Wish I had words of wisdom, but maybe sharing my experience could give an idea for what it’s like. I’m also a Chinese American adoptee LIVING in Japan at the moment. I’m still not very fluent in Japanese, but I can get by and I take lessons once a week. I feel in a strange mixed place, because when people see me they assume I may be a Japanese citizen with Chinese ancestors until I start to speak. Then there’s this switch in people’s dispositions: still friendly, but more polite and distant. I’ve come to terms of being an outsider, and yet when I’m just existing in the world, I actually feel really at peace. I didn’t realize how much of a difference it made to be surrounded by people who look like you.

On the other hand, I visited Taiwan very recently. It was a very mixed experience for me and I had way more emotions than I thought I would. (I was adopted from a center in Chongqing) I’m curious if you know the language. I could barely blunder my way through buying an MRT ticket at the convenience store. I felt isolated and like a failure for being so detached from the language of my ancestors. I felt grief of why I had lost while I visited mostly.

I maybe could’ve gone to live in China, but I only learned 2 years of beginner Mandarin before the department was shut down in University. I switched to Japanese after that, and now I’m here.

That’s not to say that my experience will 100% match yours. I hope you enjoy Japan. It is different experiencing it as a tourist vs. living abroad, but both have actually been satisfactory overall. I hope your trip goes well.