What are you doing to me, Japan?!

It's only been about 2 and a half months since I moved to Japan, which is sure to be a great experience full of growth and changes, but even in this short time there are a few unexpected changes about myself which I have started to notice.  You may need to sit down, as some of these might shock you...

Firstly,  I am finding that I almost like dogs.  Almost.  I have never really liked dogs (except for my childhood friend in Melbourne, Jess the chihuahua).  They make a lot of noise, they leave a lot of mess, and they usually smell.  Perhaps it was also because I had the joyous experience in my childhood of being bitten by a dog - twice, in fact.  I have always preferred and loved cats, and always will, but...something about the cute dogs I have seen at the park is definitely softening my dislike for canines.  They just look so excited to be able to run around and play fetch, they seem a little better groomed here in Japan, and I tell you one day at the park I saw THE cutest little dog, which kept trying to run towards me happily as the owner was coming past with it on a leash.  I just thought, "I want one!"  Even larger dogs like the akita are growing on me.  While I don't plan to go out and buy a dog anytime soon, I do know dogs are pretty popular with men so I suspect my (future/non-existent) husband may be wanting one anyway, and so this may be preparing me for a more harmonious (future/non-existant) marriage.

Next on the list is curry.  I am not really a fan of curry.  See my previous post on curry for more details.  Since being in Japan I have had many an opportunity to eat curry, which I took despite my aversion to the taste.  The other day at school the main dish in the lunch menu was curry (again), and despite knowing this, when I smelt that curry I took a deep breath and seemed to let out some kind of happy sigh.  Uh, wait, I'm looking forward to eating this?  Wow.  Strange, but true, I can now tolerate and even enjoy curry.

Next on the news is that I'm the proud owner of a beautiful purple bike.  That's right, I ride a bike.  In public.  It took a few tries to convince myself I wasn't going to die, but the truth of the matter is that I'm without a car and it just takes so long to walk anywhere!  Not to mention the difficulties of carrying groceries that distance as well.  Going by bike is so much faster, and luckily my neighbourhood is pretty much flat, so no nasty hills to deal with  (my hometown of Hobart is a different story there!).  So I have been riding my bike around, especially to the park and the large shopping centre, and for grocery shopping I bought an extra basket to put on the back which has greatly increased the amount of food I can buy in one trip, woohoo!  There may have been one little mishap recently from which I got some pretty awesome-looking bruises, but on a whole, so far, so good.  Even considering getting a cheap bike when I go back home - as long as I can make it to the bike track easily I should be able to avoid the hills mostly... Then again, it will just be so much easier to drive.  Hmm, we shall see.

As I may have mentioned one or twenty times, in my home of Tasmania there are no commuter trains.  So catching trains is generally not something I have tried unaccompanied.  But since moving to Tokyo, of course, I have to catch trains to get anywhere.  For the first month or so I had fantastic beginners' luck and seemed to find the train system very easy to navigate.  I was very pleased with myself.  After the beginners' luck ran out though I discovered many details about the train system I did not know which can and did result in getting rather lost.  But having worked those out now I think I am back to being a pro at trains.  There are three main types of trains in Tokyo - the Tokyo Metro (my favourite), the Subway (not to be confused with Tokyo Metro, which is also a subway system), and private lines, such as JR, Seibu or Tobu.  They are each a little different in how they work, and they often have different stations.  Near my house I have the choice of three stations: Chikatetsuakatsuka (which is the Tokyo Metro one I usually use, and has THE longest station name I've ever heard of), Hikarigaoka (Subway) or Shimoakatsuka (Tobu).  Having mastered such a complicated system, with no prior experience with trains, makes me feel all smart.  Sure, I'll meet you at the said station to which I have never yet been or even heard of.  No problem.  I'll just check with my friend Hyperdia and it'll be no probs.  You can officially call me a city girl now. 

Unfortunately not all changes are for the better.  I expected living in Japan would mean I'd be all trim and slim, eating all that seaweed and tofu.  But alas, 'tis not so.  In fact, in the first few weeks, despite all the walking I was doing (a somewhat new concept for me), I put on weight.  I don't know how much, as I haven't weighed myself, but I have a new friend which resides on my stomach.  I call it "Jelly Belly."  I suspect it may have something to do with the very salty flavour of most Japanese cuisine - after eating it I always feel the need for something sweet to balance things out.  Probably that and placing myself in a suddenly stressful situation - new food, new city, new country, new people, new language, new job, new culture, new friends, new transportation system, new EVERYTHING - has caused me to stress-eat (especially chocolate, the greatest de-stressor).  Something about being in Japan makes me feel the need to always be munching on something.  Still, I am hoping to reverse this change with a little more time and effort.


And now the change that this whole crazy experience is about - the language.  Learning Japanese - as in, learning to speak it somewhat fluently - was my main motivator in moving to Japan.  So how is it going?  Well, it is certainly a lot harder than it sounds.  Yes, being immersed in the language certainly does help, but it still requires a lot of WORK if you want to see any progress.  So I have been studying in various ways to try to improve.  While I do get frustrated quite often with my lack of skills, especially after 10 years of study (doesn't help that I had gotten worse in the last couple of years from not using it at all), I did have an experience recently which helped me to see just how far I have come in the last 2 and a half months.  My listening comprehension has improved dramatically!  I have gone from understanding almost nothing, to understanding, perhaps, about 70%, depending on the context.  While speaking is a little harder I have also seen some progress there, and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  It's still early days, and really I just need to remember that whatever progress I manage to make in my year or so here in Japan will still be a success story.  Plus there will be many other positive changes as a result of this experience, and there hasn't been a single day that I've regretting coming here.  In fact, I give thanks every day to be able to have this marvellous opportunity :)


I'll finish with a quote which I have found to be true:


"The key to change...is to let go of fear." - Rosanne Cash