My Day 私の一日 わたしのいちにち

 My First Japanese Essay

March 3rd marked a new milestone in my Japanese journey: I wrote my first essay in Japanese! Now, even though:

• It was not incredibly long.
• It was not incredibly interesting.
• It was incredible that I could do it at all!

These nine lines are awesome because of all that they mean beyond the words themselves. Being able to write a short description of my day meant I knew how to write the language, I knew enough grammar to properly construct the sentences, and I knew enough vocabulary to communicate the ideas. And most of all, that I had worked really, really hard to learn enough in those three areas to do it! 

So what does the essay say? Here's the English translation:

Every morning I wake up at 7:00am. Around 7:30 I get in the shower. Around 8:00 I eat breakfast. I like eggs. I go to work at 8:30. At 12 in the afternoon I eat lunch. Afterward, the dog and I go for a walk. Around 1 in the afternoon I work again. Interesting, isn't it? :)

As I said, not a particularly mind-blowing piece of writing, but it's the foundation of even more powerful writing in the future! I can't wait!

Reflections

I live in an American city. I'm what the Japanese call a サラリーマン or "salaryman": a white-collar worker that works for a big corporation. You can see the influence and structure of the salaryman lifestyle in my essay. Even though I have been working from home since the pandemic started, my weekday routine is ruled by an hour-to-hour schedule. This imposition of this structure is directly tied to the way a workday proceeds in a big company: the daily calendar is a core component, and one's time is broken into 30 and 60 minute increments! Thus it felt natural to write about my day in this manner--maybe a little too natural! Writing in Japanese also contributes to the structure, because if Time is included in a sentence, it usually goes at the beginning. 

Lunch happens at a set time each day, which is the time both myself (and my dog Louie) get a break. I typically try to spend an hour away from the desk. This is pretty common among the people I work with. Even when we were in the office, people would typically get outside, go for a walk, etc. Being able to have Louie participate in this ritual now at home is a nice luxury.

Look at that faaaaaaaaace

However, my day in America is also very different than the day a typical Japanese salaryman living in a Japanese city. From what I have learned in my cultural reading, the Japanese work day is very structured and very long. The morning includes a commute, usually via train, which means getting up even earlier than I do. And staying later than your coworkers is also important. Performance and loyalty to your company are tantamount. In Japan, one seeks to secure a job and then keep it for many years. While in America, it is common to change jobs frequently, in order to get pay raises or different experience.

"If there were somewhere else that valued loyalty more highly...
I'm going wherever they value loyalty the most."

Writing an essay in Japanese was difficult. It felt more rigid, more structured, and no doubt those constraints were imposed by my own limitations in vocabulary and my current understanding of structure. I know improvisation and idioms come much later. But even though the end result was a little wooden, I am so proud I was able to express real facts about myself in Japanese.