Japan: Changing perspectives

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting when I came to Japan, but I can say that I didn't experience any giant culture shock that most people expect. After a few days, I mostly forgot that I was half a world away from home. I guess what I did come to understand is how Japan compares to other countries. Japan is said to by high-tech, fast-paced and modern. This is really only partially true. While quick to grow in some areas, Japan is slow to change in others. Take a look at my other posts on homelessness, gender equality, social flexibility and insulation in houses.

Society aside, what did I learn? Well, that's difficult. My years of interest in Japan, as well as lack of any other goal, led me to learn about most of the vastly different or "perspective changing" areas. I could say, however, that my perspective on Japan changed once I started looking seriously into studying here, and the act of coming to Japan really just solidified what I had learned. In high school, my only real exposure to Japan was through Japanese TV, movies and music. I thought it would be fun to study in Japan, but I had no idea what it was really like here. Once I got to college and started seriously studying Japanese life and culture, I tried seriously to understand the “reality” about Japan, not just the bits and pieces that somehow make their way to the US. It seems that there is a giant invisible filter in the Pacific that only lets the weird and exciting things about Japan through. I find a lot of people have some strange ideas about what it is like here. Now I can really say that Japan isn't that weird, a least no weirder than other places. Things are just different, and usually even with the craziest thing you find here, I'm sure if you think hard enough, you can match it with an equally, or stranger, example from your country. Go ahead, try it.