How Japan Has Changed for Us

Until as early as 2016 Japan was never really anything but familial origins for us and of course someplace we’d like to visit if we ever had the time and chance. We always practiced a lot of Japanese traditions and partook in a lot of their food culture but never had the desire at the time to immerse ourselves within the culture by living here.

It wasn’t until a random trip to New York in 2017 to celebrate my brothers graduation that we found extremely cheap fares from Hawaii to Japan. I think at the time a roundtrip ticket was about $400 which was amazing considering inter-island fares in Hawaii were about $300 at the time.

So we booked the tickets on a whim.

On the plane the thought of “I know the culture” was stuck in my mind, after all we are again Japanese by origin. So I thought it would be a very similar experience to that of what we are used to at home.

Getting off the plane and heading to the hotel was an experience in it’s own. Then our first night walking around at night was something we totally did not expect. The crazy night life was something I didn’t really think of, even our first meal, udon was totally different then what I was used to in Hawaii.

Needless to say after that trip, I was hooked. Maybe it was the neon lights, the New York vibe but safer, or perhaps it was the understanding that Japan and our culture was perhaps so much much.

We have taken many trips to Japan after this, and each time the love for the country grew with each visit.

It wasn’t until our restaurant started growing that the opportunity to move here was presented. But at that time, the thought of relocating was not on the tables as we had so much to do in Hawaii still. And with the commitments we had made to the restaurant and our staff it wasn’t like we could move forward with anything until everything was set in stone.

Then in 2019 / 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic spread and destroyed our ‘restaurant empire’. Causing us to put all expansion on hold and of course close the doors to what we had worked so hard to build.

But then it gave us the opportunity to chase after dreams instead of continuing the status quo.

So we did the research, we contacted professionals and we eventually made the move to Japan.

Since being here, our view of Japan has changed so much from that of when we were tourist. The culture, the traditions and the people have made our experiences here rich. It has become a place where we can call it a second home and where our family and now friends have started to come and gather.

A better understanding of where we came from and with a safe enough environment to pursue who we can become.

Its interesting that a place that started off as a vacation ended up being one we call home…