Ever wanted to see how people really live life in Japan? Get ready for some surprises! — When I first arrived in Japan in 2005, I could barely say ‘konnichiwa’. So just imagine the shock on my very first night when I chowed down on some rather pink meat at a little bar only to find out it was raw horse. Raw horse! When the lovely old…

Does it make sense to invest in your own place, or should you continue paying rent? — If you want to buy your own home in Japan, you’ll need one of two things: a flashy smile, a weighty wallet, and more zeros in your bank account than toes on your tootsies Permanent Resident (PR) status. Without it, the banks won’t give you a loan. There are currently…

At 20, I had no qualifications and was delivering boxes. At 40, I was an Associate Professor at a university in Japan — When I was 12 years old, I was living by myself. Literally. No mother at home, nor father. No siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts or uncles. Aside from my dad, who’d divorced mum when I was 2, all my other family members were living 15,000 kms away in England. It was…

After 23 years away from Australia, I’ve learned you need these three things to thrive as an expat. — “I’m really sorry Iain, but I can’t move to Miyazaki with you.” What the fu*k? It was a message from my Japanese girlfriend in Tokyo. Cold feet. Shivering toes. Something about family, job security, friends, yada yada yada. Surely, she couldn’t be serious? It was her that’d pushed me to…

Australia’s a beautiful country, with some beautiful people. But I won’t be moving back there, now or in the future. Here’s why. — “You can’t beat this place, can you?” Mum said, as we walked along the beach on a sunny Autumn day at Rainbow Bay, on Australia’s Gold Coast. “I bet your girls would love to live here.” Ohhh sneaky sneaky mum, bringing my daughters into it like that, I thought to…

Tying to respect my father’s wishes while keeping other family members happy was terribly difficult — After a three-hour morning surf at Snapper Rocks, I walked through the front door at Mum’s house on the Gold Coast, ready to farewell my father. “OK kids, Grandpa John’s been sleeping in his box for 18 months, so it’s finally time to let him fly,” I yelled. Before I’d…

Seeing him disappear into the sky made me question how I want my family to remember me — “Trying to get a drink in without me eh, Johnno,” I said, as I opened the boot of our rental car. The beer bottles were rolling around my father’s urn, which had tumbled out of the Aldi tote bag during the drive to Bilinga — the beach where we’d decided…

Seeing him perish through a monitor shocked me and rocked me. This is how I recovered. — “How old am I, Iain?” dad asked. For the third time in five minutes, I gave him the same answer: “You’re 87, mate.” Under normal circumstances, I’d have said, “Fuck me” just loud enough for him to hear, then given him a gobful for not listening, but the gurgling rattle…

Can you imagine married life without sex? In Japan, why is this becoming the norm? — “I’ve been in a sexless marriage for 6 years,” she said. “You haven’t had sex for 6 years?” I answered, incredulously. She shook her head. “No, no, no. That’s not what I said. I said I’ve been in a sexless marriage for 6 years…” That was my first introduction to…