The Man Behind the Myth

You now know my exact location on Earth, down to the building. But maybe you don’t know who I even am, or why you should care. I can’t truly answer the second question for you, but the first question should be pretty easy, so here goes: my name is Patrick. I’m 24 years old (turning 25 this September), and I have no idea what I want to do with my life. In my quest to figure this out, I studied psychology and film at UCLA, and I have been working in the entertainment industry for a little over two years now. I applied to the JET program partially on a whim, and like most other things in life, I never thought I’d get this far. Either way, I’ve decided to seize this incredible opportunity, to fulfill a lifelong dream as well as escaping responsibility for at least another year.

A Polaroid I’ve titled “Tell Me,” taken after one of the most significant moments in my romantic life. I’ll leave that story for another post.

I’ve been fascinated with Japan ever since I was a kid, when my family and I would fly to Thailand every year to visit family. We almost always had a short layover at KIX, Kansai International Airport in Osaka. We never spent more than a few hours there; my memories of the airport itself were really just walking through it to change flights. We never had a meal there or even stopped by a shop, but something about it appealed to me, deep down to my very core. Even the air felt different, I swear! When we landed, the very first thing I’d do was look out the window, entranced by the men working on the runway in their jumpsuits and hardhats. It was very exotic, it was very foreign, and mundane as it may’ve been, there was something very attractive about it to me. The idea “I want to visit this place one day” was planted firmly in my mind, and it wouldn’t be until 2014 that I finally got to fulfill that wish.

Click here to see a 1-second video diary of my 2014 trip to Japan!

I went to Osaka University in the summer of 2014, where I studied Japanese. I had the absolute time of my life. Japan lived up to everything I thought it would’ve been, and more– a beautiful country with such rich history and culture, and some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Food was great, fashion was great, everything was great! I could write pages more about how it felt, but this is a blog for entertainment (at least I like to think so), not a public diary. That’s also where I met the woman who would eventually become my girlfriend, the lovely Rika M—. I’ve been back several times since then, and to fast forward four years… here we go again!