After my first visit to Japan, I was inspired by the country as a whole and decided to come back to teach English in 2007. I went back to Sweden, where I studied Japanese properly, then finally returned to Japan in 2010 when I started off my career as a journalist. When I worked in Tenoji, there were a lot of street musicians – I found that so fascinating! They could just go there and play in the streets even though you are not really allowed to, at least not in Tokyo. But they do it. That spurred my interest for Japanese music. They have great heavy metal, grunge and punk, but that is rarely conveyed outside of Japan. So when I first came to Tokyo I wrote a lot about music.

But there are many more interesting aspects. Something that is happening right now that I really like is that travelers go to more local and peripheral areas. I want to help unravel this idea of Japan being in a specific way; the idea that everyone dresses in a similar fashion, like similar things and so on. Even Japanese people say that “Japan is homogenous”, but that is not how it is! The accents in the north and south are completely different, and there are many cultural differences as well. I find it so intriguing. I love when you go somewhere new and realize that something you thought was a Japan-thing in reality is a Tokyo-thing! It’s a new experience every time you go somewhere new.

I think that it is noted, at least when I am on TV. Once I was doing a show where we went for karaoke with a live band, and the producer knew that I was Swedish so they made me stand on stage and sing Dancing Queen by ABBA in front of everyone. Yes, that was aired…

There are certain small things that I suddenly notice myself doing – bowing for example. I also feel a lack of some things that make life so much easier in Japan, like convenient standard phrases you can use in most situations. For example, when you go to a restaurant in Sweden, what do you say when you want to show gratitude? When I greet a bus driver, what am I supposed to say? How am I to behave? One overthinks everything instead.

I really like fika and its place in work culture in Sweden – to just have a cup of coffee and discuss things. I would like to introduce that in Japan. Pop-up fika in offices! Guerilla fika!