“I’m the foreigner now”
An Interview with Gregory Runyon, a government employee from
the United States who moved to Sasebo, Japan.
“[I’ve lived in Japan] 7 months…actually, I’m a week away from completing my 8th month, so 8 months. I can’t believe it’s been that long already!
“Working with the U.S. government is a challenge. That was my biggest challenge dealing with the government bureaucracy and getting trips set up on the proper channels.
“The area – because of the military presence here – they’re used to service members and government people coming in and out, so they’re prepared for it. The biggest challenge is working the bureaucracy and getting the right information to do things in the right process. The Japanese government and the Japanese people are very receptive when you’re sent here on orders with the US government.
“The biggest challenge is communication, because in this area there’s not as many English-speaking Japanese as there are in some of the bigger areas like Tokyo. Many of them have a basic understanding of English, so by nodding and smiling and pointing, we can usually communicate, but that’s the biggest challenge – being able to effectively communicate.
“Culturally, it is quite a bit different here. It’s very peaceful and polite. [It’s] not necessarily friendly all the time, but always polite, and it’s not always that way in the States, I hate to say it, [but] not even in the South.
“But it helped having classes that [taught about] some of the cultural differences. It’s not like I’m a normal person who decided to move to Japan because, with the government, they’ve been doing it for 80 years – they’ve sent people over here to live. It helps to get people adjusted.
“The biggest challenge is communication not just with speaking, but also reading, because everything is in a different script that I don’t read. Whether its selecting food from a menu or getting on a train and going somewhere, sometimes it can be a challenge if it’s not dual-language.
“I like food. I like all kinds of food. There’s not much food I don’t like. They put a lot of pictures on their menus or have pictures hanging in their restaurants, so I just point at something and say, ‘hey whatever that is, I’ll try it.’ So, it really helps to have varied taste. It helps to have an open mind to flavors and experiences.
“I’ve not ordered something once because I was blown away that they even offered raw horse meat, but that’s another story. ‘Horse sashimi, what? Seriously, no.’ I don’t order horse meat, it’s not always obvious what horse meat is, but I tend to stay away from it.
“A lot of foods are served intact meaning a lot of the shrimps are served with the head, a lot of fishes are served with the head. Some are served filleted in pretty, bite-sized pieces, but some are not. I’m not a shrimp guy, but there was some shrimp that came, and I ate the whole thing, head and all. I’m still alive.
“They even have chicken sashimi here. Raw chicken. That just sounds wrong, doesn’t it? But there’s only certain growers that are allowed to serve it. Though it’s a lot more expensive to buy food here, it’s a lot safer.
“Well because of my position, I’m kind of forced into contacts a lot and that helps. One thing that helped is my daughter visited and she is a natural person magnet, and I’ve met a lot of people through her. As far as local people, there is a significant language barrier.
“I do have people at my work that I use as interpreters to reach out to things, to people and companies. I have to bring my mail into work and have one of my people tell me what it means. ‘Is this a bill or do they want to come do some maintenance?’ That’s one of the challenges of living in an apartment, they want to come and replace a gas meter and to me it looks like junk mail, and I have to let my person at my office tell me what it means. Some mail I was getting ready to throw away and they said ‘no, no that’s from the gas company. They want to come change your meter.’ ‘Oh. Okay.’
“I have a few friends that I connect with. I don’t really hang out with anyone. I’ve really got a lot going on at work, and I’ve been focused on it. But I do have some friends. I’ve got some church friends I’m getting to know and they’re all good and friendly and seek me out whenever they’re in the store…
“There’s still a good-sized community of Americans that live here because of the base. And so there’s people to connect with there. It’s a lot harder to connect with the local population because of the language barriers.
“See that was one thing that was very shocking to me. Even though I’ve lived in another country before, when I was in the army, but it was really like being in the States there. Even from the day I landed in Japan and was going through customs and there was a sign hanging [that] said ‘Foreigners Here.’ I was like, ‘wow!’ I’d never walked into a place and said ‘Oh I’m a foreigner’ until that moment. It was like, ‘hey, I’m the foreigner now.’ That was quite the interesting experience. So having lived most of my life in the States, now I’m a foreigner. But it’s okay. I wanted to be here.
“Any time I leave base [I feel like a foreigner]. But the people here are so polite. They’re a lot more polite towards me than Americans are towards foreigners in the States in general. They don’t always reach out to you, but they don’t always just start yelling ‘get out of our country’ kind of stuff. They’re always polite, and I think that helps…
“They’re really polite people. One description would be friendly, but that’s really not the correct description. But they’re just so polite! And I’ve been told to be prepared to be shocked when I get back to the States at how not polite people are. And they just operate on a different pace. Growing up, my dad used to make fun of slow drivers. He’d call ‘em ‘Sunday Drivers’ because they were just out driving, real slow, just enjoying the day. And it seems like that’s how almost everyone drives here.
“It’s just ‘I’m in my car ‘til I get there, and I’ll get there when I get there.’ They don’t feel rushed and they don’t feel hurried. They don’t switch lanes back and forth trying to get their way through to the front of the line. They just get in their car and they drive. They drive slow, they drive careful and they get there. It’s a challenge to Americans who are like me who are used to getting in the car and gettin’ there. It’s best just to slow it down and just go with the flow.
“My least favorite? Staying connected with family back in the States. That has been my number-one-not-even-close difficulty, is the half-a-day time difference and trying to remain connected with family back home. And I’m hoping that when I’m back home that I’ll be able to take steps to make it a lot easier by getting a phone that will be able to call the States easy. [With] the phone companies here, I could get a phone here, but it still costs a fortune to call the States. So I want to get a phone in the States with a Japanese plan, so that my kids can call me any time they want. Not have to communicate through Messenger for two days in order to arrange a phone call.
“That’s the biggest challenge. It’s because it’s so far away – its half the world away – and trying to stay connected with loved ones that are far, far away.
“I love Japan. If I could bring my family over here I’d never want to leave. But it is what it is, so I won’t stay here permanently because I’ve gotta be near family. But I love Japan.
“I can say good things about every place I’ve lived whether it was Missouri, Tennessee, or Mississippi. Even Utah! I had good experiences everywhere I’ve lived. But man! I’m just blown away with Japan; I love it here.
“One of the most amazing things – it’s struck me since the time I got here – is that 80 years ago we were bitter enemies trying to kill each other, and now it’s as good as a friendship as anywhere in the world between the U.S. and Japan. That’s pretty amazing to me.”
