Quiet Victories and Everyday Miracles

By Alex Billingsley ‘24, JFOU Fellow

Right now, I am sitting in a hospital room in midtown Tokyo, sunlight shining through the window from over the Tokyo Tower. Needless to say, my January has had some ups and downs, but this time of rest and recuperation is giving me plenty of space to reflect on these past six months since I landed at Haneda Airport. Every day has brought with it a new adventure, a new chance to carve out my life in Japan, and new opportunities that ride on the back of chances taken weeks and months before. I try to document these daily experiences every evening and – in what is sometimes a tiresome chore at 2 am before I crawl into bed – write a diary about my life.