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My First Impressions on Japan, Incl. “Fancy Shop” and “Viking”

Peter Payne by Peter Payne
17 years ago
in Your Friend in Japan

You never forget your first impressions of something. Although it was seventeen years ago, I still vividly remember my arrival in Japan, and how strange everything looked to me. Beyond the obvious “my, what a lot of Japanese people there are here!” thoughts that sprang into my mind or thinking that every house was a beautiful temple just because it had ornate kawara roof tiles on it, I remember not being able to take my eyes off the many vending machine I saw all around me, which were so clean and brightly lit. I’d prepared myself for difficulties in using Japanese to communicate, but I didn’t bet on my English coming up short — and yet there seemed to be all kinds of English words that I couldn’t understand, like “fancy shop,” which I now know is a shop that sells cute things like Sanrio toys and stationery; or “viking,” which has come to mean an all-you-can-eat buffet. But just like the Japanese proverb sumeba, miyako translatable as “if you live in a place, it will eventually become like the capital city to you” — or “home is where you hang your hat,” as we gaijin say — people can adapt to anything. Before I knew it, I’d not only gotten used to thinking of my strange life in Japan as “normal,” I’d even experience reverse culture shock when I went back to the States.

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Tags: culturegaijinLife in Japanvending machines

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