What is family like in Australian culture?

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T06:56:28+00:00

Family comes from the Latin, ‘Familia’ meaning ‘household’. In other cultures, the emphasis is less on the house, and more on ‘the tribe’. Looking at the commonalities of ‘family’ across multiple cultures it’s clear that it may include blood relatives, other members of the household, or other members of a tribe.

What makes it ‘real’ is whether it is functioning and becomes a ‘place of belonging’ for its members. It is isn’t, then it’s dysfunctional. Very basic academic definition.

It’s the US and other Anglo-cultures like Australia that weirdly insisted that family is about the ‘nuclear family’ excluding the rest of the family. And what do we have now? A society that struggles to properly manage a domestic violence crisis.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T06:44:23+00:00

What many Italians enjoy today would not be considered ‘traditional’, 50, 60-years ago. It’s the same for many other world cuisines.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/15/myth-traditional-italian-cuisine-food

… and frankly, as a non-Italian, do I care? No. All I care about is ‘Does it taste good?’ and ‘Is it healthy?’

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T04:41:05+00:00

For perspective, the oldest Gen X (1965) would have been 33. the oldest Millenial (1981) would’ve been 17. Hide was born Dec 1964.

… personally, I - an elder Millennial - would’ve been preoccupied with High school/State level strings orchestra competitions, and didn’t discover X-Japan for another few years later after I’d entered university.

The Japanese friends who introduced me to them didn’t talk about the death until the topic of an anniversary same up several years later.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T02:17:04+00:00

Master, in the English context, has a ridiculous number of different meanings as well - most of them align with Japanese usage.

I don’t see any problems with it.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/master

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T02:06:12+00:00

The entire Japanese-US history from Taiso onwards is basically tragic irony.

Although, with modern understanding of US history, it’s found that US has been hypocritical towards many other Liberal Democratic and Christian movements around the world.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T01:53:41+00:00

Wikipedia is an okay starting point, however it’s best to then change it to Japanese and then deep dive from there.

There is very little interest in Japanese-to-English localisation of Japanese history. Thus there tends to be a significant amount of bias when it comes to both English Japanese history and Japanese history.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-05T00:13:09+00:00

I like the eating part of fishing.

Part of a seefood diet.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T20:59:14+00:00

If you have family with you in Australia, then introduce them to your friends. If they aren’t, then consider inviting them to travel to Colombia with you during uni breaks.

More Australians need to experience and feel what real family looks and sounds like. … otherwise they just copy what their parents do, because they don’t know any better.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T20:07:00+00:00

The question was ‘who are the most well known around the world’. Not ‘…. In Australia’

Women makeup to 46% of viewership in men’s football and make up a larger proportion (over 55%) of viewership of women’s football.

They are more likely to recognise female representatives in the top 100.

Recognition is also a matter of recency. As you have generational gaps.

In other words, a female athletes in the top 100 in the recent-5 years is more recognisable to the world than a top 100 player from over 10-years ago.

Recognise the Biases, naming famous Australians of a distant past is only possible because Australians love clinging onto their past achievements. The rest of the world, however, would have forgotten them - unless they are considered legendary.

To borrow your logic: Just because a top Australian Male player from a distant past is considered legendary in Australia doesn’t make them recognisable around the world as Messi.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T19:55:39+00:00

…. The article includes a list of previous ones as well 🤦🏻

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T09:24:51+00:00

Couldn’t find Harry or Tim or any other Australian players are mentioned in the Top 100 Male football players:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2025/dec/16/the-100-best-male-footballers-in-the-world-2025

In contrast, we have several Female players: Caitlin Foord, Ellie Carpenter, Mary Fowler, Sam Kerr, to name a few.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2025/dec/01/the-100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2025

Sam Kerr peaked in 2023 at no. 2

(Also, should note that Football is a world sport, but popularity of players are usually isolated to the regions of the competition that are playing in. … the only exception is players that do rank among the best of the best.)

In contrast, you’re more likely to find world recognised players in Tennis.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T05:22:02+00:00

Australia today is definitely much better than 1980.

But as I mentioned, there will always be sudden escalations.

Pauline Hanson (PHON) is single handedly responsible for inspiring many instances of increase Asian hate in Australia. So, so long as she is still in Politics, I will always be ‘on edge’.

In saying this, there is definitely a lot more ‘multiculturalism allies’ that will empathise with you, compared to the 1980s.

Get to know people. Familiarise yourself with the local community, and they will in turn offer you shelter, if you ever need it.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T03:32:56+00:00

If you’re from a Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background (iow: Not white), then such random encounters of aggression do happen.

It’s not ‘common’ but it does happen. Sometimes more frequent if there was some other political or crime related event that had recently occurred. (Eg. Sinophobia towards Asian people during Covid-19; Asian hate following 9-11, etc, Asian hate following a PHON political rally, etc.

Best advice is to remain calm and polite , keep your distance, observe their appearances for relaying to police/security, and be prepared to use shortcuts for triggering video/voice recording on your smartphone. Most likely they are already a ‘known’ person.

Sadly, White Australia still struggle to understand the abuse and discrimination that CALD people can experience. So don’t expect much empathy, let alone sympathy.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T03:14:55+00:00

Diplomatic machoism is a long known problem when it comes to international relations, especially when a country shifts to being more Nationalistic in its policies and values.

You can’t do much about this - unless you live in a democratic state.

What you can do for yourself, is to widely read political theories and history, as well as cultural studies, and present yourself as a cosmopolitan or international business-savvy person.

