Welcome To Japan

Well, I've been here for a month almost and here are my long promised stories of what is going on in Japan. Let me tell you, Japan is like no other place I've ever been before. The more time I'm here the less I know what the hell is going on.

In a country where respect is the most important thing, but still 90% of girls get away with dressing like porn stars through the streets, the most difficult thing is to be a gaijin (foreigner). You would think that in the year 2008 people wouldn't be surprised when they see someone from a different racial background, specially if we are talking of Caucasian. For Christ's sake! we're in all the movies you watch!! But no, not in Japan, they will stare at you for hours on end without uttering a single word, and then, when you speak or just make a sudden movement, they will freak out as if they'd seen a talking frog. It's amazing that it never gets old for them, anything is funny.

Do this in front of a camera and they'll go wild! It's the funniest thing they've ever seen. You kind of feel like a monkey in a zoo, everyone coming around and laughing at anything you do. So obviously sometime we just have these random burst of stupid noises and movements just to freak out people around us. It can be extremely funny, especially in public areas, where people just freeze up and don't know what to do because you are not following the social norms.

Don't get me wrong, they're amazing people, really kind, nice and polite. I don't intend to make you think I've learned all about them in the month I've been here, but I've been here long enough to know that they are fucking weird.

As for the place, it is all very quiet, sun raises early and sets early. People don't make noise on the streets at sleeping hours and they're obsessed with recycling! We have 4 different trash cans for different types of wastes, and if you don't separate it correctly your trash is rejected!! They give it back to you so you have to separate it again. There's a thought I'm really scared of... I really don't want my trash handed back to me. They don't seem to have bars, at least as we know them. There are a few clubs in the bigger cities, but here in Hirakata-shi (or hirakata-shit as we've dubbed it) there really are no sources for fun, except for karaoke of course, they love it! I must have gone to karaoke about 8 times since I got here. It is fun, it's different from your regular karaoke back home and more like Lost in translation karaoke: small rooms just for you and your friends and waiters that come in and kneel to take your order. I'm not sure if they do this to not get in the way of you looking at the screen or if they actually have to. A lot of people here have to do things you would not believe.

Languagewise, Nihongo can look difficult, but believe me, it's worse than you think. Just kidding, speaking Japanese is not all that difficult once you figure out what level of respect your listener deserves, the longer the sentence, the more polite. As for reading and writing, I've already given up hope of ever learning. I can already read and write hiragana, one of the styles of writing, and I'm not doing bad in katakana, another style (confusing, you think?), but they've told me that these aren't any good, because then I have to memorize the separate kanji, which are the difficult symbols that represent 2 words each, so... I think I'll stick to the speaking.

But the most important thing is that I'm having a blast. It's being an amazing experience and I'm learning a lot about a new country, an amazing culture, a totally different way of life and, consequently, about myself.

There's a lot more to learn, I'll get back to you when I do.