On Physical Differences

Different

I am an American.  A teenage American.  I have pimples (eww I know).  I am not small, but I am also not overly large.  I’m a nice medium.  I’m not tall either, I’m an average five foot something.  When compared to my friends I’m a bit on the short side.  I don’t have much of a bust, but I’m totally okay with this.  My lower end more than makes up for it.

I am the average American listed above, not large, not too small, not tall, not too short, and my overall body is quite average when put against other Americans.

I am huge here in Japan.

I am tall.  I am rather big.  I have a big bust, and let’s not even talk above the lower half.

In America, it was more than easy to find clothing.  My pant size is one of those nice medium numbers, super easy to find since it wasn’t the largest or the smallest.  Here, in Japan, I can barely find pants that fit.  Good thing I packed a bunch of leggings and shorts from America.  The shorts I find that fit are either ugly to me, or have a stretchy back end.  My waist fits just fine…. But other bits don’t.

For us Medium girls, Japan is horrible for pants.

Shirts on the other hand are the easiest thing for me to buy!  Dresses too!

Anything but pants.

The length doesn’t fit my five foot some frame, the butt doesn’t fit mine, and they are just too darn tight! Makes me a bit frustrated talking about it!

Let’s talk about hair.  I have a nice shade of ruddy brown, you can see so in my picture.  It’s a nice color, I like it.  Just enough undertone that it isn’t boring.  Just enough sun and the top strands get a bit lighter.  It’s also soft.  I like my hair, it’s why I grew it out and why I take good care of it!

My hair here in Japan is an oddity.  A strange oddity.  To the point that when I see a brown head of long hair I instantly think it’s a foreigner.  Has not been the case yet, but you get it.  Long hair, brown hair, both are almost unheard of.

To me (my own personal opinion) Japanese hair is designed for this region.  It’s not thick, it’s a deep shade of black, and it is usually short on everyone. It doesn’t hold water well and dries up superfast.  It doesn’t hold moisture, seriously.  My classmates sweat and bam, it’s gone.  Why you ask?  Because they ran a towel over their forehead and through their hair.  It is perfect for the region.  It lets out heat fast, dries easy, and is thin so it doesn’t hold moisture or heat.

Me on the other hand, I’m drowning.  It’s ugly.  My hair retains water to the point that if I take a long shower before bed it can sometimes still be wet by morning.  My hair was designed for cold temperatures, to keep me warm in the dead of winter.  It was designed for the dry air of Northern America, where most water comes in the form of snow or sleet.

The Japanese body is also perfect for this region.  Almost all are short, with short midsections and arms.  They are tiny in my eyes, so small I could pick up some of them and carry them on my shoulders.  That is not always true, but most of my classmates are pretty little.  Boys included.

Their ancestors, in most cases, came from this area.  They farmed the fields, fished the oceans and rivers, and they lived through the harsh summers and mild winters.  Their bodies are designed to withstand the heat and humidity.  They are small, heat is lost easily from small bodies.  They are short, all the better because they need less in general to survive.  Their skin is darker than my own, perfect for reflecting the dangers UV rays.

My ancestors… well I don’t know much of my history.  I just know most were European.  Light skin, tall bodies, long limbs, and large frames usually grace my race.  I am build for cold weather.  I am build for dry heat and dry cold.  I am not designed for this humid heat or the strain it puts on my body.

I’m not really complaining, I got over that hump the second week.  Seriously though, I am just now starting to get acclimated and even that is sketchy.

To put it simply, they are built for this.  I am in no way designed to handle this.

My feet and hands are the same size as theirs.  My legs are just a little bit longer.  My torso towers over theirs.  My arms are extremely long (I keep on getting bothered to join the basketball team).  My head is slightly larger.  My skin is far lighter.  My eyes are huge.  My lips are huge.  My teeth are even big.  My chest is big, my lower end even bigger.  My chin is pointed.  My ears are pierced (an oddity here).  I wear glasses all the time, verses where they only wear them in certain situations.  My hair is brown.  My eyes are light brown compared to theirs.  I am what they consider huge in every sense, even without being truly fat.

I’m still comfortable with my body, but I’ve noticed these things while at school and home.

Another thing I have observed is legs. 

My legs are a medium length, straight, and I have thicker thighs than most.  Normal American Legs.

Their legs are slightly shorter, and females usually have a bend in them (varying degrees have been noted), and thin all the way through.

The bend in the legs is something I am fascinated with.  I loved physical anthropology in school.  It was one of my favorite classes to be honest.

I have come to my own personal conclusion, without looking it up on Wikipedia or asking others, just my own thoughts on the matter.

I’ve gone over the physical difference and there was really nothing there to give a clue as to why there is a bend.  I knocked that out of the hypothesis pretty fast (oh my science teachers would be so proud, me using their methods to find hypothesizes!)  It has to be a cultural thing.

I really liked cultural anthropology too!

There is one major difference between Japan and America.  Japanese sit on the ground, Americans sit on chairs.  A typical Japanese female sits in a traditional pose from a very young age.  With the legs tucked under the body, knees together, and feet with the pads pointed towards the ceiling.  Americans rarely take up this pose.

This pose puts weight on the calves, the entire body rests on four bones, two in each leg.  If I were that bone, I would bend too.  I believe that it is because the women sit in this position from a young age, when the bones are still tender and soft.  (My host cousin who is three takes up this position when she sits at the table in the living room).  Years of this trains the bones.  As they grow they are continuously bent with the body’s weight.  This leads to the bowed legs I find in my female classmates and host family.

Some have sharp curves.  In others it is very subtle. 

As an American, my legs are straight.  I sat in a highchair when I was little.  I sat on phone books placed on a chair as a child, and I sat on a chair as a teenager. 

In Japan, with all the floor sitting, my body doesn’t take it well.  I get leg cramps, charley horses, and other horrible pains from sitting on my knees or cross legged for too long.  It hurts.  My knees will ache, my bones ache, my ankles protest, and my butt even hurts.  I was not raised with floor sitting, nor am I designed for it.

The longer American legs do not help my case at all.

To sum up this lesson, I am not build for this environment.  Not at all.  I’m making it work, it’s no longer awkward, but I am in no way designed for Japan.

See You Soon

Mata chikaiuchini

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