Things That Feel Weird To Me

 Japan is different than America in a lot of ways, and I understand that, but my American brain is hardwired for America and some things feel off even though they actually aren't. The past couple days I have been trying to adjust myself but it still feels weird. Anyway, those things are walking at night and face masks.

Ojiya is a small town that is a little old in sections and has a lot of random alleyways. In America, this would mean major sketchyville and you shouldn't be out there, especially at night. However, Ojiya is totally safe and while you do see some gangster looking guys they are about as dangerous as your average American high school boy. In America, you don't go walking alone at night, especially if you are a girl. Even in my own safe area in the country we have had people drive past suspiciously slow and had someone drive by shooting at street signs. Here you see girls walking by themselves down dark streets and it's completely safe. I understand this and night is a great time to go walking because the temperature is actually reasonable but I still find myself getting uneasy in dark areas with lots of unlit streets and alleyways.

The other thing that makes me uncomfortable is face masks. I caught a cold from one of my housemates and standard protocol in Japan is to wear a face mask over your nose and mouth as to decrease the potential of infecting others (my housemate should have done this...). So I see others wearing face masks all the time and it doesn't bother me at all but when I wear one myself I feel really uncomfortable. In America I tried to wear them a few times to help prevent others from getting sick but people will stare at and avoid you so I would always end up taking them off as soon as I was around people. Kinda ironic that people avoid you more when you are trying to keep them from getting sick. So I needed to go to the grocery store today and when I got to the doors I put on my face mask as to not breath on the groceries. It made me feel very uncomfortable even though I know it's expected in Japan. Felt a lot better when I saw a lady shopping for vegetables also wearing one. Some employees were wearing them too. They actually look kinda cute in my opinion. Still make me uncomfortable to wear and I think people might have stared at me a little more today. Maybe not, though. I recently discovered that those in cars will stare at you the most because it's not as obvious that they are staring at you.

Anyway, those are two things that are perfectly normal in Japan that make me uncomfortable because they aren't normal in America. Probably going to go walking tonight with my face mask on, though 😁.