initial culture shock? share your experience

[aychseven]

there's a good chance i'll be moving to tokyo in january of next year. one thing i'm concerned with is the initial culture shock and i am wondering if anyone could share their experience.

let me give you some examples/questions: arrival. was it hard to find your way out of narita airport and to your place of lodging? how hard is it to get around, find food etc without speaking or reading japanese? what about finding addresses? looks like yahoo maps doesn't have info, google maps is all japanese, and when i put in an address in romaji, it doesn't find the place

anything else you think to write about would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Nyororin]

This is totally random, but there was only one thing I was totally unprepared for that I found "shocking" when I first got here.

People riding around on their bicycles in the rain.... carrying umbrellas.

It seemed like the very weirdest thing ever. Until I started doing it myself.

I wish I could help you with some of your questions, but when I first got here I was picked up from the airport by my host family.
If you`d like me to help find some addresses for you on Google maps, feel free to PM me anytime, and I`ll look them up for you.

[stekun]

I would recommend obtaining the necessary kanji's for train stations along your route. Although there is often English as well, seeing all of the characters glaring at you can be intimidating when you're new, don't speak the language, and are jet-lagged. That said, the transportation system is very easy and convenient once you get used to it.

<http://transit.yahoo.co.jp/> is the best page I've found for looking up train routes and maps. BUT, the dumb thing is all in Japanese. I would be more than happy to dig up your train routes for you and help you plan out how to get where you're going. Just PM me if you would like!

The address system is actually pretty nice... if you have a map. Again, PM me and I can help you out with more specifics on this and also help you get some maps and stuff.

For me, the biggest initial shock was the language. And sushi. But I found that I acclimated to things pretty quick. Looking back, the toughest thing about the who experience was... coming back to America!

[stekun]

Oh, I also just remembered a few links that give info in English on some of the things you might be looking for. Try:

JNTO North America Visit Japan Campaign Website Home - JNTO NA Visit Japan Campaign
This is an official government-run page, primarily for tourists, but it has a lot of good stuff.

Japan Railways Group
This is the main Japan train operator's page, in English, with routes, timetables, and fares, etc.

[aychseven]

thanks for the information and offers so far. it's still many months before i leave, so i don't know exactly where i'm staying or traveling to from the airport just yet. about all i know is that the school i'll be going to is near the azabu juban station on the tokyo metro namboku line.

that suica thing looks very useful. i think some of the old vodaphone phones had it built in along with with felica, does softbank still do this and are they the only cell phone provider that offers this?

what about buying train and subway tickets? is there a machine with english readout or is there a ticket booth with people that speak english? i've never ridden a train or subway before (las vegas is so spread out that you need a car here and the bus system is really terrible.)

oh and food! are most menus in japanese only, or are there usually pictures you could point at? i've eaten at plenty of japanese places, so if the names were in hiragana or katakana i could probably figure it out. i'm not quite adventurous enough to randomly point at something on a menu i can't read, and i'd rather not get stuck hitting up a combini for 3 meals a day because i don't know kanji.

[samokan]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

People riding around on their bicycles in the rain.... carrying umbrellas.

Yes definitely this one. Oh and don't forget cellphone too.
Another , children riding at the back and/or front of the bicycles with the mom or dad driving it. Really amazing to me.

Students wearing short skirt on winter. I was so shocked with this, I was all wrapped from head to toe and they just wearing short skirt and long socks

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by samokan

Yes definitely this one. Oh and don't forget cellphone too.
Another , children riding at the back and/or front of the bicycles with the mom or dad driving it. Really amazing to me.

That one never bothered me - one of my childhood friend`s dad would take her around on the bicycle like that when she was really little (and I would watch) so it more brought back memories than anything else.
And now I ride around with my son on the front of my bicycle, but I have yet to do the umbrella one with him on there too.

