Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

I am sitting on an airplane, somewhere between Europe and Japan, on my way back home. In about eighteen hours, I will land, step outside, and feel that familiar mix of relief and quiet joy.

I spent a month in the Netherlands with my family, celebrating a European Christmas, reconnecting with people and places that shaped me deeply. It was good. Warm in its own way. And yet, as the plane moves east, I realise how content I am to be returning to Japan.

Not because one place is better than another.

But because this life fits me now.

One of the first things I noticed while being back in the Netherlands was the light. Or rather, the lack of it. The grey skies, the muted days, the long stretches without sun. I had forgotten how much sunlight affects me until it was gone again. Japan has spoiled me in that sense. The clarity of the seasons, the brightness, the way light and shadow shape daily life. My body felt the difference long before my mind put words to it.

Then there is the landscape.

I have fallen deeply in love with Japan’s mountains, rivers, and forests. Being surrounded by nature here does not feel like a luxury reserved for holidays. It feels woven into everyday life. While the flat parts of the Netherlands have their own quiet beauty, they no longer move me in the same way. In Japan, nature invites participation. Hiking becomes a habit. Curiosity turns into movement. The landscape itself gently asks you to engage.

Food was another reminder.

I love European cheese, chocolate, cakes, and sausages. That love did not disappear. But after a month, the extra five kilograms made something clear to me. Not as judgment, just as information. This way of eating is pleasurable, but not sustainable for me long term. Japan introduced me to a lighter, more balanced way of eating that I want to keep for the rest of my life. Cravings do not require relocation. A piece of Swiss chocolate ordered online every now and then is more than enough.

What surprised me most, though, was how much I missed the challenge.

Living in Japan has been a quiet but powerful catalyst for personal growth. Learning Japanese continues to stretch me daily. Living more rurally brought moments of isolation, but also space. Space to explore things I might never have touched otherwise. Hiking, videography, blogging, gardening. Even the simple act of stepping outside my comfort zone became part of daily life. I did not realise how many directions life could expand into until I removed familiar structures and started again.

Of course, not everything in Japan is better.

Crossing cultures from Switzerland to the Netherlands and from the Netherlands to Japan has made me deeply aware of what I value from each place. Swiss structure and grounding. Dutch openness and directness. Japanese subtlety and presence. This is not about choosing one culture over another. It is about seeing different dimensions of life through each of them.

Living across these countries did not replace parts of me. It revealed them.

Somewhere along this journey, I realised something simple but important. I am allowed to choose the life that fits me now, without needing to justify it or compare it. This choice does not erase my past.

When I look back, I do not see lost chapters. I see a story that started in Switzerland, continued in the Netherlands, and now unfolds in Japan. Each place added texture, depth, and perspective. Each experience made life feel richer, not in material terms, but in joy and appreciation.

As the plane continues its long arc across continents, I feel grateful. Not because everything is perfect. But because life feels aligned.