For the past number of months, I’ve had a number of readers who very kindly dropped me messages to share their excitement on their move to Japan. And if we were to make a team of it, we probably have enough members to form a baseball team by now. Yes, that many people have made it to Japan, why not you?
Recently, I was chatting with one reader — who has become a friend — about her decision to move to Japan. She, too, has left her job in Singapore and is now living in West Japan. But having been working for some time back home, she feels uneasy about this decision now that she’s here studying and not receiving any salary. She wasn’t sure if she had made the right decision. She was lost.
For all of you who feel the same way, don’t be.
How right a decision is, is not decided at the point the decision is made. Quitting your job to move here is not a right decision. Neither is it a wrong one. The decisive point is not now. It’s what you make of it. Think about how to make this a right choice.
I agree so much with you. Strangely enough, her story sounds so close to mine! Except moving to Kyoto to study was part of my plan to get myself back to Japan. But I can imagine…no, I remember how she feels. Back when I didn’t know if I could find a job upon completion of my course, I was jittery every day, wondering if all that money was going to be worth it.
Sometimes I think we question ourselves because of the way other people perceive our decisions. But like you say, since the action has already been taken, what matters more is what we do next. (^^)b
Excellent advice! Reminds me why I favourite this blog and check it out almost daily 🙂 It’s what we make of our choices that becomes us… Can I just say I also think it’s really cool that you’re helping people out with their decisions to move to Japan… I myself am on the JET programme but have decided to return to Singapore after a year to pursue a different career. But while I’ve been in Japan, your random Japan survival advice has been really helpful. 🙂
Hi Charlene,
Thank you for your message. It’s really messages like these that make me feel like I want to keep writing.
I hope Japan has treated you well and hope everything will go well for you after your return.
That’s deep. Respect.
今年の九月初旬に福岡の留学生活が始まる。一年間なマスタコースだけど、できるだけ日本のすべてを味わいたい。成長に役に立つ体験が欲しい。 時間があったら、名古屋へも遊びにいきたい。よかったら、案内してくれる?
シンガポール人は大体わがままで、このサイトみたいな情報、殆ど提供しません。それからあなたの記事をみると「いい人だな」って思っていました。このままで、維持してください。
Hi,
Thank you for leaving a message. It’s nice to know that you’ll be heading to Fukuoka soon. Hope you’ll have a great time there.
Well, I’m not sure if I wrote it already although somewhere at the back of my head tells me I did but anyhow, I’m no longer in Nagoya so I’m afraid I won’t be there to show you around. Frankly, Nagoya isn’t exactly a touristy place in spite of it being the most urbanized city in the whole of Aichi. Not that there’s nothing to see but just not too many interesting places around I guess. Or that I might just be too ignorant of the brilliant Nagoya.
On your last point, I try as much as possible to write stuff. I just either run out of good material to write or that I didn’t like what I wrote and end up deleting them at times. But your comment and everyone else’s do make me feel like it’s worth spending time on this. I will try to keep this going.