Patricia Yumi Kohashi
When I first heard that the Japanese government was offering scholarships for those who wanted to study in Japan, I got very interested on it since I always wanted to study abroad and being selected to come here made me very happy. I knew that Japan had a completely different culture and society from the one I had lived in until then, so I tried to prepare myself for the cultural shock by collecting as much information as was possible about Japan. I read a lot and talked to people who already had lived here and heard very different kind of reports, some scaring and others encouraging me to begin my Japanese adventure.
When I finally reached Japan, I discovered that the differences, that I used to be so afraid of , did not deserve so much attention. I was expecting a very cold society, but the Japanese showed to be extremely kind, polite and very interested on foreign cultures. They also showed some knowledge about my country too, for example concerning music, soccer, carnival, to name a few. Sometimes their impressions were kind of distorted, but I must confess that the same happened to me also in Brazil about their culture. For instance, for most Japanese people, Rio de Janeiro’s carnival is a festival where people from Rio were dancing, playing, and having fun in the city. Actually, during this period, most of the “cariocas” (people born in Rio de Janeiro) leave the city in order to have some rest in some small town. The carnival in Rio is a festival especially intended for foreign tourists rather than to cariocas. Since I have lived in Rio, I have never seen the carnival and none of my friends have seen it either. I have spent most carnival seasons outside Rio de Janeiro, although I have seen it a few times on TV. This year my brother has left Rio for the carnival leaving my parents feeling lonely in Rio but I can not blame him for I would have done the same if I was there. I guess some Japanese would expect me to be very good at samba but once again, I disappoint them when I say that I don’t know how to dance samba and that I even don’t like it at all. On the other hand, when I was still in Brazil I thought that Hiroshima city was a very sad places with many ruins left due to the A-bomb tragedy and with many suffering people. I could never imagine that it was such a developed, lively, safe, and beautiful place. Indeed, I find my lifestyle here to be very convenient, comfortable, and satisfied. I also got very happy on discovering that my mother’s fears about earthquakes were not so prevalent after all.
One thing that impressed me was the fact that the Japanese actually use bicycles as a means of transportation. In Japan it is no difficult to see an elegant person riding a bicycle. Even old people still can ride it whereas in Brazil it would be just unimaginable.
I am learning every day about Japan and from my experience Japan is much deverse than I ever could have imagined. I truly believe that we have to deeply experience other countries and cultures before one can relly mature as a person in the contemporary world.
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