15 Things on the Mind of a Japanese Living in the U.S.

It has been nine months since I moved from Tokyo to the Washington, D.C. area.I am living with my two young children, accompanying my husband on his job transfer.
The U.S. is a GREAT country! I love both America and Japan.
I love living here. But living in the U.S., I sometimes feel the differences from Japan, and my daily life is filled with new discoveries.

Today, I would like to introduce a few things that are on my mind as a newly immigrated Japanese.

1. surprised when a person I don't know speaks to me on the street

"It's a beautiful day!" "I like your jacket!"
I am surprised when strangers talk to me on the street, but such conversation makes me feel cheerful.
In Japan, we do not have a culture of conversing with strangers on the street.
So, when I am approached by a person, I first think to myself, "Who are you talking to? Is it me? "
I was often too surprised and could not respond clearly.
But I got used to it after about a month. 

2. not being able to answer "How Are You?"

In Japan, there is no convenient greeting equal to "How Are You?". In school English, the typical response is "I'm fine thank you, and you? I don't think this response is practical.
 I think there are many Japanese who have thought to themselves, "What I learned in school is wrong!"

3. impressed by their kindness to children

People in the U.S. are really kind to young children. In Japan, we are thoroughly taught "not to bother others", so when we take young children out with us, we are very careful about what people around us think of us, and we feel very small in our shoulders.
It is a small thing, but just knowing that there are many people to support me at opening the door when I am pushing a stroller, makes me very happy.

4. too fast English conversation

Although I have studied English in Japan, I find that the English materials I was using were made "for Japanese" and easy to use. The speed of English conversation in the real world is so fast that it is difficult to understand even a phone appointment at the hospital or a chat with a friend. This was a big problem for me in the early days of my immigration.

5. look for fragrance-free products

Japanese people love fragrance-free products, and I am no exception. Detergent, diapers, wet wipes...we look for fragrance-free products in all kinds of household goods. However, we seem to have our noses sharpened too much, and we notice that even American fragrance-free products contain a trace of "fragrance" in them. We exchange information with our Japanese friends about "true fragrance-free" products that contain less fragrance.

6. find my favorite seasonings

Soy sauce, miso, potato starch, bread flour, mayonnaise.... We look for ingredients that we were accustomed to in Japan and secure our own routes to obtain them. America is truly an amazing country, and you can get anything if you look for it.

7. failing in vegetable selection

Vegetables are unique to each country. However, in rare cases, a vegetable may look exactly like a Japanese vegetable on the outside, but when you cut it open, you will find that the inside is completely different.
Take sweet potatoes, for example. When you cut them up, you find that their color and water content are completely different from those of sweet potatoes in Japan!
I learned that there is another product called "Japanese sweet potato".

sweet potato

Japanese sweet potato

8. excellent home appliances

I have heard that Japanese electrical appliances are excellent, and I think that is true. But also, American appliances are really powerful, and I love them! A huge oven that can bake anything, a large capacity dryer that dries quickly, and a dishwasher is also large. Since coming to America, housework has become extremely streamlined.

9. bangs disappear

When a woman's appearance is described as "Japanese-ish," the cause seems to be her bangs. Living in the U.S., I notice that women in other countries do not have bangs very often. When I was in Japan, I used to order my bangs cut this way and that to make my face look as small as possible, but before I knew it, I had lost my obsession with bangs.

Japanese singer Nogizaka46. This kind of hairstyle is popular among Japanese girls

10. failure in ordering at restaurants

In Japan, my hobby was exploring restaurants. In Japan, many Japanese restaurants have pictures on their menu lists, so I think that in Japan, I often ordered food by looking at the pictures without reading the menu names carefully.
In the U.S., menu lists often do not have pictures, so you often end up with dishes that are completely different from what you had imagined. Does this happen to other people in the U.S., too?

Sample of menulist in Japan

Sample of menulist in U.S.

11. fear of guns

In Japan, the possession of guns is prohibited, so when I see news about guns or see people with guns on their waists, I get really scared. You may laugh at me, but I am actually afraid of riding the subway as well.

12. finding a hair salon is difficult

Apparently, the dark, stiff hair of Asians requires a special cutting method, and cutting it the same way as people of other races do not work. Therefore, you will have to find a hair salon that specializes in Japanese haircuts and have it cut. It is a little expensive.

13. I miss my job

I came to the U.S. with my children to accompany my husband on his job transfer. I have temporarily taken a leave of absence from my own job, and my husband's company pays for our living expenses in the US. This type of overseas transfer is common among Japanese companies, and there are many other Japanese mothers who live abroad without working.
Some people may ask, "Why don't Japanese women work?" ,but the truth is that sometimes Japanese moms miss their jobs in their hearts.

14. start cooking your own Japanese food

When Japanese food is hard to come by, they finally start making it themselves. Purely Japanese style sushi, norimaki, New Year's dishes, natto ・・・・. Many of my friends have become better cooks the longer they have been in the U.S.

15. want to improve my English

We use English every day, so we want to improve as soon as possible. However, I don't get good at it right away. I studied in Japan, and I have studied every day since I came to the U.S. Why?
Because the word order of grammar is opposite between Japanese and English, I can't be able to instantly assemble the words that come to my mind into sentences.
If you give me a little time, I can create the correct word order, but when the tempo of the conversation is fast, I cannot keep up with the sentence construction.