While I was in Japan on an exchange, I learnt that it’s Japanese custom to make some slurping noises while eating delicious noodles like Ramen (ラマン) and Soba (そば). It is a sign of respect and a good way to show our appreciation for the food. This custom seemed odd to me as I was taught to eat silently, especially not to make slurping noise while eating noodles in Taiwan. Thus, out of curiosity I googled this “Rude/Polite” custom, trying to seek out the reason and benefit of doing this. Below are the three main arguments in favour of the custom.

• Noodles taste better while it’s hot, slurping makes us eat faster
• Slurping is a way to notify others that you are appreciating the food. (How does the Ramen restaurant’s owner know if you like the noodles or not if you don’t make any noise?)
• Noodles do taste better if you make slurping noises

Strangely enough, this actually kind of make sense in this “Network Media” context.

• How does our tutor (Huge Davies) know if we are enjoying or learning from the course if we don’t “show” him that we are?

‘Burp’ the Blog shows our appreciation!

• It is also true that we forget the stuff we learnt and ideas we had in class if we don’t record them down quickly.

‘Burp’ while it’s hot

• Finally, we actually learn/gain more when we revisit the things we learnt. I actually learnt a lot more from writing journals than listening to lectures last semester.

‘Burp’ the Blog is the way to go!!

Maybe that’s why Japanese people are so good at technology stuff….BURP~

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