- Renee Marant is a college student living in Japan, something she dreamed of from a young age.
- She says living in Japan feels safer and is more convenient than living in America, where she's from.
This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Renee Marant, a 21-year-old college student attending Temple University at the school's Japan campus. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
Me and Japan go way back. Since I was about 9, I was super interested in anime. When I was younger, I did a lot of storytelling and was also an artist, and seeing the two come alive in anime was so interesting to me.
Through anime, I picked up on aspects of Japanese culture, noticing how people take their shoes off when they go to school and how they clean up their classrooms. I could tell it was a completely different culture from Philadelphia, where I grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood.
It became a sort of gateway. I got deep into the history and architecture of Japan. In middle school, I started teaching myself Japanese, saving up my allowance to buy workbooks from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
In high school, I got the opportunity to go abroad for a year. I had the traditional high-school experience in Japan, which made me want to come back for college, where I am now.
It has always been my dream to live in Japan, and I'm so glad I did it. But instances of racism and weak job prospects made me decide to move back to America.
I quickly realized I'd over-romanticized expat life in Japan
When I came to Japan for my high-school sophomore year in 2017, I realized I'd definitely over-romanticized it. I had this idea from how it was depicted in the media. The curriculum was very strict, and the school had a very traditional environment.
I thought my Japanese would hold up, but even after five years of studying, I wasn't able to communicate very effectively. I joined the volleyball team, and that's where I made my friends, but for the most part, I spent a lot of time alone.
I also had this expectation that people were going to seek me out, and, being in such a different environment, I didn't have the courage to really put myself out there. There was just one other foreigner at the school with me. At first, we decided we weren't going to talk to each other because we wanted to immerse ourselves in the culture. But we ended up hanging out all the time a few months later because she was going through the same thing.
I really enjoyed living with three different host families. Living under a family's roof was very comforting to me, and we'd go out to eat and hang out, even if there was still a bit of a language barrier.
Living in Japan feels safer, cleaner, and community-focused
Even though the experience wasn't what I'd initially imagined, I discovered things that I loved about living in Japan and returned for college a year and a half ago in April 2022. I'm now studying economics at the Japanese campus of Temple University.
In Philly, I always had to look behind me to see if I was safe. Here, I've never had to worry about my safety. Everything is also incredibly clean here, and there are tons of fun things to do, like festivals, interactive art exhibits, cat cafés, and karaoke.
The customer service was another thing that surprised me. You go to a McDonald's and — unlike in America — they're smiling, getting your order done. They're very particular about how they come across to their customers.
I think the differences arise because the rules here are for the community, whereas America is more self-focused. In Japan, for example, if you go on the train, you make sure you're quiet and don't have anything blasting on the speaker. There are a lot of different rules here, so things can go smoothly for other people.
Because society here is so community-based, I've noticed people aren't very confrontational. Once, a manager at a country club where I work part time said something that was very disrespectful to me about women. Everybody just awkwardly laughed and said, "Yeah, he does that."
Experiences with racism
One of the downsides of living in Japan as a Black woman is the fetishization that we face. I've observed that Japanese people often view Black women as being "sexually free," and I've encountered a lot of men who have harassed me because they think I'm that way. I think a lot of these ideas come from the way Black women are portrayed in the media.
For example, I've had men come up to me and touch me, ask me if I like Megan Thee Stallion, and ask if I can twerk. It's really frustrating and dehumanizing to be treated this way, and it makes me feel like I'm not being seen as a person but just as a sexual object.
As far as Black culture is concerned, I see a lot of Japanese people "participate" in the culture, but they don't fully understand the context and history behind it. For example, when I went to a hip-hop club in Japan once, I saw many people with braids, dreadlocks, and jerseys. When they spoke English, they used a lot of slang and AAVE (African-American Vernacular English).
I've also encountered a few overt instances of racism. There's something called a "gaijin seat" — the foreigner seat — on the train, where nobody sits next to you. One time, I sat down next to a lady who got up and said, "You should die," before leaving the train.
That said, the racism I've felt here is more undercover. That's a problem in itself, but I'm glad I don't have to see it. In America, you're going to feel it. It is very much in your face.
My decision to move back to the US
I decided to move back to America a little while ago and will be returning to Philadelphia to finish my senior year of college.
It was a difficult decision to make because I had been building myself up to start a career here. But as I started looking at options that are open to foreigners and their salaries, I realized that Japan is somewhere I want to live, but not somewhere I want to work.
The work culture here is very hierarchical. I plan to go into the finance industry, but the corporate environment here is very strict, where you have to listen to your superior. I'm very collaborative and thrive in a more horizontal environment, but here, seniority and title trump everything else.
I can envision moving back to Japan for the sheer enjoyment of living here, but I probably wouldn't do so only for professional reasons.