Adjusting to a New Home (Keaton)

When I got to Japan, I knew nothing about my surroundings and knew I had to start from scratch. Because of my unfamiliarity, a daily victory only took my ability to walk from point A to point B. Even when I moved again from my dorm to my host family, I found myself worried about getting lost in the new maze-like surroundings I was living in. After a while, I was able to switch off that survival mode, really take a look at my surroundings, and discover new locations that were off the path or just hidden from my peripheral view.

When I first started to leave my temporary home in the dorm, I found that the local convenience stores were most important to know. Since we were not given any meals, it was up to the students to supply meals for the first week. This led to me finding cheap meals at convenience stores. After multiple trips, the path to each store was paved more and more in my head. While I felt confident about these destinations, I felt I was not truly exploring. I knew where I came from and where I was going, but I completely ignored everything in between.

Once I started the first week of school orientation, I started to stray off the necessary path. My mental map did not necessarily gain new paths, but instead, gained branches off the main path I was using often. I would go a few blocks to the south to find an arcade that was hidden by a few rows of tall apartments. I would go a few blocks west to find a small restaurant that was only visible by looking at google maps. Even buildings on my main path have revealed secrets, like a karaoke bar tucked away with a not-so flashy exterior.

One of many karaoke bars I have walked past.

After moving to my host family, I felt like I had to start the process again. However, I found that I did not have to. Once I discovered my bike route for traveling to school, all I did was add to the long main path I already had engraved in my memory. I still feel like there is work to be done to be completely confident in my surroundings. While I know the way to my school, I know almost nothing about the maze-like surroundings of my host neighborhood. My host family lives in a small house that is connected to a long and winding row of similar houses that makes it hard to find my way back home.

The street right outside my door.

After looking at the mental map I constructed over these two weeks, I notice how much the city changes once you go farther in any direction. Some places get heavily populated quickly, while others quickly turn into a shopping district. However, the more I move away from the center of my map, the more the city stops looking like a cluster of different neighborhoods and starts looking like a singular community that flows together seamlessly. With each passing day, I am feeling more and more familiar with this new neighborhood of mine.