JET Program Culture Shock Part 2: How to Prepare for and Recognize Culture Shock

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 10 months ago

Now that we have a proper definition of culture shock, we can start diving into action. Having knowledge is only the first step. We have to put that knowledge to good use. We have the bricks. Now let’s build the walls of our culture shock defenses.

How to Prepare for Culture Shock

Nothing can guarantee you won’t experience culture shock at all. But the effects can be lessened. A lot of things are out of your control. That’s just the nature of life. Going to Japan means even less will be in your control. That’s why it’s important to do what you can.

Below are a few things you can do before you leave for Japan to minimize the impact of culture shock on JET. If you’re already in Japan, do these things before you culture shock sets in. If you’re in the middle of stage two, do them. Do these no matter what, but the sooner you do them the better. You want to do them when your head is the clearest.

Quick note: perhaps “do” isn’t the best verb to use for these exercises. They involve a lot of thought and asking questions of yourself. Some things are doing things. But for most the exercises, the “doing” comes in writing. That’s why most of these items are lists.

You could complete these by simply thinking. But I recommend physically writing them down. This gives you record of your thoughts to reference later (when you’re shocked). And it gives physicality to what you’re thinking. You want to make your brain do some work now before it’s overloaded later.

• Study Japanese: The communication barrier is a big cause of culture shock. You likely won’t be able to improve your Japanese enough in a few months to destroy the communication barrier, but every little bit helps. If you’re going on JET with zero Japanese ability (like I did), at least memorize hiragana and katakana. That alone will help a lot.
• Make a list of personal character traits: Culture shock often causes you to act differently than you normally would. You’re transitioning into new habits and a new way of life, which is something of an identity crisis. Write down a list of 25 character traits that you feel best describe you. Think of it as a little letter from your past self saying, “Hey self. This is who you are.”
• Make a list of expectations: This should be as long as you can make it and it should be a list of your expectations of everything: Japan, your job, your behavior, your home, your treatment, everything!
• Use the above list to research online: Check out information online (like on Tofugu, for example) to find out how your expectations will match up with reality. You won’t be able to completely adjust your expectations until you’re in Japan (reading is different than experiencing). But a little research will prepare you before you depart. Knowing what to expect makes some shocks not quite as shocking.
• Make a list of goals: Culture shock is a big deterrent to goals. Your goal to study Japanese every day can get quickly derailed when culture shock symptoms lead you to party hard and binge watch Arrested Development (it’s a great show though). Refer to your list of goals to keep you on track, but be open to revising them. Your goal to revolutionize the Japanese school system may prove to be another unrealistic expectation.
• Be ready to let go: One of the biggest obstacles to overcoming stage 2 of culture shock is a longing for things from home. Certainly do bring photos and reminders from home and request frequent care packages of favorite snacks. But prepare yourself to leave comfort foods like tacos and hamburgers behind. More than food, be ready to leave comforts like familiarity and ease-of-living behind as well. It can be frustrating to not have access to familiar comforts (“It’s just beef between bread. Why is that so hard?!”). But the key is being content. Find some new Japanese comforts. Kotatsu, ramen, and onsen are all particularly wonderful. One day you may be pining for these things back in your own country (“It’s just a triangle of rice filled with tuna. Why is that so hard?!”). So enjoy the comforts of Japan while you can.
• Get excited: Going on JET means facing differentness. While the differentness may cause shock, it will also cause excitement. Whole worlds of opportunity will open squarely to you. Regional delicacies, local castles, prefectural yurukyara. These are all things you can be proud of in your new home. Though you’ll stand out in not so fun ways, you’ll stand out in good ways too. Japanese people may single you out to invite you to events and banquets not open to everyday people. Get ready to embrace your new life for all its worth and prepare your bicep for your new Kumamon tattoo.

How to Recognize Culture Shock

Now that you know what culture shock is and are prepared for it, it’s time to play the waiting game. But you’re not waiting, curled up in a closet hiding. You’re waiting atop the defense wall you built, fully armed and ready. Just the fact that you are aware culture shock is coming means you are much more likely to recognize it.

Even so, onset of stage two symptoms is gradual. So you may still find yourself in a funk without really knowing how you got there. Stage two generally begins for most JETs between 3 to 5 months after arrival, though it varies from person to person. Factors like circumstance, personal resilience, communication skill, and expectation make for a cocktail of variance. So one JET may experience stage two on the day of arrival. Another may experience it after a year or more.

