A New Home In Japan

A New Home In Japan

I’ve now been in Japan a few weeks already and I’m getting settled into everything here. I live with my host mom, dad, and sister Azuki (her nickname in Hippo) in Wako-shi, in Saitama prefecture. My host dad is in the military so we live in an apartment complex near a military base. It’s a really nice area since it’s near a big park, there are lots of trees, and on a good day we can see Mt. Fuji from the balcony!

View from our apartment

Our pet, Cha-Cha

Before I arrived in Japan, I saw on my host family’s application that they had a pet squirrel, which I thought was most likely a slight mistranslation for hamster, however when I arrived I was surprised to find that ‘squirrel’ was indeed a fairly accurate translation. He is actually a chipmunk and his name is Cha-Cha. My host mom explained that in Japanese the word for the color brown is Cha-iro, so Cha-Cha means something like Brownie. Now I will always remember how to say brown in Japanese.

My host dad eating an onigiri 
for lunch

My host family helps me a lot and is patient with me as I’m learning how things work. Part of my host dad’s job is working as an English translator in the military, so he is able to explain more complicated things to me in English. My host mom also speaks English but often says things in Japanese, which is really good for me as I’m beginning to learn the language, and she always answers my questions and teaches me new words. The more times I hear something, the easier it is to recognize and understand the next time. My host sister Azuki is 10 years old and spends a lot of time playing soccer. She doesn’t speak as much English so this makes me want to learn more Japanese so that I can talk with her.

Ice skating with my host mom and sister

Being in Japan makes me really want to be able to communicate in Japanese, even though I came here knowing almost nothing. Though at first is seemed a little overwhelming, learning Japanese has become kind of a new hobby for me. When you stop worrying about how hard it seems or everything you can’t understand yet and focus on the things you can recognize or express, it’s interesting and rewarding, kind of like a puzzle that I’m figuring out little by little. Every day I am learning new things from everything around me. It’s great to be in the kind of encouraging environment that exists in the Hippo Family Clubs, the Hippo office, and my host family. It makes it easy to learn new things when you are not afraid to ask questions or make mistakes and there are so many people willing to help you who are excited about the progress you are making. I think this is one of the really great things about Hippo.

Hippo 30th Anniversary

A few days after I arrived, there was a big workshop and party for the Hippo 30^th Anniversary. There were about 700 people at the workshop and when I got there I learned that I was to go on the stage and introduce myself to everyone in Japanese! I was nervous because I don’t know very much Japanese yet at all, but I knew how to introduce myself from the Hippo Family Club activities that I attended in Mexico last summer and I repeated it over and over to myself before I went on stage. I’m sure what I said wasn’t perfect, but the important thing is that everyone understood what I was trying to communicate and it was really amazing to see 700 people smiling back at me and applauding!

View of the military base from our apartment building

View of Mt. Fuji from our balcony