What's Jappening?

As I'm writing this, I'm actually working on a reflective essay for my uni, but it's got me thinking a little bit about culture shock. Prior to leaving for Japan, I was very anxious. I was told by lots of people that I would experience culture shock and, whilst that's totally ok, it was also something I should be prepared to experience. The truth is though, now that I think back, I don't think I ever really experienced culture shock. If you do a bit of reading online, you will quickly see that culture shock is usually broken down into stages ( thanks Wikipedia ): The Honeymoon Stage: Every little thing is amazing and exciting and life is as if you were looking through rose tinted glasses. You may remember this phase from your last relationship The Negotiation Stage:  The honeymoon period is over and all those little quirks that you used to love now kind of piss you off and remind you of how they were better back at home. This is the phase most commonly referre...

Existential questions aside, this is something I've been thinking about for quite a while now. Obviously, I'm studying abroad, so that would suggest that I should be focusing on my classes whilst I am here. But it's not quite so simple. My friends and family, myself and the wider realm of the internet have all told me that there is more to it than that. I should not only be studying, I should be making friends, learning about the culture, learning the language, travelling (both in and out of Japan), trying new foods, going to local events, visiting galleries and museums, the list goes on. The thing is, as much as I really want to do all of those things, I don't think I can. As I'm sure many of you reading this will know, I have Aspergers, and one of the characteristics of that is that I find most situations more difficult than the average person, for a number of reasons. The two main ones being that: a) I have sensory difficulties, meaning that my senses are much...

Well, flat really. Having successfully unpacked everything into my new home, I'm really starting to feel settled in Nagoya. Though I haven't explored much yet, I've already found loads of interesting differences between living here and living in England: For starters, there's no central heating. There is however, an air-con that can heat up and cool down a room (though not simultaneously, of course). As someone who avidly dislikes the radiator, I thought that I would barely notice the difference, but then a thought occurred to me; where do I hang things that I want to dry a little quicker? I'll have to work that one out... The hot water system is. Genius. Let's say you want to take a shower, you turn the hot water on and set the temperature. Then, when you get in the shower, the hot water heats up as you use it to the exact temperature that you set! No need to fiddle around with knobs and dials to get just the right temperature, you get the perfectly warm ...