This article was
written for Japanese people who have
lived in the United States for many
years, in addition
to interested US residents.
If you are planning
to return to Japan after more than
three years of absence, you might
think about facing
"reverse cuIture shock".
By "reverse culture shock" I mean
that you may have
difficulty adiusting your life in
Japan as if you were
"Gaijin".
Last December I
visited Japan after six years of absence,
since I had been reading Japanese
newspapers almost
everyday, I thought I kept up with
the changes, However,
I faced difficulties in unexpected
ways,
First of all I could not recall
son1e words in Japanese,
such as "hand towel served at a restaurant"
and "writing
paper". I had difficulty using honorific
words and forgot
to bow to others, l felt inexplicable
feelings on the street,
Who am I? Obviously I am not an Anterican
but I am not behaving
as Japanese, I felt the need to learn
Japanese etiquette.
I went to a bookstore and bought some
books, It would not
be totally unbelievable that I felt
culture shock, since
I have not lived in Japan for six
years consecutively.
Since I came over to the States, I
have struggled to learn
American culture and American English.
During this period
any exposure to Japanese culture and
1anguage was limited.
I think I started to think in English
without noticing.
You may notice
some problems in various aspects in Japan,
For example, many people still smoke
and go out to drink
after work, Many of them seem calm
and quiet and do not
express personal feelings unlike Americans.
For exannple,
even in a crowded train I felt a dead
silence in Osaka.
In contrast, I found Arnericans are
noisy and talking loudly
everywhere, like talking-machines,
In Japan son1e features
of democracy such as freedom of speech
and freedom of
information seem to rennain far behind
the standard of
the States, It seems to nne that n1ass
communication such as
newspapers and television and radio
programs are under
governn1ent control without Public
notice, There are too
many entertainn1ent programs and I
could not find good information
sources. In the United States I found
many useful information
source, Among television programs,
C-SPAN is very informative
since many important political and
educational meetings
are broadcast through this program.