Why did you come to Japan? If you ever move here, this is one of the questions that will follow you everywhere you go. My reason is a bit strange.
Most people take up an interest in Japan because they are a fan of manga and anime. Some people love attending Comicons and dressing up in cosplay, some like Japanese music, some love Japanese food, some are interested in Japanese history or like the idea of putting on a kimono. Not me!
To be honest, before I came to Japan, I had no idea what it was like. My image of Japan was one of kimonos, ninjas, samurais, sumo wrestlers and sushi. That was it. When I came here, I was really surprised at how modern it was – oh, the shame! I genuinely thought people still regularly wore kimonos (and I sometimes see them, but only on special occasions), and I did not expect the crazy high-tech cities, such as Shinjuku and Shibuya. I remember arriving in Shinjuku for the first time, looking up and thinking “Where has the sky gone?” as the buildings were all so tall that the sky had disappeared from sight.
So why did I come, then?
I first decided to come to Japan when I was 12 years old. I attended a dance school and the best dancer at the school was Japanese. She happened to be my very first tap dance teacher, and when I asked her a couple of years after I had started whether she had learnt tap dancing in Japan or the UK, she laughed. She told me that tap dancing “wasn’t really a thing” back in Japan, and I was absolutely shocked. Tap dancing is my favourite type of dance, so, when I heard that, I decided then and there to someday go to Japan and open my own tap dance school.
12-year-old Jade: “I have to teach the world about tap dancing!”
できた！
And I did! I came over in October 2015 and struggled to learn Japanese for two years. Read about how I learnt Japanese by myself here. After all, there was no chance of opening a dance school if I couldn’t even communicate with my students! Then, I eeked my school open in January 2018.
Essentially, I came to Japan to do something crazy that everybody said I wouldn’t be able to do. If you have a passion about something and you truly believe you can follow your dream through to the end, you can do wonders. I still can’t quite believe I managed to pull it off myself! But there you go, onto the next dream.
Let nobody ever hold you back. Don’t listen to those who say you can’t do something; your limits are only ever within yourself.
Reach for the stars now!
Jade xxx