Students wearing short skirt on winter. I was so shocked with this, I was all wrapped from head to toe and they just wearing short skirt and long socks

I`m guessing you didn`t go to a school that needed uniforms? In the US, my school had a uniform, and yes - it involved short skirts in the winter. And we didn`t even have those warm-looking socks. It would drop down to like -20C and our legs would turn blue. :P

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by aychseven

that suica thing looks very useful. i think some of the old vodaphone phones had it built in along with with felica, does softbank still do this and are they the only cell phone provider that offers this?

These days I think that most of the phones offer this. My Docomo has all the different payment systems built in.

what about buying train and subway tickets? is there a machine with english readout or is there a ticket booth with people that speak english? i've never ridden a train or subway before (las vegas is so spread out that you need a car here and the bus system is really terrible.)

I`m going to imagine that Tokyo has a system similar to the one in Nagoya.

In general, you don`t buy a ticket for a specific station. You buy a ticket with a certain cost that is good for so many stations away. (Like, up to 6 stations away for such and such cost) There will be a big map showing the train line with the stations named, and the cost of the ticket you would need to get there. In Nagoya, some of the maps are in Kanji, some in Hiragana (presumably for children) and some in Romaji.

oh and food! are most menus in japanese only, or are there usually pictures you could point at? i've eaten at plenty of japanese places, so if the names were in hiragana or katakana i could probably figure it out. i'm not quite adventurous enough to randomly point at something on a menu i can't read, and i'd rather not get stuck hitting up a combini for 3 meals a day because i don't know kanji.

Even better - there are extremely life like plastic/wax models of the food. As for pictures on the menu itself, I would say that really depends on the restaurant. Some big chains do, but most of the smaller places only have text (and the models)

[samokan]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

That one never bothered me - one of my childhood friend`s dad would take her around on the bicycle like that when she was really little (and I would watch) so it more brought back memories than anything else.
And now I ride around with my son on the front of my bicycle, but I have yet to do the umbrella one with him on there too.

We never had this one in the Philippines, biking is not really popular in my country, so I found really amazing

I`m guessing you didn`t go to a school that needed uniforms? In the US, my school had a uniform, and yes - it involved short skirts in the winter. And we didn`t even have those warm-looking socks. It would drop down to like -20C and our legs would turn blue. :P

I did actually wore uniform, from prep school to high school. But the length MUST be below the knee and that's not even a Catholic school. My University does not have uniform so wear anything. Wearing that kind of skirt in School would have your teachers glaring out you, and you would probably be sent home and your parents called by the teacher The "Maria Clara" concept is still pretty dominant in the Philippine culture

[stekun]

Originally Posted by aychseven

what about buying train and subway tickets? is there a machine with english readout or is there a ticket booth with people that speak english? i've never ridden a train or subway before (las vegas is so spread out that you need a car here and the bus system is really terrible.)

In Tokyo chances are pretty good there will be romaji or hiragana on the machines in most stations. But that's why I recommend looking up the kanji's for relevant stations and keeping them in a notepad just in case. Ticket booths with English speakers is also hit and miss, but they do exist. I'm sure you'll probably be just fine. And if all else fails, I've found that if you stand in the middle of a station and look confused for long enough, eventually someone will come help you out. The Japanese are very good that way.

Also, I missed this link above, but you'll definitely want to check out Tokyo Metro Co.,Ltd. (Tokyo Metro). This is the page (in English!) for the Tokyo Metro subway system. There's a lot of info and if you click on "English" right on the front page it has a map of the whole thing. It looks big, bad and ugly, but it's not. I promise! You'll find there are actually several ways to get to Azabu Juban.

oh and food! are most menus in japanese only, or are there usually pictures you could point at? i've eaten at plenty of japanese places, so if the names were in hiragana or katakana i could probably figure it out. i'm not quite adventurous enough to randomly point at something on a menu i can't read, and i'd rather not get stuck hitting up a combini for 3 meals a day because i don't know kanji.

You'll be fine on this one too. As mentioned in a previous post, if you don't have hiragana or romaji, you'll at least have plastic models of the food. Also, since you're already familiar with food names, you can just ask someone and they'll be more than happy to read the kanjis for you!