I’ve always frequent your blog but has always been a silent reader. Haha… I’m also a huge fan of Japan, has been interested in Japan since I was a kid. It started from a Jdorama that I saw on TV, then it was animes like Doraemon, Captain Tsubasa, Sailormoon… I remember even watching a Japanese tea ceremony documentary! I was so fascinated with their culture, their language, their food and everything and vowed that I will visit the country when I grow up. Haha… Now, I’ve been there twice, one for holiday and another for business trip that I longed to go there again… I totally understood when you said the love that you have for Japan, that even the stones can make you happy! Hehe…
I hope you can continue to pursue your dreams and help show the love for Japan to the whole world!!!

お疲れ様でした!
PS: 結婚おめでとうございます!!! May you and the Danna have a blissful and wonderful marriage life ahead

I go back more than my hometown because the people and atmosphere is just amazing. The dedication and care each person puts into their job, even if it is a simple as working as Maccas is amazing – there are an amazing bunch of people.

Anywqays thanks for sharing Cheesie

Reading especially this particular entry here, I really felt the need to respond. It’s nice reading this because I think finding somewhere or something that makes you the best you want to be is a truly amazing thing. Everyone has their own passion and footing, and it’s really great you could live out yours.

As for me, I’ve been a lot more fortunate than a lot of others. Due to the nature of my father’s job that always had conventions overseas, I had many opportunities to visit countries all over the world from a young age. One of the countries I went to was Japan when I was 8 in 2001. I wish I knew more about Japan back then as being so young, nothing really hit me then. haha.

However, growing up, I became really influenced by my older sister who got me into Japanese pop culture like Japanese anime, manga, Jdrama and Japanese music. I went on being interested with the pop culture, and in 2010, I even got to go Japan again with my family (yes, Air Asia lol) and we visited all over Tokyo for about a week. The experience was amazing as I even met up with about three of my Japanese penpals (kinda online friends?), and I even attended a handshake event with them(they were fellow fans) for a Japanese artist I like, Shinjiro Atae from the Jpop group AAA. Hehe I want to share this experience cause I was wearing a I LOVE MALAYSIA shirt to the handshake. And I actually shamelessly pimped my shirt to shinjiro and told him I was the fan from malaysia and such. Even more so, I tweeted to him before I met him, and also after, and got many tweet replies from him. So when I told him I was the fan from malaysia, he actually realised who I was and gave a really loud OHHHH! Everyone was staring, and wondering what was going on lol. I mean I never thought I’ll get acknowledged by a famous Japanese artist I liked in that way.

Okay, I’m getting carried away…but that was just the start of it. Then I had a friend who was involved in the Leo Club and Lions Club here. She had actually took part in a 1-month cultural exchange programme a year ago to Nagoya. So it was her turn to host a Japanese girl in Malaysia. So, I got to make friends with this Japanese girl as well, and even her mannerisms and her warmth, I was really impressed!

Then the highlight of this post is this (I know took forever to reach this)…the Great Tohoku Disaster in Japan in March 2011. When I saw the footage of the tsunami wiping out the affected areas, my heart was literally broken. I cried myself to sleep many nights, thinking of those who lost their loved ones as well as those who had loved ones missing. I’ve always seen disasters happening all over the world and while I always felt for them, I have never felt as heartbroken as I was, seeing this happen to Japan. Suddenly, I realised what I felt for Japan wasn’t just an interest/pastime, it was a real burning passion. Despite all the stories about the radiation and how it was unsafe to go to Japan, my heart ached so badly. I know there was nothing much I could do then but pray for Japan…and maybe donate…but I really wanted to go there to help them. The feeling was really really intense. Then as they slowly recovered from the disaster, I was truly touched by the way they lived. How they were still selfless in times of disaster, and together, they built back up their own country. No one was living for themselves, but they were all working together as one to bounce back up. That was what stood out to me the most.

However, I wanted even more than ever to go to Japan to do something there (I didn’t know what.) I prayed a lot, and who knows? God really does answers prayers. Like my friend, I decided to take part in the Lions Club Cultural Exchange Programme. I had to take an exam, and then an interview. If I passed those, I was set to go to Japan. And I did!!

So I had a 5-day trip across Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara with other Malaysian exchangees (aged between 16 to 20), a Croatin girl and 2 Australians. Accompanying us were also 5 Japanese Leos who were Japanese students. And it really touched my heart cause they said a lot of people chose not to go to Japan that year cause of the radiation fears, so they were very thankful we still decided to come. There were less people than usual on exchange that time, but it was better to get to know people, and they were even more grateful than ever just to see us there. That camp was quite an experience for me cause I fell sick, lost my voice during that camp…and then I got first hand experience of real Japanese hospitality. They immediately provided me with a mask, various herbal sweets and traditional medicine and took care of me really well. I even recovered fairly quickly!!

After that, the remaining weeks I spent in a homestay in Nagaizumi, Shizuoka with 3 host familes!! I was at the base of Mt Fuji, so it was rather incredible!! I had many first time experiences like Japanese flower arrangement, Japanese tea ceremony, wearing a kimono, going to the public bath and even eating puffer fish (courtesies of my last host family!) They were sooo incredibly generous, and I was really taken care of so well. I got to know many people during the trip too, and even shared a lot about my own values, mindset and Malaysia.

After that amazing experience, I was really prompted and sure I wanted to go back one day. However, parents still wanted me to get a proper degree to be more secure in my future and such. So I managed to find a course in York St John university…it’s a double major, one of my majors is Japanese, and I’ll get to spend an entire year in Japan next year as an exchange student. There are also a number of Japanese exchange students here whom I’m friends with, and mixing with them is teaching me new things about the country each day.

I think I have rambled a lot lol but for me, I love Japan and I’m passionate about it. But above all, I still am a Malaysian by heart. I forgot to mention but I’m actually a fangirl of Japanese girl idol groups like AKB48 (well I still like them a little now) and more recently a sister group, NMB48. I went to Singapore in May 2011 and early December 2011 to watch those 2 groups respectively live. At both of the lives, I wore my I LOVE MALAYSIA shirt again and basically pimped Malaysia to the girls (we had a handshake with them after the concert). One of them even noticed my shirt and asked me questioningly as she pointed out my shirt, “I love Malaysia?” And I said, yes yes and gave her the thumbs up. Man I think Malaysia should pay me for doing all these promotions lol. Again, getting carried away, but I love Malaysia – our food, our culture, my family, my friends. Japan is perhaps second to home, but nothing really beats home. While I want to do many big things in Japan, I want more Japanese people to learn to love Malaysia too like how I love Japan. Although I love Japan, I don’t want to forget where I came from or abandon my roots.

I don’t know where my future is headed, but I am slowly finding out. I’m sorry about how muddled up this post is, but I just wanted to share my thoughts too. Wish I could express it better, but this is part of it I suppose!