Adaptation

After being here for a week, I found it actually so much easier to adapt back to the western society than I had expected. I thought that I would have forgotten how to do things, how to get around and be the way I used to be, but it felt just like riding a bicycle. You learn how to ride a bike when you were a kid, and then you don't ride it for years, but then one day, you go on it again, and you can ride it perfectly well just like you did, many years back. It's funny how your body remembers certain things, even if our minds take a bit longer.

I do miss Japan. Well, I miss my people there. A friend who's been overseas for a while told me that it was the "3 month hump". After 3 months, I'm meant to be over all that 'missing' stuff and meant to be getting used to life here again. Well, for me I think it was more like the "3 day hump". I mean, I still miss stuff back in Japan, but I am already used to life back here. My American accent has completely dropped, and I actually sound Australian now :) It took me a week, but my accent is back! However, I couldn't understand my friends the other day. They were talking to me and I just sat there, looking at them. I literally couldn't understand them cuz I have been way too exposed and used to the American and Canadian accents. Oh well~~.

After being back, I have noticed stuff. Japan really does spoil you so much. I mean the conveniences, the transport, the places to hang out, the things to do......... Just everything. It's all there. I mean, I can't even get to the station here without a car. And everything closes so soon and public transport here really suck. Well I guess Canada will be like Australia too.

However, I do feel more ease at mind in Australia. I mean I feel like I have no arms and legs, since I don't have a car here, so I feel I am physically handicapped, but I do feel more stress free here. "I can be who I want to be and I am accepted for being that". Individualism is 当たり前 here. The fact that it is a multicultural country, and everyone is from different countries allows people to be different and individuals. And I like being different.
Japan doesn't allow anyone to be different. Being different is a crime. Everyone and everything has to be labelled and put into categories. I mean, the country is obsessed with designer labels and stuff. I found it really hard for me because I was not really in any of the categories. I'm not fully "nihonjin" and I'm not exactly "gaijin" either. So, people would hesitate when trying to label me, and I couldn't handle it anymore. It hurt me when people would not see or accept me as Japanese, or when people would expect me to throw out some western parts of me and be more Japanese. At least in Australia you are praised for being yourself.