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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