Kamamura beach

The One Where Michelle Decides to Leave Japan

Home » Latest Posts » The One Where Michelle Decides to Leave Japan

This post is part 5 of a series of stories recounting all the ups and downs of my ~6 year journey around the world to all seven continents and seven seas.

August 2015

My second year of teaching in Japan was a rollercoaster of highs and really low lows. 

Some days were great, like when I’d gotten close enough with my students to hang out in izakayas together all night.

Others, not so much; like when I had a husband and wife in separate lessons who were going through a divorce after 15 years of marriage and all I could do was listen to their pain.

My staff was changing and the friends I had originally started with were slowly on their way out.

One by one, day by day, more things changed and before I knew it, nothing was the same.

Little worries became hours of anxious thoughts and weekly nightmares became nearly nightly panic attacks.

It was very obvious that I couldn’t go on like this, and my time there was coming to an end. 

As I’d come to learn throughout my travels, everything happens exactly at the right time, and this was just a step toward something bigger and better.

Completely unprompted, a retired student who, having no idea what I was going through, told me one day, “If you don’t like your job, quit. There are so many companies you can work for.”

This student was every bit of a mentor to me, and just hearing him say that to me was all I needed to decide that I’d be moving on.

I began to look for other jobs that would also allow me to travel, and that’s when I came across Peace Boat, an educational ship that sails around the world while promoting sustainability, peace, and human rights.

The following weeks were spent researching and putting together the extensive application package full of original lesson plans for a range of classes. 

Three friends from college were coming to visit me in Tokyo mid-August, and the night before they arrived I stayed up late into the early morning finishing off my Peace Boat application.

For the next week of summer break, it was like being back in Santa Barbara, my college home, all over again.

Just being around familiar faces who knew me prior to my life in Japan lifted a weight off my shoulders and made me forget all worries as we reminisced on all the stupid stuff we used to do in that sinfully beautiful beach town perpetually reeking of weed and hungover college kids known as Isla Vista.

We split up for a day or two as the boys headed to climb Mt. Fuji while I went over to Enoshima and Kamakura.

I thought I’d be able to get to both places within a day but I spent way too long at Enoshima getting lost by the views and caves.

By the time I made it to Kamakura the temples and shrines were already closed. 

I saw a guy in front of me who was extremely tan (a rare sight in Japan) and figured he could only be a fellow beach bum like me.

So, as un-creepily as possible, I followed him for about 20-30 minutes, and alas, we ended up at the beach, right in time for sunset.

Sitting barefoot in the sand and watching the sun disappear, I knew my life was about to change very soon, and it could only get better.

Michelle is a freelance writer who has traveled to all seven continents and 60+ countries through various forms of employment. Over the last ten years, she’s worked as an ESL teacher in Japan, a youth counselor aboard cruise ships, and a hospitality manager in Antarctica.

View stories

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

0 Shares
Share
Share
Tweet
Pin