Interview

Caroline Pover

Caroline Pover is the writer of the best-selling book Being A Broad in Japan, founder and president of Alexandra Press. Through her various ventures, she has helped build a large and growing network of foreign women in Japan. She is also a regular public speaker and consultant.

She is from the UK, and graduated from Exeter University before spending a year as a primary school teacher. She has been in Japan since August, 1996. She spoke with ELT News editor Mark McBennett in June, 2003.

Alexandra Press provides independent publishing for the international community in Japan.

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ELT: I believe that since you were a kid your dream had always been to be a teacher. But having realised it, you gave up your teaching job to come and look for one in Japan. Why do you think it is that some people are adventurers while others never stray far from home?
CP: Yes, most people from my hometown are still there - people very rarely leave Plymouth, actually! I was talking to a friend from Plymouth about this. He was trying to understand why I wouldn't go back and had no desire to go back at all, and I realized that the difference between us was that he was happy and content with what was available there. Some people are happy with what they've got, they're comfortable with the familiar. And for some people, familiarity and routine is something they're not comfortable with. So they deliberately put themselves in surroundings that are unfamiliar and constantly seek out new things. And coming somewhere like Japan, it never becomes completely familiar, I don't think. No matter how fluent you are, or how many years you've been here, there's always things that happen that surprise you, unpredictable things going on. And I think that's why people who come to Japan often stay longer than people who go to other countries.

Of course some people just want to have constant challenges. Others, and I know quite a few, want to escape from something. And there are others who have always felt some kind of pull to Asia. I would be in the first category. I don't like routine. I like every day to be different. I came here for an adventure and I'm still having one. And I love it more now than I ever have done.

My first experience of Japan was sailing into Yokohama harbour aboard a Soviet cruise ship on a gorgeous afternoon. Having an image of the place as dirty and polluted, I still remember thinking how clean Yokohama Bay Bridge was as we sailed under it, not knowing that it had just been built. What's your earliest memory of Japan?
I arrived early on a Thursday morning. I was supposed to be met by a friend of a friend, who forgot I was coming! So, I called my friend in England and got a contact number and found out that he lived in Ebisu. So I took a bus and got into Ebisu and I spent the entire day, eight hours, sitting outside a phone box near the station. I had a little book, which had a list of English language schools. So I called all the schools while I was waiting. I thought, I might as well get started! I called the schools and arranged interviews for the next day.

I remember sitting there, not understanding a thing, hearing mobile phones go off, watching people go by. I just thought it was really exciting to be just sitting there - I didn't even know if I would have somewhere to sleep that night!

So you made a very productive day of it. You were very focused on finding a job, networking and getting job interviews lined up.
Yes, well I had hardly any money and I knew I had to get going straight away. There was potentially eight hours worth of networking to be done. I had never thought of myself as a natural networker, but I guess so...

I remember when I used to hang on every word by people whose time in Japan was counted in years rather than months. One idea which made sense to me then was that life in Japan goes in three-month cycles, with feelings varying between open-mouthed amazement and home-sickness, or fascination with the culture and paranoia. What cycles did you experience?
My first three months, I was completely in love with the place. I couldn't believe I was really here and I'd walk around and look at the big lights - actually I still do that sometimes. I look up and think, "Oh my God, I'm in Tokyo, I can't believe it!"

Then, and this is the classic culture shock cycle, after three months something really changed. Looking back, I know it was culture shock, but I didn't know how to explain it. I just knew I wasn't happy. But I didn't feel that it was Japan. It was my natural reaction to blame Japan, but deep down I knew it was something in me, that I needed to grow, to adjust, to be able to live here.

But after a short time it became a realistic appreciation and joy about the country I was living in. Since then, periods of stress or what have you haven't been Japan-related, and in the last few years especially things have just got better and better.

I'm not quite sure why, but in Tokyo people tend to experience things to further extremes. The good things and the bad things, you feel more here. It might be something to do with the urgent energy of the city. I think a lot of the foreigners here tend to work hard and play hard, which doesn't leave much time for sitting back and relaxing.

And a lot of people spend a lot of time by themselves, sitting for two hours every day on the train. That's a lot of time by yourself, with your own thoughts. And without the distractions of TV and friends they've known for years, it's difficult for some people to adjust.

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