A decade

Exactly ten years ago today, I left the UK to spend a year in Japan.  Having rarely been abroad before, it was a huge step for me, even though I was going with one of the big eikaiwa (conversation schools), meaning a huge amount of the ‘scary things’ (like sorting accommodation, getting the necessary info for visas etc) was pretty much arranged for me.

 

So began a three year adventure, during which time I met some of my closest friends, taught some amazing students, met people who continue to inspire me, tried to throw myself into whatever random situations I could (could have done more), got into a very small number of scrapes with local villains, enjoyed ‘celebrity’ as I was surrounded by hordes of rural schoolchildren begging for photos and ‘autographs’ in Nara, slept through 3 of the 5 earthquakes that were ‘noticeable’ in the area, was filmed as an interviewer for a British silversmith working in the city, featured in a 100 faces of the area exhibition photographed by Nobuyoshi Araki, and started my own business (with help from plenty of the above people).

 

Back then, I needed the adventure to mean going to a new place, and doing so helped me to see things in a different way.  As gaijin, in a fairly small town, I was recognisably different. An outsider. And I began to appreciate the benefits that “being different” brings.  For the first time, I was comfortable in my own skin.  In Japan, they say “deru kugi wa utareru” - the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.  However this doesn’t really apply to us foreigners, who tend to live in a somewhat surreal world, almost both loved and loathed for their inherent ‘differentness’.

 

A decade later, I think it’s time for a new adventure.  I again live in a small town, and I suspect people realise that I’m a bit ‘different’. I don’t see things the way most people in this town seem to.  There are a few too many people with hammers.  (And to a man with only a hammer, everything looks like a nail)

 

This time, I think it’s more a mindset than a physical journey.   I’m extremely fortunate because I’ve found my adventuring partner, and she’s different from most people too. She’s also both the same as, and different from me, but I can’t wait to embark on greater adventures.

 

So it’s time to leave behind a few things where being different isn’t the advantage I know it should be.  It’s time to seek out the new adventures.

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