Embracing Change: How Japanese Culture Transformed My Identity

The journey inward begins when we step outward

Photo by on

Have you ever had a profound and life-altering experience that you tear up with gratitude just thinking about it? One that sent you down winding roads of self-discovery and left you cringing at who you might have become had you not gone through it?

Before I went to Japan, my mental image of the country was embarrassingly off. I pictured people wading through rice paddies like scenes from Vietnamese postcards. So when I arrived in downtown Kyoto and was met by neon lights and heavy foot traffic, I was stunned.

My heart beat with the excitement to travel and broaden my horizons. I had no idea my experience in Japan would change me forever.

The language barrier and what it revealed

The fact that most Japanese people didn’t speak English wasn’t a surprise. Back in boarding school in South Africa, many of my Angolan and Mozambican classmates came specifically to learn English, so I was aware that some countries hadn’t been exposed to English. What shocked me in Japan, was the reluctance to speak English — a hesitation rooted in national pride and, frankly, a lack of necessity.