Fragments - Flash Anthology

Twenty

Arrive with grandmother, who was a naval reserve chief, her boyfriend, and her youngest son, my uncle who is only two years older than me. A present for graduating high school, and one of the only trips I'll have. Before, I only visited family or went to Disneyland and Legoland, and I hardly remember those trips. There's only the memories of sitting in the back of my parents' or my grandparents' car and reading, looking out the window, sleeping, or playing GameBoy. Just the roar of the road and a lot of nothing else.

But now, it's different. Now, I'm in another country. I'm 18, and yet it's the first time I've left the US. And, of all the places to leave first to, it was Japan.

The airport is clean. It's so different from the one we left, SEA-TAC. Narita airport is the first sign that the culture and the people of Japan is a big change from what I'm used to. There's several employees in neat uniforms with bright smiles standing just to greet me, and there are what feels like hundreds of busy people moving about without involving the world around them in their affairs. Whereas in Seattle, it was common to see people looking around at each other and seeking some form of connection or attention, here, it's as if everyone lived in their own bubble. No one looks at us, even though we stand out like a sore thumb. The train is quiet, but for us and the digital voice announcing the next stop. There's no smell, unlike being in public in the US. Just clean, almost if too sterile for us. The first meal we have is on the American naval airbase in Atsugi. The ride to the base was interesting, most of which was on the bus to Tokyo and then on several train rides, but some of which was on foot as we traveled from the station buildings and across busy streets filled with people flowing blood in a healthy vein; in the US, streets often felt like a wound where people clotted up and clumped together, or a vein with little blood, just the occasional person seeking help or hurrying across to get out of the way of all the cars. But in Japan, walking and public transport was the primary method for everyone to move about. But that was how I got to the base--the base itself was a strange mix of Japan and America, but if anything, it was as if I had temporarily returned to the US. The food was just like back home, the small roads were not with people walking but with cars, and there were big buildings and a lot of space open with trees and grass. I wish my first meal was of Japan, but instead, it was a simple meal from the mess hall, the contents of which were so bland and normal for me that I can no longer recall what it was I ate. Thankfully, we later had the opportunity to start sightseeing (and eating food off the base). It was in the next few days, and over the two weeks that I got to stay, that I experienced this new place and culture in more depth. I was lucky to already have studied the language in high school, but it did not fully prepare me for just how different things felt while walking the roads and standing in the trains. I was ready to speak with people and make food orders, I was sure I knew how it felt after seeing shows, and I really felt confident in my expectations. But, being there was a whole 'nother level beyond what I thought it was going to be. The first day was a blur, and we came in at a weird time of day. But each time I rode trains, often new ones each time, I really came to appreciate just how industrious and busy everyone there seemed to be. In the US, you can't really read, sleep, or do work while commuting; here, everyone was busy with either a time to relax and read/watch things on their flip-phones, getting a quick nap in before their stop came, or finding some way to study or get more work done while on their way to wherever they were heading to. Looking at my family, I began to feel awkward--they were chatting with each other, and trying to converse with me. But I realized that we were wrong--in Japan, people don't involve others when out and about. I realized we were being rude, and disrupting this time of peace and solitude for all the other passengers.

When we arrived at the tourist spots, we returned back to the US a little bit, though mostly because the locations were filled with English signs and people from all around the world. Whereas outside of these spots there were only Japanese people, now, there were people from so many nations speaking so many languages that it felt like downtown Seattle to me. Of course, the sights to see and the shops selling goods were themed in the flavor of Japan, but it felt almost fake to the nature of the country and the people who lived there. Sure, the teriyaki burger at McDonalds was amazing, the juicy and sweet burger is to die for, and sure, all the food seemed just so much better and cleaner than anywhere in the US, but I didn't feel like I really got to see the real Japan.

It took until I found my way back, a few years later, for me to see the full depth of Japan. It took living there for two years for me to start to really understand the culture and the people, and the industrious and busy mindset many Japanese people have, and to see the reasoning behind how I saw them be on trains and in the streets. Being there, staying on an American base for a few weeks wasn't enough, not when we only went to tourist spots. But it was the right kind of tease that inspired me to go there and try living once I found a way to do so.