Henry Aberle ‘16, JFOU Fellow

When I first came to Japan I was pretty confident, maybe even a little cocky. A year prior I had studied abroad in Tokyo at a prestigious school, joined an all-Japanese member club at said school, and overall become accustomed to what felt like “normal life” here. As a Shansi fellow I came to Japan with the unreasonable expectation that I would simply pick up where I left off and everything would be as it had been—want for nothing.

Henry Aberle ‘16, JFOU Fellow

The first time I come to Tokyo I am 19 years old and really scared. It’s about 4:30pm when I arrive at Narita Airport. I’m probably a really ugly, jet-lagged combination of excited and nervous as I make my way up to immigration, but before I know it I’m sitting on the Narita express with an unwieldy suitcase by my side.