“It’s kind of strange that a Greek guy came to Japan thanks to Japan-Sweden relations. I was studying in a Swedish university and somehow by stroke of luck, we got a chance to visit Japan and we liked the place. We applied for a job here, and to be honest, the company had never interviewed any foreigners before. We decided to stay back here and haven’t gone back since!
“There is something I really like about Tokyo – the noise. Don’t take me the wrong way, but Athens, where I come from, is also as noisy as Tokyo. There are people walking around all the time. By noise, I don’t mean I like people shouting outside restaurants asking you to come in but rather the liveliness of Tokyo all the time. I prefer the noise, even though I am not part of it, I like the noise. Coming from Sweden, I was looking for something like that. In Sweden, during weekdays and especially during winters things get very slow and very quiet.
“I like the difference in culture here, I mean it’s not as cosmopolitan as elsewhere like Paris or somewhere. But I like the difference in Asian culture – the cultural diversity I can experience as a foreigner in Tokyo. Asian societies can be similar, but they are very different from me. I get to be in touch with people from Japan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, French, Russians on a daily basis. I didn’t know much about Asian culture when I was in Europe, so I am exploring that right now. I can see how people see things differently, it doesn’t mean I am right and you are wrong, it’s just difference in perspectives.”
By: Arpit Jain
Published by