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Published: July 23rd 2014
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Train Station
On the weekend of July 12th, I went to Nikkou with fellow Carls! (Mei, Will, Naomi, and Jade). Here's a picture of what a lot of the train stations look like when you're outside of the city. So, I wrote out an entire blog post, saving the entire thing as I wrote it, but my computer still decided to destroy it. Here goes round 2.
Sorry it's been almost two weeks since the last post! I've been keeping myself quite busy, but I didn't intend to wait this long before sharing my next update. If you want to see where I've gone, check out my picture below. I've explained all the places I went in the summaries to save this post for my general thoughts on the trip so far.
Before I came here, I expected at least some form of culture shock. With such largely different social perspectives in Eastern countries versus Western countries, I was sure I'd find something that would pose a challenge. Sure enough, I've run into a couple bumps, although they are not at all what I expected them to be. For the most part actually, I find Japanese culture quite comfortable.
So far, the biggest culture shock is coming from how my program contrasts from Carleton. Because I've chosen to live in a home stay, I've been given access to a wealth of cultural information and unique experiences. However,
Meiiiiiiii
We had to transfer trains about 5 times to actually get to our destination, but it was worth it! this comes with a trade. Not living in the dorms with the majority of the other students leaves me without an immediately obvious way to organize a social life. At Carleton, I loved the spontaneity that came with dorm life. I loved being able to walk down the hallway to find someone to eat dinner with, or go on a walk with. In Tokyo, most of my friends are about 45 minutes (and at least 5 dollars) away from my homestay, leaving me with about 7 hours of alone time every day. I don't know that I would describe myself as an extrovert, but this was just too much time for me to enjoy being alone. I find it interesting that one of the most troubling parts about my trip to Japan has very little to do with Tokyo or Japanese culture. When my host parents return from work, I can talk to them, but I only speak Japanese at my home stay, which limits the depth of the conversations I can have. Things are great when I'm with my friends, but sometimes the afternoons feel like they drag on forever whenever I don't have plans. It can be difficult
Near Nikkou
Mountains! Mountains! Yesss. to articulate exactly how this is coloring my experience on the program, but dealing with the loneliness is definitely one of the most difficult parts of the trip. I'm finally establishing a social circle in which I feel like I get to see people enough, but it took much more work living as a commuting student. I'm finally at a point where I've found the right balance, but it's occupied a lot of my time and thoughts these past few weeks.
Since coming here, I've also come to understand what's really meant by the term "microaggression." I've had plenty of conversations regarding diversity and privilege. I recognize that as a white, able-bodied, suburb-dwelling, young male, I fall into one of the most privileged categories in the country. Of course, in terms of my sexuality, I'm a minority, but I have the advantage of that not being visible in daily interactions with other people. I fully understand that my demographics grants me an uncountable number of privileges, some small, and some extremely significant. However, until some of these privileges are actually stripped away, it can be difficult to identify exactly where the benefits lie.
In Japan, my demographics no
Douchey Sunglasses
Included because this is one of two pictures I took with the sunglasses before they broke... longer grant me the same benefits. As a very white, obvious foreigner, I now wear my privilege on my face, on my hands, and even with my clothing. Even in a culture that idolizes respect and personal space, I'm shocked at how often I'm treated differently on account of my race. Whenever I eat at restaurants, menus and introductions are always addressed to my Asian friends. At stores, people's eyes widen when I speak Japanese instead of English. When I sit on buses, people usually choose to sit next to fellow Japanese instead of sitting next to the foreigner. I've had about a dozen of waiters smirk when they hand me menus because they don't expect me to be able to read it. I could list about a hundred ways I've noticed that I'm treated differently, and it's eye-opening. The extent to which I'm talked down to is staggering, and Americans aren't even particularly disliked in Japan. As frustrating as these experiences can be, I'm thankful that I'm getting the opportunity to be exposed to it. It's definitely one of the largest lessons I'll be taking back with me to the US. It's a fantastic reminder of everything that I'm
given, and I don't intend to squander the opportunity. I'll take in the discomfort now and hope that I never, ever forget how dehumanizing it can feel.
I've had plenty of amazing experiences here as well. Sometimes, people I interact with here are genuinely excited that I'm trying to learn their language, and they're eager to share anything about their culture that they can. My host parents have the patients of saints, and have never once lost their temper whenever I make a mistake. A friendly coffee shop owner gave me free hot chocolate after I tried to read some of the books that were written in Japanese, and we discussed Haruki Murakami's short stories for nearly ten minutes on my way out. The list goes on. It just goes to show how influential little experiences can be when you're reflecting on your overall experiences.
In terms of language, my abilities are skyrocketing. I've done close to a Carleton term's worth of language- I'll be there by the end of this week, and by then I'll be halfway through my classes. Quantitatively, I've learned about 120 kanji characters (80 from class, over 40 on my own), hundreds of
words, and a crap ton of grammar points. Both my confidence and proficiency in listening and speaking are growing exponentially, and I'm starting to read basic literature. I'm excited to see how much I'll be able to do by the end of this program.
To everybody who's sent me emails, thank you. You guys have helped me through the adjustment more than you know.
I hope everyone's doing well, I miss you all!
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Caitlin Donahue
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Cat Cafe!?
You went to a Cat cafe!!? Much Jealous! Seriously though XD That is awesome. Also, all of your pictures and blog posts have been really great, it seems like an awesome experience!