Thank you for visiting our website “Living Abroad”.

This is an interview project that features interviews with those who have experience living abroad or living away from home. Living abroad can be full of excitement and inspiration. It can also be full of many challenges. Facing cultural differences, separation from loved ones, and many more. These problems are not always easy. They take time to process and adjust to.

This projects intent is to include all those experiences. Each person’s unique background, personal motives, expectations, and anxieties will be displayed., The positive and negative aspects, as they have seen them, as they have felt them, told here.

Here I would like to thank all those who have helped me with this project, especially those who agreed to do interviews, who readily and openly shared the stories of their lives. Also I would like to express gratitude toward the individual talents who I collaborated with for this project.

About the author, Mugiko Muraoka, please click here for information.

Author and “Living Abroad”

Living abroad has been an interesting topic to me for a long time. I myself have always lived in Tokyo, not having really lived abroad. Having interests in foreign languages and different cultures, I do wonder every once in a while, “what if I moved abroad?” However, contemplating my situation, it always seemed like the best thing for me is to stay based in Tokyo, at least for the time being. After all I feel very much attached to my city.

A Significant Decision in life?

To me, living abroad is an ultimate prioritization, a turning point of life and something that takes a large amount of preparation to make it a success. Yes, I may have a very deliberate understanding of what it means to live abroad, but I believe some of you may agree with my perspective.

On the other hand, some say, “Take it easy! Let’s move there first and think about what to do later”. I believe there are some people with this easy going philosophy who have a great life after relocation.

Others may not have chosen moving abroad proactively. Maybe it was because of the job, a compromise, or other inevitable reasons. The meaning and the weight of relocation vary depending on one’s circumstances. One has to weigh what he/she wants from life.

Whatever the reasons may be, to me they appear to be the ones who have decided on an ultimate prioritization. What was there in the background of their big decision to move? What happened once they actually began living abroad? These might not always be the answers you might like to put in your CV. The reasoning could be rational or irrational. This website seeks to retell those reasoning’s, their personal ones, their emotional ones, and recount them here for others to explore.

Connections generated by living abroad

One of the reasons why I have this strong interest in the topic of living abroad comes from my friends. So many of my friends have the experience or are experiencing this life change. Many of my connections were generated because these people made the decision to move to Tokyo. It is not a reach to say that they have enriched my life.

Besides my friends that have come to Tokyo I have many friends from Japan who now live abroad. From time to time when I get a chance to meet them, they share their experiences in their new home. Hearing their stories has and continues to impact how I see the world today.

I always look forward to listening to my friends, their stories, and some untold aspects of their lives. I want to convey the excitement of discovering a new living-abroad experience. I am grateful and honored to be able to share these stories with you.