Burgers and Baseball

Todd: So I'm here with Shantel, and we both are from the United States. And we both are teachers in Japan. So I thought we would talk a little bit about some of the stereotypes that people might have in other countries, for example Japan, or other countries about Americans. So first, we're going to talk about hamburgers.

Shantel: Okay.

Todd: Okay, so hamburgers. How often do you actually eat a hamburger?

Shantel: Uh, hamburgers. I would say, it's actually not that often, although I love hamburgers. I love them very much, but maybe only a couple times a month or so.

Todd: Yeah, I agree. I think hamburgers is the one thing that does not meet the stereotype, that we don't eat them that often. Like, I never have hamburgers in America.

Shantel: Ah, okay.

Todd: Pretty much never. Like, I'll have them if somebody's barbecuing it, maybe for a picnic, or something. Um, yeah. And if I do eat fast food it's usually not a hamburger.

Shantel: Oh.

Todd: I eat something else. Like, I eat tacos or burritos, right.

Shantel: Yeah.

Todd: I don't eat hamburgers. So that's one. I think hamburgers don't really match the stereotype myth.

Shantel: Yeah. I agree.

Todd: Do you agree?

Shantel: I agree, especially because I know many, many of my students here in Japan, they will ask me often, what I eat for lunch. And before I respond, cause they're playing a joke on me, they'll say like, "Oh, hamburger? Hamburger?"

Todd: (laughs), yeah.

Shantel: And I have to tell them that, you know, now I do live in Japan, but in the United States I don't typically eat hamburgers every day.

Todd: Yeah.

Shantel: But that is a lot of what they think. They think that I eat hamburgers regularly or, at least, fast food but their image of fast food is only hamburgers.

Todd: So true. And actually,the funny side story to that, or contrary story would be you know, sushi. So we both teach in Japan, and I think most people think that you eat sushi all the time in Japan. And that's almost the equivalent of the hamburger. You don't eat it that much.

Shantel: That is so true.

Todd: Right?

Shantel: So true. I cannot say how true that is.

Todd: Or uh, another one, we're talking about um, stereotypes would be sumo. So Japanese people are not that into sumo, really, right, but it's an iconic thing. So that brings us to the point of baseball.

Shantel: Ah, yes.

Todd: So do you actually like baseball?

Shantel: I do. I love baseball. I do, and I used to go to some games in the United States, in San Francisco. I went to several Giants games growing up, yeah. So I do enjoy baseball. Do you enjoy baseball?

Todd: I do. I have to admit, like I played you know, baseball when I was younger. I loved baseball, but I do think it's not as popular as people think it is.

Shantel: Ah.

Todd: You know what I mean?

Shantel: Yes.

Todd: I think that like, a lot of people like it. You like it, I like it. But a lot of people could care less.

Shantel: Yes.

Todd: About baseball.

Shantel: Most of the time I think I hear people say it's, it's a slow sport, it's boring. No one wants to watch it.

Todd: Right.

Shantel: They're much more inclined to watch basketball or football instead of baseball.

Todd: So true.