Konichiwa

Welcome to my blog, where I will record my life, (mis)adventures, and thoughts about Japan.

I expect most readers will be friends and family but let me introduce myself anyway. I am a physicist who was offered a postdoctoral position at KEK located in Tsukuba Japan. I had applied to positions all over the world so I had not exactly planned to move my life to Japan. I tried to learn as much about the culture and language before I moved here but feel less prepared for such a culture shock than someone who plans for years to move here. So I do not speak any Japanese, or have any real friends located in Japan. I will have to figure it out as I go which hopefully will be entertaining for you dear readers.

The title of this blog is fitting as I have been told it is impossible for a foreigner to ever truly assimilate in japan (despite what The Vapors lyrics suggest.) Instead I am simply becoming a foreigner living in Japan. The Japanese word gaijin (外人) literally translates to "outside person" and is used to mean outsider, foreigner or alien. It does not have positive connotations as it is often used when expressing exclusionary attitudes. However I don't expect to ever fit in here as my contract is only two years which I expect will not be sufficient time to learn the language. There is also the issue that I am a 195cm bearded white guy, so it will be hard to go unnoticed. I will attempt to embrace my gaijin nature and try not to let it bother me that I will be treated differently. There are supposedly benefits to being visibly foreign in Japan as people will let you get away with quite a bit chalking it up to lack of understanding. I wonder what I will be able to get away with.

I have not settled on a format of this blog, but I expect there will be some posts focusing on specific topics. I plan on doing a post covering an overview of topics such as food, vending machines, shopping, transportation, alcohol, and work. After those posts may be more specific focusing on a particular topic or even.

Japanese lesson:
sumimasen (すみません)
Meaning: something like "sorry" or "excuse me"
How to use it:
When you bump into someone, when you don't understand something, when you make eye contact with anyone, to get the attention of a waitress, when you are in someones way, if someone does something nice for you, if you are ever within 2 meters of another person, when you are alone and think unsavory thoughts.