Me and Some Friends Karaoke-ing in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
I was looking over some of my past posts, and I realize that they all have one thing in common: They’re all sort of on the negative, depressing side. I think that has mainly to do with the fact that the only time I feel moved to write on this blog is when I’m feeling particularly frustrated or upset. Sorry for that!
But it’s really not that bad here. Honestly. I’m slowly learning the ropes of my new job and I’m not getting lost as much. And I’ve made quite a few friends, which has been surprisingly easy!
I was sitting in Yoyogi park the other week and a couple of girls randomly invited me to sit with them, (which would never happen in New York!)
And on Sunday, I was riding the bus to meet a couple of friends from work when I realized I was on the wrong bus, (surprise, surprise). Well, the girl sitting next to gave me directions and then gave me a few sticker pictures of her (?!) I didn’t have any stickers to give her, but I gave her my business card and we might hang out this weekend. Plus, I’ve made quite a few friends through one of my roommates, who, (by the way) is leaving me and moving to Hong Kong tomorrow!
That’s a picture of us…I’m going to really miss her! We’ve been friends since college (in New York) and she’s been sort of a life-line for me here in Tokyo. So sad to see her go…but happy she’s landed an awesome job in such an exciting city. You know I’ll definitely be visiting her sometime in the next year.
The last two weeks, I have had a lot of days off, (yeah summer vacation!) and have been spending a lot of time keeping cool at museums, shopping malls, the beach and even a water park.
I’ve also been taking a ton of photos…like a good little Japanese-in-training. I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had time to upload them. Here’s a few…
These were taken at an art museum in Oeno park and the picture of the roses is one I took in the rose garden at Yoyogi park.
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Reannon Muth is a full-time writer, social media consultant and owner and manager of the Taken by the Wind travel blog. Born in Hawaii, Reannon has lived in five countries, at Disney World and on a cruise ship. She currently lives in fabulous Las Vegas.
Aloha Reannon:
Sounds like you are actually having a wonderful adventure! You know what feels more foreign than being white America-jin in Japan? Being Japanese American in Japan. Looking Japanese but thinking American makes one feel like one should belong but don’t ~ that was my personal experience.
I can imagine that would be tough. Do you speak Japanese? I have a Japenese-American friend who doesn’t speak Japanese very well and no one believes her. They just can’t seem to get their heads around it, I guess.
I know that in Germany, everyone thought I was German until about 3 sentences into a conversation and then they’d hear my accent. The worst was the obvious look of astonishment on their faces…I’d then have to go into the whole routine about where I was from and what I was doing there…blah blah blah. It was sort of awkward and embarrassing.
But nothing compared to what you went through, I’m sure.