I’ve always wanted to write. But Japan made me a writer.
I took a creative writing course in college entitled “Writing About Place.” The focus of the course was to examine how place influenced different writers. We read excerpts from Italo Calvino, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Ezra Pound, among others.
The class culminated in a two-week trip to the northern reaches of Italy, a town called Dorf Tirol. Our goal there was to use this new and beautiful place to influence our writing.
While spending two weeks in the Italian Alps writing might seem like a vacation (and it was luxurious, no doubt about it), it also raised questions for me as someone who was always interested in writing realistically about my experience in different cultures.
While I felt out of my comfort zone in Europe, it wasn’t an entirely new experience for me. I say that loosely, but my family has Italian heritage. While I can’t claim to be Italian, a lot of our family traditions and practices come from Italy.
During that trip, the physical landscape inspired me more than the culture.
The misty Alps in the distance. The old stone walls of the farmhouse we were staying in. They had seen things that came far before me, and would see things long after I was gone.
I wanted to tell those stories.
I wrote a few short stories about my experience there, but like much of my writing then, they were somewhat melodramatic, wannabe-literary pieces. I don’t think anything I produced from that class was worth too much.
That was over six years ago now. But three years ago I came to Japan. I’ve learned that a large part of using place as inspiration deals with all the aspects of place, not just the misty mountains in the background.
Between college graduation and living in Japan, I traveled to Asia for work. I spent about six weeks traveling in seven different Asian countries.
You can imagine the sights and the inspirations there. It was almost overwhelming. The storyteller in me wanted to write something, anything about these places.
Over three years later, and I don’t even have a poem to show from that time abroad. I had written a couple of (not-so-great) novels during that time, but nothing directly inspired by my travels.
I have always wanted to write, but coming to Japan made me a writer. But why Japan? Why, out of all the other experiences I had does Japan inspire me the most?
There are two answers to that question.
The first is simple. Even back when I was traveling to many different places, I was always mainly interested in Japan. Even if it was superficial, being young and playing Pokemon, or watching Naruto and Dragon Ball Z, gave me an interest in Japanese pop culture.
This interest deepened in college as I studied Buddhism and Shinto, the two main religions of Japan. Through more study and exposure to the culture, it finally culminated in me wanting to come live and work in Japan full-time.
The second reason is time spent.
In a world where the philosophy of more, more, more is so prevalent, my writing has flourished through the exact opposite. While I wanted to write about the Alps or about all the different countries I had been to before, the reason I couldn’t was because of time.
I had stayed in Italy for two weeks. I had spent six weeks traveling around Asia, but the longest I was in one place was only five days. I had actually been to Japan back then as well for a grand total of 36 hours before hopping on a plane to Hong Kong.
I truly think one of the best ways to become a better writer is to have life experience. I always say, I should have started writing about Japan sooner. I’ve been here for three years, why did I wait until now to write about it?
Then I realize, I’m glad I didn’t.
Perhaps at the time, I would have thought I had something smart to say, but now I know that I wouldn’t have known enough. Japan has been the biggest inspiration for me because it is the place aside from my home country that I am the most intimately familiar with.
When it comes to Japan, I know enough, but I also know what I don’t know. In a world full of online “experts” and “gurus,” knowing what you don’t know is a beautiful skill to have.
Place has always inspired my writing, but Japan made me realize that some beautiful scenery and delicious food are usually not enough. They are the spark that lights the match, but you need kindling to keep that fire going.
Being more familiar with a place can have its ups and downs when it comes to writing inspiration as well. Living somewhere makes it familiar and having a daily grind is hardly inspirational or social media worthy.
But it is within those gritty details that inspirational longevity arises.
I never feel like I have run out of topics to write about because everyday is a new chance to write deeply about some aspect of Japanese culture.
I wouldn’t get that from going on vacation or jet-setting off to a different country every week.
It took me many years to realize this. Place as an inspirational writing tool can be an extremely powerful force. However, not all inspiration is created equal.
The inspiration I found in places I had only spent a small amount of time in was superficial. As I sat down to write about it, I realized it didn’t have the legs to really go anywhere.
I don’t feel that way about my situation now. The ideas flow constantly, and I am eager to explore more. Perhaps I limit my interested audience by focusing my writing about one place, but this is how I can produce the best quality work.
So, for now at least, I’ll keep on ruminating about the Land of the Rising Sun. Hopefully my words are interesting to at least a few people.
I agree and can relate and be wrote and self-published a book now on Amazon about it titled. 10KLRS: 10,000 Lakes to the Rising Sun.