To be honest, I haven’t been here for that whole time but altogether about 16 years. My reason for coming here are many but basically I was just obsessed with Japan like a lot of other foreigners who come here. I don’t have any illusions anymore though.

In all the time I’ve been here, I would say that 1988-89 was the golden era for me. It was just at the end of the economic bubble before the Nikkei225 crashed and burned. There was tons of money flowing and people would pay 16,000 for an hour English lesson. The atmosphere was jovial everywhere and we all had a great time at Juliana’s Tokyo. Japan Inc was still alive and well.

When I came back in 1992, all that was gone and although on the surface nothing much had changed, there was a big change in the attitude of the people, even foreigners coming to Japan were looking for money and not fun like they used to. It seemed like there were more bitter foreigners (maybe I was one too) The Hanshin Earthquake and Sarin Gas Attack was like the 9/11 for Japan although not on the same scale. It changed things quite a bit.

At least that how it seems to me. Or perhaps I’m just getting older and seeing things differently.