Episode 6 – A Conversation with Karen Hill Anton

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 6 - A Conversation with Karen Hill Anton
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This episode features a conversation with Karen Hill Anton. For many years Karen wrote the greatly-loved Crossing Cultures column for the Japan Times. Karen arrived in Japan in 1975. Unlike many expatriates, however, she didn’t leading a cosmopolitan lifestyle in Tokyo. She and her husband Bill settled in a rustic farmhouse on the side of a mountain deep in Shizuoka prefecture, where they raised their family and integrated into the local community. Karen is a writer, dancer, artist and intercultural trainer and consultant. We discuss her new memoir—the View from Breast Pocket Mountain—and reflect on the challenges and rewards of intercultural living.

Episode 5 – Three Brains, Two Minds, and One Person

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 5 - Three Brains, Two Minds, and One Person
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In this episode, hosts Yvonne van der Pol and Joseph Shaules reflect on a question they were asked during a Brain, Mind and Culture Masterclass: Where is culture in the brain? They say that there is no specific location for culture in the brain. To understand the way that culture shapes our minds, we need to remember: three brains, two minds, and one person. The three brains refer to brain structures that reflect our evolutionary past—the “reptile brain”, the “mammalian brain” and the “primate brain”. The two minds refers to the intuitive (fast thinking-pattern based) mind and the attentive (slow-thinking analytic). Despite the complexity of these cognitive systems, we experience it all simply as the self – one person. Yvonne tells a story of cross-cultural coaching—a German who feels that Dutch people interrupt too much! While the difference may be cultural, the irritation he felt was in his whole body!

Episode 4 – Culture from the brain-mind-science perspective

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 4 - Culture from the brain-mind-science perspective
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Yvonne and Joseph dive deep into talk about culture from the brain-mind-science perspective. They share their excitement about new areas of research, such as cultural neuroscience, which is revolutionizing our understanding of culture and the mind. They discuss the importance of cultural “A-ha” moments of insight—these remind us the intercultural experiences touch us at deep levels of the self, and help us grow.

Episode 3 – Intercultural Visionary Edward Hall

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 3 - Intercultural Visionary Edward Hall
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Yvonne and Joseph reflect on the life and legacy of the intercultural visionary thinker Edward Hall. Trained as an anthropologist, he broke with orthodoxy and pioneered the study of intercultural communication with the publication of his 1959 book, The Silent Language. He believed that intercultural understanding is harder than we might think, because we are deeply influenced by the cultural “programming” or our unconscious mind. This episode is in three parts:

Part 1 – The shape of your head

Part 2 – Shaking hands with Hall

Part 3 – The brain-scan revolution

Yvonne and Joseph discuss how thinking about cultural difference has evolved over time, introduce some key ideas of Hall, and reflect on how Hall’s work anticipated the work of cultural neuroscience and cultural psychology today.

Episode 2 – What is an intercultural trainer?

Japan Intercultural Institute
Japan Intercultural Institute
Episode 2 - What is an intercultural trainer?
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What’s it like to work as an intercultural specialist? Joseph and Yvonne share their experience doing intercultural work in NGOs, business, government, and education. They talk about how they got started, the origins of this this field, and where it’s headed. They discuss the promise of brain and mind sciences to bring fresh ideas and deeper insights.