{"id":2841,"date":"2020-03-24T11:10:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T02:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vhbloglive.wpengine.com\/?p=2841"},"modified":"2020-03-24T11:10:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T02:10:28","slug":"culture-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/japanese-apartment-life\/culture-shock\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture Shock and What you Might not be Ready for"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Going\nfrom one culture to another brings many changes and experiences. Something as\nsimple as eye contact can lead to a variety of situations depending on where\nsomeone is. Eventually, things can come pretty quickly causing people to feel a\nlarge number of emotions in different situations. When does the feeling hit?\nHow long does it last? How do I deal with it when it happens? Answering these\nquestions are near impossible to do as each person deals with these things in\ntheir own ways. There are a few tips to keep in mind when it finally happens to\nhelp process everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When\nDoes Culture Shock Happen?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This\nquestion can yield a lot of answers. Some feel it as soon as they enter the\nairport. Others may take a few months for it to kick in. it can be anything as\nsmall as taking shoes off before entering a house, or correct use of chopsticks\nat the dinner table. No matter how big or small, everyone should try to keep a\ncool head and think of it as a learning experience. Instead of constantly\ncomparing and contrasting everything one could see the similarities between the\ncultures. Trying to understand why things are the way they are. When you think\nof things in this way, it becomes less of a big deal and becomes normal\neveryday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How\nLong Does it Last?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is\nalso a tricky question. Some people, due to their cultural backgrounds, may not\nbe able to accept the new customs they must do. No matter how much they try, it\nstill doesn\u2019t sit right with them. Others may feel strongly about something at\nfirst, but can gradually come to accept the new ways in time. It is up to each\nperson to come to their own understanding. Even after living in the country for\na long time, one can have certain things that they constantly react to. The\nbest thing to do is to take the information in slowly and try to work through\nit. Finding what exactly is causing the stress should be identified first.\nWorking from there should help you slowly come to terms with the new lifestyle.\nTry out a little at a time and eventually the feelings will subside. Once again\nit will take everyone different amounts of time to process it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How\ndo I Deal With it When it Happens?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\nfirst thing to remember is to try to stay calm. It\u2019s easier said than done, but\nit is very important. Controlling the emotional build is a hard task to\ncomplete. It could lead to bad interactions with locals which will make it\nharder on you while living in Japan. It can happen anywhere at any time, and it\nis perfectly normal to feel that way when it does happen. Give it time to sink\nin that even though it is different, it\u2019s ok and won\u2019t be the end. Talk to\nfriends and family, or talk to your employer if you don\u2019t know anyone. Trying\nto keep it all inside and deal with it alone isn\u2019t always the best solution.\nThere are a lot of social networking groups that can be used, and some have\nmeetups in many areas of Japan. If it seems like it is just too much, even\nafter trying to come to terms, it may be time to try something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mental\nPreparation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\nbest way to alleviate strong culture shock is to do some research before moving\nto a new country. It may take away from some of the discovery, but it will\ntemper expectations and give people a chance to see what they are getting into\nbeforehand. Doing this also makes the transition to a new culture smoother\noverall. It allows people to truly see what is going to be the most different\nbefore getting blindsided by the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan\nmay look like a completely different world, but it is still made of people\ndoing everyday things. There are far more things it has in common with the rest\nof the world. Once people move past the veil that they have created for the\ncountry, it becomes a much more normal place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going from one culture to another brings many changes and experiences. Something as simple as eye contact can lead to a variety of situations depending on where someone is. Eventually, things can come pretty quickly causing people to feel a large number of emotions in different situations. When does the feeling hit? How long does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-apartment-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.villagehouse.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}