I\u2019m finally in Japan! Even though I\u2019ve only been here for two weeks, I\u2019ve already travelled more than I\u2019ve probably ever travelled in my life. Osaka Castle, Kyoto temples, Hirakata City, Osaka shopping malls (including the Ghibli Store and the Osaka Pokemon Center), restaurants and stores galore\u2026 Needless to say, I\u2019m loving every second of it.<\/p>\n
Being someone who\u2019s lived in the States her whole life and has barely even left her house, let alone Florida, this has been a great shock to me. It was hard at first to acknowledge the fact that I was in another country. But just recently, I stared out at the streets outside of Kansai Gaidai and I realized that this is an entirely different country that has thrived long before mine, and I was able to start noticing the things that set us apart.<\/p>\n
In Japan, houses are tightly packed together yet neighbors are respectful of each other\u2019s privacy. Telephone lines run throughout streets and housing developments. Buses and trains operate exactly on time. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and cars all coexist on narrow roads that can barely even hold one car. People generally mind their own business and don\u2019t necessarily want a greeting \u2013 but the moment you look even the slightest bit confused, they\u2019ll drop whatever they\u2019re doing to not only tell you where you need to go, but to go out of their way and walk you over to your destination.<\/p>\n
Food is still something that I find myself struggling with, as I was a very picky eater even at home. While I\u2019m used to meals being composed of 50% meat (usually beef) and the rest being carbs and vegetables, the Japanese eat 50% carbs and the rest is meat and vegetables, often with the meat being the smaller portion. And even stranger is the fact that it\u2019s sometimes cheaper to eat a restaurant every day than it is to buy groceries and make your own food. While you could buy two apples for $6, you could instead buy a large bowl of rice covered in beef (gyudon) for the same price.<\/p>\n
The culture itself is also something that I\u2019ve had to adjust to, and oddly enough it really makes you aware of your OWN culture. Although I generally consider the feelings of people around me and try not to burden anyone (and I\u2019m quite liberal with my apologies), I still carry many distinctly American traits. I\u2019m constantly aware of myself and try not to make myself a stereotype of the loud, abrasive, self-centered American, even if that means I sometimes become TOO shy and hesitant. Being with people from all different countries has been enlightening, and I\u2019m glad to be taking courses that address the differences between us because I\u2019d never before had the opportunity to really experience it firsthand. It\u2019s a difficult journey to balance myself out and remain true to who I am, while also understanding the certain social norms that I should be following in order to fit into this society.<\/p>\n
All in all, it\u2019s been an amazing experience so far. I have so many events planned in my schedule already and so many places that I want to visit, and I\u2019m excitedly soaking in all the knowledge I possibly can. I can\u2019t wait to bring all of these experiences back home with me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m finally in Japan! Even though I\u2019ve only been here for two weeks, I\u2019ve already travelled more than I\u2019ve probably ever travelled in my life. Osaka Castle, Kyoto temples, Hirakata City, Osaka shopping malls (including the Ghibli Store and the Osaka Pokemon Center), restaurants and stores galore\u2026 Needless to say, I\u2019m loving every second of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kansai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16304,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5429\/revisions\/16304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}