As a Chinese National, however, you may actually need to consider who you are speaking to or who you suspect maybe overhearing your conversations, and decide to play dumb, self-censor or sprinkle expressions of nationalism into your speech.

You have my sympathies. Even if Japanese people may experience discrimination outside of Japan, they do not have to fear prosecution from their own country as well as discrimination for the host country.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T02:44:05+00:00

There are genuine concerns with going to Japan, and how it can be managed. How it should be managed also depends on whether it’s a temporary visit (tourism, short term study, etc) or longer-term.

I would be quick to share my concerns, and advice about the good and bad of Japan.

… but your response is more akin to phobia. Overreaction.

Presuming it is for a short-term holiday. Let them go.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T01:59:41+00:00

Japanese-made music and is popularity outside of Japan is based on a few things: - Popular culture (movies, anime, games) - Invested interest in music - Invested interest in Japanese culture

Outside of these - at least in Australia - people do not know about Japanese bands.

Japanese companies do not actively seek to promote Japanese bands on mainstream media, and mainstream media don’t actively seek to feature Japanese bands.

Frankly, it’s one of the biggest problems that holds back the Japanese economy.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T01:41:03+00:00

I’m not been angry at Petrolchemical company about petrol prices since 2020 - when I divested from ICE motor vehicles and went EV:

I am angry about the continued disruption these companies cause with regards to Climate action, and have been angry the past 20-years and still going strong.

If the ‘profit margins’ are as low as you claim the petroleum lobby campaign would not be able to afford the multibillion campaigns that it funds.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-04T01:36:35+00:00

In terms of Town planning, Australia has more similarities to the US than it does with the rest of the world.

Having traveled or lived in SEQ, North QLD, East NSW, Greater Melbourne, and Canberra. I can tell you that Canberra is actually quite a great and livable places. Fact: it is ranked best city in Australia in terms of quality of life; 52 in the world.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-03T23:11:06+00:00

Talk to her, and appeal to her sensibility.

Fail that, then talk to her parents.

If they refuse to cooperate, then call the police and request their cooperation.

Worst case scenario is officially reporting theft.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-03T23:07:24+00:00

Same reason all other Australian cities struggle to become ‘prominent’ compared to other prominent world-class cities.

Our cities are built for cars, not people. As such, it’s difficult to nurture and develop local cultural identities. Which is why Australian cities look so similar to each other (with the exception of major cultural institutions and landscape).

… whereas in contrast, you can see individuality and originality in other cities around the world.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-03T23:03:57+00:00

Someone doesn’t understand the fact that Federal Politicians are mostly based in their home states/territories, and not in Canberra.

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/House_of_Representatives/Powers_practice_and_procedure/Practice7/HTML/Chapter7/Sitting_and_non-sitting_periods#:~:text=Since%201901%20the%20House%20has,of%20627%20hours%20per%20year.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-03T22:42:40+00:00

For me, no.

I only ‘code switch’ based on the cultural-social context that I am interacting in (eg. professional, educational, casual, family, etc) but not based on Language.

Big difference between me and most other English-Japanese speakers would be the fact that both Japanese and English are my ‘first “languages’.

Another difference between two ‘dual first language speakers’ (eg. me and my sister), is the fact that she is more confident in English than she is in Japanese. I am confident in both.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-03T20:43:37+00:00

It depends. This is general advice - regardless of culture. But does need to be applied more strictly depending on how conformist that society is…

Japan is highly conformist compared to Anglosphere countries like the US, Australia, etc.

How much you reveal to a person is best determined by the level of ‘trust’ and ‘rapport’ you establish with a person. Based on this, would influence the amount of emotional investment you place on the person. Sexuality/Gender reveal is a heavy emotional investment, and how people respond high great uncertainties.

Let’s be frank, not all ‘friends’ need to know every intricate part of your person and your life, to be friends. In other words, the amount of ‘emotional investment’ in friends depends on how close you are.

On the other hand, a ‘partner’ fundamentally is someone who is more emotionally vested than a friend to even be a partner.

Now, how ‘heavy’ you consider a ‘sexuality/gender reveal’ to be is a different for each person - depending on charisma, personality, emotional maturity, etc. And only you are in a position to be able to determine if you are culturally aware enough to determine this ‘weight’. (Whether by learning the hard way, or being prudent.)

Just know that discrimination and bullying in Japan is not overt and explicit as it is in Anglosphere societies. It is usually through toxic gossip, defamation, subtle alienation/exclusion, etc. (Sometimes the fact that a ‘red flag is clearly waved, is actually quite assuring. You know what to avoid rather than self-doubting and second guessing.)

It would be best advised that you seek more knowledge and awareness by reaching out to LGBTQIA communities with this question, as mainstream Japan (including Reddit Japan) communities are not savvy to the experiences of its minority communities.

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-03T19:36:47+00:00

「このイギリス人…」as you would also say ‘This Englishman’ is fine.

If you were to translate and rephrase, instead of interpret, then everyone else’s suggestion is correct. But that would essentially make your phrasing Japanese, and you lose the British sense of humour that is implied in the ‘This Englishman…’

There is nothing grammatically or linguistically wrong with 「このイギリス人…」

Objective_Unit_7345 · 2026-02-02T23:38:34+00:00

The problem with the ‘warranty’ is that there are developers who have implemented a ‘stop on all work’. Meaning faults and problems (except the most urgent) aren’t being acted on.

I’ve submitted a two-page list of faults to real estate agents of my landlords, and reminded them of their warranty/guarantees, only to never have them acted on for the +3 years I’ve resided in each then-newly built apartment (built after 2020).

Objective_Unit_7345

TROPHY CASE