Everyday Life in Japan

As I plan my year in Japan, I have been focused on classes and sight seeing. I have not been focused on how to "live like a local." However, it might be hard to plan to live like a local while not being in the country yet. The best way for me to learn to live a local life is by observing the way the local people actually live. I hope to meet the Japanese girls my family hosted while they studied in America, and ask them to help me learn the ways of a local life. Of course the best way to learn is by being around the local people.

One way I intend to learn is by living with a Japanese person. I hope I can create an long lasting relationship with my roommate. I think a great way to learn is to live with someone from the culture. Another helpful way is by interacting with locals on a day to day basis, whether it be at coffee shops, sport, or group activities.

During my year abroad I hope to make many friends at the university I study at. I intend to join a club, which is the norm in Japan. However, I think only one club would not be enough, because I want to know many people and learn how everyone has different ways of acting in the same culture, I also want to join a club. I think swim team would be fun for me, because I love swimming and maybe my friends on the team would like to go to the beach. I would love to spend some time at the beach, being able to sight see some and hangout with friends is a great way to transition to live like a local.

When I am not on campus, I plan to meet some of the locals by meeting my Japanese friends I met in America. I hope that we can meet at social gathering events, such as festivals. After meeting with them, we can spend time at a coffee shop while catching up on the past few years of not seeing each other. Maybe we could get a small group together and go to the movies, hopefully there will be some people I do not know and can meet!

Of course I want to meet the other exchange students while I am abroad, but I may have to be careful with how much time I spend with them. I want to improve my Japanese language skills and if the other students are American I do not really want to speak English. I still want to be friends, but even if we speak the same language, I would prefer speaking the language I am studying. Spending more time with native students will better my speaking skills and push me out of my comfort zone, which is one of the great experiences of studying abroad.

I hope by the end of my year abroad I can live like a local in Japan. If I leave the country acting like a tourist after a year, I wasted my time because I did not learn anything. I hope to use my time there to the best of my abilities, so I can get the most out of my study abroad.