It's a beautiful day in Japan and a cold night in Kansas City. I'm staying busy with spring cleaning while preparing for a visit from my mother to my amazing host country in 3 1/2 weeks. I've been strangley domesticated since my arrival here and these family visits help keep me in the thick of playing tourist :). Life is simple for the most part. I live in a 2 mile mock surburbia enclosed with fencing and barbed wire complete with a gate and guards (which is simply a safety procaution. Japan is one of the safest countries in the world and by far safer than America) . Overall, you forget you live an ocean away until you reach the edge of the post , like Columbus realizing his world is indeed flat. It's intriguing to watch an a different race of people moving outside your little universe and think about the fact that America is sleeping at the same time...but the boundaries begin to fade and you wander around trying to make sense of the differences in language, food, and customs. After a year and half here, I've let it all blend together into a beautiful dream.
Ah, well the disconnection from America has had a profound effect on how I view the world, including my change in perceptions about our society and living standard. Obviously, any country you travel to will be extremely different but living in an Americanized zone makes it twice as interesting! For instance, I have 10 tv channels hosted by AFN(armed forces networks). Just 10, lol. It's weird growing up with like 300+ channels of mindless programing to soundtrack your home life and then have such a limitation to your viewing choices. I have a movie channel(severely edited for family watching), I have a news channel(it's programs consist of everything from Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The Today Show, and Etc..and lets be honest, watching a Fox News show after a CNN show then MSNBC to get an adequate feel of U.S. politics, is not only hopeless but a serious circus freak show), I have a pentagon channel(showing mainly military friendly news), and all the remaining channels play reruns of Oprah, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and even Jersey Shore haha. SOooooo I must say my exposure to American media limited! we don't even get commercials during the superbowl lol only AFN public service annoucements! When all else fails though, there is Japanese TV and the language barrier makes it even more entertaing to watch in its exaggerated form.
Thank God for the internet :). It's my only source of serious news and most mornings I search the web for endless info on the happenings back home but popular culture sort of eludes me in so many ways. I'm rarely exposed to the newest products, movies, or radio songs on a daily basis without hunting them down. At first it made me feel even more isolated from home but overtime it became a great feeling to be free of so much of the media's influence; at the same time I began to rely even more on international news sources which became an awakening to how blind the average American likely is to many current world events! Unfortunately, everyone must now suffer through some serious opinions I have brewing about culture, society, and the way America is viewed/viewing the world....but it will take me weeks to completely spill everything and maintain arguments with those who will naturally debate this ;).
To a friend: Even I don't like to be vulnerable without the security of a certain end result but you have to open yourself to failure, in order to succeed at anything worth living for.
Lol, so, I'm not completely sure where this blog will go but I hope you'll stick with me :)
As always, I'm jealous of the beautiful weather there and the crappy weather here. While I was there, it was amazing seeing the difference in overall safety in Japan versus America. In Japan, you can feel safe walking down a dark alley and not feel like you have to fear for your life, or constantly watch over your shoulder. You can let your 7 or 8 year old kid ride the train by themselves and not be afraid something will happen to them in Japan. The difference in safety alone is huge.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine it being anything but a beautiful dream :).
It's so great that you got to experience the safety of Japan! It's an incredible feeling to walk down a dark alley at midnight and not fear for your life lol. I'll be discussing that more soon though.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful dream indeed!! :)