First of all, I am a returnee that lived abroad for around 8.5 years. All the time I lived abroad, I lived in a suburb of San Francisco, California called Foster City. Since I have been living in the US for more than half of my life there was quite a culture shock when I moved back to Japan. Actually, there are three big points that I was surprised about when I returned from abroad to Japan. First, I want to write about commutation, second conveniece stores, and lastly school life.
Firstly, when I came baack to Japan, the first thing I was surprised about was the commutting system. Back in the US the main transportation system was by car. However, in Japan the main transportation system is train. I particulary had a hard time getting used to the IC cards such as the PASMO and SUICA cards. The first time I bought a PASMO card I tried to fit the PASMO card inside the ticket reciever and was warned by the station employee not to fool around. I was really embarassed that time. One another episode is the time I slept on the train and accidentally went all the way to Shinjuku. That day, I was so exhausted by soccer practice so I nodded of on the train. Next thing I know the station employee woke me up telling that I came all the way to Shinjuku. From the next time I took the train back home, I was very cautious not to nod off on the train.
Secondly, in the US there were no convenience stores near my house and it took 15 minutes of walking to go to the nearest supermarket. However, I find it very convenient in Japan because there is at least one convenience store per station. Maybe thats why they call it a "convenience" store. I especially like the idea of point cards of convenience stores. It is a great to get customers buy more products. I actually go to convenience stores every day after soccer practice. I usually buy rice balls, bread, or drinks. I also love buying "Gari Gari Kun" soda ice bar during the summer.
Lastly, The most different thing about the US and Japan is school life. Well, first of all SFC is a "private" junior high school so there was a quite big shock when entered this school since I belonged to a local junior high school in the US. One big difference is the size of the school. Well, in our case there is a junior high school, high school, and an university in our campus, so it is supposed to be big but this school's campus is at least 20 times bigger than the school I used to go to in the US. Next thing different about SFC and a normal English school is that there is a snack shack in the school. I think that this is a great way for students to fill up there tummies before going straight away to work.
In conclusion I believe that life is very convenient in Japan. However, it is very difficult to keep up with modern technology in Japan, especially newcomers. I guess that Japan is a great place to live once you get used to it.
