Kayla Romano, Japan: It’s People and Culture, Summer 2026
As someone who has never left the United States before in my life, traveling abroad to a country around 6,800 miles away and 13 hours ahead of my home with a completely fundamentally different language and culture was extremely difficult. The biggest obstacle I had to face was not even the language or cultural barrier, but rather the transportation barrier.
In the U.S., people heavily rely on having their own vehicles to get around, and the public transportation that is available is ‘city-bound’ as there is very little to no public transportation from city to city. However, Japan is the complete opposite as locals heavily rely on trains to get them everywhere, including city to city. Not only are trains their main go to for transportation, but so is walking and because of this their cities and small towns are extremely walkable and pedestrian friendly. Not only do people walk to and from the train station, but to and from the grocery stores, convenience stores, department stores, restaurants, and more. During my five weeks stay, there was only two days that I did not walk over 20,000 steps and that was the day I arrived and left. Getting used to walking and taking the trains everywhere was definitely a difficult learning curve, but once I figured out how the train fares and times worked and what the best roads for walking along were, I was able to travel alone easily.
The train system itself took a lot of trial and error to understand. Japan’s trains involve multiple companies, transfer stations, and changing fares depending on the distance and what line you take. I remember the day when I had to get my commuter pass and IC card where students from the partner university basically had to do it for us since we had zero idea of where to even start. Despite the commuter pass, I still had to buy tickets for excursions that were outside my commuter stations and it was difficult because I never knew what value ticket I should get or how much I should add to my IC card. There were also multiple times I would be in the complete wrong part of the station, standing at a completely different gate confused as to why I did not see my train listed on the platforms.
Walking also took some time to adjust to. Wearing comfortable shoes became a must and any ‘quick errand’ turned into at least a 15-minute walk. What surprised me was how normal it looked for locals as they were walking everywhere effortlessly without even breaking a sweat meanwhile my feet were aching every night.
By the end of my stay, navigating the trains and adjusting to the sheer amount of walking felt normal and no longer like an obstacle. It had become second nature so much so that it felt weird to have to drive everywhere once I was home.
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