May 2024 (VOL.199)
Lucy Wu (Wu Shihhsin)
- Home country/state/city：Taiwan(R.O.C) / Taoyuan
- Occupation： Editor / Writer / Model
- Duration of living in Japan：5 years
- Why do you live in Japan?： I am enjoying my life here, having a job I love, and can really choose many things as I want without too much pressure from other people.
- Instagram：@kenshin6666
Were you hesitant to relocate to Japan?
Yes, I was. I came to Japan for the one-year-working-holiday at first and luckily got a job which I have had a lot of experience and appreciate with. But, I felt like that the way I think and work was quite different with my boss at that time, so that I felt quite a lot of pressure and even wanted to quit my job many times. At the same time, I felt a little lonely living in Tokyo. “ Do you really want to relocate to Japan? ” I kept asking myself for my first three years actually.
What do you miss about your maternal country living in Japan?
Food, family and friends. Oh it’s “3F” !!!
The culture of eating for Chinese is still different from Japanese. Although I love Washoku as I was living in Taiwan, I am still always missing the food in my hometown or cooked by my family.
What do you find different about living in Japan over the term compared when you first arrived or come as a tourist?
Hahaha, there are so much that it’s hard for me to tell it all here. I can describe it in an interesting way. When I come as a tourist, Japan is like a perfect idol for me almost without any negativity . And now, I feel like Japan is like a real person who I respect. I know he have his own shining points, and in the opposite, he also have his own darkness.
What do you appreciate most about Japanese culture?
There are a lot of things I appreciate about Japanese culture. But if I need to choose one, I think it will be ‘’Kiwami（極み）”. I am always surprised of it in many kind of things or products, even if it’s just a very normal thing. (laugh)
For example, TKG. It seems quite a normal cuisine in Japanese daily life and it is also easy to make it with an egg, a bowl of rice and a little soy sauce. But, you can still find someone or even a group who is enjoying studying TKG; they study different kinds of eggs and soy sauce and try to make it more delicious or find some different tastes of TKG. When I found the group of the TKG study, I felt so interested.
I really appreciate it, and actually, that is one of the key reasons why I came to Japan.
Which places in Japan do you recommend that foreigners see?
I think I will recommend my foreign friends to go to the shrine or temple in Japan. We can not only learn history, religion and traditional culture there, but also enjoy some nature, art or even some interesting business mode. (smile)
If you don’t know which places to visit first, maybe you can check the website named JAPANKURU which I work for. Although I write in Chinese, We have English writers from America, Korean writers, Thai writers and so on.
What are your favorite Japanese foods?
Yeah… It’s hard for me to choose… I love Japanese style Western food menu, such as Naporitan noodles, Hayashi rice, Omurice and so on. I also like teishoku(定食), udon noodle and a kind of noodle named Houtou which is famous in Yamanashi.
After moving to Japan did you have any funny experiences?
Yes!!! It’s countless. (laugh) One day around two months ago, I went to buy an turkey sandwich with my co-worker from America. I made a mistake that I told the foreign staff that I would like to have a “キッチンサンド（Kitchen Sandwich）instead of “チキンサンド（Chicken Sandwich）”. I didn’t realize until the guy replied to me in Japanese, said, “ What is a ‘Kitchen Sandwich’? You mean ‘Chicken Sandwich’ right? “
Maybe because all of us at that time that place are all foreigner, I felt so funny and laughed out loudly, Then the staff and my co-worker laughed out together. My co-worker and I talked about the pronunciation in Japanese sometimes make foreigner confusing but interesting, and got a new idea to have Sandwich shop in Omotesando with the main menu “Omote Sandwich” excitedly.
Just a few days before, we went to Omotesando for work and found some one have “stolen’ our idea in the restaurant which we had our lunch. They really had a sandwich menu named “Omote sandwich”. (laugh)
Would you like to continue to live in Japan for the rest of life, or you think you will return to your home country? If so why?
Now I think I prefer to live in Japan and want to have a new family here. 🙂
Writer: Minobu Kondo
Photojournalist in Tokyo, writing for Japanese and American magazines. Publishing an essay “101 of green stories” with the other Japanese artists such as Kosetsu Minami. Languages: Japanese, English and French.
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