WHAT IS HOME?

I smell like a man.

I thought I was going to smell like armpits all summer, so this is actually an upgrade.

The deodorant I received from my cousin ran out a little while back, so I had been free pit until the discovery of some Russian deodorant in my dilly bag (wait, is dilly bag Australian? Do people know what that even is?)

However, I must have found deodorant at my guest house part-time job at some point, and knowing that finding decent deodorant is quite difficult in Japan, decided it was best to save the forgotten deodorant from the bin and let it live a good life fragrancing my armpits.

(Also I just asked Google to define ‘Dilly Bag’ and, yes, it is Australian. Apparently it is also aboriginal. It refers to a small bag woven from a plant, and is not actually the word for a toiletry bag (which is infact what I was referring to).

Perhaps only my family use the word dilly bag in this way? (perhaps we were just a group of swagmen back in the day). I will define a swagman in a moment for those unfamiliar.

No wonder backpackers that go to Australia sometimes say that Australians don’t speak English.

What’s worse is that many Australians don’t really have a clue that many of the words they use are in fact:

1. Not English, and,

2. No one else understands them.

“Aye, mate! I was gunna go to Dubbo on sundi and have a barbie with the rellos. Jacko said he’d drive, decided on Fridi, yeh, while having a smoko together. But then the bloody bludger bailed! Said he didn’t wanna go out to woop woop cause Dubbo is a scorcher of a place in Summa. Said he and his Misses will go to Byron instead. But i’m goin’, yeh, alreadi filled de esky with some XXX gold.”

This is a mild example.

“Woop Woop” I would like to draw attention to. This means ‘remote outback town’ but originated as a joking reduplication of an aboriginal dialect (inherent racism is also embedded in our slang apparently).

But coming back to the theme of this post (and no, it’s not smelling armpits)

“What is home?”

What creates a sense of home?

I have been living in Japan basically 5.5 years now. I had my 21st birthday in Tokyo and have spent most of my 20s so far getting lost and sorting out my life (as you do a lot of in your 20s, and so you should) in Japan.

My first rental apartment was here in Japan (I have no idea how to rent in Australia…)

My longest job is here (it’s bloody hard getting a job in Australia!)

And most of my closest friends are here.

Japan is as much my home as Australia is my home now.

So is home a place or is it just a feeling?

Or do both of these things together make a home?

Can we have more than one home?

“I’m always traveling

I love being free

And so I keep leaving the sun and the sea

But my heart lies waiting over foam

I still call Australia home.”

These are the words of the Australian musician Peter Allen written back in 1980.

It is a song for Australian expatriates - of which there are many.

You could say a cultural trait of Australians is that they are roamers.

For people who have done any sort of backpacking around the world, it is difficult not to meet Australians at most destinations.

Especially those places where extremes are practiced (Bali for extreme binge drinking (also surfing) and Whistler ski resort (Canada), Niseko (Japan) also for winter sports.

Perhaps this is remnants of the swagman legacy. As wikipedia puts it (don’t tell my professors I cited wiki) a swagman was:

“A transient labourer who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying his belongings in a swag (bedroll).”

Or perhaps it relates to 30% of Australians not even having born in Australia to start with (Ausstats, 2019).

In fact it was only in 1788 that ‘Australians’ (the penal colony criminals) were put on the island country Australia (that is only 232 years ago). Aboriginal natives lived in Australia long before this however.

So calling Australia home for a large population of Australian citizens can be conflicting when so many come from other corners of the world; or have been roaming for so long and have made connections to people and places beyond the southern island.

So, beyond questioning just which country is home, after living so long in a different culture to that of your birth one, you start to question what exactly is an ‘Australian’ or whatever national label you may have received due to your parents or place of birth.

In Australia many citizens hold more than one passport. These citizens can be equally, for example, Indonesian and Australian.

But it is where they feel like they most belong that they take the label to define themselves.

“I am Australian”

But sometimes people don’t wish to choose.

“I am Australian/Indonesian.”

And that doesn’t matter (unless you’re a politician in parliament ironically).

For myself, I will always be Australian. Australia will always be a home.

But I do not call myself Australian because I was born on Australian soil and hold a passport.

I say this because I believe in the values of Australia.

‘Mateship’ - Friendship, “Take it for the team.”

‘Easy going’ - Carefree optimism, “she’ll be right.”

‘Authenticity’ - “No bullshit mate.”

‘Humor’ - Making your potential business partner laugh is a deal breaker.

‘Equality’ - I don’t care where you’re from, just don’t act better than ‘us’.

‘Informality’ - Don’t need shoes when you go to buy BBQ meat from the supermarket. Too hot? Take your shirt off (Sheilas’ stick to a bikini please).

Note: 'Us' is referring to the majority population. There is a strong dislike for people who act superior. Also one of the reasons that Australians that only speak English dislike people who speak different languages in public is because they feel they are possibly being insulted, hence the sometimes vocalized, "speak our language if you come here!"

But at the same time Australia is my home, Japan is a home to me now.

Not because it is my place of residence currently.

Definitely not because of the values (many of which are polar opposites of Australian ones).

Japan is home because my important friends are here. If they were all to disappear, perhaps Japan would mean a lot less to me.

It would just be a place.

Japan will always stay a part of me, some of the cultural values have definitely rubbed off and will probably always remain.

Like the idea of harmony. Australia definitely strives on a little more mayhem (abusing other drivers out your window and snatching toilet paper off people in supermarkets in the middle of a pandemic).

But I don’t think I could ever call myself Japanese no matter how long I stayed here.

Because a part of me will never belong.

Mostly it is because of the way I look and the way people perceive me.

Even after 5.5 years I still get complimented for speaking Japanese well, or the convenience store store staff asking me in English a little awkwardly,

“Chopsticks… okay?”

It is a little hard to blend in here when the foreign population is only about 2%.

These small comments and treatments are just small daily reminders that I will never be seen the same as the majority, even if I were to apply for residency.

This problem probably exists in other less culturally diverse countries, Japan is not alone.

But because of this experience I can truly appreciate the diversity of Australia. I could never define an Australian by looks alone. Being Australian is about believing in the same values.

I know racism exists based on appearance still (fuck of we’re full), but this comes from a minority.

So what is home?

I really believe there is no easy answer. It really is individualistic.

As Elvis sings,

“Home is where the heart is.”

To me home is not a place.

My heart is also divided in two.

I am Australian because of my Australian values.

But Japan is where I want to be right now. Here with my friends.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with that either.

Because I belong in my own way in both my homes.

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NOTES: This is a photo with my Brazilian brother and adopted Japanese Grandmother. My family in Japan.

*Please feel free to comment about what does home mean to you. Or perhaps let's meet up to chat. My graduation thesis will actually attempt to tackle this topic in an academic way (as much as possible for me...) so any personal stories will really help.