/ Blog / / Blog /Well, it’s time for that annual blog post. I’ve been in Japan for three years now. In short, I love living here, and I’m continuing to embrace living in my own unique way.
Actually, just recently I had my first proper Japanese client. Even if it came by way of Italy, I had a meeting out in Yoyogi, did the work, and everyone’s happy. I hope there will be more opportunities to work with people locally, because I really enjoy being able to communicate more closely.
Also, a friend offered to let me exhibit my art in his gallery. That seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. But I did. I don’t know whether it was fear or pressure. Maybe both. I am a designer, an artist. I make things. But I never thought about what kind of work people might appreciate in a gallery setting.
For a month, I thought about it. I considered various ideas, sketched concepts, and I kept thinking how hard it was to reflect what I do in a physical space. In a digital space, I can design the best possible situation to view my work, and I do exactly that when I make websites for all my projects. But I really struggled to figure this out. I hope I do some day.
In August, I took a trip with the fami to Hokkaido. I haven’t really talked about that yet. We went to a place called Akan-ko, a lake in Kushiro. It’s in a national park, and home to some native Ainu people. It was unbelievably gorgeous, and the most “nature” kind of vacation I’ve ever had in my life.
We walked through the forest, took a boat out to an island in the lake, saw hot bubbling mud pits, went to a little nature museum. We saw a lot of deer. More “watch out for deer” road signs than actual deer, but still a lot of deer. Each morning my hotel window showed me the opposite of what it’s like at home. I would see a lake and mountains instead of tall buildings for as far as the eye can see.
There were free potatoes (??) as a hotel lobby snack. And while enjoying that with the kids, I also noticed the free harp concert happening, because I heard “He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Caribbean! I never expected to hear that in such a setting.
We also spent some time at Ainu Kotan, which is a street full of cultural Ainu shops, galleries, and a theater. It was all extremely lovely and charming and great, but I started to feel a little sad. Here were native people to the island, who have been reduced in population significantly, forced to assimilate when Japan colonized the island a little over 150 years ago. Ainu people lost their land, their property, and basically everything. And what remains are very small passionate pockets like this one.
I sat in a neighboring hotel for a bit while the fami went on a little excursion. I worked a little, journaled a little, looked out at the lake.
Before heading back to Tokyo, we stopped at the Abashiri Prison Museum, which was also tough for the soul. This prison was mostly used for political prisoners, like samurai who weren’t such huge fans of the new government in the late 1800s. A lot of these prisoners were forced to build roads that would facilitate Japan’s successful colonization of Hokkaido. Over 200 prisoners died.
The trip was beautiful and interesting but also very sad. There’s no good way to transition from this topic, so—
In much more lighthearted news, there was a cute yōshoku joint up there with a very good スパカツ (spaghetti katsu)!
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I may not become a fluent Japanese speaker. I’ve heard people spend so much of their time and energy learning, for the only benefit of being able to communicate at work. Luckily, the life I live doesn’t require speaking Japanese. I am still eager to learn more, but I will continue to prioritize the unique things I can do.
The avenue I continue to learn are from normal everyday interactions with friends and neighbors. I understand a lot more now than I used to. And as it turns out, many people are fine with speaking Japanese to me, and me responding in English. As long as everyone understands each other’s probable limitations, it can work.
About once a year, I meet up with my friend Marcus when he comes up to Tokyo. And over pizza and pasta we talk about why we stall on hanafuda. And perhaps the most invigorated I am about it is when we’re talking about it.
This year, I got so hyped up on the idea of hand-making them instead of any modern mechanical way of printing them. Will I? Well, maybe. What I do know is that this will be only a labor of love, because I expect no one else to be interested in it.
Without working in an office environment or going to school, meeting new people is pretty limited to my neighborhood and chance encounters at restaurants. I think that can be okay. I’m not interested in going to meet-up events. But it would be nice to share my space with a group of friends.
I am so thankful for Nob and Ayumi, who support me being here. They’re always around and helpful, and I just want to be there for them just as much. It’s such a joy to live near them. The occasions I end up spending time with the fami is some of the most rewarding.
For three years now, I have been very hesitant to furnish my apartment. I am haunted by the one-year term of my visa extensions. It is a tough thing to live under. Around this time every year now, I experience an immense amount of tension and anxiety about whether or not it will be renewed. I’m not alone in feeling this. I know a lot of other foreigners do too.
Earlier this year, my city sent out a survey to foreign residents. And a couple questions were about if anything stressed you out, what was it? And one of the choices was status of residence. So, they know.
So as it got closer to renewal time, I finally spent some money to buy furniture: counter chairs, a bookshelf, and outdoor furniture for my roof. My roof! I have a private roof on the fifth floor, and I never used it because I was afraid of spending money and having to leave behind the result of those expenses if visa renewal didn’t go well.
But now, some mornings I make myself some coffee and go sit up on the roof for an hour or so. I could’ve been doing that the whole time, huh?
I noticed my friends stopped asking me to go to eat Japanese food. I can’t blame them; I’ve probably not been enthusiastic. But I can’t help but wonder if there’s things I’m not eating that I would like that I just don’t know about. I think that could be true.
More foreign food keeps popping up around me, which is great. Though one feeling I had lately was that people around me may not have a good understanding of what foreign food is or can be. It is reduced to a few things not unlike how Japanese food is reduced in other countries too. I find myself wishing I could show them what food I like is really like. But it doesn’t exist around here to show them.
Man, this year it really snowed. And that was awesome. Everyone around me pressured me into adhering to my one very clear rule: if it snows, I have to go to Disneyland to take photos. And I’m very glad they did.
Working with Luka is so great, and in addition to making icons and illustrations for our clients at Parakeet, we’re finding other places to collaborate. Luka lent me a hand with a disk image icon for Kadomaru, I helped them making digital editions of a couple zines. Basically every artistic thing that either of us do, we involve the other. Even if just to check our gut, we’re always around to support each other, and I love that. But as always, we’re ready to make icons and illustrations for you.
Happy and grateful to be here in Japan. I hope I can keep doing it for many years to come. As always, we’re all going out to my favorite yōshoku restaurant, but next week since this week is exam time for Daikichi.