When I came to Japan for the first time, I found that there were many things that the United States and Japan have in common, but I also found that there are also a large amount of differences. I moved back to the United States for a short time, but then I returned to Japan in order to study here. I would like to talk about my time studying in a foreign country.

One of the major differences between the United States and Japan that I encountered when I first arrived was that banking and money seemed to be done slightly differently. Although it has changed since I arrived here, when I first came to Japan in 2009, I found that many stores, particularly restaurants, did not accept payment by card, so I often found myself carrying cash. This was mostly when I was living in Okinawa, but I did encounter similar experiences when I later moved to Tokyo. This has mostly changed since my arrival, however, as I have increasingly found that the number of restaurants that do not accept credit cards or debit cards seems to have decreased. This was something of a change for me, as in the United States, most places accept cards, and it reminded me that I was not living in my own country and that I must adapt to the local environment.

I did not attend a Japanese school during my time studying in Japan; I went to an American university instead. While I was there, I noticed some differences between the Japanese students and the students from other countries. As my school’s classes are all taught in English, and therefore requires that all students have a high degree of English proficiency, every student that attended the undergraduate program had levels of proficiency that allowed them to be able to learn efficiently, even if they were not English natives. This allowed me to interact with students from various different countries. As there were students from Japan, Africa, Germany, China, Hong Kong, and other countries, being able to converse with each other in a common language and learn about their experiences and opinions and work on our group projects together helped me develop a more international mindset. I think that other students who study in foreign countries will likely have similar experiences.

The final thing that I’d like to introduce for now is that I found that being able to understand and use even a small amount of Japanese greatly improved my ability to navigate. Although my friends had often used me as a sort of translator when I was living in Okinawa, my knowledge was limited. Once I moved to Tokyo, I began to formally study Japanese in school. As a result of living in Japan and my studies, my proficiency rapidly increased. I think that this total immersion was greatly beneficial, as I can now communicate more effectively with Japanese people and enjoy consuming Japanese media entirely in Japanese, which was something that I likely would not be able to do if I hadn’t studied in Japan.