March 4th 2014 marked the one year anniversary of my gut clenching take-off to Japan. I was thinking about this today as my birthday approaches, remembering turning 23 in Japan after being there for 23 days.
Can we all believe that it's been a whole YEAR since I stepped off a 26 hour travel across the world onto Tokyo soil thinking "What....in the soy sauce am I even doing here?!" It's really funny to think back and laugh at myself feeling overwhelmed and crying in the hotel room my first night looking out the window feeling lost, scared and so completely Westernly uncultured. What an out-of-body experience! Everything is so new that even walking felt like it was the first time I'd ever done it. Here goes this blonde-haired blue-eyed girl stumbling down the airport lobby carrying too much luggage for her shaky body to handle with eyes that look like they'll be dragging on the floor in no time. Haha, as if I didn't stick out already. I must have been a sight for all the well-travelled people or local Japanese as I'm sure they muttered under their breath "this chick is in for a tsunami of a time, best of luck to her".
It really does seem surreal now that I spent a marvellous (okay...looking back it was probably 17% marvellous, 80% CRAZY and 3% frustrating) 6 months in the land of the rising sun. The beauty of it is though that as much as it doesn't seem real....it has completely changed my life forever. I still use the Japanese language semi-regularly; I practice at my volunteering place called Momiji and with my Japanese friends, including those who came to Toronto to practice their English and live lives equally as nonsensical as mine was in Japan. Bless them for their courage! And I miss Japan almost everyday.
I realize also that this post is....BEYOND overdue. I remember promising updates following my return home and I more or less completely did not do it. Oops. But let's leave this short and sweet post with something I've realized since returning to Canada...
Japan....is....everywhere.
I strongly believe that noticing how many times Japan/Japanese culture/Japanese people/the Japanese language finds itself in movies, books, TV shows, literature, trivia, conversation, music etc. is NOT due to my bias caused by my love for Japan. People are literally obsessed with the country and the culture and can't stop talking about it. It's like the "cool" thing if you know Japanese culture or speak some of the language. I mean really...out of all the countries that are possible to include in your script...you chose Japan. If you don't believe me...take a closer listen to what people say in movies to non-main characters (I'm sure there is a real name for these cast members - extras?) likely they'll be speaking Japanese...I'm not kidding. Check out Forgetting Sarah Marshall, True Blood, Goldmember...even TedEX talks! You'll begin to notice the love for Japan that's always in the Western mind.
Even John Mayer "planned a trip to Japan alone"... I am compiling a list that I will be happy to share sometime soon as well. It's mind blowing.
p.s sorry if now you're brain washed to seek out any mention of Japan, but now you know how I feel.
