By Jane Singer
京都在住のアメリカ人ライター、ジェーン・シンガーさんは、日本に住んで２４年になります。これだけ長く日本に住み日本の生活に溶け込むと、自分の故郷に帰った時、「逆カルチャーショック」を受けるそうです。
When I tell my university students that I’ve been in Japan longer than they have ― 24 years ― they seem incredulous. Most seem to have never imagined that an American would choose to stick around for so long. Yet as a permanent resident and the wife of a Japanese, my stay is sure to just get longer.
When people ask how long I’ve been in Japan, my response inevitably evokes some embarrassment mingled with surprise. It’s as though I’m admitting to a hobby like collecting snuff bottles or twirling hula hoops. There seems to be a perception among fellow Westerners that after long years in Japan, you’re disqualified as a full-fledged member of the gaijin team.
Of course, decades of living in a dramatically different foreign culture does change you, but you only really understand just how much of a stranger you’ve become when you return for a visit to your mother country. When I (infrequently) return to the U.S., my initial reactions are like those of my Japanese friends: “Wow, everything is on such an immense scale ― the landscape, the restaurant servings, the waistlines!” Wanda Miyata, who has spent 27 years in the Kansai area, said her moment of feeling like a stranger in her own land came when she saw this sign in her native North Carolina: “No guns allowed in the library.”
日本式のマナーが不作法に
We expats occasionally make cultural faux pas on visits back. Pat Yamada, a 41-year resident of Kyoto, said that she was scolded once when, on a visit to her sister in the U.S., she casually raised her soup bowl to her mouth and began to drink from it.
“My sister was horrified, saying, ‘You were taught better than that!’ Of course, that’s how we do it in Japan,” she said. Both Yamada and Miyata said they prefer to spend their American visits with friends who have been in Japan and understand their experiences.
Of course, American society has also undergone a lot of changes as well in these past few decades. When I left the U.S., in 1983, Ronald Reagan was the president, one company, AT&T, controlled the telecommunications networks, and “Web sites” were where spiders lurked. Culture-shapers such as the TV series “Seinfeld” or influential media personalities like Oprah Winfrey were still unknown. This means that I remain clueless about U.S. jokes and crossword puzzle entries.
Phrases like “got your back” and “yada, yada, yada” leave me confused. I sometimes think about those old World War II movies where the American soldiers try to out the undercover Nazi agent by asking him which baseball team won the World Series last year. If that were me, I’d find myself in front of the firing squad.
セルフスタンドに悪戦苦闘
Last summer on a visit to Hawaii I rented a car and had to stop at a self-service gas station to fill it up. Since I rarely drive in Japan, however, I had to ask the driver in the adjacent car how to work the pumps. Giggling the whole time, she kindly showed me the ropes. Imagine ― a middle-aged American who doesn’t know how to fill her gas tank! That’s as pathetic as an adult Japanese who needs remedial courses in chopstick use.
Normal daily conversation in the U.S. gets strangely complicated for long-term expats. Since I don’t speak much English in Kyoto, everyday interchanges (“Hi, how are ya?” “Great, couldn’t be better!”) can seem stagy or artificial, as though we were both reading lines from a script. When I do speak English in Japan, it’s usually with Japanese, so I tend to speak loudly and enunciate words v-e-r-y c-l-e-a-r-l-y. This makes me conspicuous in the U.S., where Americans slur entire sentences together: “Watchagonnadobowdit?” (What are you going to do about it?).
Long-term expats like me also need to censor the content of their speech. All too often I find myself saying something like, “I’ll call you on your keitai, oops, I mean your cell phone.”
Out of politeness, Americans will often ask you how you like living “over there,” but as Yamada pointed out, they rarely really want to know more than superficial or “exotic” details. In my case, I think of about 50 plausible responses that could touch on the complexity of a life created and lived for 24 years in Japan. Then I just shrug and say, “it’s home.”
Jane Singer
京都在住のアメリカ人ライター。大学教授でもあり、生け花アーティストでもある。
- seem incredulous 信じられないというような表情を見せる
- stick around ずっと居る
- is…longer 必ず長くなる
- inevitably…surprise 必ず驚き混じりのきまずさを引き起こす
- snuff bottles 嗅ぎタバコ入れ
- There…perception 感じ方があるようだ
- you’re…team 外人チームの正会員としては不適格と見なされる
- how…become どれほどよそ者になったか
- immense scale 巨大な規模
- make…back 帰国すると不作法な振る舞いをする
- has…changes 大きく変わっている
- AT&T 米国の大手通信会社
- “Web…lurked 『ウェブサイト』（クモの巣）とはクモが隠れている場所だった
- “Seinfeld” アメリカの人気ドラマ。邦題：『となりのサインフェルド』
- Oprah Winfrey オプラ・ウィンフリー（アメリカのトーク番組の司会者）
- clueless 見当もつかない
- got…back （私に）任せて、力になる
- yada…yada などなど
- firing squad 銃殺隊
- adjacent car 近くの車
- Giggling 苦笑いして
- showed…ropes コツを教えてくれた
- pathetic 情けない
- remedial…use 箸（はし）の使い方矯正コース
- everyday interchanges 毎日のやりとり（あいさつ）
- can…artificial 芝居がかっていたり、わざとらしく見えかねない
- enunciate 〜を発音する
- conspicuous 目立つ
- slur…together 全部の文を続けてモゴモゴ言う
- censor 〜を検閲する
- Out of politeness 社交辞令で
- superficial…details 表面的なことや「異国の」詳細
- plausible responses もっともらしい答え
- touch on 〜について触れる
