Comments on: Reverse Culture Shock: It’s the little things that get ya

By: Dan Moeller

Dan Moeller — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:31:22 +0000

Hey Greg, I am just finding out that I have not settled into some parts of Japan yet. Especially in relation to your “Strangers” category, I feel my wife is always burdening store sales persons, shop clerks and general employees with her slow questions and complicated requests. In reality, it’s starting to appear very normal in Japan. In America, I always felt like a bit of an interruption to employees and so I felt it was polite to be quick and direct, and to throw in a few jokes to make my “interruption” more pleasing.

By: Dan Moeller

Dan Moeller — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:22:17 +0000

I recently visited home for almost two weeks. Besides not having a cellphone, the biggest difference I experienced was not having job. It was a little unsettling “vacationing” in my home town and in the city of Philadelphia. I showed my Japanese girlfriend around and at the same time (for the first time) did some hometown sightseeing of my own. It was definitely a change of roles. I guess not having a job made me feel a little aimless…as if I was unfettered to any task but wasting time if I wasn’t active. Of course, this was only being away for one year.

Also, due to a lawsuit (i think) McDonalds has done away with the supersize. A small drink is now a Japanese “large”. That was very absurd to me.

By: Joshua Zimmerman

Joshua Zimmerman — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:27:31 +0000

@Greg: Oh I read that you were only visiting. This was just something I wrote that I thought might be helpful to those going home.

Something we all have to do eventually.

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:51:31 +0000

@Josh: “This May I took a long overdue vacation home to America. Having lived in Japan for five of the last six years, I expected some level of reverse culture shock.” I’m still here, this is just something I wrote that i thought might be helpful to those going home. Year 5 of JET, here I come.

By: Joshua Zimmerman

Joshua Zimmerman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:27:32 +0000

As someone who has been “dealing” with reverse culture shock I have these words of advice.

If you were not ready to leave Japan when you left, you’ll feel reverse culture shock. That and you’ll spend the next year complaining on facebook about how much you miss Japan, even though you probably spent your entire year (or two) in Japan complaining about Japan on facebook.

If you feel ready to leave Japan, then you’ll probably not feel a lot of reverse culture shock. You’ll probably just get some sushi every now and then, get to know the owner of your local Asian food store really well, and annoy your friends by starting every sentence with “this one time in Japan…”. But overall you’ll be fine.

It really depends on your personality and if you are ready to leave or not. In my experiences (which may not be everyone’s experiences) it’s the JETs who only stayed one or two years who make the most noise about reverse culture shock (with overtones of regret). The ones that stay longer and decide to leave when they’re ready readjust well (as they left with no regrets).

By: JapanSoc

JapanSoc — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:11:06 +0000

Reverse Culture Shock: It’s the little things that get ya…

This May I took a long overdue vacation home to America. Having lived in Japan for five of the last six years, I expected some level of reverse culture shock. I knew this meant feeling like a foreigne……

By: Gail Meadows

Gail Meadows — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:27:44 +0000

Keen eye Keltin. Thanks for catching the typo.

By: Keltin

Keltin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:00:19 +0000

Great write up! Very interesting to read about the things that you find here in the states. Might want to check though, when talking about your kid brother — you said he’s talker (instead of taller?) than you.

By: Japundit

Japundit — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:48:21 +0000

Story added…

Your story has been featured on Japundit! Here is the link: http://www.japundit.com/LivinginJapan/Reverse_Culture_Shock_Its_the_little_things_that_get_ya...