reverse culture shock
Posted by rocksea on 15 Feb 2006 | Tagged as: india, japan, life
"So did you have culture shock?" this high school student asked me yesterday. Japanese people always makes the best out of their opportunities, whether it is to mingle with a foreigner, to know the outer world or to practice their english. I told her how i felt when i was brought into all this snow and how i got accustomed to it later. but that doesn’t fit as a culture shock, does it? I didn’t have much to tell her abt culture shock as one of the reasons i came to japan was the unique culture it posessed. Yet i forgot to tell her about the Reverse Culture Shock, which i saw defined in the handbook for international students of our university, and which i met with a few months before.. 
They’ve given the stages of Reverse Culture Shock like this:
- acceptance & integration: state where a student has established a routine and accepted the habits, customs, foods n characteristics of japan.
- return anxiety: where he realize how much his experiences have changed himself
- return honeymoon: excited immediately upon arrival in india. parties to welcome and renew friendships n family ties
- reentry shock: family n friends may not understand or appreciate what he has experienced, nor may they seem very interested. india n his hometown may’ve changed in his eyes.
- reintegration: realises +ve n -ve aspects of both countries and have a more balanced perspective of their experiences.
Of these, reentry shock is the most treacherous. was prepared for it too, psychologically, as i was aware of it beforehand but still it felt awkward once in a while. it may seem weird but thatz how it is.
So it was in august that i went to india after 1 n 1/2 years. and things were fun..
sense of time. gathering @ kochi
me: i’ve been waiting here since 5:45 !!
he: what time did we fix to meet? 6:00, rt?
me: ya and do you know whatz the time now?
he: it is 6:30 yaar. we’re on time!
me: huh??!!
dress sense. @ my friends home
he: dey, arent u changing this tshirt when you’re going out?
me: huh? mmm? means?
he: didnt u bring any shirt?
me: no, whatz the problem with this da?
he: ohh, never mind!
zebra crossing @ kottayam
me: mummy stop! itz red!!
mummy n me stops there
people cross the roads
cars n lorries n buses pass byme: mummy itz green now! letz cross
but
cars n lorries n buses pass by
therez a policeman watching nearbyme: whattt???
mummy: hahaha. so letz wait for the red signal n cross!
aunty on phone, inviting to their new home
me: oh! i cant wait to see ur new home!
aunty: but remember, we dont have those hi-fi computerised toilets at our home. if you need, you’ve to bring one of your own. (unfortunately sometime back i had bragged to them that in japan the toilet seat warms when you sit, one can adjust the heat, water jet n blah blah..)
me:
It was like this for some days for each n everything. Back in time i was expert in jumping into those crowded running buses and now i found my talents lost. I even felt it was awkward how i kept my foot in the bus. I twitched n twisted n turned so that i was satisfied how i stood in the bus. and then my shoes will be over someone’s feet!
So i dont have to say what happened to the green tea and the chopsticks i brought home!!
and oh god, i was saved cuz i was aware, never did i start stories saying "in japan..". (other than the hi-fi-toilet incident. that was enough!! )
Anyways reintegration came soon to my rescue. Indian toilets found me or i found them who knows.. (or was it the spicy food :) missing it now). Was allergic to japanese toilets when i came back after a month. Needed to go to the nearby spicy tajmahal restaurant to treat the allergy lol.
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14 Comments »
on 16 Feb 2006 at 12:58 am 1.silverine said …
This was so well written. Hope you find the balance between these two cultures
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on 16 Feb 2006 at 1:08 am 2.Mind Curry said …
i cant help but wonder if you experienced culture and got shocked, or if it was just shock of the lack of culture :)lol..nice post.
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on 16 Feb 2006 at 1:43 am 3.Gini said …
It was nice reading that..Quite similar to what happened to us when we visited Kerala this Dec.
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on 16 Feb 2006 at 3:12 pm 4.Chackochan said …
LOL
Incidents like this happend to me also, when i went back to india for vacation…
But i miss my beautiful keralam
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on 16 Feb 2006 at 9:59 pm 5.rocksea said …
silverine, yep, hopefully
mind curry, yet i like the natural n naive part of the culture..
gini, ya got a scent at mallu musings
chackocha, athokkeyalle athinte oru rasam.. njanum keralam miss cheyyunnu..
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on 17 Feb 2006 at 3:14 am 6.roshi said …
Very interesting blog! I had a reverse culture shock when I went to Japan last summer. I guess I’ve lived in the US too long.
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on 17 Feb 2006 at 3:56 am 7.pidiyana said …
Lol!!! nice one!!
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on 17 Feb 2006 at 4:25 am 8.jina said …
Awesome one yaar…this keeps happening I guess….But it was a really refreshing one..when u get time..check out the one i wrote abt ppl coming back from US
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on 23 Feb 2006 at 6:15 am 9.sthira said …
Roxy,
Thanks for all those suggestions with regard to reading material on India.
Hey, I could relate very well to the subject of this post. I guess it happens with most of us when we go back after a long gap. I have sort of forgotten how people address shopkeepers in my city.It’s always funny going home and becoming aware of the changes in your own self.
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on 25 Feb 2006 at 12:42 am 10.Anu said …
hi dude …kewl i like ur style ..this is a well organised site…thanks to Japan…
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on 01 Mar 2006 at 3:18 pm 11.rocksea said …
roshi, thatz interesting. it shud be funny to know what you had experienced when you came back to japan!
pidiyana,
jina, yes i saw that
sthira, yes it is a time to analyze ourselves as well!!
anu, why thanks to japan? anyways yes thanks to japan or i may not have had such a cool internet connection and funds to host this site
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on 29 Jun 2006 at 1:40 pm 12.Sibish said …
Good one…
keep writing
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on 17 Sep 2006 at 11:59 pm 13.sarah said …
haha…pretty funny. but that’s the best part of it…trying to fit one culture into the other and then feeling funny about the whole thing! Need some fun like this in life too.
These differences must have really taught you to balance it out with the best of both rather than leave you confused, like many others who get caught up in between! It is nice at times to experience/know the contrasts. good funny experiences, especially the crossing the road one. Take mummy’s advise! LOL and may your time in the toilets be without the need of spicy food when you return! 
hehe
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on 15 Jul 2007 at 5:42 am 14.Chuck said …
Hi,
I came across this page while searching for information on reverse culture shock. Unlike you, I had little idea about the possibility of reverse culture shock before I returned to the US in 1996 after teaching in China for five years. I’d originally planned to stay for just one year, but I liked teaching there so much that I stayed too long. The only way I could follow what was happening in the US was through VOA and BBC.
What made my return worse is that I returned to live in an area of the US where I’d never lived before, and then I had to move to an even more different city after only 6 months. I felt like a foreigner in my own country, and it was hard for me to figure out how to do some simple things–such as how to buy a bed–and how to interact with Americans.
American television is so inward looking–few non-American programs are shown, and those that are shown come from places like the UK and Australia. So I did the wrong thing and didn’t buy a set, although watching some of the programs that are good would have helped me get up to speed on American culture.
Access to the Web would have made my return much easier. Without email in early 1990s China, I had to rely on expensive long-distance phone calls at a time inconvenient for one of the parties or mail that took about 10 days to arrive.
Thanks for posting this information so that others who go abroad to live can prepare better for the return to their home country.
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