New member here~

Hi everyone,

I'm Annemarie, Dutch and 24 years old. I moved to Japan a year ago (April 2016) and am currently living in rural Iwate. I studies Japanology in University with a focus on anthropology and linguistics.

My main interests in Japan are the language as well a pop-culture, things like music, tv shows and books, though I've only recently reached a level of Japanese where I can actually read novels.

I also really appreciate how Japan is a more introverted country than the Netherlands is, as I'm an introvert as well. On the other hand, there are times when it gets lonely, as I rarely meet anyone even close to my own age here. Overall I'm really enjoying life here and don't regret moving here at all (though all the horror stories do make me worry that this might someday wear off)

Welcome to the forum.

The horror stories tend to come mostly from people who don't make the effort to learn the language and to become literate, as you have done. There's no reason you shouldn't continue to enjoy living in Japan and come to enjoy it even more in the future.

Hey, Annabloem. You mention that you are currently living in rural Iwate, and that you are about to begin reading novels in Japanese. Have you by any chance heard of a novelist Kenji Miyazawa? The reason i'm asking is rural Iwate being strongly connected to Miyazawa's works (or should i say Miyzawa's works being strongly influenced by rural Iwate) Also since his works are mainly children's literature - i believe they won't be that difficult to read for starters. Even if you're not heard of Miyazawa before, you by no doubt came across numerous allusions and references to "Night on the Galactic Railroad", a novel written by him.

In any case, welcome to the forum! Make yourself comfortable.

Mike Cash said:

Welcome to the forum.

The horror stories tend to come mostly from people who don't make the effort to learn the language and to become literate, as you have done. There's no reason you shouldn't continue to enjoy living in Japan and come to enjoy it even more in the future.

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Thank you so much! That's a relief to hear! It's something I suspected but it's really nice to hear it from someone else!

Lomaster said:

Hey, Annabloem. You mention that you are currently living in rural Iwate, and that you are about to begin reading novels in Japanese. Have you by any chance heard of a novelist Kenji Miyazawa? The reason i'm asking is rural Iwate being strongly connected to Miyazawa's works (or should i say Miyzawa's works being strongly influenced by rural Iwate) Also since his works are mainly children's literature - i believe they won't be that difficult to read for starters. Even if you're not heard of Miyazawa before, you by no doubt came across numerous allusions and references to "Night on the Galactic Railroad", a novel written by him.

In any case, welcome to the forum! Make yourself comfortable.

Click to expand...

Oh I hadn't heard of him yet, but I have heard about Night on the Galactic Railroad! I'll check if the library has some of his books (I suspect they will). It'd be fun reading about Iwate and comparing it to my own experiences. And if it's children's literature I should have no trouble reading them, which is a great bonus! Thank you for sharing!

Welcome to the forum, Anna!

We have a short bio on Miyazawa Kenji:

Literature - Kenji Miyazawa | Japan Forum

thomas said:

Welcome to the forum, Anna!

We have a short bio on Miyazawa Kenji:

Literature - Kenji Miyazawa | Japan Forum

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Thanks for sharing it was an interesting read!