That Time I (Rightly) Felt Out of Place in Tokyo

Bryan Entzminger: 00:00:00

,: 2024

He writes, I definitely understand not entirely fitting in.

I think everyone has their own version of feeling out of place, and I think one of the great things we have the ability to do is to know it's all right. I it's okay to have that awkward phase.

This is an odd thing for me to write about, an odd prompt, and I didn't expect anything like this to come so quickly as I started writing, but I suppose it's appropriate for me. After all, I think I've probably felt out of place most of the time as I process this.

I'm probably most at home, either working with numbers and concepts or when I'm with a small group of people, usually one or two people. Probably not less, probably less than ten, though, fewer than three.

And I start to feel the pressure of maybe having to perform or feel like I have to kind of carry the conversation so we can avoid awkward silence. More than ten and it can start to feel unmanageable.

And I may struggle to keep up with the conversation threads, especially if more than one person is talking at the same time. But back to the question at hand. I probably felt most out of place recently when I traveled to Japan for work.

I'd been on flights or in airports for over 15 hours, didn't really get any sleep, and I had just landed at the Tokyo Narita airport.

While I expected language barriers to be there and to be surrounded by a sea of people from pretty much anywhere, it was still a little bit overwhelming, especially when it was time to purchase my train ticket to Tokyo. Now, I knew this was going to be a thing. So I'd researched this prior to leaving because I knew I was going to be in a new country.

I had limited, actually almost no experience with any kind of passenger train.

And I also knew that the stakes were pretty high because if I didn't get the ticket I needed, I could end up in the wrong place in a country where I don't speak the language. And I recognize that a lot of japanese people do speak English, but a lot don't.

So at the airport, there were actually multiple companies operating multiple train lines headed pretty much in every direction.

So I probably looked like the weary, wide eyed foreigner that I was just walking through the airport, looking around to try and find the right ticket office. Thankfully, the research I did beforehand did let me know the correct train line.

I needed to go for, and it prepared me to speak with a person rather than trying to use a purchasing kiosk with that person's help. Actually, I asked one person at the door and they directed me inside.

I asked another person basically just walked up and said, I want to get here by this time. And they knew the exact ticket that I needed. And I was able to get to the platform with actually time to spare. But of course, it didn't end there.

Once on the train, it did take me a few minutes to get my bearings, and I never really felt comfortable about the luggage situation. I was constantly worried I'd miss my stop.

However, my fears were unfounded because the train companies are much better at making accommodations for people like me than I am at controlling my emotions. I know it probably sounds dumb, but I was nervous and I shouldn't have been.

I was afraid I'd end up in a situation where I'd need a language other than English, but that didn't happen. I was afraid that I'd make a mistake that would send me to the wrong direction or get me in trouble with the authorities. But I didn't.

And maybe that's the lesson. I felt awkward and afraid. I struggled to trust. I struggled to trust the process, the system, and the people and to trust God.

And in the end, they didn't let me down. All was well. Which I guess makes this kind of a boring story if you think about it. But it's the story.