I guess that it's actually incorrect to call Japan my "new" home. After all, I've been living here for more than 16 years now. I spent 4 years in Saitama working at Josai University. After that, I made a lateral move to our International campus near the Pacific Coast of Chiba Prefecture. It was after moving to Josai International University that my professional life took off, and I did my masters and most of my publications. Most recently, I've been working on the Encounters series of English textbooks.

After having lived in Saitama and Tokyo, I'm now living in Inagekaigan by Tokyo bay. I love living here, and life is going well.

In terms of lifestyle, living in Japan is both similar and diverse to what you might experience in another modern, metropolitan center. Castles like the one to the left here are found all over the country, and there are plenty of architectural reminders that this is a modern country that exists within a rich historical context -- but on a day to day basis, what you encounter most is remarkably similar to any city in Canada or the US. Indeed, on the drive from the airport the day I arrived, I didn't see anybody in a Kimono, but I saw Denny's, KFC, Macdonald's, western shops, gas stations, and just people living and presumably paying taxes like we do back home.

On the other hand, the way that people live here is considerably different than the way that people live in Canada or the US. Perhaps what strikes you first is that people seem to live to work, and it's common to find people who consider a 10-hour workday the norm, and 12-hour work days not particularly unusual. This is not to say that the Japanese lifestyle cannot inform the way we live in the west. One thing that I love about the way that the people here interact is that they tend to avoid confrontation. While this can be annoying, it also creates a certain social harmony and mutual respect that we could certainly use in the west.