From time to time I like to take a step back and look at where I am, and think a bit about how I got here. A wise man once told me that your present condition in life was the sum total of all the decisions you have made up to this point. At this point in time, I am sitting on my sofa in an apartment building in the heart of Tokyo, Japan. It seems funny that I should end up in such a place, throughout most of my life, I would have thought that my odds of one day living in Tokyo were the same as living on the moon.

But, I am in Tokyo, and though I have made my share of mistakes in life, moving to Japan was not one of them.

I have met many people, visitors to Japan, and others from back home who have asked me what living in Japan is like. Many have thought about one day moving to Japan, and want to know if it is really possible. And, if so, what living in Japan is like. In this blog, I hope to share with others my experience in Japan, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Questions and comments are welcome, both from those who would one day like to come to Japan, and from those who are already here.

For what it is worth, I have now been in Japan for five years, having lived in Tokyo for most of this time. I have passed the “honeymoon phase” of my life here, and have more or less adjusted. I am still working on the language, and trying to get used to a few of the more incongruous parts of life in Japan as a foreigner. But I like to think that I am doing well in Japan, and I know that coming here has been good for me.