Chuck, our team leader, says that when he does orientation for short-term teams that come to Japan, he always makes sure to remind them that if they encounter something they find odd or frustrating, to remember that it’s not wrong or stupid, it’s just different. Well in our travels today, I found a number of things that were quite “different,” but in our case, it made me say, “Send me back to Japan!”

Let me illustrate. When we made our transfer at Newark Airport, we had to go through security. For some reason, Theresa kept setting off the metal detectors (she thinks it was her bobby pins) which caused the TSA personnel to have to do increasingly thorough inspections, culminating with a full wanding and pat down. The fact that they did this was fine (I understand the need for security), it was the how that was unpleasant. If any of you have been through airport security, you know it is a little chaotic, especially if you are carrying a lot of stuff. The instructions from the TSA personnel didn’t come in the form of polite requests, they were curtly barked out orders & or corrections (which usually came after she hadn’t done what she was supposed to do – even though what that was wasn’t always made clear).

Now go back to when we boarded our flight this morning in Ube. We were running a little behind heading to the airport and I forgot to put my keys (with my little Leatherman keychain) inside my check baggage. When we got to the security checkpoint and I emptied my pockets to go through the metal detector, one of the workers noticed it and very politely (and almost apologetically) explained that I would not be able to take it on the plane. She then proceeded to explain that if I would like to go with her back to the check-in counter, she would have it checked and I could pick it up in Tokyo. She proceeded to escort me back down to the check-in counter, waited while the airline staff put it in a small box and checked it under my name, and then escorted be back up to the checkpoint and walked me through to where my bags and my wife were waiting on the other side. During the whole time, the only trouble I had understanding was due to my lesser skill with Japanese and I never felt like she was annoyed or like I was putting her out. Her job was to help people navigate through the security checkpoint and address any problems that arose and she was happy to do it. Was this due to the fact that this was a local (and thus maybe more personable) airport… that this was a Saturday morning and volume was low… no, it’s really just the way the Japanese are. This was only one example from the day. I won’t bother going into differences in the upkeep of the airports or the demeanor of the airport and airline staff.

So, am I becoming anti-American? Well, not really. There are different things that I don’t care for in Japan compared to the US (For instance, the way that paper forms and official stamps – lick and stick as well as the good old fashion ink kind – are still the rule of the day in a country where you think technology would be king.). I guess it goes to show that culture stress can go both ways, even when it’s your own.

Praise God that (with relatively few hitches along the way) our luggage and we have safely arrived back in the US. Pray that we would have a good time of relaxation (on our team leader’s and Japanese tutor’s insistence we left all of our study materials back in Japan) and that our minds would be refreshed and ready to start study again upon our return.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Life in Cross-Cultural Ministry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.