Going Unnoticed (in Japan): Recent Episodes
Len
Beginning and ending with the question "why did you go to Japan" the answer is as complicated, layered and beautiful as the experiences in Japan themselves.
Everything is so different and new in my surrounding environment, but it will take time - and a few mistakes - before I truly get my bearings and focus on my goals. My first night in Tsuyama started with an introduction to a local drinking spot in the back of a neighborhood convenience store and surreal night bike ride through downtown to a well-known, favorite izakaya for the gaijin in town. The last thing I expected was to be swallowed up, especially so soon, by this cozy little town in western Japan... This episode could have been called "Thursdays in Tsuyama."
I have arrived! What kind of city is Tsuyama? Who will I meet here? What is a 2LDK apartment? My journey is really real with feet on the ground and an unwritten book ahead of me. First impressions of the city I would now call home — and later call the place of my "second birth" — and the music that takes me back to the early days in Japan.
Some people have said it was brave, or risky, to move to a new country with a different language and to a small town where I didn't know anyone.
The job offer was received and accepted. Within a few short weeks, I booked my flight through the agency and had my ticket. Without celebration, I quietly let my closest friends know and made final preparations. That was easy since I had just graduated from college and was living at my parent's house anyway. I departed Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport on Tuesday, 26 September 2006. As I write this description and look back in my Gmail account, I just now discover an email with a subject line 'Merry Christmas! Nova's!' from some of those people I met when I arrived in Osaka.
All along I planned what this trip was supposed to be to me, without ever considering how the people I never knew I would met were going to be part of the journey.
I thought I failed the interview for NOVA while I was in Boston. The question was "What kind of people annoy you?"
After I made my decision to accept the interview I needed to let my family know, and I knew it would be a difficult conversation. At the same time, I was stepping out of college and into real world but had very little sense of how to communicate with working professionals and less sense of how to dress the part. I retreated to places that gave me confidence and used that to set my trajectory outside my area of comfort. In my mind, I was already on the way to Japan and these important steps we all but given; however, I absolutely did not make it easy for myself.
How I made the decision to go to Japan was a much easier thing to explain than why I decided to go to Japan. Little things that came together at just the right time in the world, plus an important realization during a job interview, led to the first step on my journey to Japan. Once I decided what I wanted to do, I didn't think twice about it.
In 2006, I went from a college graduate out of the countryside in Virginia to the countryside in Japan for 12 years. Then I returned right back to the place I left in 2019. This is all about what happened and what is different now. To begin, everyone asks me "why did you go to Japan?" but no one ever asked me the more important question. This is season one, episode one where I share what that question is and introduce what this podcast is supposed to be all about. It's going to be a lot more than what you think it will be. Subscribe now to follow along. Join me in experiencing incredible Japan from this unfiltered viewpoint.