) their mobility will surely be enhanced.

  7. 7.

    Awareness of Cultural Difference. A question such as “to what extent are you aware of Japanese culture/society is different from yours?” is asked in this dimension. Recognition of cultural difference between their own is a starting point to build mutual understandings in any circumstances. The bigger the difference becomes the more obvious of the awareness, and an individual with an experience of traveling to foreign countries tend to improve this dimension. However, not only difference between the home culture but also similarities can contribute to its change.

  8. 8.

    Nonverbal Communication. In addition to one’s language, there are a variety of ways to communicate nonverbally. Understanding letters or characters, visible gestures such as eye contact, and appreciating personal space are some of them. Also having a reasonable repertoire of “communicative currency” may be useful. As an example, in a communicative setting Japanese use euphemism often. For foreign individuals sometimes it is hard to “read between the lines”, but at least demonstrating an attitude to accept these context differences can boost this dimension.

  9. 9.

    Respect. Being interested in the host country citizens and casual friendliness towards them should be relevant as cross-cultural understandings. For instance, willingness to participate in activities distinctive to the host country will raise a fundamental respect for others and might lead to an appreciation of his/her current state. It is likely that CCR listeners will raise respect toward locals after they recognize the cultural difference. It is also greatly connected to the self-reflection process.

  10. 10.

    Relationship. Inclination to establish and maintain a relationship regardless of the skills is one crucial dimension. Even though this can be influenced by an individual’s personal character such as being extrovert or introvert, we should be aware that every individual has his/her own pace for building it. For instance, not all introverts are weak in relationship building than extroverts; they will establish deeper and more stable relationship with others.

After the correspondent literatures are reviewed and dimensions mentioned above were rationalized, this new criteria was named “CCUS (Cross-Cultural Understanding Scale)”. In the evaluation phase, measurement users score each dimensions from 1 to 10, using self-evaluation method. This evaluation is conducted twice, before and after any related experiment such as fieldwork or interview. Afterwards two score results are compared and discussed.

4 Evaluation Experiment

4.1 Method

We conducted fieldwork for three international tourists as CCR listeners (participant CH2, CH3 and UZ), using the same scheme to explore how the cycle of CCR works. CH2 and CH3 are 24 and 25-year-old females, both from China. UZ is 22-year-old male from Uzbekistan. CH2 and CH3 are close friends and took part in the fieldwork together in November 2015. Later they participated in the fieldwork again, focused on the contents Tourist this time.

First, we distributed an experiment instruction sheet to the participants. Fieldwork route is printed and they were asked to walk and listen to the contents (Guidebook and Locals in first fieldwork and Tourists in second fieldwork) mapped into the route in the numeric order (Fig. 6). Before they start to walk, they filled in the CCUS form. We took pictures of participants while they are walking (Fig. 7). Fieldwork was done either in English or Japanese, depending on participant’s language ability. Conversation was recorded and after they listened to all contents numbered, they filled in the CCUS form again.

Fig. 6.
figure 6

Fieldwork route with an instruction. (Color figure online)

Fig. 7.
figure 7

Participants taking evaluation experiment in Asakusa

4.2 Result

Figure 8 is the average score of three participants’ CCUS ten dimensions, the blue line is before the fieldwork, and the red line is after they listened to the contents Guidebook and Locals, and the green line is after they listened to the contents Tourists. We see some dimensions such as “language skills”, “interaction” and “nonverbal communication” were improved after the fieldwork. On the contrary, we also see the decline in “mobility” and “awareness of cultural difference”.

Fig. 8.
figure 8

Three participants’ average CCUS score. (Color figure online)

Fig. 9.
figure 9

Transcription of contents Tourists CH2 listened to

5 Behavioral Analysis of Participants

As shown in the result, CCR has enriched some aspects of cultural dimensions. We will have a closer look at individual participant’s score focusing on the contents Tourists, referring comparative study by Ito [20], particularly dealt with the contents Guidebook and Locals.

5.1 Participant CH2 (Fig. 10)

Figure 6 indicates the most touristy district in Asakusa, a major temple called Senso-ji and its premises shown as a green area on top, and the main street aiming at there called Nakamise-dori. As illustrated in blue line in Fig. 6, walking along Nakamise-dori and going through Senso-ji premises is the most popular route of Asakusa sightseeing. Since CH2 has never been in Asakusa until first fieldwork, she is a beginner tourist in a way. It is reasonable to assume that she was delighted with the route recommendation as her first visit and had positive impression for the fieldwork.

