Professor: Almira Bilibani

Student: Ramiz Hamza

If you could live in a different country

There is no place like home, as they say. As a person who has never lived
elsewhere except their home country, I cannot either support or deny this
claim. Also, due to this reason, I can sometimes imagine myself living in
different countries. Among varying corners of the world in which I
would like to spend at least a couple of years, I think most of all I
would like to live in Japan, which is not surprising, considering my
deep and long-lasting interest in this country.

The most obvious reason for such craving is my love of the and
Japanese culture. I remember Chinese fairy tales that my friends told me
when we were children, and Japanese legends and pictures (now I know it
was ukiyo-e) in encyclopedias. I like Japanese traditional culture for its simple
minimalistic elegance, and for its unique feature of making art almost from
anything. Hence, I would appreciate a possibility to live in this country for at
least a year to witness it from the inside.

Another significant reason (at least for me) is safety. Known as the
country with one of the lowest number of policemen in the world, Japan is a
surprisingly safe country; people tell stories that children there can freely
roam dark downtown municipal parks at night without any threat to their
safety (of course, if children would want to stride among dark trees at night).
Which I cannot say about my hometown, where it is sometimes dangerous to
walk in the center, not to mention suburbs and downtown.

The next reason can seem naive, but I would like to see those
wonderful skyscrapers combined with super-narrow, crooked streets
shining with neon with my own eyes. This is not the main reason, but if
you ask me about my associations with Tokyo, the description above is my
answer. Ginza, Shibuya, RoppongiI believe these names are familiar
to every tourist who has visited Japan. I would like to experience life in
one of the most overpopulated futuristic megapolises in the world, where
technological wonders (like vending machines selling literally everything) go
hand in hand with customs and traditions that count thousands of years.
More precisely, this reason sounds as follows: I like how Japanese people
take the best from other cultures and adapt it to their mentality and
reality.

Along with this, I am aware of the shortcomings. Japan consists of

Japanese people at about 98%, and the other two percent is divided
between other Asian nations, and a tiny amount
of Caucasian people; hence, it is impossible to become one of the
lads for the Japanese. Even if you make close friends with some of them,
you will still remain that foreign guy with all their respective conclusions
about your personality. Japan is expensive, sometimes eccentric, and
possesses its own unique complicated mentality, which is difficult to
understand even if you spend 20 years living there. And still, I would
like to live there for some time.

Considering my deep interest in Japanese culture, history, and

language, it is obvious why I would like to live in this country. The
opportunity to witness all that I have read about, the legendary samurai and
their special mentality is my main reason to move there. Safety and comfort
of living, as well as a strange mix of futurism and tradition also make up my
mind, even though I am aware of the shortcomings of living in Japan.