Planet Japan...
When the opportunity to work in Japan for 3 months came up, I decided to put my name forward. I did not realise the impact it would have on my life and me.

The people who know me well all thought that I would not last the three months away from home and immersed in a very different culture. How wrong they were.

On arriving in Tokyo, I immediately took to the new environment with enthusiasm and curiosity. I surprised myself how easy I took to my new lifestyle.

Three other colleagues from the UK joined me. We all lived in the same house in an area of Tokyo called Komagome; the house was soon to be referred to as “The Komagome House”. Our initial lack of the Japanese language lead to many interesting times in restaurants and train journeys and generally getting around in Japan. Our first glance of a menu found it looked like scrawl so we just pointed to a few things and sat in hope. Our food arrived...and kept on arriving. Unknown to us, we had ordered many sets of things which was enough to feed 20 people; there were only 4 of us!

One morning I decided to go for a run before work. I deviated from my known route to extend the run and after 2 hours of running and trying to find my way home, I had to flag a taxi to help me get home. I told the driver I wanted to go to Komagome Station, knowing I could direct him to the house from there. I then had to try to explain that I had no money on me and had to go in to the house first to get some money to pay the taxi driver!

My quest to keep fit in Japan also lead me to the local swimming pool where I met a Japanese lady, Akiko, who was to become my Japanese teacher and good friend. I joined their swimming team and went to many competitions with them culminating in the Japanese Masters. I also had many adventures in the mountains, the most exciting being a 3 day hike which took in some of the highest mountains in Japan, knife edge ridges and exposed traverses on ladders and chains. The views were breath taking and still remain vivid memories. I stayed in the mountain huts and met some wonderful people. Mount Fuji was on the hit list. Carolyn Bailey (a friend and colleague from the UK) and I set off at midnight for the summit and we arrived at 4am feeling quite sick from the altitude of 4750 meters.

Baack down in civilisation, I was soon to be introduced to karaoke. At first, I felt embarrassed to take part in this Japanese culture but this soon changed when I discovered how enjoyable it was. Very soon I had a repertoire  of country numbers and I was known as the “Karaoke Queen”

 

I made great friends with my Japanese neighbours, at first they spoke no English and my Japanese was very limited, but we communicated, quite effectively, via an electronic translator and lots of laughing. Keiko adopted me as a second daughter and she became my “mum” in Japan. I joined the family for many meals and holidays and we still keep in touch.

As my Japanese improved, I made more and more Japanese friends and the world of Japan was becoming my home. After 3 months of acclimatising to the new culture, I was invited to stay in Japan for a further 6 months and began to work on Japanese programmes. This was a great incentive to improve my language and work alongside my Japanese colleagues and delegates.

I tried a variety of foods in Japan including raw horse meat, lots of raw fish, bees lava, grasshoppers and every part of a chicken except the breast. My worst food experience was raw sea urchin which my colleague Mayumi introduced me to (it was her favourite), I could only just hold it down and had to gulp some beer to help the process!

Onsens (Japanese hot spring baths) were always an interesting experience. This is where you walk into a room naked (not easy for most English people), sit on a stool about 1 foot high in front of a hand held shower, wash yourself with the various potions provided and then join the rest of the ladies in one communal bath! Some Onsens are outdoors, with beautiful views of the mountains. The first time I walked into an onsen, I was in an area of Japan which did not see many western people. They all looked at me as if I was from another planet. They soon accepted me into their water and we had a laugh comparing hands and foot size!

I stayed in Japan for 27 months in total. My time in Japan enabled me to rediscover the “real me”. There were no expectations and pressures to be and to act in any particular way as no one knew me. It was like starting anew in some ways and this was made easy by not having familiar things and people around me. It was easy to break the old patterns, routines and behaviours I’d adopted in the UK; some of which were not actually "me". In the UK I tended to do many things because that’s what I thought people expected of me. My renewed confidence and the revelations I discovered about myself remain with me and continue to develop. I am so grateful for the amazing experience Impact gave me in Japan. In return I was able to teach many skills to my Japanese colleagues and help the Japan office to set up various systems and help develop the Impact culture.

It is now just over four years since my last visit to Japan and I have now settled back to life and work in the UK.

Back home in the UK I spend most of my free time mountain biking, walking, climbing. Mountain biking is one of my greatest passions. I used to race on a regular basis and reached my peak when I was chosen to ride in the European and World Championships for the British Team in 1992. Most of my mountain biking now is on a more relaxed basis but occasionally I enter a race of some description. Last year I was a member of a team with three other women and we rode a 24 hour mountain bike race. We won the ladies' category beating the professional teams. We are planning to do the event again this year.

My other great passion is playing music. I play in a band with some friends and occasionally we gig at local venues in the Lake District. We had our first paid gig last summer which was very exciting. I have just started to learn the fiddle so I’m not ready for a public outing with that yet!