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This is what comes about when I try to explain to people where I spent the last three years of my life. It’s not like I was way<\/em> out in the country, but it’s certainly not one of the more famous parts of the country. Yamaguchi is one of those places I compare to Nebraska in America: everyone’s heard of it, but you’re hard pressed to think of anything that happens there, to say nothing of a reason to go to there. No offense to anyone who lives in Nebraska, of course…<\/p>\n ..but you really should think about moving.<\/p>\n It reminds me of when I worked at an ESL school in university, when I’d encounter people from up to 36 countries in a given semester. When you live in that country your entire life, it’s (figuratively and quite literally) your whole world. Your country is the biggest and most famous. Then when you end up in America and ask people about your country, you learn that the rest of the world isn’t actually sure what your country even does.<\/strong> I remember a young woman being quite perplexed when no one in the room knew anything about her homeland of Liberia.<\/p>\n Of course, I’m not Japanese and not really from<\/em> Yamaguchi, but I did spend 3 years there and it’s where I started off my post-university adult life. I could rattle off all the things it’s famous for, all the scenic spots, and the famous people.. But the funny thing is that when you go elsewhere, everyone just looks at you strangely when you talk about these things, much like a local dialect.<\/p>\n But anyway! For those of you not living in Japan and who’ve never been to Yamaguchi, I’m sure this doesn’t make much sense. But my Yamaguchi peeps (and you Nebraskan-ers) totally understand… Right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n This is what comes about when I try to explain to people where I spent the last three years of my life. It’s not like I was way out in the country, but it’s certainly not one of the more famous parts of the country. Yamaguchi is one of those places I compare to Nebraska in America: everyone’s heard of it, but you’re hard pressed to think of anything that happens there, to say nothing of a reason to go to there. No offense to anyone who lives in Nebraska, of course…<\/p>\n