How I ended up moving to Akita
I had just turned 16 when I started my apprenticeship as a car painter. Back then, I often heard about well-heeled high school graduates from the neighborhood who needed a year abroad in Australia or New Zealand after their difficult time at school. Maybe you can already hear it; I was totally prejudiced. Such mind games were out of the question for me, I had to earn my own money.
A few years later, now serving in the German army, this idea changed. In my job, I visited all kinds of countries, saw all kinds of cultures and was often the one who had to interpret when necessary. By chance, I learned that a year abroad is possible in more countries than I thought, but also that there is usually an age limit. “Maybe a working holiday year at the end of my service would be just the thing,” I soon thought. Getting to know a completely different culture, making contact with strangers, learning a new language and setting myself a challenge. Since English has never been a problem for me, it had to be a country where I couldn’t get anywhere with English alone, and since I wanted to travel on my own, it also had to be a safe destination.
Admittedly: I had been in contact with Japan for quite some time. As a child of the 90s, I grew up with anime and manga, later I was particularly interested in cars and motorcycles from Japanese manufacturers, but I was never close to being a otaku. It was only now that my time in the service was coming to an end, I was considering a year abroad and, on a whim, tried the Japanese course on a language learning app that it all came together!
Soon I was obsessively learning Japanese, searching for all the information I could find and preparing intensively for my time abroad in Japan. Due to the corona pandemic, I had to postpone my plans for a while, first completed my technical college entrance qualification and was able to start my journey just in time for my 30th birthday.
Like so many others, I spent my first month in Tokyo. I come from a very rural region in northern Germany and was looking for a challenge. The largest metropolitan region in the world should live up to this, I thought. I booked a language school and a share house for the month in advance. As expected: Tokyo was incredibly interesting and exciting at first. Many new impressions came crashing down on me, a jetlagged newcomer whose most urban experience so far had been a middle sized German city counting around 300.000 residents.
The first few days I did the typical program: Akihabara, Asakusa, Shibuya, Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo Tower, Skytree. Of course everything is new, everything is exciting. Even the completely packed train lines on the way to language school every morning were somehow exciting for me, who had hardly ever used this type of transportation before. A DJ set in a high-rise building in Shibuya; club nights in Roppongi; endless shopping opportunities in Harajuku, big tuner meetings with a “Fast and the Furious” feeling in Daikoku PA – the possibilities seem limitless. Just like the sea of concrete that seems to stretch in all directions when viewed from Skytree.
But as soon as the orientation phase was over, I realized that there is no place in the metropolis where you can really switch off. Even the most secluded places are teeming with people. It’s hard to make real contact with Japanese people as everyone is rushing about their daily work, festivals are absolutely overcrowded and, in my opinion, real culture is hard to find – everything feels more like an international business metropolis than “Japan”. And that’s no coincidence: if you want to make a career, you almost have to go to Tokyo at some point. Living space in the city center is unaffordable, which is why many employees are living in the outskirts or even in neighboring prefectures and commute long hours every day to the center of Tokyo.
I also got to know some people at the Sharehouse who spent their year abroad exclusively in Tokyo, but instead of taking advantage of all the opportunities to get to know a different culture and society, learn Japanese at a language school or find out about everyday working life through a part-time job, they preferred to play video games at night with their friends back home or watch anime in their room.
Since I had only booked a month in order to remain flexible, I soon turned to Sayaka from takemetojapan.com with these impressions and asked her to find a language school that offered something of a contrast to what I was experiencing in Tokyo. Sayaka’s service was first class and although at far too short notice, she managed to book me onto the next course at Akita Inaka School. I wanted to make the most of my year abroad, explore the country and ideally continue to learn Japanese.
Shortly afterwards, I boarded the Shinkansen for the first time and traveled from Tokyo to Morioka. As the prefectural capital of Iwate, Morioka is still a big city, but the feeling was immediately liberating. As I changed trains, I could see Mount Iwate from almost everywhere in the city. Here, at the last minute, I caught the bus to Kazuno, which took me to completely snow-covered Kosaka within an hour. Here I shared a typical house with 4 other students for a month. Big enough to enjoy peace and quiet when needed, big enough to invite other students over and organize takoyaki parties. Typically uninsulated with a kerosene heater, typically with a futon on a tatami floor. Just the way everyone else in the neighborhood lives. Just as authentic as I wanted my year abroad to be.
Although there is only one supermarket and a few restaurants in the village, Japan presents itself from its authentic side. The children in the neighborhood cheerfully shout either “hello” or “konnichiwa” as you pass by, you can not only watch the local festivals but are also invited to join in and the local taiko group is happy to welcome anyone who shows an interest in their hobby. The month was characterized by breathtaking snow-covered landscapes that wanted to be explored during the numerous activities after the language lessons in the morning. With something new to try every day, I never missed the opportunity to go out partying like I did in Toyko. One day we went snowshoeing near a hot spring in untouched nature, the next day we went to the snow lantern festival in Hirosaki. Not only was I able to snowboard for the first time as in northern Germany we rarely get enough snow, I also had the pleasure of receiving instruction on how to use a katana followed by cutting bamboo mats. Meanwhile, the community of students grew from day to day into a colorful group of friends. Maybe it’s just me, but not only once did I miss the crowds of people in the city. This was the only place where my year abroad in Japan was so varied and i got to experience and try out so many aspects of japanese culture that the course ultimately came to an end far too quickly.
As I felt so comfortable in Kosaka, I decided to ask for a job opportunity at the end of the course. As I wanted to work as well as travel in the spirit of work and travel, I thought I could always come back if the opportunity arose. For now, however, I would continue traveling to Hokkaido and meet friends from Germany. Half a year passed, and to get a good impression of the country, I traveled from Hokkaido back through Tohoku towards Kanto, then to Kansai. Wherever possible, I alternated between stops in the city and the countryside to find out what I liked best. And by the end of the summer, after working for a month in an inn in Osaka and then for almost two months on an organic farm in the mountains around Kyoto, I knew that I wanted to go back to Kosaka! Kyoto and Osaka had left the same impression on me as Tokyo before: interesting and exciting, but completely overcrowded and in the long run too impersonal and too busy for me to feel comfortable. In the long run, I prefer the peace and quiet and the lively society of the countryside.
Fortunately, I received an email from the school, which remembered my request and offered that I could help out with a course. I accepted without thinking and was back in northern Akita shortly afterwards. Now I slowly developed the desire to introduce Tohoku to other travelers and people interested in Japan. I think there’s nothing better than slowly getting used to the country and its people, especially at the start of a work and travel program, before you set off later with your first insights and experiences to discover the country on your own.
At the end of my year abroad, I started my studies back in Germany, but no matter what I did, the idea of doing something for the region wouldn’t leave me alone. Counteracting the rural exodus, showing what the region has to offer, helping to preserve traditions and culture and also making it easier to organize a working holiday year or language trip so that more people can take the plunge and gain life-changing experiences during their adventure in Japan. This is how the idea of ENJ came about alongside my studies, and ultimately I took the next big step and emigrated to Japan.
So your own year abroad, coupled with a little initiative and open-mindedness, could change your future! Incidentally, I dropped out of university and haven’t regretted it for one single day. Pursuing your own passion feels more meaningful than anything you could learn at university.
What do you think of this topic? Have you been abroad in Japan? Do you prefer the big cities? Let us know!
