Living in Japan

      These past couple days have been a whirlwind. Japan is a combination of things I've heard, and things that I did not expect.

   

1. THE FOOD!

    Japanese food is insane. First off it is cheap, I went to a relatively nice restaurant and got a full meal for about $6. The food is very good quality, you can taste every flavor on your tongue. A lot of the time I don't really know what I'm buying and rely on pictures to chose what I want to eat. I can tell that the food I'm eating isn't filled with processed corn syrup, food dye that gives you cancer, and preservatives. The restaurants are tiny, seating about ten people on average, and there is a very chill, welcoming atmosphere. Ordering can be daunting, especially if you have questions about the food or special requests for your meal. The 7/11 down the street from my dorm has amazing snacks, chilled meals, frozen meals, ice-cream, drinks, and other things that make it like a convenience store. I've gone into that 7/11 at least once a day if not more to buy food or other things for my dorm. 

                                                           Chicken and Vegetable Curry

                   Soba (you are supposed to take the noodles a little bit at a time and put them in the broth)

Asahi Mori (bottom) and Beef Intestines (top) (this is raw and then we cooked everything on a grill on the table)

2. The People

          The people in Japan are incredibly kind and courteous. Some can be weary of foreigners or Gaijin, which means round-eyed person in Japanese, and is kind of slang for a foreigner. It can be compared to the slang gringo in Spanish. Japanese people are so patient with me when I am trying to figure out how to order food at a restaurant, or buy things at a store. They all know varying levels of English, but usually not much, so I'll try and use as much Japanese as I can, and then fill in the rest with english and see if they can understand. 

    I do not understand a lot of the unspoken rules in Japan. For example there are tables in stores after you buy things where you take your cart and the  unopened grocery bags they gave you and set everything on the tables and put things into the bags. As an American, I expected the cashier to put all of my merchandise into the bag so when they handed me everything back I fumbled and started trying to put everything in the bags at the counter (holding up the line behind me) and the cashier motioned me to bring my stuff to the table on the other side of the register. I do notice that I am being stared at a lot more here, and sometimes I think it is because I have something in my teeth, or my hair looks crazy, but I have to remind myself that it is just because I look a bit different than everyone else. They also say thank you after every single interaction, and you are expected to say it back as well. When you leave a store or resturant they say arigatogozaimas (thank you very much), and then you can give a little bow if you really want to be respectful and say it back to them. 

     I've also crashed into three different four foot tall really old Japanese ladies in stores because they aren't in my line of sight. They are so quiet it feels like they almost sneak up behind me and then when I turn around I don't see them and crash into them. I don't have great spacial awareness to start but I need to start making a habit of looking down a bit more when I am walking around here. 

3. The Sights

    I haven't done a ton of sight seeing in Japan because I've have to do all the administrative paperwork and tasks that come with moving to another country. I've also had to go shopping for things like pillows (which I STILL haven't found) I'm just using folded up sweatshirts right now, organizers for all my stuff for my room, shampoo, conditioner, and hangers just to name a few. Shopping in another country is pretty difficult and time consuming when you can't read any of the labels or signs in the store.  

    I was able to do some sight seeing yesterday with two of my friends, and it was amazing. We went to the historic neighborhood of Gion, where Geishas used to be. There was a huge market, and we also walked down a skinny street lined with traditional houses and businesses, with lots of little alleyways. The thing that struck me as really interesting was seeing 2,000 year old temples nestled between a Starbucks and a clothing store. 

    Even walking to the local 7/11 to get dinner right now is considered sightseeing for me because everything just looks so different. Every sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell is so different than home. Which can be very overwhelming. I am physically exhausted after everyday from the amount of walking that we do, but also mentally exhausted from all of the language translation and new things that I am seeing everyday. 

                                                             Temple in downtown Kyoto

                                                               Historic street in Gion

                                                                     Market in Kyoto

                                               Very overstimulating store called Don Quijote

                                     View of the city from the top floor of Kyoto Train Station