Reflections on Japan
...em. Armed with only simple greetings to Japan, I have been enriched with my return. Initially, I set myself some learning objectives: to converse in Japanese and not rely on body language or broken English to get my message across. Good enough, I learnt sentence construction in a 2 day crash course of Japanese and was taught the basics of kanji, hiragana and katakana in school by a sensei. Although I cannot roll the words off my tongue fast and am slow to respond, I’m quite happy with my performance. I have also realized that English is not as universal as many people think. It is safer to know a few of other languages while keeping the first language as English. Also, I discovered that it is better to use body language than words you do not know because people of different cultures interpret things in different ways. A frightening experience was when I was speaking to my host mother on the road when all of a sudden, a woman appeared and let off a string of expletives. From then on, I have learnt to use languages that can be understood simply, to prevent such occurrence again. Through this trip, I have learnt to be more responsible for my own actions and be independent in a foreign country. When I got lost in my hosting neighbourhood for an hour, I did not think of calling my host mother. Instead, I asked for directions despite instructions from my host mother to call her if I do not know the way. As a result, my host mother went round the neighbourhood looking for me. I suppose I’m too headstrong sometimes and this has inadvertently taught me a lesson. I believe the little Japanese I have picked up will help me a long way. My interest in the language is much fired up that I have decided to take Japanese lessons here, hoping to get attached to a Japanese company in future. After my home-stay period, it came to me that studies is not everything in the world; the real thing that matters on earth is the relationship you have with people. With just that, I have collected the addresses of all the people whom I know so that we can keep in touch in years to come. Of course, I have approached the stage to really appreciate the diversified culture in Singapore and am satisfied with the standard of living here. In Japan, people apparently appear on either extremes of being poor or rich. That was something hard I had to adjust to in Japan. A different culture has made me aware of the things happening around me. Public ...