Moving to a new country is no small decision, and those who have never considered the option may never fully understand why anyone would. Others understand the appeal in theory, but not the reason for actually going through with it in practice. For a variety of reasons, most countries make it difficult to move fluidly between them, outside of tourist purposes, so there’s frequently a large amount of paperwork, money, and general hassle involved in the process.

My life in the USA has always been very comfortable – familiar customs, familiar food, familiar language, familiar expectations. I could have a good, relatively easy life there. I could even move to another state, another coast, and challenge myself just a little bit. But it wouldn’t quite be enough to really push me, and I’d continuing coasting.

I’m moving to challenge myself. I’m choosing an unfamiliar environment intentionally because it’s only through becoming uncomfortable that I will grow.

It’s worth taking a moment to explain that I do not unconditionally recommend everyone challenge themselves in exactly this way. There are circumstances that can make moving abroad not an option for some and that is okay. The message I want to convey through my journey is that you should identify what you really want to be doing, and to find a path to that, even if it’s hard. If that’s moving abroad, great! If it’s not, that’s still great! Challenges and goals are extremely individual, and no one should make you feel like yours isn’t enough. However, if you find yourself repeatedly wishing you could do what someone else is doing, I’d recommend you examine that feeling and consider how you could achieve that in your own life.

For those who cannot move abroad but wish they could, or those who don’t want to move, but want to see what life is like somewhere else, I hope I can provide an interesting story to follow.

For those who are considering moving abroad – especially to Japan – I aim to provide a detailed, specific account of what it takes to get me there, and what my quality of life is. I do not want to sugarcoat, but I want to stay positive and view any setbacks as an opportunity to grow.

So, back to the title of this page: Why Japan?

I could theoretically move anywhere, if I’m moving. Why a homogenous culture where I will always stand out, with a language that is one of the hardest for English-speakers to learn? (Side note: I’m also aiming to learn #1 and #5 on that list!)

The answer is simple: I fell in love with Japan.

I could give you countless examples of things I love about Japan, but all of those are open to scrutiny or debate. No country or culture is free of issues. I didn’t pick Japan because it was objectively the best place for me to be – I picked Japan because it is where I want to be right now, and have wanted to be for the past 10 years.

I was introduced to the language like many were through Japanese cartoons in the 90s, specifically a particular show called Sailor Moon. It blew my mind to find out that the original show was in another language – and had about ten times as many episodes as I could find in the US! I remember getting the S Movie and watching it with subtitles over and over again, picking out words and phrases. My interest only grew from there.

I’d been taking French for 3 years, but I never felt like I understood it – of course, I never consumed any media that used it, either. Japanese was different – after only a short while of study, I felt like I could immediately pick out new vocabulary by listening to songs or shows and reading the translations. I had real motivation to learn the language.

My love for Japan is always supported by my fascination with the Japanese language – I’m that kind of nerd who loves studying vocabulary and new phrases while relaxing before bed. Despite this, I’m definitely not an expert in the language and don’t consider myself fluent. I’m fascinated, but not consistent.

I studied abroad in 2006 and for a long time I viewed that as the peak experience of my life. I was truly independent for the first time – I could go wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. For years after that I researched ways to go back, but most of them lead to the same road I knew I wanted to avoid: English teaching.

Let me expand upon that briefly. For those who don’t yet know me, I’m an introvert. This doesn’t mean I’m shy, and it definitely doesn’t mean I’m quiet, but it does mean I feel exhausted after interacting with a lot of people all day long. This means I probably will never be happy doing sales, working retail, or anything customer-facing. That also includes – guess what? – teaching. If I started life as an English teacher, I would most likely spend all my free time sleeping – or at the very least hiding away from any and all human interaction. There are people who love interacting with new faces all day long and it energizes them! I am not one of those people, and teaching would absolutely burn me out.

I wanted a better plan that would allow me to stay for more than a couple years. I didn’t want to rush over, end up miserable, and return to the US. I wanted to know I could have a life in Japan, making long-term plans with the possibility of staying forever. That was more important to me than just going to say I had been for a while. So I put my dream aside and worked on improving my life here instead.

Fast forward to 2016, when I visited with my then-fiancé, who said “I wouldn’t mind living here.”

I’d all but given up on that dream, but this seemingly-throwaway comment brought it all back.

I want to live in Japan.

So here we are, embarking on the biggest journey of my life so far, and I am so excited.