A Home Among Asians: Japan Edition

For those who didn't know, I participated in a two-week summer exchange in June through my college to Japan. It was only after I befriended Japanese exchange students in high school and in college did my interest in Japan and the language grow. Since then, I swore to my Japanese friends that I would visit them. When the exchange opportunity presented itself, AND THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE 90% PAID FOR BY MY SCHOOL, I couldn't resist!

It intrigued me that my first trip back to Asia, since being adopted, was to Japan not China. However, it seemed like a gateway to experiencing Asian culture without the emotional exhaustion of visiting China. Plus, I was also interested in teaching English in Asia and wanted to see if I could picture myself working in Japan.

Getting off the plane in Tokyo, I was dazed from being sleep deprived and overwhelmed with culture shock. Thankfully, I enjoy and am able to quickly adapt to my surroundings. That was evident when I was walking through the airport and a Japanese man dropped a piece of paper without noticing. I picked up the paper and ran after him saying, "Summimasen (excuse me)". He took the paper with both hands and did a quick bow, replying with, "Arigatou (thank you)" as I bowed in response. Guess those Japanese language lessons came in handy - thanks Duolingo!

The next 4 weeks were a blur of A LOT of Japanese food, cultural activities, language lessons, spending time with my host family, while also adjusting to the intense humidity, heat and jet lag. I spent the first two weeks in a prefecture located in the west at the Japanese partnering university. Then, I spent the next 16 days solo travelling to Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo visiting Japanese friends and site-seeing. I celebrated my birthday in Japan and I felt so blessed to be surrounded by such nice people.

I was surprised with how many Asian tourists there were in Japan, mostly from Korea, China and southeast Asia. During my trip, sometimes I would go an entire day without seeing one Caucasian person... and I felt good about that. Good because I felt like I was part of the crowd and didn't stand out because of the way I looked. Since moving to British Columbia from Toronto when I was 10 years old, I was mostly surrounded by White people. There wasn't much diversity and I could count the amount of Asian people at my elementary and middle school on one hand. Only in the past five years has my town grown in diversity. It's exciting, but I still feel like I stick out, especially when White older men feel the need to ask me about my ethnicity and connect it to a story about their son marrying an Asian woman. I've always wanted to experience what it would be like to be 'normal' and not have people stare at me or see me as exotic or worse: tell me I'm exotic *gag*. When I was in Japan, I felt closer to that and tried to go out of my way to fit into Japanese culture by tweaking my mannerisms and style. To be honest, I basked in the ability to just slip into a crowd and feel invisible.

Now, I am seeking a job in 2020 to teach English in South Korea. Many travellers I met while staying in Japanese hostels had just visited Korea and raved about their open-mindedness, sophisticated culture and superb food. I became more intrigued and began researching opportunities. I have completed my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate and plan on working in the February or August school semester. I am interested in how I will feel when living abroad, like I was in Germany, but in an environment where I look more like the local people. Will I feel like an outsider or more at home? To what extent will I change myself (appearance, mannerisms) to fit into Korean culture? Will I begin to lose my Canadian-ness in the search to fit in? Or will I still feel like I am stuck between two worlds: Canadian and Asian?

Everywhere I go, I find myself holding onto a piece of the country in some sort of way. Perhaps this experience won't tell me more about where I belong, but more about how I am able to feel connected to many different countries and still feel secure in who I am and where I come from. As my friend who also feels split between two cultures said, "I feel nowhere, but also everywhere."