Life is a journey
Life is a journey. Five years ago, I would have said that this statement was little more than a cliché. My twelve-year-old eyes would have seen it on colorful coffee mugs, in brightly colored greeting cards, and in feel-good movies but never would have thought that it would apply to my life. Living in Japan proved to me that this statement isn’t quite as a cliché as I once thought it to be. Each and every day of the two years I spent in the thriving Asian metropolis of Yokosuka, Japan, was an adventure. When I stepped outside the guarded gates of the Naval base, I was greeted by tall, thin, multicolored buildings; many Japanese people mingling with foreigners; indecipherable signs; and an oriental smell unique to Japan. I watched the Japanese people in their everyday lives. Very young, well-behaved school children rode on small scooters . . .
Light gray smog was sometimes visible around the peaks of buildings and the litter-free streets allowed many enjoyable shopping trips outside the base’s walls. It’s an entirely different thing to witness it first-hand and to feel the solitude of being a foreigner. I began to appreciate that this world is made up of many different cultures, many different people, and many different ways of life…not just me and my ways. As my friends and I struggled to stand still on the fast moving, strangely silent train we wondered why, in a train as crowded as this, we were the only people talking. I recall viewing a brightly colored map that was neatly posted on the wall at a busy train station and being thankful that my two friends with me were able to interpret it. My friends and I were free to walk where we chose and our usually over-protective parents were never given a reason to worry about our safety. I was, for the first time in my life, part of a minority and often struggled to overcome the difficulties I encountered in this situation. It was, at the time, rather awkward because people kept glancing over at us with less than approving looks. It shaped me to become the person I am today; I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Language differences were a huge barrier. Yokosuka military base was a ‘melting pot’ of diversity. Living in Japan was an important part of my life’s journey. The part of my journey where I would learn to understand what a diverse world we live in. We later discovered that, unlike on trains in the United States, the Japanese do not talk out of respect for others.
Common topics in this essay:
Yokosuka Japan, Living Japan, United Japanese, Rising Sun, , living japan, brightly colored, japanese people, |
Acceptance Essays
