PATHS

Paths. They say that everyone follows a different path. Sometimes you think you know where you're going but then, bam, you're suddenly, unintentionally, in someplace unexpected. Sometimes life just shoves you along despite your plans. That's how I ended up back in Tokyo. 

 After living in Tokyo for a couple of years, I decided to see more of the world. I really didn't intend to come back to Tokyo. I eventually joined the Peace Corps and was stationed in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in Southern Africa. I felt depressed after my second birthday there and my project was stalling, again. Standing in line at the bus rank in the capital city Mbabane, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and a taxi driver said, “Here. You look like you could use this book.” He handed me a book and walked away. It was a travel guide to Southern Africa. In Japanese. 

 I looked up but the taxi driver had already walk off into the crowd. Weird. I was surprised that I could still recognize the katakana and hiragana in the book. That made me smile. I started to practice writing them just as a stress reliever. The high school near my village had been built by Japanese volunteers and every day I saw the dedication sign, “A gift from the people of Japan.” 

 About two months later, feeling really frustrated that my project was still stalled, I decided to send out one application. If I'm meant to go back to Japan then one is all it will take. I received a response two hours after I sent the email. Would I be able to attend an interview in one month? Wow. Two hours. I've never had a response about a job so quickly. Well, a positive response I should say. Looks like I'm going back to Japan. At the interview, I specifically requested to be placed in the countryside. I might be going back to Japan but I wanted to see a different side of Japan outside of Tokyo. “Okay,” they said. “You're hired.” 

 In less than four months, I went from living on a farm with no electricity or running water to a 1K about a 5-minute walk to a train station, 24-hour convenience stores, and high-speed internet. However, I wasn't just meant to be in Japan, I was meant to be in Tokyo. That's where the company placed me, near where I had lived before. My path away from Tokyo had circled around and brought me right back to where I had started.