Camille spent a year in Japan on a WHV before going back to school

Hi, my name is Camille. I’m 24 and I’m a student in Paris.

After finishing my masters degree, I decided to go to Japan and spend some time thinking about what I wanted to do next, but also to travel and to challenge myself. I chose Japan because it has always been a country that fascinated me. And I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone.

For my working holiday, I chose to be based in Tokyo. It’s a city where I could make friends and find work more easily. My goal was to work a few weeks per month and then spend my earnings on travelling around Japan. I had many jobs: staff at a cheese shop, English and French teacher, babysitter, model, and assistant at a film festival! As for travel, I made trips to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Mie prefecture (birthplace of shintoism), the northernmost island of Hokkaido, and Okinawa. I skied in Nagao, and also did my first solo trip to Hiroshima, Miyajima, Tomonoura, and Naoshima!

For me, embarking on a WHV for a year brought me two things: time and freedom. It was the first time in a while that I was free from routine, and that I was able to use my time however I wanted. It’s a true blessing to have so much freedom to choose. Also, it was an opportunity to realise a few personal achievements:

• Learn a new language
• Make friends from many countries
• Travel solo
• Learn to overcome day to day obstacles in a foreign environment
• Adapt to a new work culture
• Build new routines in a new country

Admiring the sunrise from an onsen in snowy Hokkaido, while listening to the noises from the local geese!

• Don’t go with biases and expectations that you saw in movies
• Don’t be afraid of making mistakes
• Don’t only stay within your own expat bubble in Japan; go meet people from other countries too (and not only Japanese either!)
• Take the time to travel, spend several days in the same spot, try slow tourism
• Escape the traditional Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka itinerary and explore other corners of Japan
• Don’t be scared of trying!

I’m continuing my studies and hope to work in my desired field, so that I can save for an eventual working holiday in Taiwan.

My limited knowledge of kanji characters led me to press an emergency button in a Starbucks in Shibuya by mistake, causing alarms to go off. All the Japanese customers turned to stare at me and I couldn’t even explain my error. This incident was my main source of shame during my working holiday! Of course, I got over it and I’ll never forget those kanji characters.