About

About Me

Hello!  My name is Elizabeth.  I am a twenty-three year old American girl who hails originally from Spokane, Washington.

Currently, I’m working as a native English preschool teacher for an International English school in Tokyo. I was previously a University student majoring in International Studies, with a focus on East Asian culture, politics, and Japanese language.  I started out at Eastern Washington University in 2006, then transferred to Seattle University in 2007.  In Spring 2010, I completed the final year of my undergraduate as an exchange student at Sophia University, in Tokyo.

I live in Kanagawa prefecture, west of Tokyo, with the most wonderful boy in the world, my husband Tatsuya, whom I’ve been with since January 2007.  We decided to remain in Japan after I finished school to start a life, a family, and whatever else we can manage. We registered our marriage in July, 2010, soon after Tatsuya landed a full-time job, which he began in April 2011. Our wedding ceremony will finally be held in September 2012.

How did I end up here?

Tatsuya says it was just destiny, but who knows, really! Members on both sides of my family had connections with Japan: one grandfather fought against them in the Pacific War and my other grandfather brought my grandmother and young mother over when he was stationed at Yokota Air Base; my Aunt and Uncle were born there as well.   In any case, my main pull toward the region was first and foremost a desire to learn the language.  I took Japanese for fun in first grade, and by the end of elementary school, I decided I wanted to take “real” classes in high school (which to me meant learning kanji and grammar, as opposed to a varied number of phrases.)  I’ve been studying Japanese now since I finally began to take formal classes in 2003. (This year I’m hoping to pass level 2 of the JLPT, although we’ll see what happens!)

In 2005, when I was seventeen years old, I had the opportunity to visit Japan for three weeks through a local exchange program.  It was that experience which pretty much set me on the path for what I wanted to do in the future: become fluent in Japanese and learn all I could about interacting with others in the world.

There was a degree of strategy involved in selecting Seattle University as my top choice school… their International Studies program requires students to spend at least one quarter abroad in order to graduate, and I figured that fact wouldn’t hurt when I told Mom and Dad I wanted to travel again! Unfortunately for me, I was wait-listed out of high school, so instead I enrolled at Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney, Washington, with the intent to transfer over to Seattle the following year.  However, it was during that year that I met a Japanese exchange student (Tatsuya) whom I was paired up with for weekly tutor sessions.  As you can imagine, one thing led to another, and we became a couple! When I look back on it now, I think if it weren’t for that little hitch in my plan, I never would have met him. Funny how life works sometimes!

Anyway, I managed to get accepted to Seattle University for my sophomore year. I also began studying Chinese in addition to Japanese, and for a while I considered going to China instead.  But after things became serious with Tatsuya, and after a second summer trip studying at Mukogawa Women’s University, I re-focused on Japan.  Because of his desire to work and live in his home country, and my desire to have more life-experiences abroad, the natural choice was for us to be together there.  And luckily for us, it worked out, even after enduring long stretches of time maintaining a relationship long-distance!  In many ways, I’m thankful I don’t have to experience this journey all on my own.

What is this blog for?

This blog is first and foremost an attempt to stay connected with my friends and family in America.  And after receiving encouragement from my parents, as well as one of my college professors, that people might actually give a care and be interested in what I’m up to in Japan, I thought a blog would be the best way to go about sharing it. I intend to write mostly about experiences in my personal day-to-day life, cultural observations, and things of that nature. Oh, and posting lots of pictures. Basically, whatever I think personally is fun to read!

Anything else?

I suppose if you want to know more about my personality, just read the blog! In general though, my hobbies include fashion, cooking, politics, drawing, and reading celebrity gossip blogs (my vice!) Like many others in the world, I enjoy a variety of TV programs, movies, and music.

I love animals, especially dogs, and I’m hoping that one of our plans for the near future involves adding a puppy to the mix (stay tuned!)

And since this is a blog about Japan, I suppose it’s obligatory to say that my blood type is B, whatever that means.

As for the name of this blog, “Fifty Storms in Japan” comes from Tatsuya’s surname, which is Igarashi (五十嵐), meaning “fifty storms” in English.  So if it were translated back into Japanese, the title becomes “Igarashis in Japan”.  That’s us!  Also, I’ve been told that back in the day, Igarashi was a name created for farmers wanted lots of rain for their crops, and so it is a reflection of their wish for good luck. In that sense, I’m hoping for good luck too, in Japan. Although at times it could really be “Good Luck in Japan” in the sarcastic sense, as in “good luck with that“. Ah, such is the life of a gaijin! In any case, I really picked it because I just thought it sounded cool. Simple as that.