How to make the best of your trip to Japan?
Travel to Japan can be a memorable experience

By Emily Davis

I went to Japan last year on a school exchange program and I loved it like there was no other place. I am really hoping to go there next year or the year after on a scholarship and stay for the whole year.

Now my views on discrimination in Japan since that is a question that has come up several times. No one in Japan bagged me. I felt very welcome when I was there but I am still in school and will be doing my final year next year if I'm not in Japan, so things might be different in the work place or anywhere else.

I remember when I was at Hamamatsu Park. It was a Sunday in September and it was very hot and humid.  As it was the beginning of Autumn and my student was practicing for an athletics performance. I was really tired from everything that happened the week before (after the September 11 incident in the United States). I left for Japan 4 days after that. So I fell asleep under a tree at Hamamatsu park. This lady with her 3 year old child came over to me and were just staring at me with big smiles on their face so I just smiled back. The Japanese just get excited when they see a gaijin. All the guys at my school said that I was pretty and especially the girls would want their photo taken with all the Australian guys.

Now one of my friends had a really bad host family. She had to pay for things that they were supposed to pay for, like lunch, train fares, etc.  I think that this family was just being really horrible to her. But that was only one person out of 30 or so students from Australia.

Discrimination in Japan?  Not me!

So as far as discrimination goes I didn't experience any. I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't care what people were saying. If they have a problem so be it!  It just means they have a problem with life. People discriminate people all the time, not just in Japan. Coming from Australia, we don't have a lot of discrimination but it is there like it is everywhere else. I'm sure Japan is like that too. Not everyone is racist but you will find a racist person in Japan too.  I'm sure you will because they are everywhere. I wasn't in Japan very long to notice these things.

I know that a few years before going to Japan I was worried about things like earthquakes, but once I was in Japan I was having too much fun to worry about them. It will be the same thing for people going to Japan who are worried about discrimination, but once you get there just be yourself and you will realize that it is way better than what you thought it would be. Just be yourself and you will be fine. Sure you have to do things that Japanese people do like taking your shoes off when you enter a house.  People will respect you if you be yourself. Sure, you can't be rude because there will be things that are perfectly normal in your country but could be considered rather rude in Japan, for example, eating while walking down the street. It doesn't mean you need to change completely because I didn't try and act like a Japanese. I am an Australian and am proud to be an Australian. I come from one of the best, safest places in the world, so why would I want to change?

The best advice I could give anyone who wants to go to Japan or any other country is just to be yourself and to enjoy your time there. Observe the people and participate in activities that they want you too. Trust me it is so much fun. I could tell you a billion stories about my time in Japan and none of them are bad either. And I was only there for 3 weeks.   

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