Changing Impressions

Looking back trough my blog posts, remembering my first impressions when I arrived in Japan and the Impressions I have gotten throughout my semester here there are things that have changed and things I have realized along the way.

One of my main impressions now is not an early impression that has changed as much as it is something I was not really aware of before. This is how there in Japan and it's culture seem to be a lot of contradictions. In class we have talked about the "Shy Japan/Sexy Japan" and how many Japanese are non-religious but still take part in, and practice different Shintoist and Buddhist ceremonies.

An impression that has changed is how I, in the beginning of my stay in Japan, felt somewhat distanced from the Japanese because I felt bad for not speaking the language and because of that, I found it hard to talk to people who did not know a lot of English (most people outside the University) and I also was not sure how to approach people outside of school. One of the many things I had heard before I came here is that many Japanese  is reserved and the last thing I wanted  to do was to come of as impolite. 

But as time went by and I started to learn some Japanese I realized that a smile and putting some effort into trying to talk Japanese often will make things easier than I thought. Even though I am just a Level 1 student of Japanese, people would appreciate my trying and this has many times lead to relatively long, and very rewarding conversations. 

I think that realizing this is the big reason (besides the fact that I really enjoy learning the language) I have decided to keep studying Japanese In Sweden. I do not know when I will be back in Japan the next time but I know that I will be better prepared, and talk to a lot more people.

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Saru, one of the many interesting people I have met and talked to in Japan.

I also think about all the things I expected Japan to be before I got here, because Japan really is one of those countries that you have a certain picture of before you get here. And I think that Japan is a lot of the things I expected, but different. Therefore I want to sum up my experiences with a picture I took in Shibuya.

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I think Shibuya Square is one of the things that really comes to peoples minds when they think about Japan, and it was one of the places I knew I wanted to see before I got here. From movies and pictures we all recognize it as a crowded place with a lot of people in motion. It was what I had expected, but it was raining, all the people had umbrellas which made it look very different from the mental image I had in my head. It was what I had expected, but different.