I figured it's time for a change of pace. I'm just going to rant about my life in Japan so far. Feel free to skip if you're not interested. :P All of this is my own experience, so it's obviously okay to agree/disagree with me. If you disagree, feel free to comment and tell me why! :)
It's been a little over 2 months since I got here (I arrived on August 26th, I think). The first month was really, really hard in terms of adjusting, but I think I can safely say I've adjusted to the situations I've encountered so far.
The first thing I've noticed recently is that I've stopped caring about being foreign. I'm really obviously foreign-looking (light skin, blue eyes, light hair), so I got stared at a lot. It wasn't really anything ill-intentioned; it was more like them looking at me because they were curious or just did a double-take and thought, "Oh. Foreign." It bothered me only rarely, but for the first month, I was hyper-aware of it. I would go out with the thought, "Okay, prepare for people to look at you." I'm kind of shy/like to go unnoticed normally, so this was unusual for me for a while. Now, I go out without caring. People still look, but I either don't notice or I really just don't care.
I've also noticed how much safer Tokyo is than I thought. You should obviously have common sense about which places are definitely not okay to go alone, but for the most part, I can walk back to the train station from Shibuya at night without any sort of anxiety. I can ride my bike home at midnight from Musashisakai after a concert and not be afraid. The most that ever happens to me is someone saying "Hello" when I walk/ride by sometimes.
On Saturday, I went to J-Rock Evolution, a concert with 5 bands that lasted about 7 hours total. During one of the bands (Girugamesh), I had put my purse between my legs on the floor because I was tired of holding it. Without any warning, people started moshing around me. I couldn't find my purse. I obviously panicked and couldn't focus on anything for the rest of that song except for finding my purse. I found it safely at the back of my section, stacked with other purses against a wall. No one had taken anything out of it. No one even opened it. What's more, I noticed that my coin locker key had fallen out because I put it in a sort-of open side pocket. THAT'S what made me panic more, because my friends' purses were in that coin locker. At the end of the show, we told the staff what happened, and it turned out that someone had actually turned the fallen key into the staff without even going to our locker and taking anything. In some place like New York, our stuff would have been stolen within 5
minutes. This was probably 3-4 hours later, because we couldn't leave
before the concert was over. Maybe that's a rare occurrence. I don't know. Either way, it made me really appreciate how nice people were.
I've almost fully mastered the tricks of bike-riding. I can ride a bike while holding an umbrella (though I still have trouble starting and stopping), manage to do 二人乗り (riding a bike with someone sitting on the back part of it), and ride a bike while holding a skirt down (it's a legit problem, guys).
One thing I still haven't adjusted to is speaking Japanese. Compared to when I first came here, it's a lot better, but I have a hard time just talking without worrying about making mistakes, or it just takes me a really long time to figure out what to say. I've noticed there's a gap between how I feel about my speaking abilities in class versus outside of class, though. When I'm out at a concert talking to people in the crowd, my speaking skills are passable, and I can understand almost all of what people are saying. In class, I feel like I'm always stumbling over words and hardly ever get the full context of what we're talking about. Maybe it's because I'm always trying to comprehend new subjects in class while I'm usually talking about stuff I know about in reality.
I applied for a work permit. With all of the concerts I've been going to and the places I want to go, money might start to become a problem. I already have a sort-of part-time job that meets twice a month, but it would make me feel better if I could have something a little more common. One problem I'm running into right off the bat is finding places that will hire foreigners. The easiest thing to do would be to apply to some sort of English tutoring company, but I've also been looking at places like CD shops, where I would be really interested in working. That kind of setting would really help me improve my speaking ability, I think. When I have time, I might go out job hunting in somewhere like Shinjuku. Even if I only get an interview, it would give me a chance to actually learn how to do a Japanese interview, lol.
Next semester is going to be difficult. There are hardly any classes in English (and the ones that are don't look very interesting). I'm considering taking two literature classes taught in Japanese and--if the professor lets me join--a Computer Music class taught in Japanese. In addition, I'm moving up to the next level of the Japanese Language Program here, assuming I pass. This will probably surprise my parents, but I'm going to be happy if I at least pass my Japanese class this semester. I usually don't settle for less than an A, but I'm not even confident in getting a B. It's really difficult for me. My final exam starts next Thursday, so these next couple of weeks will be dedicated to studying and writing final papers.
That's all I have to rant about right now, I think. I can write about specific topics later if you guys are interested. Give me feedback!
