A Personal Journey Through Japan Part 1: Yokosuka
Returning to where I first started in Japan and what I've learned in the years since.
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I’m at heart a very nostalgic and sentimental person. Much of what I write about deals with the past, whether it’s retro video games or old movies that remind us all of bygone eras that can never be recreated. Yet as time passes, I become increasingly aware of the fact that nostalgia is usually less to do with the physical thing it surrounds and more to do with how it made you feel at a very specific time in your life.
As I learned earlier this year, that also extends to places and what I’ve experienced throughout my time living in Japan. Back in May, my wife went to Taiwan for a 10-day business trip with her employer, so I decided to use that period to take my own small vacation. I initially considered going to Australia due to the relatively low price of the airfare and because I have some friends who live over there, but ultimately it was still too cost prohibitive.
So instead of leaving Japan, I opted to travel within Japan. Specifically, to three towns that were some of the most pivotal locations for me when I was just starting out in this country — Yokosuka, Ube, and Toyooka.
I first moved to Japan in 2017 at the age of 19 for an internship in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture. When that was finished, I traveled across the country to various places, with Yokosuka being one of the more notable destinations. After my holiday, I moved to Kobe for a homestay which lasted for nine months, though since it’s within close proximity to Kyoto, I’m still able to visit that city relatively often. Following the conclusion of my Kobe adventure, I briefly lived in a small town called Toyooka located north in the same prefecture. At the end of August 2018, I went back to the U.S. to finish university, and finally returned to Japan in September 2019 for graduate school. Subtracting that time I had to be in America for, I’ve been in Japan for over six years.
A lot happened. I lost my father to colon cancer and the COVID-19 pandemic forever changed the state of the world, but I also finished my master’s in international relations, got married, and started a PhD which I’m currently doing. I can confidently say that I’m no longer the same person I was when I got off the plane at Narita Airport in 2017, but I don’t think anyone can move to the other side of the world and not have it change you in some way. For thoughts on my current life in Kyoto, I’ll direct you to this piece.
The goal of my May trip was to revisit Yokosuka, Ube, and Toyooka. These were important places for my personal journey and growth living in Japan, and I had not been to any of them in over six years or more. Like the core memories seen in Pixar’s Inside Out, going back to these towns unlocked some powerful reminiscences, both positive and bittersweet. I initially wanted to cover all three in a single piece, but will instead be breaking up my thoughts into three separate articles.
Many readers subscribe to Foreign Perspectives to gain new insights into Japan, and I’m glad to provide information about places the average tourist would otherwise probably have no knowledge of. In that sense, you can consider this as more or less a travelogue series about three areas of Japan few travelers visit when they come here. I will provide some recommendations of what to see and do, so keep these locations in mind if you’re considering a trip to this country. Indeed, many are now because of the weak yen.
But this is also one of the most personal things I’ve ever written. While I’m not one to typically burden readers with details of my private life, I learned more about myself and what I’ve been through in the last few years than I thought I would. I mulled over how I would tackle this debriefing of my formative time in Japan, which is why I didn’t immediately start writing it when I returned home to Kyoto in May. I thought about it for nearly six months amid other articles I had to get to first, so here we are now.
Each location provided me with an important lesson on life, which is what I hope to convey here through this series. I apologize if these anecdotes and feelings are of little interest to some who typically reads my work, but as Stephen King once said, writing is about getting up, getting well, and getting over. I certainly gained some new insights from my travels and perhaps you will as well.
Looking for sailors
In 1999, Sega released Shenmue for their ill-fated Dreamcast console. While the system ended up being the company’s last, Shenmue was a groundbreaking title that pioneered open world environments in ways no video games previously had. Yet what made Shenmue even more special was how it depicted everyday life in the Japanese town of Yokosuka as protagonist Ryo Hazuki hunted down the man who killed his father. Players spent hours walking down streets and alleyways doing everything from looking for clues to practicing martial arts moves in an empty parking lot. Standard stuff in most video games today, sure. But in 1999? An immersive experience like no other.

Shenmue was intended to be the first part in an epic saga spanning multiple games, but the series currently remains on hiatus with its somewhat myopic third entry released via Kickstarter in 2019. While it could never recoup its massive development costs and the future of the franchise remains uncertain, it has attracted a loyal cult following which includes the present author. Long before Japan became a relatively affordable travel destination, Shenmue was the closest thing many foreign gamers had to visiting the Land of the Rising Sun thanks to its focus on realism and mundane life.
The later games brought Ryo Hazuki to exotic Chinese settings with a similar emphasis on slow-paced gameplay and letting the player soak in these Asiatic worlds. Many today find Shenmue boring, but fans of the franchise appreciate the intimate atmosphere director Yu Suzuki and his team were aiming for. On the other hand, Shenmue’s cheesy English dub is rather infamous for its delivery and tone. Ryo’s constant inquiries that he’s “looking for sailors” as part of his quest to find his father’s killer Lan Di has been an unintentionally hilarious meme for years.
Ironically, the series has maintained somewhat of a stronger following outside of its own country, likely because most of this would probably be standard fare for Japanese gamers. But for Shenmue’s foreign fans, taking a trip to Yokosuka is akin to a gamer pilgrimage. That’s precisely what I did in 2017 during my first year in Japan. While Shenmue obviously had to simplify things, it did a fantastic job in depicting real locations like Dobuita Street. It’s even more remarkable when one considers the technology available in 1999.
Practically everyone on earth knows about Tokyo, but far less know about Yokosuka which can take about two hours to get to by train. That makes it somewhat inconvenient for most incoming travelers, and indeed I wasn’t able to make it out there during my first stay in Japan’s famous capital. I arrived in May 2017 and spent about a week in Tokyo before moving on to do my internship in Ube, Yamaguchi. Once that was over, I went back to Tokyo in August with the intention of visiting Yokosuka and experiencing a similar path I had undergone virtually via Shenmue. A geeky goal? Undoubtedly, but Yokosuka is still worth visiting whether you’re a gamer or not.
Cultural crossings
Yokosuka’s strategic location near Tokyo Bay has always made it a city of vital importance for Japan. It’s been a major port town for centuries and also one of the country’s most notable connections to the outside world. In 1600, English sailor William Adams arrived on a Dutch expedition and ended up becoming a samurai in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sound familiar? Adams was the basis for the entire plot of James Clavell’s 1975 novel Shōgun, later adapted into a 1980s television mini-series and an even more successful show earlier this year.
William Adams’ Japanese name was Miura Anjin (三浦按針), “Miura” being the name of the peninsula which Yokosuka occupies and “Anjin” being an archaic word for pilot or naval navigator. There’s a memorial site dedicated to Adams and his Japanese wife in Tsukayama Park, but the site was quite off the beaten path from Yokosuka Station. I wasn’t able to visit on either my 2017 trip or my recent one this year, so it’s definitely on the list for when I visit next time.

Yokosuka’s other major connection to the West is the United States Navy base, which is an essential part of the military alliance between Japan and America. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived at the then-isolated country in 1853 with a fleet of gunboats, forcing the Japanese to end their sakoku policy. The spot of his landing was in an area called Kurihama. It would be easy to believe that Perry’s expedition would be a source of awkward history for Japan, but the modern reality is quite the opposite. The city of Yokosuka heavily uses Perry’s likeness for tourism, with there even being a park and memorial in Kurihama named after him.
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