On being a Forigner

Wakirimasen! Nihongo wo hanashimasen!

I don't Understand! I DON'T SPEAK Japanese!

On a cold overcast day my friend Teka and I met up to go shopping in Shibuya. We decided to meet at the Funabashi or Nishi-Funabashi station to take a line going into Tokyo. Due to some minor misunderstaning I arrived about an hour early. No biggie. Many big stations in Japan are bustling with activity. You can shop, eat, get your shoes cleaned and never leave the station. It's a beautiful underground world. Anyway, to pass the time I wandered around wishing I could sample the Japanified Western sweets and gawked at the prices of a small slice of cheesecake. I found a bookstore and instantly I'm thought that it was going to be like being in Barnes and Noble or Borders. I figured I would check out the latest manga or a new Japan bestseller. Walking through the bookstore I instantly became nauscious and overwhelmed. I became aware of my illiteracy. I watched everyone digesting the words, but I could only look, admire the art work (if there was any) and move on. Afterwards I wrote this in my journal...

April 7, 2010

"This is what it feel to be a foreigner...

Going into the bookstore, but unable to read the new language. Some characters stick out and I can pronounce the sound but as for the meaning, I don't know. This is what it feels like. I have so much more patience for those who move to a different country knowing nothing about it. This is a grounding experience. I just realized that I forgot my passport and as a foreigner in Japan I must always have it on me, like my parents who must always carry their green cards. The only thing I can do in the bookstore here is look at the characters and promise myself that I will get to that level. I will read..."

Coincidently I experienced this during the time when all that immigration madness started to happen in Arizona. Now, I'm not going to debate that issue, but America has a horrible attitude towards foreigners. Very similar to the general attitude towards immigrants in Japan. Especially where I live in California people are so ignorant about immigrants. I always hated it when people compared one immigrant family to another. "You're successful, why not them?"

WTF? Who asks that?

Being in that bookstore unable to read anything I understood why many immigrants in America become discouraged. Suddenly your in grade zero able to only say "yes", "no", "please" and "thank you." You have an accent. People giggle when you talk. Finding basic necessities becomes a nightmare because you can't read so you rely on pictures. You just feel stupid. When I went grocery shopping I was always looking at images to figure out what I was about to eat. Finding specific foods was annoying because the aisle signs were in Japanese. If I was lucky I could sound out the katakana-writing system for foreign words.

There's a cow on a carton. I found the milk!

Thank God for these displays.

Oh Lord, when I needed vitamins that was a fiasco. I didn't know the Japanese for "vitamin" and I left my phrase book at home so I had no idea how to ask for it. I wandered around all over the pharmacy looking for it till I found the supplements on the back wall. Then there was another time in Kyoto my eyelid swelled for some strange reason. I still don't know why. I found a pharmacy and asked the clerk for allergy medication but with Japanese pronunciation.

"Ahhhlegimedakashion"

The clerk looked at me confused- why is this foreigner talking crazy?. Finally, frustrated and an on the verge of becoming upset with my lack of Japanese, I snatched off my glasses, got closer to the clerk and pointed at my right eyelid. He suggested eye drops, but this was no eyeball issue. This was the eyelid! Hay fever! He took out a chart of a human body on it with different ailments in English. I pointed to hay fever and then my eye. He got the idea.

"sho sho matte kudasai." " Please wait."

He came back with a green box-all in Japanese- and asked for my money. I never took a pill. I was so scared that there might have still been some slight misunderstanding. I placed it in my bag, telling myself I would use it if my eye got any worse. I had long braids at the time so I just swooped some of my hair over my eye then proceeded to venture through Kyoto like a kawaii one eyed bandit.

See! Something so simple as allergies and finding vitamins turns into a scavenger hunt. Damn these language barriers! I have more understanding of the struggles foreigners go through trying to adjust to a different culture. I cannot say I "know how it is" for there were many things in English and many resources for English speakers if I ever felt the need to reach out. I had my English taught classes and the fact that this wasn't permanent. I was trying to start a new life in Japan. I give two huge thumbs up and a mighty OMEDETOU (Congrats) to my family for overcoming all these obstacles. I thank God for having such a strong family. I have such a deeper appreciation for them. My wish/hope is that i have at least some it running through my veins.

Anyone bashing foreigners needs to live in another country for a month or at least visit somewhere totally out of their comfort zone. You know...put yourself in someone else's shoes.

And the picture of the sign basically means to stay out of the fountain...