All aboard!

I sit on my reserved seat in a shinkansen, a Japanese bullet train, once again. A week ago I was heading in the opposite direction in more ways than just the physical point of view. A week ago there was beautiful sunshine and my mind was glittering as well, feeling extremely happy, excited about the new road ahead of me. But today I’m leaving behind Kyoto, my first home in Japan and heading towards something new; my massive suitcase filled with junk I’ve bought to make me feel more ready to attack this new change.

It’s raining and that perfectly suits my mood. After pouting by myself the entire morning and feeling nervous about leaving Kyoto, I shed a few tears over someone very dear to me I had to say goodbye to. And I’m a little terrified of moving to somewhere completely new again; my new apartment which I have not yet seen, my students which I have not yet met and the everyday life in a small coastal city I have yet to discover.

But I know myself so well I already know tonight my mood might have changed completely. Right now I might miss the comfort of a person dear to me and feel anxious about jumping to something unknown again – but as a matter of fact I’ve done this all a million times before and I know I’ll be fine. Better than fine, as it usually turns out. Later I will say to myself “what WAS that fuss about!” and laugh out loud at myself.

New beginnings are always a mixed bag, though. In a way I perfectly understand people who choose to stay at their comfort zone and never really challenge themselves: we all enjoy the (false) feelings of safety. When the going gets rough most people want to go home because that’s the ultimate safe place. When I feel under the weather it’s not easy to find that “safety” because as it turns out, I don’t have a home. Which has been completely my own choice for many years now and I still stand behind it. Since I don’t have the safety of a place to call home I’ve had to grown to be my own safety ring. I’ve become more confident in who I am and in the choices I’ve made that if I really have a bad day I can take look in the mirror, weigh my options at my current life situation and remind myself how I got to be there. My safe place is the confidence I have in my choices. And it has really liberated me in a lot of ways.

But alas, for some reason or another life is sometimes terrifying. I often wonder to myself what it is that we people are so afraid of in life? I haven’t figured it out yet, but I’m pretty sure I’m doing something right because every year I grow less and less afraid of living a life filled with new challenges and adventures. I’m pretty sure constant challenges are the key, or as the cliché famous amongst travellers goes, “life begins at the end of your comfort zone”.

I very recently watched a BBC documentary about J.K. Rowling and when she talked about her passion to be a writer it really hit home for me. “As soon as I knew that people wrote books (…) I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I can’t ever remember not wanting to be a writer. (…) I can’t honestly understand why you don’t want to be a writer. I can’t understand why the whole world doesn’t want to be a writer. What’s better than it?” Rowling completely describes how I feel about globetrotting. I travel because I think it’s the best thing in the world and nothing else compares. I simply can not fathom that not everyone want to leave their jobs and travel aimlessly!

Alas, these butterflies in my stomach today should turn into jolts of excitement and happy tingling by the end of the week. And THAT is what I travel for!

Shinkansen, a Japanese bullet train

My dawn in the land of the rising sun

I’m sitting in a bullet train en route to Tokyo from Kyoto. It’s an absolutely gorgeous day, first of May; sunny and balmy, I can’t help but smile. But I have butterflies in my stomach for reasons I haven’t fully fathomed yet. The following six days will be a little traveling holiday before I get ready to start my new job as an English teacher in a small city in southern Japan.

I feel nervous yet excited about my new life in Japan that’s about to start for real. I’ve been here two months now and thinking back I was pretty reckless (or just plain silly) to come here without a job waiting for me: there have been very limited options for me work-wise and I ended up not getting a job in Kyoto, which was something that I had really hoped for. And I can honestly say that without having a friend here I would’ve been much worse off. 

I met a Japanese man during my summer holiday in Japan last year and we became good friends. He invited me to come and stay with him in Kyoto when I told him I had completely fallen in love with Japan and I’d decided to return after my previous teaching contract in China ended. Having a friend, a local who has been able to help me with anything and everything has been priceless, honestly. I truly feel I would’ve been lost without his help and guidance – or at least things would’ve been A LOT harder for me on every turn. 

I thank my lucky stars on daily basis for having a safety net here. It has made all the difference for me.

As it comes to my love for Japan it is definitely still rising in scales. After my vacation here last year I was so stoked about this country and told everyone about my decision to just fly here in search for a new beginning. A friend did hand me a warning before I left, saying that though I loved Japan so much during my holiday it would be a completely different thing actually living here long term. I didn’t like hearing that, but I grant now it had a lot of truth in it. When I got back here and wanted to settle down I found out that I can’t for instance get a normal SIM card for my phone as a tourist nor can I rent a house independently. To be able to function “normally” I needed a work visa. The only way to get that was to be employed. 

It was quite hard to realize how everything seemed so strict and there were rules for everything. Some I thought were even ridiculous, like what they call “key money”, which when renting an apartment is pretty much two months’ rent you give (!) to your landlord because of his good will to rent the place to you… Traditions like these are - I hear - starting to change slowly.  Possibly due to the population in Japan getting more “Western”, who knows.

Even if it has been somewhat difficult getting a job here and sometimes local customs irritate me I can’t say that I find any of that off putting at the end of the day. I am still in awe how functional, modern, yet traditional Japan is as a country. I love how people are polite, shy and smiley. I get a positive kick every time a subway station attendant loudly gives thanks to people for buying their tickets, when in public transportation people scooch over and make way to give seats for more people, how there is this air of calm and positiveness. Right now I’m wondering why anyone would ever want to live anywhere else than Japan; the food, the culture, the people, could it just get any better? I think I’m on a Japan-high.

Yes, my love affair with Japan is only starting but I can’t wait to get it on full gear. Here we go!

I even love these cutouts you can find in many places all over Japan!