Fig. 10.
figure 10

Participant CH2’s CCUS score. (Color figure online)

At Senso-ji she listened to the contents Tourists about the fortune slip, a previous fieldwork participant buying one influenced by the contents Guidebook (Fig. 9).

CH2 thought she might try it too, and purchased her own fortune slip after she listened to the contents. The slip’s front was written in both Japanese and English, and she found its back was all in Chinese, saying “all flowers bloom when spring is approaching, if you are having something bad, it’s time to be patient until the spring”. She seemed quite surprised and said “it’s comfortable to know the meaning of the fortune exactly right in my language”. For her, getting the essence of Japanese culture in her own language must have been an event to promote “nonverbal communication” and “awareness of cultural difference” between China and Japan, as well as a trigger to interact with host culture which are illustrated as improvement in Fig. 10. Besides, from the guidebook tips she learned Senso-ji has a lot of bad (or worse) fortune slips while she actually got the second best. Hypothetically, a fun moment when she got lucky carried on until the end of the fieldwork, and affected to the overall positive evaluation after the fieldwork.

5.2 Participant CH3 (Fig. 11)

CH2 and CH3 are both studying abroad students and CH3 has arrived in Japan a year before CH2, so she knows more about Japanese society, lifestyle and culture than CH2. Although Fig. 11 shows some dimensions have declined after listening to the contents Tourists compared to Guidebook and Locals, CH3 has improved “interaction”, “nonverbal communication” and “relationship” amongst ten dimensions. She did not purchase any fortune slip like CH2 but was watching her buying one, talked about the result in Chinese. Knowing Japanese culture through the conversation with CH2 counts as indirect cultural exchange and affected her relative improvement of dimensions. At the same time, interaction with CH2 in her own language actually worked as a homogeneity booster rather than recognizing a difference between Japanese culture, which explains a drop of “awareness of cultural difference”. After the fieldwork, she commented “this time the explanation in English (contents Tourist) is more interesting than last time (contents Guidebook and Locals) because we could know what other foreign tourists think about Japanese culture” and told the fieldwork experience was enjoyable.

Fig. 11.
figure 11

Participant CH3’s CCUS score. (Color figure online)

Fig. 12.
figure 12

Transcription of contents Tourists UZ listened to

5.3 Participant UZ (Fig. 13)

In Ito’s previous study focused on contents Locals, after UZ listened to the local person’s interview about the future of Asakusa (Fig. 3), he mentioned his hometown Samarkand. Because of financial reason lots of residents are leaving the city and flowing into Toshkent, the capital of Uzbekistan nowadays and he feels sad about it. He wishes people in Samarkand will love their city just like as Asakusa locals. He felt something in common with Japanese people and cultivated affinity toward host culture, which has appeared as the improvement of “awareness of cultural difference”. After the fieldwork he commented, “It was a great time with you, and I think it’s unique chance to learn Japanese culture and chance to compare to Uzbek culture”.

Fig. 13.
figure 13

Participant UZ’s CCUS score. (Color figure online)

On the other hand, after he listened to the contents Tourists about religion in Japan (Fig. 12), he observed Japanese visitors throwing coins into the offertory box of Senso-ji. He told he is respectful of Japanese religious style, yet as a Muslim he wants to stick at his belief and would not to offer coins. This experience might have improved his “interaction” and “respect” by raising awareness of how people in different cultural backgrounds connect their religious beliefs into their daily lives.

6 Conclusion and Future Studies

In this paper we proposed place oriented internet radio called “CCR (Cross-Cultural Radio)” by providing three types of contents; “Guidebook”, “Locals” and “Tourists”. To validate the effectiveness of this unique media, we also suggested “CCUS (Cross-Cultural Understanding Scale)” as new criteria to measure the level of cross-cultural understandings. According to the result of evaluation experiment conducted in Tokyo for three participants, it is reasonable to assume CCR has contributed to the enhancement of several aspects of culture. Besides, through advanced behavioral analysis for individual participants focused on the contents Tourists, we found a certain listening experience can be triggers of participants’ voluntary action or contemplation of themselves, which helps them to gain new cultural perspectives.

For the future work, we will design and develop a variety of place oriented contents especially focuses on Tourists, which includes defining process of contents promote affinity towards culture. Recruiting more participants for the evaluation experiment is crucial to make CCR more solid and reliable media. To enhance cross-cultural understandings for foreign visitors in Japan, we should test if the same scheme works not only in Asakusa but also in different cities of Japan, or it significantly varies depending on the characteristics of the place. One possibility of the evaluation experiment is employing Japanese tourists as participants for a comparative research to internationals.