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kah5217 · Joined: 29 Sep 2012 Posts: 270 Location: Ibaraki

Does anyone have some good tips for beating culture shock? Like, what helped you guys get over the initial hump?

This will be my second time going to Japan, though as an worker not a student. I know it will take time to fit in, meet friends, go to enkai, etc.

What do you think helps the best? I hear exercise is a good way, but I'll be stuck in an airport hotel for a week so that might not be feasible. Have any of you found TELL to be effective? They seem like a good service.

ssjup81 · Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:26 am Post subject:

I can honestly say that I had no culture shock my first time here. My culture shock was the good customer service. As for making friends, try talking with your coworkers to try to find a common interest or hobby. Also maybe explore your surroundings. Join local activities, etc.

steki47 · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 1029 Location: BFE Inaka

I try to maintain a balance between "Japanese life" and "foreign life". My first time in Japan I studied the language and did martial arts (this combines exercise with social/cultural/linguistic learning) but I also socialized with the other teachers.

If I was completely surrounded by Japanese, I felt a bit isolated and frustrated. If I was completely surrounded by Westerners, I felt as though I was missing the point of being in Japan.

You can have both.

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

Culture shock is really better described as culture fatigue. It is often shown on a graph like a sine wave. When you first arrive is supposed to be the euphoric stage. The best preparation is actually just researching it so that if it happens, then you will be able to know it for what it is.

It sounds to me like you're more anxious about being bored because you will at an airport hotel for the first week then culture shock. Bring a couple of books. Walk around. Go to coffee shops. Visit tourist places. If you drink, see if you can find a gaijin bar (if you don't speak Japanese well enough to just go to any bar at all). 'The Hub' is a chain of English-style pubs that foreigners often go to. Look online to see if there's one in your area. ***Do not drink your face off***.

I had to look up what TELL is. Do you honestly think you will need that in the first week? It sounds like you are dreading coming back to Japan. Once you're settled in you will have a routine- your own life.

When you arrive concentrate on settling in (this means after spending a week at an airport hotel- something that really isn't that big of a deal, IMO). Find out what's in your neighbourhood. Kind of go from there. Relax. If you work at a school in a big city, then there will be plenty of foreigners around. If you work in a small city, then there may only be the foreigners in your school or maybe at other schools in the area. Usually, in that situation you start meeting with the other foreigners socially after work. If you are in a rural area and are the only foreigner around and nobody speaks English and you speak no Japanese, then probably you will want to exercise a lot (the previous posters advice about martial arts is good- that's exactly what I did when I arrived and lived in a rural area. There's almost always going to be some sort of martial art available, if you're open minded about what kind you do {like whether it's a wrestling kind like judo or a striking kind like karate or a weapons kind like kendo or kyudo or some sort of mixture}), see if you can get English television or find a Tsutaya or other video rental place and watch DVDs, learn Japanese as quickly as you can, go to festivals to try to meet people etc.

kah5217 · Joined: 29 Sep 2012 Posts: 270 Location: Ibaraki

I'm more concerned about anxiety of living in a new culture for a year, that's why I brought TELL up. Last time I was only in Japan for six weeks, so this is quite a jump (at least for me).

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

kah5217 · Joined: 29 Sep 2012 Posts: 270 Location: Ibaraki

Oh, I'm not anxious about the future, I'm anxious about now. I'm leaving for JFK in a few hours and then flying into Narita.

Shonai Ben · Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 617

hagiwaramai · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 119 Location: Marines Stadium

Getting involved well is important I think. If you're working as an ALT there might not be any others in the school and you might be the only foreigner in your neighbourhood, so try to make lots of friends/contacts at orientation and get involved in your community as much as possible. Go to the gym, do karate, join a basketball team, go to Japanese lessons, show your face around the neighbourhood, etc, etc. If you've lived in Japan before you'll pick the language up again pretty quickly I would imagine, which will be a great help, and don't worry about any cultural mistakes you might make, just learn from them.

stumptowny · Joined: 29 May 2011 Posts: 310

you can't beat or get over culture shock in japan. it beats you down as long as you are here. the culture here is beyond homogenous. it is an island with little outside influence and a culture of tradition, even to its own detriment.

For example, March is a cold month as defined by a black and white calendar, therefore it is per-determined that every day in march, everyone is to wear coats, jackets, and winter clothes. never mind its 65 to 70 degrees sometimes in tokyo due to....... reality. these people are mentally stuck, in a box called japan. you will find yourself ignoring much, if not most of it.

if culture shock is a true concern, don't come to japan.. ever.