Reverse Culture Shock

As most of you know, like many people, I've been taking a facebook break in the aftermath of the election.  But this election has also been a huge bump in my personal road to reconciling the person I was in the U.S. with the person I was in Japan.

To be absolutely clear: this post is about me.  It's not about you.  It's not about your political views.  It's not an invitation for criticism or an argument.  I need to get a few things off my chest, and I would appreciate your respect in letting me do so.

See what I did there?  That's been the biggest adjustment to being back in the U.S.  All the opinions. All the time. About everything. And the arguing. And the fighting.  I can't seem to accomplish the simplest thing without fighting every second of every day for it. It's exhausting.

Before I left for Japan, I was overworked, stressed and judged myself on the quality of my work.  Work was always the first priority, and as a teacher, that's considered a positive.  However, when I moved to Japan, I discovered I had very little voice in anything.  Routines and procedures were well established, and no one was interested in change--even for the better.  I fought that mentality for over a year; spending quality time crying in the band room closet and even going to my vice principal to voice my complaints.

Eventually I decided I had three choices--keep fighting a culture that didn't want me to fight it, go back to the U.S., or give up on work and enjoy the other things Japan had to offer.  I opted for choice number three (give up on work and enjoy the other things Japan had to offer.)

To clarify, it's not like I quit showing up to work or half arsed my lessons or anything. I did the best job I could within the parameters I was given for my lessons.  I gave up speaking English to my students in order to develop a stronger relationship with them by speaking Japanese.  Instead of wandering around the school fruitlessly looking for things to do during my down time, I spent extra time at work planning trips to the mountains.

Two of my friends at Kitadake Katanokoya.

I fell in love first with hiking and then with trail running.  I started working on my Alpine Guide Certification courses.  For the first time in my life, work was not my priority and I made a lot of friends and acquaintances as the strange solo foreigner female hanging out at mountain huts.  Most of the time the conversations I had there were positive and enlightening.  Some of the time they were blatantly racist, and I became the target of veiled insults towards the entire Western world.

It felt good to give up and bury my head in the mountains.  I watched a lot of major events in my country from afar.  Though I was affected by those events, I was also conveniently distanced. But there was always the little niggling in the back of my mind that I should rejoin the "real world" instead of my little inaka microcosm. That hiding out in the forests of Nagano wasn't doing anything to help my country or my fellow Americans.  And eventually that niggle turned into a full blown itch and we decided to leave Japan.

Since my return, I didn't realize my learned non-involvement in all things was now a serious problem.  I managed to get through last year having other people fight my battles for me, but with the start of the new school year, those people were no longer there.  I've been forced to stand up for myself and my students, or accept things which I ethically cannot condone.  It's exhausting and frustrating and I hate every minute of it.  But it has to be done.

This election was the same.  I think while I was abroad, some serious unrest has been brewing in our country, and I did not realize it until now.  Even in my little community, I have people lecturing me about how they hate Muslims, Blacks, and stereotype those of low socio-economic status.  Did I stand up for these groups?  No, I didn't.  I listened and felt sad.  But I did nothing.

Because of these rumblings, I was not surprised when Trump won. But I was sad.  And disappointed.  Mostly, I was most sad and disappointed by people's reactions.  That is why I've been limiting my social media.


But I will not bury my head in the mountains this time.  I will not accept hate, and I will not sit down and think happy thoughts hoping for the best.  I have no respect for those who tell me to do so. Inaction condones the actions of the majority.  If President-Elect Trump moves forward on many of his campaign promises, I will stand up for the rights of myself and others and I will not be silent.

To those who say they are going to renounce their citizenship and move to wherever, good luck with that.  I have had the privilege of traveling and living in many countries, and I am grateful every single day to be a citizen of the United States of America.  I will not give up on my country, even if many of her people are acting like rebellious, hormonal teenagers.

To my non-American friends who judge an entire country based on one election (most of whom are ex-pats not even living in their own country)--just wait.  Your country's big stupid will come.  If it hasn't already.  Please don't judge all Americans based on one event.  It's hard to be an American abroad, and it just got a lot harder.  We could really use a friendly face and a little sympathy.

To those protesting the election--you have a constitutional right to protest, but there is nothing illegal about this election.  There are a lot of political blogs, many of which I agree with, stating the various things that both parties did wrong/right and elaborating on why the electoral college is stupid.  I hope that perhaps this election can stimulate some long term change, but President-Elect Trump will remain President-Elect whether people like it or not.  Personally, I think we should save our protests as unfortunately I do believe we will need them later down the road.

There is no way not to take sides in this debate.  You pick a side, or your side is chosen for you based on your inaction.  I am grateful to this election for finally shaking me out of my post-Japan lethargy and forcing me to realize hard truths about myself.  I haven't been doing my duty as a teacher and defending the rights of my students and families.  I've been condoning racism, sexism and xenophobia by not speaking up.

I agree we have no choice but to hope that President-Elect Trump's campaign promises really were just "campaign rhetoric" but I am prepared to fight if they are not.  I hope that if worst comes to worst in this country, people will stand up and do the right thing.

Akari stands up for Love. :)