This is just a fluffy post, but I’m realizing despite having more money, living with friends and family, dating a partner I can be out with, and having dogs in my house like I always wanted… on paper I should be happier, but I think I was happiest in rural Japan. I barely knew the language, my BOE was really great and my workload was light. I lived in a cheap but comfortable apartment, and I had English neighbours I could rely on but didn’t need to hang out with if I didn’t want to.
Every weekend I explored a new part of Japan or visited nearby temples. There was always something new for me to do on the weekends, and during the weeks I had great food, and all the time in the world to myself. And I mean REALLY to myself, not in the way I do now where people expect things of me or want my time.
I remember being under my kotatsu, playing Persona 5 until I wanted to, not lonely or homesick *at all* despite loving the people in my life. I remember listening to podcasts as the sun set over the nearby mountains as I cooked dinner, hearing cicadas. I had nowhere to be, no one to answer to. Just… my own pleasant company. No overwhelming anxiety like now. No stomach problems. Just vibes.
I had to leave because I was starting an MA program. I think I had also ingrained in my head that I was only “allowed” one year of this before I had to head back to “reality”. And to be fair, it wasn’t all roses. I was tired of being in the closet in Japan.
Yet, I’m extremely introverted despite being outgoing and I find I have never again achieved the same peace I did when I lived there. There’s nothing wrong with my life right now, and I love my family, friends, and partner…but I miss the peace of Japan like crazy.
To all of you heading out there, enjoy! It’s been years since I lived there and I still have such deep nostalgia and so many great memories.
19 comments
I applied this year gunning for an urban placement, and this post makes me think a rural placement might be better. Sounds nice and relaxed.
It could also be that you left at the perfect time.
As the representative Jaded JET, my first 1-2 years were absolutely amazing but now towards the end there’s a lot more BS that would take forever to type out and the jadedness starts creeping in.
Look fondly on your adventures and definitely come back to visit.
I feel the same way too, even though I’m not in a super inaka placement, more of a suburb. The general lower cost of living here in Japan, ease of travel, high personal safety, and ease of not *having* to socialize with people you don’t want to is really a dream for me too.
What rural place or any place would you recommend?
This is the lifestyle I’m hoping to experience. When I travelled and went to school there. I pretty much did the same thing. Theres always something to see or discover
Rural japan is great…the ease of living we have here as a jet (some of us I guess) is great. I understand some are overworked but I see too many people being little b**ches when it comes living here…like they want things to be like it is in their home country…like why the eff did you come to japan then? I will never understand that mindset
I was definitely not happy with my placement at first but over the past several months I have started to appreciate the inaka life here in a similar way to what you are describing.
Glad to read a positive account instead of the doom and gloom that’s usually posted~
Hope you can go back soon OP.
I live in a town with 10,000 people and i feel exactly the same about my experience so far. Thanks for sharing 🙂
*”The time in my life when everything was easily handed to me and I had virtually no responsibilities was great! Also I left before it got bad.”*
You don’t say.
JET is somewhat like being a student again.
Same, it’s all I ever think about most days.
Wait, are you me? I also gave myself a “one-year only” rule when i applied to JET, seeing it as a break in between 2 jobs back home. But ever since moving back, not a day goes by without me missing the quiet life I had back there 🙁
Yep! Best two years of my life hands down. I miss it all the time.
Agree. I did rural JET in 1989 for 1 year and ended up staying for 8 years, before going back to the US to work. Now 33 years later I built a house in the same town I originally went to. Still exploring, still chilling and grilling. It’s like a grown up version of JET life but with money, a car, a wife, etc. So awesome.
I also absolutely adored my countryside life in Japan. I got to go to so many festivals, i learned a local dialect, i got to go to a school for the deaf and learn sign language. I loved my cheap townhome with wood floors next to the rice paddy full of insanely loud frogs. There was some shitty stuff but it was a peaceful slow lifestyle and i loved it dearly. I would go back if my husband truly wanted to and could work there
I’m in my 5th year on JET. I think it may be the peak of my life. Good pay/difficulty of work ratio. Cheap housing. Living by myself. I could go for ages
I was also a “one-year rule” person, and I severely regret it… so much that I’ve contemplated leaving an established job and returning to JET to chase after the exhilarating feeling of being in Japan again. I don’t that can realistically happen for me again, unfortunately. I wouldn’t consider it the “best” year since I actually faced a dark time for the first 6 months, but eventually I felt like I was starting to grow both in my position and as a person, and I do wonder what things would have been like had I allowed myself more time there. It’s nice to hear I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Honestly, it really should be. Not saying you’ve failed if you don’t have a great time, as some people’s situations suck, but for the majority of people, it’s a chance to live and travel in another culture doing a pretty easy job and being paid for the pleasure.
Hell, some of my happiest times were being on the dole after Uni and bumming around in a sharehouse before I got a “real job”. Don’t regret it at all.