#ygu

As I’m sure you can imagine, living in a country different from the one you’ve grown up in and known all your life can lead to some new discoveries, but some also find themselves experiencing severe cases of culture shock. I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in a country as culturally diverse as Canada. Most of my best friends spoke languages other than English with their parents (such as Polish, Ukrainian, Cantonese, etc...), and I’ve made dozens of close friends through the internet from all over the Western world. I considered myself to be someone fairly familiar and acclimated to the international stage. I wasn’t entirely wrong, in fact, but once I was thrown directly into the thick of Japan’s both wooded and concrete jungles, I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t completely prepared for the change of pace, scenery and lifestyle.

During my first semester in Japan, I spent four months living in the dorms at my college on the Yamanashi Gakuin University campus, with students from all over the world. What I learned about my friends, Japan and myself was an eye-opening and exciting experience, one that I value immensely!

In terms of my friends, what struck me most was how interesting mealtimes would be for the next four months of my life. Most of the students eat their dinner in the cafeteria at my campus, in groups that change regularly, based on who gets to the cafeteria first to claim the limited spaces at the most popular (and largest) tables. We talk about classes, sure, but it’s impossible not to bring some kind of world event into the discussion as well. With the diverse cast of Europeans, supported by a handful of North Americans, students from Indonesia and Hong Kong, and guest starring the Japanese students (although their participation grew as the semester progressed), we had a decent representation for most of the discussions! From politics, to weather, to travel and life, we didn’t always find ourselves agreeing with one another, but it never came to blows either (except for that one time where it came pretty close), nor did it ruin friendships. Those cafeteria tables were home to some of the most interesting and intelligent discussions, and a very new and exciting experience for my daily routine!

It was also curious for me to see native English speakers (such as myself) interacting with non-native English speakers of all levels. Some of them found it easier than others, but many didn’t seem to realise the need to strip their language of it’s vulgarity and slang in certain situations. It made me feel very fortunate to be a native English speaker with fluency in a second language (French), as I’m very familiar with being in the situation of the non-native speaker, meaning I can sympathetically adjust my expression in a way that becomes simpler, more concise, yet doesn’t belittle the listener, nor does it add the tone of condescension. It’s a skill I’m very proud of, and one that’s made me quite popular among the Japanese students! Although the amount of hand gestures I use in a conversation (à la French education) has left me on the receiving end of more than a few amused giggles. I also want to put aside a moment of admiration for my Anthropology-majoring friend and peer from the UK. She’s been working amazingly hard to learn Japanese, and thinks thoughtfully and critically about language. She’s unnecessarily shy, but I hope she’ll use those skills to benefit both herself and the students looking to improve their English in the coming semester!

Japan itself can be a bit of an enigma to out-of-country onlookers. The country’s love for cute things, mascots, and cute mascots sometimes leaves Japan as a bit of an outlier in the international scene. From the inside, Japan’s differences can occasionally be even more shocking. As I’m no expert on Japan, nor have I taken the nihonjinron class offered at my college (yet), these cultural aspects may be unique to my perspective, and some are specific to my home prefecture of Yamanashi.

Something certainly striking for me in the beginning was the mountains of Yamanashi. I come from what is likely to be some of the flattest lands in the world, the Canadian Prairies. While I’ve been abroad and all over Canada to witness mountains, there’s something that never gets old about seeing a mountain in the distance no matter the direction of your gaze. With Mt. Fuji visible from my school on the southern border of the prefecture, and the southern Japanese alps located to the west, it’s a truly panoramic, mountainous view. Less of a culture shock moment, more of a dramatic change of scenery worth the mention.

The ubiquity and ease-of-use of bicycles throughout my city is all too heartwarming. I became somewhat of an enthusiastic cyclist over the summer of 2015, and seeing how much exploring can be done during many months of the year (unlike back home, where weather is unsuitable for biking half the year,) through my city of Kofu and the surrounding area has me itching to get back to Japan and invest in some new wheels, for utility, exercise and adventure. Being back at home with all this snow and well-below-zero temperatures has me absolutely ecstatic over the thought of returning to Japan and getting a bike. Seriously. My face won’t be able to contain my grin. Healthy bike culture helps me feel right at home in Kofu.

As far as true culture shock, a lot of that has to do with money. The exchange of money, shopping, acquiring money and general money matters. First and foremost would be the ubiquity of cash in Japan. I only used a plastic card twice, and that was at an ATM to withdraw more cash. The denominations aren’t all that strange or anything (and that 500円, or $5 coin can be a welcome surprise among small change), but the constant use of paper and coin was a complete change from the card-only life back in Canada. I came back to Canada and went to use cash to pay and was completely frozen because it was the most foreign experience, yet seemed to natural. ATMs themselves in Japan are weird, because many of them have hours of operation. Yes, the ATMs close. I personally don’t see the point, but I’m also not often out in the wee hours of the morning to get cash either, so I won’t complain.

Next is something I deeply deeply love about Japan, and that would be it’s healthy restaurant culture. It’s healthy not only in the good-for-you sense, but also in the way that it’s tasty, easy and very inexpensive. Going out to a restaurant doesn’t necessarily have to be for a special occasion in Japan, as restaurants are very nearly the same price as the time and money you might put into making your own food. Just don’t think about getting take-out, walking on the streets and eating is looked down upon. 

After that is the atmosphere of the stores, particularly convenience stores. Now, convenience stores are probably one of coolest things about Japan. We have them in Canada, but Japanese convenience stores carry a MASSIVE selection of foods and drinks, as well as supplies and are generally going above and beyond what I’d expect from a convenience store. You can even go to the corner store to buy bus tickets and pay your national insurance bill. It’s truly amazing. However, store clerks in Japan, convenience stores especially, don’t interact aside from the obligatory irrashaimase (Welcome!). You don’t chat up with clerk and they don’t ask you about your day. They give you the amount owed, you hand it to them, get your change, say thank you, and leave. It’s an alienating experience coming from Canada where that kind of behaviour would label you as the grumpiest customer of the day. But don’t get me wrong, Japanese people are amazingly friendly, and smaller mom-and-pop shops will certainly have you chatting with the owners, but never in retail.

Speaking of shopping culture in Japan, for those of you who enjoy online shopping through Amazon, never come to Japan. You’d blow all your money in no time, because Japan’s Amazon setup is wonderful. I bought a couple things at 7PM on a Saturday, and they came the next morning at 11AM. One-day shipping is basically half-day shipping, and it’s extremely cheap (and free with Prime) throughout the nation. Did you notice I said I got mail on Sunday? That’s right. Mail and all things in general are in operation 7-days a week in Japan. There’s no rush before 6PM on Sunday to get everything done, because the hours are like any other day, no matter the store. It was wonderful.

Three little points worth mentioning, but that don’t need much of an explanation would be the impressive cleanliness of Japan (in all public places, essentially), the fact that book stores are all over and books are cheap, and that presentations don’t really exist in the Japanese education curriculum.

That’s all that caught me off-guard or surprised me during my time in Japan! I was careful not to use Japanese culture shock, as the truly international nature of my school in itself led to some cool revelations as well.