The Story So Far

So why am I doing this? Why would I leave all my family and friends, some of whom I will no doubt miss almost unbearably much, to go to a place on the other side of the planet, and more or less start life all over? Why seek myself to a culture so westernized, and yet so foreign? Why leave my little corner of Europe at all, when so many others seem so content living here?

First things first. I have never really felt very at home in Sweden. Sure, I love my friends, I love my family. And I have to say I've found the city of Gothenburg to be somewhat picturesque during the year I've now been living here, and more pleasant than I'd ever expected a Swedish town to be. And the people I've met here have turned out to be some of the best friends I've ever had. Which of course counts for alot. But does it count for enough? That's the question I'll need to find the answer to.

So the people I know beside, there's really nothing holding me in this country. The cities, to begin with, are much too small and rural. As some people need little red cabins or vast oceans to survive, I need skyskrapers and beautiful architecture. Preferably intertwined with lush parks and palmtrees - it isn't the lack of nature that is important, but the presence of millions of people, the pulse that makes a world metropolis truly come alive, and the architectural feats of wonderment that often comes with it.

The scandinavian weather is another great thorne in my side. Always too cold, and often too wet. Even at summer the temperature much too rarely reaches anywhere near pleasurable levels, and at winter it's often just plain ridiculous how cold it is. And by the gods, if it has to rain all the time anyway, can't there at least be a cozy thunderstorm or two instead of ... well, this?

But let us move on to other things. I've lingered enough on what makes Sweden a place worth leaving, and though I assure you I could keep on for quite a few more paragraphs, there really would be no point. This is not a blog about Sweden, after all, but a blog about my dreams and aspirations, about Japan, and why I chose to go there.

And the answer to that question is easy enough. I have always found Asia to be an alluring place. I've always been mysteriously drawn to the continent, and especially to its more eastern parts. Imperial China and Samurai Japan are doubtlessly two of the most interesting cultures to have ever existed, and while I don't have much over for the communist regimes that has dominated the area for the the past half century, the region's recent adoption of capitalism has, in my opinion, once again made it a place well worth my attention.

And probably more so than any other place in Asia, Japan has held my interest firmly for the last several years. Never having had to deal with them "evil commies", the country has had the chance to develop into something entirely unique. More western than any other Asian state, while at the same time more eastern than most, a society sprinkled with the beauty of capitalist ideals, intriguing foreign customs, and the very edge of new technology, Japan was the obvious place where I had to go.

And at its center, the shining city of Tokyo.