How I've Grown

When I read the words "Changing Impressions", I wasn't really sure what I could come up with. What has changed in my perception of Japan? I've become so used to all of things around me, it's difficult for me to imagine what I thought about them in the beginning. As my old Japanese professor just mentioned in an email to me yesterday, the biggest culture shock is definitely going to occur when I return to America. "You don't know what you have until it's gone", in a sense...



Throughout the whole semester I've grown through this blog and learned to look for more interesting cultural aspects of Japan. It's forced me to really try to uncover the culture underneath, even if most times I struggled fairly obviously with some of the topics. I adapt extremely easily with new, foreign surroundings, and going back home to notice just how much is really different in Japan than it is in America is probably going to be the biggest surprise.

Going back to my trip from four years ago, I won't deny that I was undoubtedly very immature. My observations were limited, my spoken Japanese almost completely nonexistent, and my photography/documentation quickly wearing thin. I remember returning and not remembering half of the names of the temples I had gone to, or even where they were located (some are still a mystery).
This time around, however, I have grown immensely, studied the language, gotten more familiar with the culture, and pursued an Art Photography major (the results of some of my photography from my first trip to Japan is what inspired me to take on the major in the first place).



I like to compare my photography from my first trip here to my current. Not only do I now know where these places are located, but I feel as though I can relate more to the photos I have taken because of it (not to mention I've taken a lot more of them).
There are more photographs of scenery (the people around me, specifically) and everything that interacts. Four years prior, a lot of my photographs happened to center around inanimate objects (things I found amusing) but nothing as descriptive as my observations this time around. If it were scenery, it was idealized and stereotypical. Japan is a wonderfully beautiful country, and it produces breathtaking photographs on it's own, but there happens to be more than just temples and forests. What about the people? I want to remember everything as best as I can, and not scrounge for lost meaning, like with my outdated photo-log from 2004..

In the beginning of this blogging adventure I talked about nothing but what I had remembered, nothing but what my general observations told me. With some encouragement and time, I began to search for the true reasons behind some of the Japanese habits I've found. I've learned a lot, it's been an extremely interesting journey, and I don't have a single doubt in my mind that I will be back for the experience more than once again in the future.