Note on Leaving Japan

As part of my Creative Writing course with the OU, I wrote a piece about why I left Japan. For dramatic effect, I turned one good reason into the main reason. Writers lie.

It's not something I could post here - at least, not without heavy editing - largely because it mentions real people who might not want to be the subject of blogging, and because the place I lived was a small town, changing names wouldn't do much.

One aspect I touched on was the way living as a foreigner in Japan is a lot like being a minor celebrity. You're treated as a kind of curiosity - among the people but not of the people. It's really hard to integrate into Japanese society, especially if you're part of the foreigner community.

There's a song my friend Lenn shared with me before I headed out to Japan which I think captures the feeling perfectly. Listening to it reminds me of those days of trepidation before I departed, and makes me want to experience that weird way of life again. Here it is: