Japanniversary
As of posting this, I will have been in Japan for exactly one year! It’s a weird feeling. I had originally only planned to be here for 9 months, so I never planned to hit the milestone. This journey has been full of great experiences, and a few bad ones. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
When I first arrived, I was excited, but very quickly overwhelmed. Everything was so different and difficult to navigate due to the language barrier. My supervisor was an amazing support as I started setting up my life here. From getting my luggage to my apartment, opening a bank account, getting a cell phone plan, buying a car, they helped me through it all.
In Tokyo, or a more English speaking area of Japan, I might have been able to find those services available in English, but in my small town in Ibaraki, everything was only done in Japanese. It gave me a glimpse of what the reality is like for people who live in North America and aren’t native English speakers. Trying to navigate systems that aren’t designed with you in mind is difficult, to outright impossible without support.
Slowly, I started to begin my life here in Japan. I learned to drive on the other side of the road, began exploring my small town, bought a TV, had my wifi installed, all things I’d taken for granted back home. Everytime you move somewhere new, you have a brief brush with missing your daily creature comforts. Moving to a brand new country really magnified that experience.
I had bundled my wifi with my cell phone plan, but it took almost 2 weeks to get it installed. There was no TV in my apartment, and I didn’t even know where I could go to buy one. I had to search for electronic stores, find a very patent employee, and bungle my way through ordering a TV to be delivered. I even had to rope in my supervisor to convince someone on the phone they could complete the delivery despite the fact that I don’t speak Japanese.
Thankfully, my initial excitement for being in Japan carried me through a lot of my first few weeks. In retrospect, I really needed that excitement to drive me, because those first few weeks were pretty tough. At the time I was excited by all those differences, eager to experience Japanese society and culture, but it was still really difficult.
After my first trip to Tokyo, which really was incredible, I was already feeling burnt out by the end of November. Just a few weeks after I arrived, I was already starting to miss home. I was recalibrating my expectations around work, and honestly I mostly found Japanese people rather cold to my presence. They were incredibly polite, but I never felt that occasional warmth you could find from people back home.
Canadians also have a reputation for being polite, which I always try to hold up, but I’ve heard people describe Vancouverites as cold too. It’s tough to say since I grew up there, but I never really felt that to be true. All kinds of people end up in Vancouver, and since everyone’s lives can be so different, it might be tough to interact with people so different from you, but that’s what I love about it. The times I think Vancouver is the most interesting is when people from different cultures and backgrounds intersect and form community.
As the weeks turned into months, I slowly became accustomed to living in Japan. I was surprised how quickly I felt like I adjusted. It was gradual of course, but soon enough going to Tokyo for the weekend was just something I could do. Driving felt the same as it did back home, taking the train was easy, and Tokyo was no longer this mythical city from games and anime.
At that point, living in Japan was just living my life. I had good days and bad days, some weeks at work were good, others would be slow or dull. I was able to explore different cities in Japan, and felt like I had already made plenty of good memories.
My first Tokyo trip (as I alluded to earlier) was really amazing. My excitement for being in Japan was still sky high, and I was ready to explore the city. I spent 3 great days exploring different districts in Japan, but really, I just learned that there would always be more to see.
Next was my New Year’s trip to Kyoto and Osaka. I liked my time in Osaka, but Kyoto was really the standout for me. It really lived up to its reputation as the cultural capital of Japan, and the shrines and temples were consistently amazing. Osaka felt like a very fun city to be in, and the people do seem a bit more friendly, but it does stand out less in my memories.
I would go on to have a great Golden Week with my family visiting from Canada, going places both new and old alongside people I love. Even as recently as this summer I got to go to Okinawa, which might just be my favorite place I’ve been too. Every trip I’ve gotten to take here has never disappointed, and it’s probably one of the best parts of this experience.
I’m still pretty content with my life here in Japan, but I’m not planning on renewing my contract. Part of what I’ve enjoyed about my time here in Japan is knowing that when I’m ready, it’ll come to an end. I never intend to stay in Japan long term, and while I’ve loved being here, nothing has really changed my mind about that.
Moving from a multicultural country like Canada to a monocultural country like Japan was always going to cause some friction. Canada just seems to line up with my values more culturally and politically. There are plenty of things Canada can learn from Japan though, and I hope I can take the aspects of Japanese culture that really resonate with me when I move home.
Largely though, I think that it’s because I’ll never really be seen as “Japanese” or part of Japanese society more broadly. At first I thought it was the language, or the cultural norms and expectations. But from my perspective, this is kind of an issue with Japanese culture. Even people born in Japan who might be of mixed race might not be seen as “Japanese” like their peers.
I have students who speak fluent Japanese, are going to a Japanese high school, may have lived here for many years, and plan to for the foreseeable future, but I worry they may not be accepted. When I was in high school, I never considered who was or wasn’t Canadian, because anyone could be Canadian. Language, ethnicity, culture, those varied so widely between my peers that it almost became a non-factor.
No matter how good I get at Japanese, or how perfectly I learn the cultural mannerisms, I’ll likely always be seen as an outsider here in Japan. Even if I saw it as my home, other people would probably never see it the same way, and on some level, that really bothers me.
That’s all to say nothing of all the loved ones I’m missing like a heart attack. Friends, family, my cat, there’s not a day that goes by where I don’t miss them. In contrast, I’ve only really managed to make one lasting friendship here in Japan, and they’re planning on returning home themselves.
This past year has been everything I’ve hoped for though. I’ve had one of a kind experiences, gotten familiar with a culture so different from everything I’d known back home, and made so many precious memories. It’s had its share of hardships too, but I knew that was also part of the experience I was after.
I think Japan is a really special, unique place, and I’ll always be grateful that I had the opportunity to spend a whole year living here. It’s a weird feeling, even weirder when I know I likely won’t have another Japanniversary. Though then again, life is weird, and maybe someday I’ll find my way back here. For now though, I’ll keep doing my best to enjoy whatever time I have left here in Japan.