Stumbling Through Japan:

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Stumbling Through Japan
A foreigners guide
Karen Liebel Foundations of Information
Technology LIBR 500

• karenliebel_at_gmail.com

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For a few years after university, I lived in
Japan to teach English.

• The miscommunication while trying to learn
  Japanese made for some interesting, often
  embarrassing experiences.
• In such situations, the only option was to
• JUST GO WITH IT!

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During those three years, the most important
things I learned were

• You dont need to know Japanese to get by.
• In fact, its sometimes better to not understand.
• Sometimes people like to embarrass foreigners,
  and thats OK.
• Everything is hilarious eventually.

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The first week after I moved to Japan, I was
invited to natsu matsuri.
natsu matsuri means a summer festival

• My friend told me it was like a party.
• So I wore a skirt and cute shoes.

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Suddenly I found myself shoved into a crowd of
women carrying a mikoshi.

• I had to carry it on my shoulders.
• This hurt because I was the tallest woman there.

• mikoshi is a portable shrine

Here I am.
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At the end of my first week of work, my friend
asked if I wanted to go on a river walk.

• I thought she meant beside the river.

• She meant in the river.

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Sometimes these experiences were humiliating.
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My friend invited me to her brothers wedding.

• which meant I had to sing a Carpenters song in
  front of 200 people.

• They put me into a kimono
• I became one of the family

• the song was For all we know and I had to
  learn it in 15 minutes.

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During the annual village track meet, my
supervisor asked me if I could help with
something.

• Before I could answer, he put a helmet on my
  head
• and had people throw beanbags into a basket
  above a pole I was holding.

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After a while I didnt mind the constant
embarrassment, and even searched it out.

• I started an English radio show at the community
  radio station, FM Oze.
• The most popular shows were when my co-host and I
  played pre-recordings of us singing karaoke on
  the air.

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Sometimes the miscommunication worked out for the
best.

• A teacher at school asked if I was interested in
  seeing sumo.
• I said I was.
• The next thing I knew, he bought me a ticket for
  the aki basho in Tokyo.

• aki basho is the fall tournament, held every
  September.

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I didnt realize how expensive tickets were. At
that time, it was about 100 CDN.
But I figured I would just go with it.
After that first basho, I became obsessed with
sumo.
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• Despite all the humiliation, the embarrassment
  and the general miscommunication, stumbling
  through the everyday craziness in Japan was one
  of the best lessons of my life.

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References

• Sanseidos romaji English-Japanese /
  Japanese-English dictionary. (1999). Japan
  Sanseido, Co.
• All photos taken from my personal photography and
  cannot be used without my permission.