My sister has visited me in Tokyo from Germany for 9 days.
Same as me, she was born in Tokyo to Japanese parents.
She lived in Japan until the age of 14, moved to Australia and for the last 8 years she has been living in Europe. The last time she visited Japan was 7 years ago in 2015.
A lot has changed in Japan in the last 7 years including:
- tax increased to 10% 💰
- hosted a Rugby World Cup 🏉
- hosted Summer Olympic 🏋🏻♀️
- 2 changes to Prime Ministers 👬
- an abdication of an emperor👑
- a new emperor with the new era called Reiwa👑
From an ex-native’s perspective who also hold a global perspective from her experience in living abroad, what has changed in Japan?
I asked my sister’s thoughts after staying in Japan for a week.
Discoveries about Japan by Japanese living abroad
1. Mask, mask, mask😷
Compared to many countries, Japan has relatively controlled Covid-19 with 8.7million infected in total so far which is roughly 7% of the total population.
Only just recently, the government has officially loosened some mask wearing requirement, but approximately 95% of people are still wearing it.
At times, the temperature has risen up to 27 degrees celsius and I’m sure everyone knows that wearing mask on a hot day is uncomfortable. However, the more uncomfortable factor for Japanese are the fear of standing out for doing the ‘wrong thing’.
I think some are still worried about getting infected and how it impacts their job and those around them (such as child care workers) but I think many don’t want to wear masks anymore but feel the social obligation to do so anyway.
What my sister also found it incredulous is that many people (including me!) wear fabric, not paper mask which is unacceptable from the European standard.
Does the rules people follow even make sense?
2. Abundance of choices
Choices are abundant in Japan. This has been the cases for decades with seasonal sweets and limited edition that; a bottomless stomach won’t be sufficient to eat your heart out in Japan to keep up with all the varieties on offer.
Not only food, there are hundreds of beauticians and convenience stores to select from just one suburb and after you selected the purchase, there are many options of payment like this:
Japan is still a cash based country but my sister has noticed a huge range of digital payment compared to 7 years ago.
3. Abundance of people with a hint of diversity
No matter the days of the week, the time of the week or location, you won’t be alone in Japan. There are so many people in any age range (why do we come across a uniform wearing teenager at 11:00am at a train station on Monday or an 8 year old at 9:00pm?) out and about.
There are 2 or even 3 security guards at a carpark exit navigating pedestrians and cars or 5 people at an arm lengths away from each other on a pathway with exactly the same sign directing people to an event.
A change my sister noticed was that 7 years ago, the foreign workers at supermarkets and convenience stores appeared to be exchange students from east Asia but now there seems to be more diversity and those who have immigrated to Japan to work and live.
4. Pristine and clean
As my New Zealander friends have noticed, Japan is clean. Especially after the pandemic, there are hand sanitisers everywhere, the roads are clean, the public transports are clean and things are orderly. My sister saw a man cleaning the side of a building in Ginza which was a sight unfamiliar to her living in Germany.
Listening to my sister, her observation makes me think of Japanese hospitality. In Japan, we have a word called “omotenashi” which is a thoughtful hospitality for guests to ensure they have a pleasant time.
Omotenashi can be experienced with an oshibori or hand wipes at restaurants (warm in winter and cool in summer), cleanliness for a comfortable stay and a deep bow for appreciation.
Omotenashi is a great Japanese spirit but perhaps it can be overdone or at times even overbearing and sometimes unnecessary like wearing a face mask when most of the world has taken it off.
Besides the discoveries, my sister have enjoyed all the great Japanese things that she has missed including the amazing array of matcha sweets:
praying at Meiji Shrine:
catching up with friends and family who she haven’t seen in years and filling up her suitcase (or 2!) with souvenirs to keep some Japan with her in her home in Germany.
I hope you have a good weekend.
Native Expat 