konki_d
nora-ookami
- 14 Feb 2009
- 38
- 2
- 18
I have been back in the U.S. for about 1/2 a year now. After the immediate joy of being reunited with my spouse and children evened out to a general sense of domestic contentedness, the feelings of withdrawl hit and hit hard. Now, I feel almost a sense of panic and depressing loss over the experiences I had in Japan that are not readily available to me now, especially now that my new home is in North Dakota.
What I am wondering is something of a two-part inquiry for people who have been to Japan and then moved on to somewhere else:
First, what are the day-to-day things you have found you miss the most? For example, I really miss going to konbini for onigiri (rice balls) and sandoichi (sandwiches), softo (soft drinks) with the free phone danglies, and nihon no bunbougu (Japanese stationary). These are not majorly iconic things (such as Mt. Fuji or Tokyo Disneyland), but simple pleasures I internalized into my daily life.
Secondly, what are some coping mechanisms and surrogate pleasures you have incorporated in your life after leaving Japan to replace or remind you of the daily things you miss from your time in Japan? For example, I still use my nihon no sha-pen (Japanese mechanical pencils) on a daily pencil.
Basically, I want to shift my feelings about leaving Japan from a desperate and panicked sense of loss to a bittersweet nostalgia. Also, I want to stave off losing my daily rituals and living knowledge of Japan for as long as possible. Already I am forgetting some of the brand names of foods I ate and stores I shopped at . . . AUGH!
Thoughts, ideas, help?
What I am wondering is something of a two-part inquiry for people who have been to Japan and then moved on to somewhere else:
First, what are the day-to-day things you have found you miss the most? For example, I really miss going to konbini for onigiri (rice balls) and sandoichi (sandwiches), softo (soft drinks) with the free phone danglies, and nihon no bunbougu (Japanese stationary). These are not majorly iconic things (such as Mt. Fuji or Tokyo Disneyland), but simple pleasures I internalized into my daily life.
Secondly, what are some coping mechanisms and surrogate pleasures you have incorporated in your life after leaving Japan to replace or remind you of the daily things you miss from your time in Japan? For example, I still use my nihon no sha-pen (Japanese mechanical pencils) on a daily pencil.
Basically, I want to shift my feelings about leaving Japan from a desperate and panicked sense of loss to a bittersweet nostalgia. Also, I want to stave off losing my daily rituals and living knowledge of Japan for as long as possible. Already I am forgetting some of the brand names of foods I ate and stores I shopped at . . . AUGH!
Thoughts, ideas, help?
Last edited: