The time for my 2023 trip to Japan has come to an end and I've made the long journey home to Canada. It's been a very long day of trains and planes - over 24 hours of travel from my start in Sapporo, through Tokyo's Narita Airport, to Calgary, and then finally home to Regina. I'm absolutely exhausted and jet lagged. Now that I'm here in Regina, I feel as though I've been through a time warp. It seems like just minutes ago I was having breakfast at the hotel in Sapporo but now I'm at home half-way around the world. The breakfast I ate in Sapporo was over 24 hours ago. What happened to all of the time today? It seemed to whiz by in a flash.
It is with mixed feelings that I return to Canada after a little of two and a half weeks in Japan (this is something that I've felt many times before but I completely forgot about it). I will miss the civility, respectfulness, cleanliness, organization, and quietness of Japan. These are cultural traits that I wish we still possessed (if we ever did) in Canada. I found myself to be much more comfortable and less angry while I was in Japan. The country has a culture and a set of fairly conservative behavioural norms that I greatly appreciate. Now, I realize that I have once again just been a visitor in Japan for a short period of time. I do not know what it would be like to live there full time. Over the long term, it is possible that I might find the culture there to be incredibly stifling. I don't know.
I do know that as soon as I landed in Calgary after the long flight from Narita, I started to feel "reverse culture shock". From the less organized nature of the Calgary airport to the seeming chaos at the customs line, coupled with how loud and individualistic everyone around me now was, I knew that I was going to have to adjust back to life in Canada. I have to admit that I'm not looking forward to this. As an introvert and someone who values quiet, the general loudness and self-centredness of people here is something that I haven't missed. Yet, I was raised in this culture and I am, if not relatively loud, definitely more self-centred than many Japanese people. So, I have to be careful with how I am feeling and what I am currently thinking. I do risk being a hypocrite.
I recently expressed these thoughts and feelings to a friend and he stated (somewhat tongue in cheek), "Just shout at some strangers a bit. You'll get back in the groove in no time!" This basically sums it up. When in Rome...
Regardless of how I'm feeling at the moment, this turned out to be a great vacation. Although I spent over half of it on my own (it was a bit lonely from time to time), I was able to revisit some places that I haven't been to in a very long time and catch up with some of my Japanese family members whom I have also not seen in a long time. Those moments with loved ones are the experiences that were the most touching on this trip. I wish that I could have had more time with these folks. I also wish that I knew a lot more of the Japanese language so that I could have communicated with them even better than I did.
It was great to get away. I absolutely needed a change of scene from my home routine and work schedule. I had not travelled very far from home in five years. Between health issues that I was dealing with and the COVID-19 pandemic, it just wasn't possible to travel very far. Now was the time though and I'm glad that I went on this little adventure. When I was planning this trip, I was a bit concerned about spending so much time alone and going to places that are a bit off of the beaten path. I had expressed this concern to my wife and she wisely told me to treat it as an adventure - to not hold back. She was so right and I'm glad that I did. It was an adventure. Until next year (hopefully)...
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