“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

Well, actually, for me it starts with an eleven hour flight from San Francisco to Osaka.  So how does a girl living in one of the least densely populated states in the USA move to one of the most densely populated islands in the world?  Easy – pure chance and a significant amount of luck.

I have not always been fascinated with Japan.  I only started seriously looking into the culture, language, and history less than a year ago.  In many ways, I am completely unprepared for this transition.  While I have been studying Japanese since I decided to take this path, my language skills are basic at best.  I can only recognize about sixty kanji.  My knowledge of etiquette and culture is also limited.  But it is because of these things that I am taking this journey.  I have a desire to learn, not just about this amazing country, but about humanity.  I want to experience things that are completely new – things that I could never experience in my own country.  I want to be illiterate; I want to struggle with communication and social situations; I want to understand what it is like to be an outsider.  I want to experience those things that make my culture so different from the one I am entering and better recognize the things that are universal – the things that make us human.  I want to see myself through the eyes of a foreign culture.  I want to discover what it is that makes myself me.  This is a journey of self-discovery.

For those of you that have dreamed of moving to Japan, I hope you get there.  It is not difficult if you put your mind to it.  There are many opportunities just waiting for you to apply or take a chance.  I also hope that you will accept my ignorance.  I fully admit that I do not know as much about the land I am moving to as I should.  I welcome advice and guidance from those more knowledgeable than myself.  As I said, this is a search for understanding and enlightenment.

 

Please also realize that this is one person’s approach.  As with anything on the internet, take all of this with a grain of salt and find your own solution.  I am very grateful for the advice and guidance I have received, but in the end I had to come to my own conclusions.  I hope that by sharing my experiences I can help others too, but there are many, many resources out there.  Look through them all and find what works for you and your situation.

As humans, I believe we grow more through adversity than prosperity.  I know the road ahead will be peppered with frustration, fear, and other negative experiences.  But there is also a great deal of fun and exciting new opportunities waiting for me across the ocean.  These are the moments I plan to share with you all. 

Please join me on my journey.  Share my triumphs and learn from my failures.  I am always amazed at the internet’s ability to make us feel close to people we will never physically meet.  We can form and maintain friendships over amazing distances.  As our world becomes a smaller, more connected place, I think it is important to understand and recognize those things that make us different.  But we must also rejoice in the things we share.  That is humanity.   That is what I hope you will find on this blog.