Staring at my plate of ravioli with porcini mushrooms today I realized something. I was in Japan for one year, and that experience severely altered the person I am today. I looked at the plate before I took the first bite and an inner voice told me I should say something — itadakimasu — before I ate. Tonight I am singing along with the Katamari Damshii game’s lyrics as I contemplate actually living in Japan for another year. Should it really be a question? I know already what I really want to do, just as Chris said, but getting my reality in tune with it is another thing altogether. I want to go back to Japan. If I don’t, I might never go back there…. Most people have some dream that they exit high school with, but once they actually get a job they seem to forget their dream. That magical something that kept them going disappears and they sink into a reality where they work at a stupid damn cubicle job and AREN’T HAPPY. Yet, when you ask these same people why they don’t continue their dreams, they simply state “I can’t leave my job.”
What happens if I don’t go back now? I will forget. My stories in Japan will be some story I tell my grandkids. “Yep, there was this one time I had this beautiful girlfriend in Japan. But the pay wasn’t good enough to go back… but these old bones don’t feel like telling another story.” Because there wasn’t another story, because I skipped out on an opportunity to go back and live my life as a young man.
I don’t disagree that most people “abandon their dreams” when the reality of the job world sets in, but that doesn’t mean it has to be the same for you.
I never liked cliches of any sort, and I put that particular one in the same category as college/high school (depending on who you ask) being the best years of your life. That’s a pretty depressing assesment, really – to believe that by 23 or so you’ve had as much fun as you’re ever going to have for the next 40 years or so.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t go back, I’m just saying that the only thing stopping you from going back later in life is you.
Having said what Norm pointed out, there probably will be less of an opportunity as you grow old. Old people are next to unemployable in Japan, let alone Gaijins. (I say this wearing my Aussie shoe.) If you are in your middle ages, you can only go to Japan if you have some really distinct opportunity.
A good example of opportunity available is JET. These things are only around when you are young.
Jeff,
How close was that earthquake this weekend to where you lived in Japan?
Moments leap from bravely looming futures to wistful pasts, as leaves by inexorable winds blow from towering autumn stacks. Until by final flight only barren snow remains.
A cabin light casts solemn memory’s vigil. Winter landscapes in a globe.
It was in Niigata prefecture, which is actually pretty close to Sendai.
Thanks Jeff. What is a prefecture anyway? I am not familiar with that term. Is it some kind of fault? It wasn’t shown on the map- just Niigata the city. Were the people in Sendai affected?
A prefecture is like a state or province. Niigata the city is in Niigata the prefecture. The map I gave you doesn’t show prefectural boundaries… I’ll see if I can dig up a better one.
I’m sure folks in Sendai felt that one, if it shook buildings in Tokyo. The distance the quake can be felt depends on the depth of the quake. I remember one of my professors saying that most of the quakes we felt in Sendai were from faults under the ocean. He said most of the shakers we felt were 8.0 and up, but they were far away so they didn’t do much damage.
There’s an Associated Press article in 10/31/04 Arizona Daily Star (azstarnet.com) entitled “Coming Home Can Be Culture Shock.” It’s all about students who have spent a year abroad, and how “the hardest part about studying abroad wasn’t adjusting to life in a foreign country. It was coming home.” Those of you who have experienced this might want to read the article.
Here’s a link to that article, if anyone is interested:
http://www.detnews.com/2004/schools/0410/30/schools-319939.htm