Why I want to live in Japan (Pre-Japan Trip)

こんにちはみんあさん！アンバです～

I'm not a city person, but it's still beautiful

Since 7th grade when I decided that I wanted to live in Japan, I've been asked questions like this countless of times:

• "Amber, just why do you even want to live in Japan?"
• "Why do you want to live in Japan? They all look alike, that's boring." (Well, and racist fyi)
• "Why Japan?"

And I've decided to address it at last, and maybe then I'll have some people stop asking me the same question, over and over and over and over again. 

And the countless beauties of this culture

I watch a few YouTubers who JVlog (Japanese vlogging) and although I'm not able to be in Japan, they do their best to show me what it's like. Now-- my opinion can totally change once I get there, so I'll be doing a follow-up. Anyway, as I was saying before...

I find Japan and America two totally different places. Japan as a long history of both death, loyalty, and friendship throughout their culture. (Death as in the Edo era as well as loyalty. Ya'know, samurais and fighting for their Lord)

Japan have shrines that were built in the year 600, and that's OLD. Extremely old. Compared to America which is only less than 250 years old (Thank you Rachel and Jun for this wonderful information) it's so much more fascinating to see how these people lived, what they did with their lives, how they worked as a society. Ah... just typing it gets me excited! Haha.

A tiny shrine dedicated to Japanese foxes called Kitsune (きつね)

Japan's culture is orientated on making someone feel welcome and comfortable. It's also why Japan has such a low crime rate-- yeah, crime happens, but come on. In 2010, there was 257 gun shootings in America that led to death while in Japan... only 2. I mean,... do I really need to say anymore? From what I've seen about Japan in the countless of videos I've watched, Japanese people generally really care about your well-being. For example, I read in a blog how a women who got lost in the middle of the night in Tokyo was approached by a Japanese teen. The girl redirected her back to the women's hotel and also gave her some money so she could buy herself some hot coffee.

The Japanese culture makes you feel welcomed. Even from my Japanese friends that I have, they never critizise me (well, not directly anyway haha. But it all depends on the person), and they are always so incredibly proud of me that I try. Even me-- I can barely speak a sentence in Japanese as I fumble around trying to say: "I am going to Japan in a few months." They are so impressed when I even try, it literally makes me want to cry at how welcomed and happy they make me feel.

Now don't get me wrong, people are different in general, but it's Japanese culture and tradition to make someone feel at home and welcomed. That's the point I want to make.

Not only that, Japanese colleges are so much cheaper than America. I was looking at one of the colleges I'm thinking about applying for... first year is free for international students, and regular collage is only $5,000. While in America... $20,000. No thank you. Even if I was to go to a 4 year American college and try to go to Japan for a study abroad trip, that'd be another $7,000. Once again, no thank you. I don't have the money for that.

I'm going to wrap this blog post up, but I wanted to quote on Rachel and Jun's video about Rachel's top 5 reasons why she loves Japan (her reasons and mine are very, very similar) 

"...I just feel such a love for the people here. Like, when someone opens up to you and welcomes you into their culture, you just feel such an appreciation towards them... I got to talk to a lot of people... quite a few people traveling on their own to Japan, some who didn't even speak Japanese... 

"[just] ...such an insane level of welcoming someone in this country. More than anything else, that's the part of Japan that touches me the most and makes me want to live here... this is such a wonderful place... I really wish I could just show you how incredibly kind people have been to us, this is part of Japan I want to show the world."

She was practically tearing up in the video, and I really wish I could show the world how beautiful Japan is, and I'm not putting Japan on a pedestal and giving it an award for the best country in the world, no. I love America, and I want to love Japan as well. Japan has it's negativity, and parts I dislike about it (forever being labeled as a Gaijin (外人) which means foreigner) 

But that's just a blog, and I'll close the page at this. I'll be remaking this post once I return from Japan as well. ^^ 

またね！ヾ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ

See Rachel and Jun's video at: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4yqcgz49APdbgj0OMv7jpA