How to stay connected in Japan

    Going out to do new things and make new friends is excellent, but sometimes you still miss specific people. As your friends start celebrating major life events, living abroad can start to feel more like a punishment than a privilege. Here is how I stay connected to my friends and family back home.

Social Media

    If your friends and family are active on social media, you have access to each others' lives. This doesn't work for every personal relationship, but is a very helpful tool for many. A well-maintained relationship can be a life saver during your time abroad. When you've had a hard week with all there is to be alienated by in this wonderfully weird little country we live in, being able to share it with someone equally foreign can be therapeutic, even if only in photos and bursts of text.

Video Chatting

    Social media is great, but depending on your friends and time difference, it might not be enough to help you feel connected. For a bit more regular connectivity, I recommend scheduling video chat meetings or dates with your loved ones on a regular basis.

    First, figure out your time zones and best available times. I recommend using timeanddate.com's international meeting planner. Confer with your friends about their best available times and compare. I have had Skype-calls so late that I started falling asleep at the computer, which is why I now only video chat in the morning. With most of my friends living in time zones where my morning is their evening, this works well. As they eat dinner, I eat breakfast and we discuss the events of the week. If you choose to maintain several weekly connections, your schedule may wind up looking like mine.

    Second, try not to be too disappointed if it doesn't work out. Some people excel in close proximity relationships but find a weekly or even monthly chat-time beyond their abilities. That's okay. You can try to maintain contact via messaging or email when you both have time. If you have the ability to fly home for the holidays, you can always try to catch up with them then. Keep in mind that most of these are people who are trying their best to communicate with you. Sometimes things come up even in well-maintained chat-connections. 

    Remember to respect their time, and expect them to respect yours. If the person you are trying to chat with shows up two hours late with no excuse, it is probably best to stop planning to chat with them regularly or look into changing the time to a more appropriate selection. Sometimes just changing the frequency of chatting can help. This works both ways, though. If you know you can't make it to a pre-arranged chatting time, let them know as soon as you can. If you'll be more than a few minutes late, message them so they know. No one wants to be staring into their computer screen for hours, waiting for someone they were looking forward to chatting with all week.