Today marks our arrival in Japan five years ago. We were coming for a three month assignment and here we still are. Happy as clams. Japan, and Tokyo in particular, is a great place to live.
There is a certain element of fantasy living in Tokyo.
Here I am, part of a tradition of expatriate artists. Granted that this isn't Paris in the 1930s and getting here doesn't involve steamer trunks and a month-long journey over water, but Tokyo in 2003 is kin to that history. There is a thriving community of expatriate artists here: writers, web folk, filmmakers, fine artists, musicians. I'm fortunate to know some of them and to collaborate with a few. Perhaps someday our connections and contributions to society will be noted as an artistic force in this era.
Reality is great, too.
I can live without a car and never feel the need to have one. The weather is mild and pleasant for 10 months of the year. The city bustles with activity and the mountains and seaside are only an hour's train ride away. Seafood is fresh; fruits are delicious; there are a zillion restaurants. Strangers are polite and the streets are safe.
Naturally, not everything is rosy. I've struggled.
Learning a new language is challenging and I progress very slowly. Tokyo is an expensive place to live. Expatriate friends come and go. I will never be welcomed into any part of Japanese society. Despite all these annoyances and more, I've learned to accept them and the benefits of living here outweigh the traumas.
Will we ever leave Japan? Probably so, but who knows when or for where? I hope not to go back to the US. I'd love to try Rome or Beijing. But for the foreseeable future I am perfectly content with Tokyo.
Lucky girl!
Soooo Jealous.
You guys would do fine anywhere. That's the the real love story.
Excellent summary of the pros and cons. Exactly my thoughts too. Even though I speak Japanese, I will still always be treated as an outsider which is tiring. But Tokyo is such a liveable city...
Nice summary! I get tired of people asking me "are you gonna stay here forever?" The implication is that somewehere else is de facto better than Japan. My theory is that every place (and most things in our life) are a series of compromises. The trick is to 1) accept this fact, and 2) find the balance among the myriad choices we have to make about our lives and circumstances. Japan offers up a lot, but not if you focus only on your sacrifices.
Congrats and I am also jealous but happy you are loving it.
Congrats and I am also jealous but happy you are loving it.
I think one of the coolest things, though it's tiring, about living in Tokyo is living outside of Tokyo people. Like you said you'll never be accepted into Japanese society, but there's a certain lawlessness to that. And it takes a certain lawlessness of spirit for a person to live happily outside of mainstream society.
I think the result is really cool people live in that sub-community. It may be a refugee camp, but it's a refugee camp full of damned unique people with a certain strength of character.
So you're awesome, keep at it, and enjoy it well it lasts. I think it burns a lot of people out eventually.
truth is you and Todd are getting out of it the warmth, depth, intellgence, humor and quirk that you put into it, and I, too, believe that would happen anywhere, 'cause y'all take those traits with you!
but do stay a while: we have a wardrobe to make;-)!