It has been a month since I arrived at Tokyo, Japan and everything has gone so fast that it seems to me it was yesterday when we landed at Narita Airport. From that very beginning Japan and particularly Tokyo and its people have not let me down at all. In the contrary, I’ve been more and more enjoying myself every day.
The first thought it comes to mind is change. Obviously, the Japanese society, food, culture, life style and towns are quite different from Spanish. However, this change has not been as big as I had thought before coming, but nice, pleasant and rewarding thanks to your excellent job at the Centre, the extremely kind collaboration of Japanese people and the huge effort I am doing.
All my first impressions are good, honestly. One of the things that most surprised me and appreciate is your kindness and behaviour towards foreigners. You are always willing to help, doing your best for us, very unusual thing in my own country. In addition to that impression, I love the way you preserve the places, towns and environment. Even though it is really difficult to find containers and rubbish bins in the streets you get on very well to keep everything neat and tidy. It is simply fantastic!
When it comes to food I just can say that all my best expectations have been confirmed. I not only love your food but I am also a fan of your cuisine. At the beginning was very exciting to taste a new dish every day as I discovered new flavours. However, I had to start cooking western food for the last two weeks to change a bit my diet and cut down on rice.
The fact of starting cooking at home has helped me very much to adapt to my new home and life style. Daily life at home might be one of the toughest parts of my period of adaptation. Although my room is western style, the change has been rather difficult for me. The lack of space, furniture, clothes and domestic appliances made my first weeks in Japan a bit stressful and uneasy. Nevertheless, little by little with enthusiasm and great motivation I manage to get almost all the stuff I missed and turn my small house into a cosy and welcoming place.
In addition to the difficulties of living at home there’s the language. For this first four weeks the communication between Japanese people and me in daily situations has been the most complicated challenge. Going shopping for something specific such as medicine was always funny and challenging. However, thanks to the excellent Japanese lessons I am attending at the Centre (one of the most funny and interesting things of my stay here) and the amazing wide range of possibilities that technology offers to us nowadays I am starting to be able to have short conversations in Japanese and more or less say what I want. Japanese language is quite difficult to learn but with daily dedication and a great deal of motivation I think I am getting on quite well.
Therefore, little by little I am struggling to reach my goals and challenges as new ones appear on the way. As well as learning and understanding Japanese language, culture, society and business practice I want to do my best more than ever to extend my stay here in Japan as much as possible because I am falling in love with your country, honestly. For example, one of the cultural things that has drawn my attention the most is Shinto’s religion. I am decided to know this fascinating way of interpreting our life on the Earth.
In order to reach my main goals during the last days of September I started deeping into your culture and society by joining Japanese sports clubs and participating in cultural exchange activities in my neighbourhood. I also started meeting Japanese people aiming to establish long term relationships in Japan, a part of the Vulcanus acquaintances, and to put into practice my language skills.
To sum up, I am very happy and proud of being here, enjoying myself more and more every day. I am continuously glad and that is why I just can say thanks to you, Japan. I am looking forward to writing my next report in Japanese.
Gambatte kudasai!
