〈動画全文〉それでもロンドンに住むべきか – 物価高、円安、悪天候、社会問題の先にあるもの

On a sunny day in London everyone can be a photographer. London looks amazing, literally amazing.

When I arrived in London last summer, honeymoon phase started – everything was new, everything looked fabulous and fascinating. 

And then, trying to settle in London – seeking jobs, making friends, searching   a place where my heart felt safe – on the course of starting a completely new life here, I was devastated. The challenges were overwhelming, and so many heartbreaking things happened that I experienced a terrible meltdown, one of the two worst in my life. I couldn’t get out of bed. Not for a day, but for days and weeks. I physically became sick as well. And I couldn’t get a GP appointment. Being sick and weak, lying in bed, completely alone, scared – It was the worst feeling possible for a person to feel.

Londoners are always complaining about London. I didn’t understand that when I visited here as a tourist, but yes, of course, visiting a place and living there are completely different experiences. Now, after nine months of living in London, I finally get it.

When I arrived here, I didn’t know what were Tesco and Sainsbury’s, Primark and TKMaxx. I didn’t know where to buy hand wash or dish soap. I’d never heard of Carex or Fairy. I’m still not sure if I’m pronouncing it correctly; Fairly, Fairy? All the products were different from what I used in Japan, and I had to start from scratch finding new favorites.

And yes, everything in London is expensive, which makes life quite difficult. Plus, Japanese yen, the currency of Japan, has been very very weak recently. So even buying something as simple as a water bottle feels three or four times more expensive than it was when I lived in Tokyo. If your main savings are in British pounds or US dollars, I definitely recommend traveling to Japan right now, as everything must feel so cheap there for you.

Rent is significantly higher. I had a studio flat in central Tokyo, a pretty spacious one by Tokyo standards, and it cost less than £500 a month, including bills. But here, for £900, all I can get is an en-suite room in Zone 3, sharing a kitchen with four other people.

Eating out is expensive too. Here in London I cook all the time unless I’m having lunch or dinner with friends. But in Tokyo, it’s incredibly cheap. Dinner at a restaurant could cost £5 or less, so eating out was often cheaper than cooking, especially for one person. I lived alone in Tokyo and ate out often, at least four nights a week. If I did the same in London, I’d definitely go bankrupt.

Infrastructure is wonderful in Tokyo. Public transportation is so reliable that people complain when trains are even 10 minutes late – though it’s worth noting that it’s super packed, to the point where London’s tube crowds feel like nothing in comparison. 

The weather in Japan is much nicer. I love the sun, the sunshine. I love it. I miss it so much. Now I know why British people complain a lot about fancy fancy London. They do, all the time. And right now, at this very moment, I am the one who has been complaining about London for the last 3, 4 mins. You might be wondering, “Why does Lina live in a city like London when she had Tokyo?”

But here I am in London, and I’ll be staying. Because despite the struggles, London is worth living in.

Two things I love: reading books and having conversations with people. To me, they’re essentially the same thing – experiencing a new world. While I’m reading a book or talking to someone, I’m exposed to new knowledge, information, and perspectives. This exposure allows me to develop my thoughts and insights on a much deeper level.

A wise man once said: “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries”. Reading is the best and simplest way to hear the story from a great mind that we don’t get to meet in our everyday life. Through books, I’ve discovered answers to my biggest questions, and at other times, those great minds have led me to ideas I couldn’t have imagined.

However, books have downsides. One of them is lack of interactivity. It’s a one-way flow of information. Even the finest book in the world cannot respond to my thoughts or questions. But real people do, all the time.

I purely enjoy having conversations when I encounter people who share my tastes and interests. I feel comfortable around those with similar opinions. On the other hand, by engaging with people from diverse backgrounds, educations, and occupations, those with different views of life – it opens my eyes to new worlds I never knew existed. The stories from these real conversations are current and relevant, overcoming one of the other downsides of books: information in older texts can become outdated. While some truths are universal, many are not – like how in the 20th century, the theory of relativity proved that time and space are relative, not absolute.

I would love to have conversations with people, but I don’t necessarily enjoy every conversation. Sometimes, I disagree with an opinion, and sometimes I feel upset or uneasy. And that’s okay. Through conversations that don’t feel “right,” I understand myself on a deeper level.  If I become upset with someone’s thoughts, it means they are not for me. However, unless I hear and try to understand those different perspectives, I can’t fully recognize my true self, thoughts, and feelings. It is same in reading. Even when reading a bestseller, I don’t always find it to be for me. And that’s fine. I’ve discovered a new thing, a new world, that isn’t aligned with my own, but definitely for many others because it is a bestseller.

For me it is important to read book and have conversations with people that I think I would not enjoy or I would hate even. If we only do things we enjoy, we miss out on opportunities to discover our true selves and encounter new perspectives. Indeed, most times we wouldn’t enjoy the things we thought we wouldn’t enjoy, but we will never know know unless we try, and keep trying. 

Emerson once said, “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.” “In some way” could be a positive trait, or it could be a warning of a path we shouldn’t follow. Regardless, we can learn from everyone we encounter. And sometimes we appreciate the significance later, like the way we develop for tastes for coffee and beer in later in life.

That is why I read books I might not enjoy and engage with people I probably wouldn’t be best friends. Indeed, most of the time, I’m disappointed, but occasionally these books and people lead me to new worlds and perspectives. And it is a wonderful thing if life. This can only be experienced by someone with an open mind and the “every person is my superior in some way” attitude.

For this experience, there is no better place than London. Since the British Empire once ruled the world, the UK is home to people from incredibly diverse backgrounds and cultures. As the biggest city in the country, and England being an (obviously and literally) English speaking country, London naturally attracts all sorts of people from around the world. Entrepreneurs, scientists, activists, artists, career-focused individuals, family-oriented people, sports lovers, music enthusiasts, history buffs, young and old, rich and poor, people of all races and ethnicities – London has a place for everyone. London offers them countless opportunities.

I’m one of them, too. London offers a place for me – a Japanese girl, a writer, a science enthusiast, a tennis lover, whoever I may be. I love nature, and even London can be a haven for nature lovers like me. Just 30 minutes by train, and we can walk on public footpaths through fields among cows and sheep.

In the last 9 months of living in London, I’ve met far more diverse people than I did during my decade in Tokyo. While nearly 40% of London’s population is foreign-born, foreigners make up only 4% of Tokyo’s population. London is an intersection of cultures, knowledge, and individuals from every corner of the world.

I wouldn’t say London is perfect. Everything has flaws. What’s good for one person can be bad for another, just as Nelson is a hero to the British but an enemy to the French. Immigrants might be seen as a problem in some contexts, yet I cherish conversations with them. What’s right for me might be wrong for someone else. There are no simple answers.

All I can say is that London is the city for me, at this stage of my life- still young, eager to learn about the world, and hungry for knowledge. I would absolutely miss London if I left. I’d miss the potential, opportunities, and possibilities London offers.

My view might change over time, just as in my early twenties, Tokyo was the “right” place for me. But not anymore. I changed. We change. Change is the only thing that does not change. But for now, at this very moment, London is where I am, where I want to be, where my heart longs to be.