Japan '96 - '97

"The Japanese say there are three curses in life, and they call them the wazawaza no sanzai. The first curse is to lose your children in old age. The next is to lose your spouse in middle age, and the last, and perhaps the worst of all, is to fulfill your life's dream in youth...I happen to be one of those people who has already achieved his life's dream." - The Year of the Chicken: An Adventure in Japan.

Ask most exchange students and they will tell you that their year abroad was simultaneously the best and the worst year of their life.  My year was no different.  There were many times  where I wondered what I had gotten myself into.  My first phone call home to tell my parents that I had arrived safely also included the phrase, "Oh my God, why did I do this?" more than once.  It was these moments, along with misunderstandings, problems and even a few heated conflicts that arose from being an American in Japan, that made my exchange year so difficult. 

But while there were some very tough times during the year, the rewards of surviving, and even thriving, in Japanese culture made it all worthwhile.  Even knowing about the problems to be faced, I still would not hesitate to do it all over again.  

The fact that my year in Japan was such an important part of developing into who I am today and that I have had so many years to think about the experience leaves me quite able to babble non-stop about Japan and my time there.  For that reason, I have split this page up into different sections for easier access and quicker load times.

Rewards    Fitting in... or Not    First Impressions    Sendai City    Families    Pictures    Coming Home

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Last updated 18-Sept-03