Japanified

I've been here about five months now, which is not a long period of time, but I've realized that with enough time, you can get used to ANYTHING. It is normal to have some culture shock when you go to a new place, but eventually with the daily routine of life in this alien environment, the strange things start to become just... sort of... normal, I guess. And your new environment changes you - it changes your habits, your preferences, your mannerisms, the way you speak, the way you move. You have to adjust to so many new factors it is impossible not to be changed. You find yourself doing things you've never done before, like bowing, or apologizing all the time with a polite 'sumimasen'. I realized today in the grocery that this is all part of the process of becoming JAPANIFIED.

So for your reading pleasure, I thought I would compile a little list, called 'You Know You've Been in Japan Too Long When...'. I hope you enjoy!


You Know You've Been in Japan Too Long When...

1. The phone rings and you debate for 3 seconds whether to say 'hello' or 'moshi moshi'
2. You bow all the time to strangers
3. You bow when riding your bicycle if someone lets you go or steps out of your way
4. You choose shoes based on how quickly you can take them off
5. You stop drinking coffee, and instead become addicted to green tea
6. Green tea ice cream is now a normal dessert
7. A typical 'snack' for you is a ball of rice with a plum in it
8. You take a set of chopsticks to your office
9. You know how to say 'no thank you' when the cashier in the supermarket offers you disposable chopsticks for your sushi bento box
10. You no longer think $7 US is too expensive for a beer
11. You have a long conversation with your taxi driver when you are completely drunk
12. You say 'hai' all the time
13. You have little cute thingies hanging from your keitai (cell phone)
14. You avoid eye contact with other gaijin (foreigners) on the train
15. You can understand the arrival announcements on the train
16. You give up your train seat for little old ladies
17. You crawl back into your house to get something you forgot, rather than take your shoes back off or walk on the floor with shoes on
18. You always have a pack of tissues in your bag
19. You think it is perfectly normal to run like your life depends on it through Shinjuku station to get the train
20. You start pouring your friends' beers
21. You say 'itadakimasu' before you start eating, even if you are alone
22. You politely look away from the drunk salaryman who has passed out in his own vomit in the train
23. You enthusiastically say 'Ehhhhhh!' when listening to an interesting story, and enthusiastically ask 'Ehhhh?' when you don't understand something
24. You leave your umbrella outside of a store with complete faith that it will still be there when you return
25. You start doing the 'peace sign' in pictures
26. You always have large amounts of cash in your wallet and never use a bank machine, ever
27. You think a 'loaf' of bread has only 6 slices
28. You always talk about the weather immediately after greeting someone
29. You take your shoes off before going into the dressing room in a store
30. You no longer think it is strange to see a man wearing a Mickey Mouse watch