Linger in the East

SO WHY START A BLOG?

Initially the blog was a vehicle to keep the home front up to date about all my legendary exploits during my stay at the Shinshu University (Matsumoto, Japan) in 2006-2007.
I started out writing in my mother tongue Dutch and kept the blog more or less alive while changing to English along the way.

The initial title of the blog was "My Gosh, A Savanna Dweller!", which content-wise consisted most of the time of figments of my imagination and complete nonsense that I found fun to share, but which was of no interest to anyone.
This original content can still be checked as I kept a copy of the original blog here.

Over the years the blog has changed into a mainly travel-focussed blog, so I took the painful decision to part with the blog name I have used for over 10 years, but which shows more what it is all about.

WHAT IS THE CONTENT?

The content of the blog consists mainly out of travel reports. While I haven't seen much of the world, I am quite busy exploring Japan.
Additionally, practical and less practical information about Japan make up another part of the blog.
Maybe I can help someone with all this info, who knows?
Worst case scenario: I'm the only one to read the posts from time to time to reminisce.

I try to limit the main labels on this site:

1/ Travel in Japan: personal travel reports
2/ Life in Japan: about every day stuff that you might wonder about.
3/ Quite Japanese: tidbits about Japan, interesting and less interesting.

HOW DID I END UP IN JAPAN?

I ended high school with a very depressed feeling: what was I doing there? I felt I had lived most of my life on auto-pilot already, and everything had yet to start. Life at graduate school seemed exactly the same so I already skipped classes after only 2 months (don't tell mom).

So I decided I needed to do something completely different. My first choice was baking bread, but my parents wouldn't have allowed that, so I chose to study an exotic language instead.
While knowing nothing of Japan or any word Japanese, choosing Japanese studies proved to be the right choice. The change of my mindset during those 5 years (4 at university + 1 abroad) seems funny to me even now:

- I started out just studying; I wasn't interested in really going to Japan.
- After 1 year I thought a tourist visit might be a good way to see what it's all about. But I'd never apply for a scholarship.
- After my vacation to Japan I told myself 1 year as a student in Japan wouldn't be so bad. You know, for the language. But I could never work there. Ever. Point.
- When I came back from Matsumoto I had to admit that my next step was to be looking for a fitting job in Japan. It took me a while but here I am.

WHO AM I?

Born and raised in Belgium, I was lucky to be surrounded by a happy family and goofy friends. Because I was never the adventurous type, I found it strange that I experienced the small-town life far from satisfying even at quite a young age. Going to university opened up my eyes and introduced me to a completely different lifestyle and mindset, but it was when I made the step to study for a year at Shinshu University (Matsumoto, Japan) that I truly knew I was not to stay in comfortable Europe.

I fell in love with the mountain town Matsumoto, but if I wanted to work in Japan I couldn't be too picky. It was a combination of incredible lucky timing and my love for alcohol that eventually got me an almost dream job as importer of Belgian beer in Osaka.
Though Matsumoto will stay my number 1, it's hard to imagine a better place for a Belgian guy than Osaka, the city with the nickname "eat until you drop". On top of that I met a curious lady over here who made the even more curious decision to marry me, so I will not be leaving Osaka anytime soon.