Before I landed in Tokyo to transfer to Nagoya I had never been outside of the U.S., and because of this, I tried to refrain to the best of my ability from holding expectations. I definitely planned logistics before I came here, although I intentionally wanted the experience to be shocking. I had figured you learn more about the way you actually are by trying not to fight the sense of shock that comes when you are put into a situation in which you have never been before, and I think I was right. I was very tired after my flight, as the trip in total took about 17 hours, which made communication on the first day quite difficult. My host family does not speak any English, which has been great for adapting to another language but definitely made things complicated at first. I remember hearing some linguist say that practicing a language by speaking only really helps dramatically when you can have a conversation about topics beyond a surface level, and I definitely have to agree with this sentiment. In these situations, I have to make a conscious effort to think in the logical order of Japanese (which is often the reverse of English), and I feel like this creates a more “personal”, albeit often frustrating, connection with the language that a set routine otherwise wouldn’t. Definitely the most noticeable thing for me has been the strengthening of the so called “Prison-house of Language”. I would say that I definitely struggle significantly with expressing my thoughts through words in English, and while obviously I can do this even less so in Japanese, there is a sense in which it feels freeing as, well, of course I can’t articulate myself after 1 year of studying. I’ve noticed Japanese can be a rather concise language if used correctly, and thus I think that by practicing concision in a second language I can gain concision in my first language.
My favorite thing so far has definitely been the timeliness of everything, as I would say nothing makes me more frustrated than lateness. The public transit is fantastic and always runs on time, as well as people so far have not been late to meetings. In fact, I would say the biggest “critical incident” so far isn’t a particular incident but rather a prolonged observation of behavior. It is very surprising how much people follow the rules here even when there aren’t really other people around. I live in a pretty densely populated area and I genuinely think I can count on my hands the amount of people I’ve seen walk across the crosswalk when the light wasn’t on. I’ve also yet to seen someone litter despite the distinct lack of trash bins. It seems that people have a much greater concern for the environment and the immediate world around them here, which does make sense and was something I’d heard of. On time this surprised me, however, was when I was hiking up a mountain and I heard a bell constantly ringing. There were a fair few other people on this trail, but I was still confused and wondering if there was a temple nearby. As it turned out, it was another hiker who has small bells tied to his backpack so that they would ring and alert any animals lest he trample on them. I had heard of this before in my high school’s world religion class, as Jizo, a famous bodhisattva, was said to carry a staff with 6 rings on it in order to jingle and warn the nearby animals lest he do them harm. I do not go out of my way to harm nature, but this devotion towards life in my experience is not emphasized, even by groups who claim to care a lot about life, and thus it left me surprised. Obviously not everyone here is this conscious of their surroundings, but this moment did definitely make me think about how very old traditions morph our modern society in an often indirect way. Buddhism is still very prevalent in Japan, and although it operates quite differently than a western religion (as it seems to be more tradition than religion per se), it still is interesting to see how its doctrines impact daily life. This has been the biggest sign of this that I’ve seen so far, but I am certain that I will se more in the future. The line between religion, philosophy, and way of life seems a lot more blurry here then it is often made out to be in my American education, which I have found very interesting.