BIG AMBITIONS
WOULD YOU PACK UP YOUR LIFE AND MOVE OVERSEAS? IT’S A BIG DECISION TO MAKE, ESPECIALLY AT THE RIPE AGE OF 23, BUT THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I DID WHEN I MOVED TO JAPAN — SOMETHING MANY PEOPLE COULD ONLY DREAM OF
Let’s rewind six years’ worth of footage. It’s 2016, I’ve just done four years of university, earning a bachelor’s and a few other certificates. You’d think that would be enough to get a job right? Not really. Well, not in New Zealand anyway. After many, many failed applications to Seek, I managed to score an interview with the JET programme, easily the best way to get my 23-year-old self to Japan. Within a few months, I had flown 9000km and landed in a little place called Yonago, 3.5 hours west of Osaka.
Waiting for me at the airport were two men in black suits with crisp black hair. An older, fatter chap with a younger, more youthful colleague. I was totally thrown in the deep end, no time to take in my surroundings. We went straight to where I would be spending the next four years of my life, in a little kei car of course. I’m not much of an anime watcher myself, but from the few I have seen this school was like it had been the main location for every anime that existed. Concrete everywhere. Rust everywhere. No grass on the field, just dirt. Tennis courts, dirt. Vending machines — three of them. Those typical anime classrooms, tick. And of course the uniform. Just what had I gotten myself into?
The school, the work — it was all necessary. I gave 40 or so hours of my week to this school (teaching English to 12 to 18-yearolds), and in return I was able to live, breathe, eat, explore, and, most importantly, drive in Japan. It took me about two months until I was in the seat of my very own Nissan Silvia. I vividly remember the first night I owned it. The motorway was only a five-minute drive from my house, and the touge a doable 20-minutes. That night could have easily been my last (if I had been caught).
Some of you may be wondering why I’m now back in New Zealand when I had it all, the dream life as some may put it. As the title suggests, I have said my goodbyes to the country as my home, but will definitely be saying hello as a tourist in the future. Now that I have somewhat of a qualified opinion about Japan — the good, the bad, and everything in between — I want to give you an idea of the amazing things you could expect if you also decide to close up shop and move to Japan. It’s not as difficult as you might think.
Setting aside the car culture for a while, we have convenience stores (that are actually convenient), bidets that make you feel oh-so-fresh, and all-you-can-eat-and-drink restaurants for a very decent price. Overnight prompt shipping, polite and helpful staff, beautiful beaches (in my area), castles galore, public holiday overload (especially if you work for a school). Even if you had no
interest in cars, it’s not a bad place to live. With a population of 125 million, every weekend you can find something car-related. Drifting at the local race track, meets, car shows, grip events, Formula 1 at Suzuka, automotive museums, factory tours — the list goes on and on.
When every weekend can be packed with goodness like that, why would I leave? Well, it’s very hard to become fluent in Japanese, and without fluency, it’s even harder to score a job not teaching English. I didn’t want to be teaching English for ever, and I didn’t see myself being fluent in Japanese anytime soon. Adding these two together, I decided it was about time to head back to NZ and actually start a career I enjoyed. Plus it’s much easier in NZ to own multiple cars and motorbikes. In August 2020, I declined the fifth year of teaching I was offered at my school — much to their surprise — and within a few months, I was making my return flight back home.
Four years in the motherland — was it worth it? Sacrificing my early twenties in NZ and career progression in exchange for JDM goodness. Totally, 100%. If I was given the chance to redo my early twenties, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. The memories I made, the places I went, the people I met, the roads the Silvia drove on, made me grin and laugh more times than I can recall. If you’re reading this and are thinking you’d love to do what I did, feel free to write to me and I’ll be happy to answer any questions and point you in the right direction.
After not much contemplation at all, I decided to keep my Nissan Silvia and export it with me back to NZ, along with many of my wheels and automotive things. A few months and a couple of grand later, I had my precious Silvia back with me in Auckland. Little did I know the nightmare that was about to unfold. Hint #1: R U S T. Hint #2: Previous repairs. I’ve said sayonara to Japan, but I’ll never say it to my S14. In the next issue of NZPC, I tear it down to its bones to see how far my nightmare goes.