Hi, I'm Natty — welcome to Japan Field Guide.
I grew up in Japan, all the way through high school. The first time I really understood there was a whole world outside of it was a family trip abroad as a kid — I don't remember the details as clearly as I remember the feeling: languages, food, and ways of living that were completely different from what I knew, and I wanted more of it.
That feeling followed me. After graduating high school, I moved to the United States and spent four years at university there. It's also where I got the name "Natty" — my host mother gave it to me, and it stuck.
Coming home with more questions than answers
After graduating, I moved back to Japan and worked a few jobs where I could use my English. But here's the honest part: I wasn't — and still am not — fluent the way a native speaker is. Learning a second language as an adult is genuinely hard, and I felt that struggle firsthand, for years. It left me wondering what I actually had to offer.
Around the same time, I kept noticing how quickly the number of visitors to Japan was growing every year — and how mixed the results were. Foreign workers have become people Japan genuinely depends on. At the same time, I'd see stories about tourists unintentionally breaking rules, or causing damage to natural sites and cultural heritage, simply because no one had ever explained the "why" behind them.
It started to feel obvious: Japan's future isn't really separable from the rest of the world anymore. And if that's true, then it's on people like me — people who grew up here — to look honestly at what makes Japan worth protecting, and to actually explain it to the people arriving, instead of assuming they'll just figure it out.
Why this site exists
I've lived as the outsider trying to read a culture I didn't grow up in, and I've struggled through learning a language that wasn't mine. Both of those experiences are why this site exists: I want people who are curious about Japan — whether you're visiting for two weeks, moving here for work, or just trying to hold a conversation — to have a genuinely good experience, not one built on guesswork.
Japan Field Guide is organized around three things I wish someone had handed me a clear explanation of, back when I was the one adjusting to a new country:
- Survival Japanese — the actual phrases you'll use, not just textbook grammar
- Rules & Manners — the unwritten social code nobody explains out loud
- Live, Work & Travel — the practical side of being in Japan, from a day trip to a full move
I'm writing this from the inside, translating out — not the other way around. If it helps you feel a little more prepared, a little less lost, or just a little more curious about this place, it's doing its job.
— Natty