Keep an extra eye on your emotional state when the beginning of winter rolls around. JETs are especially susceptible to get culture shock around this time. Stage 2 begins for most people between 3 to 5 months after arrival. For JETs this is the beginning of winter. Just as the newness of Japanese life is wearing off, the sky is getting dark and the air is getting cold. On top of this, many JETs may have found a groove in their ALT work, which makes life easier but also makes it a bit more boring.

The key to recognizing the onset of culture shock is to be mindful. Be aware of your inner and outer life, meaning your thoughts and actions. Refer to the list of symptoms above and recognize when you might be exhibiting one or more of them. You may be having an off day or you may have culture shock.

There’s not much you can do to recognize it beyond just “recognizing it.” That said, here’s two tips to enhance your recognition ability.

1. Set reminders on your phone or computer: Set a monthly reminder on some device that will appear and offer some kind of encouragement like, “You’re doing great, you wonderful person you!” or “Don’t stop till you reach the top!” or “You know what I forgot to tell you? You’re great.” and so forth. This may seem incredibly cheesy but it accomplishes 2 things: It gives you much needed motivation in a place where motivation may be scarce and it reminds you to be mindful of culture shock. When you see the reminder, its weird phrasing will hopefully encourage you and spark a memory of why you set it in the first place.
2. Ask friends for help: A gradual and internal behavior change is tough to spot, even when you’re looking for it. Before you leave, tell some trusted friends or family members about the shock you might face and ask them to let you know if they see a change. People from home that you talk to have a special ability to spot changes because they’ll be interacting with you intermittently with weeks or a month in between contact. This will make changes seem more stark to them and give them a better ability to help you identify when culture shock has set in.

The Problem of Nostalgia

One of the biggest factors in how long culture shock lasts and how deeply it affects you is rooted in nostalgia for your home country. It’s weird to think of being nostalgic for a country. Usually we are nostalgic for specific time periods, especially those farther away. But nostalgia doesn’t require time, only distance enough that we are able to forget the bad and only remember the good. This excellent AJET article presented me with a quote from a Woody Allen film, _Midnight in Paris, _which very accurately explains how nostalgia factors into culture shock:

Nostalgia is denial, denial of the painful present. The name for this denial is golden age thinking, the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one one’s living in. It’s a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.

When times are tough, we step back and pine for a time when things seemed easier to manage. During culture shock, people tend to idealize their home country. Because the Japanese way of doing things contradicts the way it’s done in your country, it’s easy dismiss ideas that don’t make sense to you. Before long, you will stop analyzing ideas that don’t make sense to you and immediately mark it as inferior without time taken to consider it from the Japanese perspective.

I’m not trying to say that the way Japan thinks is right and that its culture is perfect (need I mention the fax machines?). Some ideas may be wrong, while others may be 100%, 80%, or 67% right. Most things will be largely a matter of opinion.

The point is, if you pine too much for your own country, not only will you be unable to enjoy your life in a flawed but awesome country, you’ll be robbed of the ability to rationally look at situations and gain insight into Japan and your own country at the same time. This ability to discover what’s preferable from your own country and Japan is not only necessary for survival, it’s arguably the best gift the JET Program has to offer.

Preparing to Cope

Whether we like it or not, life happens everywhere. Difficult things happen everywhere in the world, including our home countries. But at home, we can deal with difficult things more easily because we know what to expect and how to react. When the setting is unfamiliar and you feel like an outsider, difficult things can feel like a bigger deal because they come from unexpected sources or are dealt with in different ways in the new culture.

This is part of the “horizon broadening” process that’s not so fun, but is incredibly rewarding. How you deal with culture shock will teach you a lot about yourself and make you more prepared and resilient to problems in the future, no matter where you end up. And how to deal with culture shock as it happens is what we’re covering next.

Bonus Wallpapers!

[Desktop ? 5120×2880 / 1280×720] ? [Mobile]

Sources:

• GunmaJET, 1


• AJET


• Surviving in Japan


• Virginia Tech


• Psychology Today


• JET-Programme.com


• Wikipedia

The post JET Program Culture Shock Part 2: How to Prepare for and Recognize Culture Shock appeared first on Tofugu.

read the original article