KEEP IT NATURAL

by  Yukito Yoneyama ／米山ゆきと



I am a Japanese native, living in Eastern Long Island, New York.

It has been a quite a journey, since I have set my foot on the US soil 15 years ago.
I was blessed with an opportunity to become a cultural exchange student
when I was a senior in high school.


The exchange student program I chose was volunteer-based.
It was fairly inexpensive compared to other programs,
however, there was a little catch. I had no choice regarding my destination.

Since it was a volunteer-based program, all the living expenses during my stay was
paid by the family who selected me to spend an entire year with them.

What were they thinking, I don't know,
but the way it worked was that the family who are interested in having an exchange student
would register with the program, and they can select one student from the program database.



Prior to the selection process, all participating exchange students spend 3 weeks
in a college in San Francisco (College of Notre Dam),
going through orientations to prepare for the massive culture shock.


Our program had 26 students, of which 24 were females.
I volunteered to be a leader of the program during the orientation,
which was unlike myself, since I disliked having responsibilities.

But hey, 24 girls and 2 dudes.. I had to take a leading role.
Well, actually it was sorta determined by cultural gender roles and the age hierarchy.
I was the oldest male in the program, so there I went.


The other dude turned out to be really cool,
and we ended up becoming very good friends.
Our friendship continues on to this day.
We, along with 24 girls had a great time in San Francisco.

I can still clearly remember how everything was completely new and foreign (literally).
I mean San Francisco was a beautiful city.

Pastel colored homes, cool ocean breeze, Fisherman's Wharf, trollies,
Golden Gate Bridge, fogs, and the famous California sunshine.



It is funny how things like supermarkets can be so foreign
(we have super markets in Japan, too, but all things in them were totally unseen).

I remember the scent of Safeway (west-coast based supermarkets) when I first walked in.
To be honest, it smelled weird.

IT DID NOT smell like supermarkets I was used to going in Japan.
I couldn't identify the scents from my memory database.

And it was huge! I could not believe the size of it.
I laughed out loud thinking,

"oh yeah, the famous American "bigger the better" concept."

 I say "I laughed", because "bigger the better" is considered
kind of unintelligent from Japanese perspective
(no offense to my fellow American friends, keep it open-minded).

Some of you may already know, but we believe in "less is more".




It was my first week in any foreign country, and prior to this experience,
I have never even been on an airplane.


Cultural difference can be so extreme sometimes, it blows my mind. 

I thought to myself recently after being here over a decade,

"the way we view things can actually be from completely opposite spectrum
when you travel to the opposite side of the planet."



Getting back to the story, I really enjoyed Safeway.
(how strange is that, a supermarket entertainment)

It was in walking distance from the College of Notre Dam,
where our program was staying.


When I was leaving with my bud Toshi (the other dude),
we saw a few vending machines outside the front door.

At the orientation, we were told that we can't buy beer, since we weren't of legal age.
It struck me like a thunder, in exaggeration.

In Japan, we have vending machines for beer, and cigarettes.
It is one of those things Japan is well-known for, like electronics, Toyota, Walkman, Playstations, Geisha, Mt. Fuji, and vending machines for your vice.

Anyway, I wanted to drink beer, while hanging out with 25 fellow high-schoolers
in this American college away from parents and the wrath of Platonic cultural restrictions and all.

Cliche, whatever. I had to get everyone drunk, or what kind of leader would I be?



So when Toshi and I found the vending machines outside Safeway,
it was a heaven-sent miracle.

We rush to one of the machines like two moths flying toward a light.

One of the buttons read, "Root beer".
Of course I didn't understand what root beer were.

Some of you may think "come on that's stupid",
but if someone from this country went to Japan for the first time,
not knowing the language, culture, or customs, you won't believe what you would do in error.


For example, finding a strangely-shaped toilet (old school toilet in Japan is shaped like a slipper),
and not knowing what to do, or the world's most technologically advanced toilet that wash and dry and even massage your behind.
If you press a wrong button, it might send you to a parallel universe.





Toshi and I looked at each other and thought, "we are set for the night".

So we bought like 20 of them (maybe less/more I can't remember).

I remember people walking out of the store were looking at us,
but we thought that they were just being curious because we are foreigners,
 I said to Toshi,

"These nosy Americans.."

and went on with my beer business.
 


 We walked back to campus in a hurry so that our hard-earned beers stay cold.

About half way, I opened one of them. I was thirsty.

As soon as I took a sip, I spit it out, shouting "WTF!!!???"
(in Japanese. but we don't have curse words, so something equivalent in emotional explosion).


It DID NOT taste like beer, of course.
It rather tasted like carbonated medicine.

The licorice flavor closely resembles the taste of general medications in Japan.
(This is why Dr. Pepper and Root Beer never made it to Japanese market, while Coca Cola and Fanta joined our list of drinks.)


We threw them all out in a trash.
Oh what a waste of youth.








...to be continued (it's 3am and I am tired.)






Thank you for reading, and don't come back again.
your brain will rot, if you read my blog.




Love,



Y