Eight Difficulties of Moving to and Living in Japan. Moving to Japan was a major life event for me. While it was exciting and fun, it was also challenging. From making friends to figuring out where to buy groceries, the difficulties of living in Japan at times felt insurmountable.
While technology has helped make language less of a barrier, a lack of fluency was and still is a major challenge to living in Japan. Learning basic phrases. Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, Koshu-ben. It can feel overwhelming. Still, a bit of effort has always made a good impression. When I am in doubt, I remember this beautiful quote by the late George Carlin: “Everyone smiles in the same language.” Signing up for language classes was helpful in the beginning – not only for linguistic learning, but also a great way to meet new people.
Getting to know new people is extremely important. It was not too difficult to make friends, especially in Yamanashi. The key thing was to put myself out there. Like most things in life, the more I put into making friends, the more I got out of it. Joining clubs, sports or volunteering also helped expand my social network.
It goes without saying that I struggled with being far from friends and family. Keeping in touch with loved ones was vital for my mental health and success living abroad. The challenge was finding time to stay in contact and dealing with different time zones.
I made a point to schedule regular conversations with friends and family, and learn the time difference. Luckily, technology has helped tremendously with this. Having a regular Facetime session or phone call eased the distance and made for a better transition to life in Japan.
Dealing with culture shock was one of the biggest difficulties of living in Japan. It happens to most, and crept in as the excitement of arriving faded and reality sunk in. It’s hard to understand when it’s happening to you, and culture shock affects each person differently. The experience of moving abroad can be intense and frustrating. I realized how much I took knowing how to do everyday tasks for granted. How to mail a package, what the oven settings are, how to open a bank account…Coming to Japan, I was suddenly confused by the easiest tasks and the frustration sunk in as I navigated Japanese culture. Good news though. With time, patience, and a sense of humor, culture shock inevitably passed.