[🇯🇵 001] More Than Just Memories: A Year in Japan

A year passes in the blink of an eye. Even when you try to hold on to that time, it only works to a certain degree. Neither photos nor the many little things you collect along the way can truly preserve it. They end up in albums and boxes, gather dust and eventually slip into oblivion.

What truly remains in the end are the stories. Moments that stay in your memory, even though everyday life has long since moved on. Stories you tell thousands of times, and each time it feels as if you are returning to that place all over again.

Although I have not been in Japan for a while now, although I spent a month and a half in Germany in the meantime and have been living in Portugal for a few weeks, my heart is still very much attached to this wonderful country. Travelling to Japan had been a dream since my childhood. No, not just a dream. THE dream. And not as a tourist. I wanted to live there, work there, study there. To be part of society. Someone who pays rent, has a somewhat regular daily routine and does not fly back home after two or three weeks. And in March 2025, I finally made that wish come true.

I lived in Japan for one year on a student visa and, alongside my classes at language school, tried to see and experience as much of the country as possible with the limited money I had. I lived in Kyoto and used it as a starting point for trips, discovering new places, meeting warm-hearted people and collecting truly special memories.

And yet, one year was nowhere near enough to see everything I wanted to see. My Google Maps already looked like a hedgehog before I went to Japan, and despite all the trips and adventures, it did not get any better. Instead of fewer pins, it turned into a full-grown porcupine. Because the more I explored, the more I wanted to see and experience.

After I recently started sharing some photos and videos on Instagram (jeremy_the_traveler), I thought it would be a lovely idea to tell a little more here. Because there is simply so much I experienced that cannot be told in 2,200 characters in an Instagram post. So much that needs more room.

And since I already have a website that revolves around writing anyway, why not simply write a little more? This will not be an advertising blog or a travel blog full of top lists and the hundredth recommendation to visit completely overcrowded tourist spots.

I am an author, a storyteller and a wanderer. So things will get extremely personal here, because I will be telling stories from my time in Japan, my experiences and the things I lived through. I am not an expert, but I do love throwing around little facts and researching the places I have visited. The stories are honest, unfiltered and real. And always best enjoyed with a pinch of humor.

That is why I warmly invite anyone who feels like it to stay a while and listen to my stories. Make yourself a delicious cup of tea, grab something to snack on and get comfortable as I take you with me to the Land of the Rising Sun.

To the country that captured my heart completely.