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hey guys welcome back to my channel
today i'm going to be talking about
reverse culture shock because you guys
have been asking for this type of video
for a very long time
i haven't done like a proper sit down
video in a while
and i think this is the time to do one
because my
goal for this channel is to give you
guys as much information
updated information as possible about
living in japan
not just traveling i will be doing
plenty of travel videos for you guys as
well
don't forget to follow me on all of my
social media platforms i'm mostly active
on
instagram i post a lot of behind the
scenes stuff and things like that
okay so there's a lot to cover about
this topic
and i didn't talk about it the last time
i went home because
i had some reverse culture shocks but
this time
had been the most shocking going back
home
was the moment that i realized oh my god
i'm so disconnected
from my own culture i feel very out of
place this is something that
really struck me when i went back home
and i didn't expect it i thought
it was going to be very it was going to
be a lot easier going back home this
time than it was the first time
and i'm going to explain what kind of
reverse culture shocks i
felt after living in japan for six years
i have
changed so much and i really want to
discuss not only the reverse culture
shocks but how japan has changed me in
general
after living here for so long i feel
like people who move abroad are such
brave brave people because there's so
much that you have to re-learn
of course you get used to it as you go
along
i'm gonna talk about first my reverse
culture shocks and what i felt
stepping off the plane the first thing i
really noticed
is the lack of effort people put into
their appearance
appearance compared to japan and i'm
saying that
i went from seeing women always in
skirts and tights and
high heels and fashionable jackets and
things like that
to sweatpants and topknots just
seemed very unmotivating to me maybe
it's where i'm from i'm from michigan
a lot of people were wearing sweatpants
and pajama pants everybody looked very
comfy and cozy like they were going to
to bed soon even if it was like 1pm
people would be wearing these things and
i'm so used to like dressing up and
presenting myself and
that's just kind of what society is like
here in japan and
that's something that i noticed that was
a big difference another big thing
that really shocked me is driving
so when i went back home i had to renew
my license which was kind of funny
because i haven't renewed it
like in person in a long time i haven't
gotten a new picture in a
long time many years i renewed my
license and i was able to drive
i got in the car and i was just like
what do i do how do i turn on the lights
how do i turn on the windshield wipers i
was testing everything in the car
before i started moving because i
haven't driven in a couple years i drove
the last time i went home and that was
terrifying as well i'm not gonna lie
it has been a very very long time since
i drove
this is going to be a challenge yay
oh i feel like i went back in time i'm
so short
okay i made it to my first destination
that was actually super easy and i feel
like i haven't left america so it's
totally fine
but parking scared me okay parking
scares me yay i did it
driving is stressful like stressful to
the max
i'm so used to getting on a train
opening up a book
turning on my music and just relaxing
until i get to my destination
getting on a train in tokyo most trains
are very quiet yes they're packed on
certain times a day
of the day which can be kind of
stressful but most of the time
it's very quiet people are kind of to
themselves i can
plan get my work done on the train it's
just that that gap of time that you need
because
when you're driving you can't do
anything you can't text you can't even
calling can be dangerous calling people
can be dangerous
you can't read a book you can't watch tv
it's just honestly like i feel like
trains are just my thing another
big thing this is gonna sound very
negative but
people in america can kind of have
stick up their butt they're not very
nice sometimes i feel like in japan
a lot of people kind of fake being happy
maybe that's a bad thing
but i like that because it kind of makes
my day feel good i don't know when
people when i walk into a store and
someone's smiling and happy
and talkative and all that stuff i love
that and i feel like in japan
that's what they have to do it might be
a little bit
robotic but it does make a very
stressful day
less stressful it's very rehearsed
almost
in america's it's like here you go did
you find everything you need blah blah
blah
it'll be a little bit more natural which
i i do kind of like there's a lot of
rudeness
compared to japan another thing that
blows my mind is
everything is huge in america when you
live in japan for so long i live in a
tiny apartment
i um eat tinier portions when you go to
a restaurant they don't give you so much
food
so when you go to america they give you
this huge blade of food i remember i
went to the rochester brewery when i was
there in one of my videos
and the food was so big i was like what
the heck i cannot finish this is the
size for like three people even my house
was big like
walking into my house everything was so
wide and
the cups and the mugs were too big i was
just like intimidated and anxious
feel like a tiny person in this huge
world
that's the the main thing that trickled
triggered a lot of my anxiety was how
big things how big the roads were how
far away things were
everything was too big too big
is your house different did you do
something to it i'm so confused
hi do you remember me maybe
maybe she does oh yes she does is it
okay to have my shoes on i'm not used to
this
reverse culture shock oh my gosh this is
so like nostalgic
here i parked look at me look at this
parking job it's so good
i'm gonna get out and it's gonna be all
squiggly it's so funny i'm gonna usually
get a carry out when you get their
creeps
this is national coney islands menu
so oh my god look at everything it looks
so good and american
i used to come here with dana all the
time this is like our spot this is how
where we used to go all the time is
there sugar in this
or maybe it's unsweetened i don't know i
don't know but it tastes so different
this is iced tea and it just tastes
different
what is this oh my god okay so this is
the honey
there's grilled or not grilled chicken i
keep saying that crispy chicken
and then my greek salad and then we got
some cheese sticks to share because
i love mozzarella sticks oh my gosh and
she got chili this is the famous like
coney chili i just tipped i was so
confused
dana helped me another thing is i felt
like a foreigner in my own
country i didn't feel like i belonged i
didn't feel like i
fit in like there was just something
weird about
myself i noticed that i have i have
changed a lot
throughout my six years of living in
japan i think a lot of relationships
have changed
you don't interact with people the same
way even family or friends
you're just a very different person and
hopefully for the better people kind of
treated me
like how i was when i left for japan
nobody has seen my changes or seen me
grow up
since i left for japan so nobody knows
how to interact with me i think
