The biggest thing I realized after the first week in Japan, is that I HAVE \u00a0to learn basic Japanese.\u00a0 I can\u2019t point, smile and nod \u00a0my way through the dozens, hundreds (probably not hundreds) of weeks that I\u2019m going to be here. \u00a0I feel like an idiot and I probably look like one. \u00a0Greetings, numbers, foods, directions, basic conversation is a must.\u00a0 No one speaks English, but at least all of the menus at restaurants have pictures of every food item they serve, otherwise I\u2019d be really screwed.\u00a0 \u00a0The second biggest thing I realized is that there are a lot of Japanese people here. \u00a0Obviously, right?\u00a0 But, I mean A LOT. \u00a0I can walk around the city of Yokohama, a city with millions of people, for hours, and not see another non-Japanese person.\u00a0 What other major cities in the world can you walk around and see only one nationality?\u00a0 New York, London, Rio de Janiero, Hong Kong, I don\u2019t think so. \u00a0Japan is not a melting pot like the US, it has less than 1% non-Japanese people inside the country, and it’s obvious. \u00a0I\u2019m certainly not blending in, but I had no delusions that I ever would.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The biggest thing I realized after the first week in Japan, is that I HAVE \u00a0to learn basic Japanese.\u00a0 I can\u2019t point, smile and nod \u00a0my way through the dozens, hundreds (probably not hundreds) of weeks that I\u2019m going to … Continue reading