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Reverse Culture Shock

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Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#31

Post by ronnier »

unsignedint wrote: post #19

Even just visiting Japan (I'm originally from Japan) causes this for me. Short stay is fine, but I feel really foreign, maybe more so than "foreigners" as people in there can detect disconnect of my appearance and mindset by my subtle deviation from expectations of how I act in there.

I lived in Tokyo. After moving back to Seattle it took a really long time to accept how empty things are (few people on the streets) and how alone we are most of the time. Driving in a car alone compared to riding the packed Yamanote line every morning was a huge difference.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#32

Post by bane »

verisimilidude wrote: post #24
unsignedint wrote: post #19

Even just visiting Japan (I'm originally from Japan) causes this for me. Short stay is fine, but I feel really foreign, maybe more so than "foreigners" as people in there can detect disconnect of my appearance and mindset by my subtle deviation from expectations of how I act in there.

I can sympathize. Whenever I come back to the US from Japan, I find myself bowing at the supermarket and persisting lots of little Japanese mannerisms. Sometimes for days. Japanese culture seems to demand more...commitment...than some of the other places I've visited and lived. Perhaps Japan is a stronger source of reverse culture shock.

Japan also is the source of a strange culture bound syndrome sometimes called "Paris syndrome" -- which is somewhat related to the lack of the kind of micro-ceremonies that are encoded in Japanese manners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#33

Post by seanmcdirmid »

cjcenizal wrote: post #4

Perhaps not culture shock per se, but when I fly back to LA, I am always shocked at how gray and brown everything is from the air.

I just moved to LA from Beijing. I'm shocked at how clean the air is, there are never bad AQI days (at least nothing over 200), and...I can smell flowers. I visited often enough, so it shouldn't have been a surprise, but I realized I wasn't really smelling anything but dust and air pollution for 9 years.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#34

Post by 55555 »

bandrami wrote: post #3

Yup. I'm a "trailing spouse" for an American diplomat, and this is so true. One thing that always, always, always happens to Americans when we repatriate is the "grocery store freakout". At some point, you will go to a grocery store, and freeze. "Man..." you'll keep saying, "Americans really love breakfast cereal..."

Very true! In the same vein though, the selection at places like Whole Foods is one of the best parts of coming home (from the third world).

One of the hardest things for me to adapt to is how "liberal" America has become. It's not an objectively bad thing, but I feel like I went into a coma and woke up 20 years later in a world I can barely relate to. As an example, I'm thinking about stuff like Miley Cyrus' performance. And a lot of the social justice stuff -- I really just missed a whole lot of it and I've literally had to learn tons of new words and concepts to catch up and not appear bigoted. Living abroad in a more "conservative" culture and then coming back and adapting with a snap of the fingers is tough. The weird thing is that I was considered "very liberal" when I first left the US.

The hardest thing of all is perhaps how violent and aggressive and loud and rude Americans can be (in public, to strangers). It can be downright frightening, coming from Asia.

Edit: Also, I can't stop bowing to people. Asian Americans probably sometimes suspect I'm racist.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#35

Post by holdenc »

Why call it reverse culture shock? It's simply a realization that the United States not the best country in every regard. And in many regards it's failing badly. Personally, I call it the I-can't-get-healthcare shock, or the I-can-only-find-chain-restaurants-in-flyover-country shock, or the NYC-subway-is-not-as-nice-as-the-Asian-country-train-system-I-just-left shock.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#37

Post by kasey_junk »

bandrami wrote: post #3

Yup. I'm a "trailing spouse" for an American diplomat, and this is so true. One thing that always, always, always happens to Americans when we repatriate is the "grocery store freakout". At some point, you will go to a grocery store, and freeze. "Man..." you'll keep saying, "Americans really love breakfast cereal..."

I have that experience going to a store less than 30 minutes from my house.

In my local stores there are feet of cereal aisle that all seems largely overkill. When I go to a suburban grocery store there are yards of it. I'm always baffled.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#38

Post by vocatus_gate »

kawsper wrote: post #23

I lived 3 years in the UK, and now I am back in Denmark for a while, I hope to return, but lets see what Theresa May & co figures out. I always thought I wanted to go for the dual-citizenship, but not anymore. It is difficult to live in a new place, you don't really feel integrated even though you have friends, speak the language, go to events, pay your taxes, and get the jokes, you will always be the dane and a fore…

When I came back from my first tour to Iraq in 2004 (was 19 at the time) it took me almost a full year to feel mostly "home" again. But it definitely changed something about me, ever since that year I've never felt 100% "home" for some reason.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#39

Post by greggman »

verisimilidude wrote: post #24
unsignedint wrote: post #19

Even just visiting Japan (I'm originally from Japan) causes this for me. Short stay is fine, but I feel really foreign, maybe more so than "foreigners" as people in there can detect disconnect of my appearance and mindset by my subtle deviation from expectations of how I act in there.

I can sympathize. Whenever I come back to the US from Japan, I find myself bowing at the supermarket and persisting lots of little Japanese mannerisms. Sometimes for days. Japanese culture seems to demand more...commitment...than some of the other places I've visited and lived. Perhaps Japan is a stronger source of reverse culture shock.

Bowing st the supermarket ? I've been in Toyko for over 10 years I've never seen customer bow at a supermarket. Is that a thing in some other part of Japan?

What I notice going back to the USA is how it often feels like the 3rd world countries my dad would tell me about as a kid indirectly trying to tell me how great the USA is.

Now I just see crime, corrupt police, etc. Came back for 6 months got my car broken into twice. Once in LA, once in SF. Try to hang out at a coffee shop to work but have to pack up my stuff and give up my seat to use the restroom because otherwise my computer will be stolen. I never feel safe riding public transportation in SF where as I never not feel safe riding in Japan.

Another is convenience. After 9:30 in Venice Beach, if I haven't eaten by 9:30 nothing is open except 24 supermarkets in have to drive miles to. Compare to Tokyo where there's almost always a conveniece store within 5 minutes and they actually have reasonably good options.

Food is bland and large. Americans seem to prioritize quantity over quality in general. At least in the suburbs.

I could rant about Japan too but the topic is reverse culture shock.

Re: Reverse Culture Shock

#40

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

Heck, I grew up in the Bay Area, and I get reverse culture shock when return to visit for more than a few days.

So. Much. Traffic. People packed into trains. Everyone so...not exactly rude, but not nearly as friendly as I've grown accustomed (I live near Boulder, Colorado).

I feel like my blood pressure is higher the entire time I'm there. Of course the air pressure is higher, so that may have something to do with it, but I think it goes beyond that.

On the other hand, I've never been in great shape, and the first day down at sea level and I feel like I could run a marathon...

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