sometimes and they don't realize that
they don't know how to interact with me
i think my habits have changed i think
the way i speak
has changed i've become very
minimalistic since i left
for japan japan has taught me to be more
minimalistic and to downsize on things
and to
not be so materialistic and that's
another
thing that some of my friends actually
have noticed
i'm not sure if my family has maybe they
have because i was always always yelling
at them i can't take this home i can't
do this my apartment's too tidy
i was a lot less independent when i was
in america
that's one thing that japan has done to
change me as a person
but people don't see the behind the
scenes so when you come home
you're like a new person because you've
lived in a different country so
your habits are different i i noticed
that i apologize a lot more which is
probably a bad thing but in japan this
is a very apologetic country
i do that at home now i'm like sorry
sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry or
sometimes sumimasen comes out i think
this is probably the number one thing
that shocked me the most i didn't expect
to feel this way
but this was the most
shocking thing that has
changed me as a person and that is
feeling homesick
i miss japan i missed everything about
japan
i think it also has to do with my
location i lived in michigan there's not
so much around in my hometown to do
you know everybody's getting older and
it's so strange to say that because this
is my own country
a lot of people are married they have
kids they have reached a lot of their
goals already so going back home was a
little different there's so much i want
to see in japan
it'll take a lifetime to see half the
things here and i
felt like i didn't complete that i had
this anxiety like
i went back home and it was almost that
feeling like i wasn't going back to
japan
and it was this panic in my head this
country
has been the most
amazing to me even though i've gone
through some hard times i've experienced
life in this country if you've
experienced so much
in one country then that place is worthy
enough to be called home
and i felt very connected to japan after
living here for
so many years i feel very independent
here i feel like i have my life and my
career
and i i'm doing what i love i'm teaching
wonderful kids and i'm doing youtube
living in my tiny apartment and doing
the things that i'm passionate about and
love
and being away from that
made me feel sad anybody who lives here
and moves here is so
lucky to do so and maybe other people
can say otherwise
but i love this country and i'm so
passionate about it and
going home made me realize that so much
i'm just happy to be back and that was
the one
huge shock that i had reverse culture
shock when i
moved or not moved but when i visited
america
japan has changed me in the best way
possible
i've gone through so many difficult
situations
and i could have gone through these
difficult situations back home
but living amongst another culture i
think the main thing
has been i've become more open-minded to
other people there are so many different
cultures here there are so many
different ethnicities and and
different stories and and people that
are have been born and raised in
their in other countries like new
zealand or russia australia i have so
many friends from
around the world and i've just learned
so much about these people and their
struggles
and i've learned a lot about the
japanese people and if you've lived in a
country for a really long time and you
haven't been accepting
of the way people do things in another
country then you shouldn't be here if
you're being more negative about the
country then you're being positive
i think that's a sign that this place is
not meant for you
i've always been very kind and accepting
of other people and i think that's the
most important thing when it came to
anxiety this is a whole other video that
needs to be done but i have broken
that barricade that i had when i had
anxiety i felt very suffocated before
and now i feel very
aware and accepting of who i am
and understanding of what i need to do
to
keep my anxiety at bay japan has put me
in
so many so many difficult situations
and i was forced into these situations
that has made me a stronger and more
driven
person i'm not afraid to go out and go
far away by myself
i am so proud of myself like
oh my god i'm gonna cry i need to pack
and move in a week
um the internet company is going to come
the next day after i move
it's like really humid today as you can
see
my hair didn't make it we're gonna go
see the ikemen gorilla
they came in gorillas like
sexy good looking so we're gonna go
check him out
and hope that the gorilla checks us out
[Music]
to start my first video on this channel
you will find videos about my adventures
in japan
[Music]
and we're going to talk about uh culture
shock in japan
it's not going to be a lot of uh common
culture shock you're the tan of your
[Music]
i've learned how to take care of myself
and how to better myself another thing
like i mentioned before
i've become less high maintenance i
don't mind
walking for an hour to get somewhere
like i'm not even kidding
i will walk for an hour to get to a
location and you know why because
in japan there's so much to see when
you're walking
you can walk for days and see so many
cool
things i used to not be like that going
home
i see like some of my family like oh i
don't want to walk 20 minutes to the car
i'll walk 20 minutes to the car i
remember when my family visited and i
don't think they really realized
but they complained about a lot of
things that i just don't complain about
anymore
you have to really mentally prepare
yourself and i thought i was mentally
prepared because i've
studied abroad in japan but it's so
different when you live here
because there's a lot of adulting that
you have to do i don't know how to adult
in america
i'm just gonna straight out say that i
don't know anything about health
insurance i don't know anything about
living finding an apartment i don't know
anything about fixing a car
i don't know any of that stuff you have
to really start over you have to start
your
whole life over do i see myself settling
down here
i don't know like i don't know i have no
answer i know a lot of people have asked
me that
but i just i don't know right now i know
that i'm happy
and i think with somebody that has
anxiety and has lived with anxiety
living in the now is the most important
thing that you can put your mind
into i'm not even married i don't have
kids like those things haven't happened
for me
yet and i'm still young so i'm still in
my 20s living in japan in my 20s
has been the best time to spend your 20s
please comment down below if you haven't
had any experiences living abroad
going home reverse culture shock culture
shock in general in another country
tell me your story i love hearing them
and i hope to make more informational
videos about life in japan
but i also want to talk about more
travel stuff so if you guys are just
planning on visiting
i will try to make videos about that as
well hope you guys enjoyed this video
and don't forget to like it if you want
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what youtube what thank you guys so much
and
i will see you guys next time bye
[Music]
you