Living in Japan by Barry L. Petersen

In 1998, after living in Berlin, I moved to Japan.  My friend's grandmother had moved into a hospital and the Suzawa family homestead, located in a small village in Hiroshima Prefecture, had been sitting abandoned for 3 years.  When given the unique choice between continuing on a path of academic research or taking my chances with my own projects in the back country of Japan, I found the latter a little more difficult to resist.

Now I've lived in the traditional Japanese house in Yanochi village for over a year.  Grandma died in November of 1999.  Oil and watercolor studios have replaced the farm tool shed and the silk cocoon areas of years past.

Japanese folks are substantially different from their Chinese neighbors.  It has taken an embarrassing amount of energy for me to try to understand the locals and their customs, but maybe I'll get better with time.  To obtain a visa which allows me to stay in the country, I sometimes work as a consultant for Mr. Suzawa's local company, trying to help the Japanese help their environment with modern international technology.

When not trying to keep the weeds under control, time is spent learning about photography and painting.  The computer allows contact with the outside world and the opportunity to conduct my own research.

This section of the website has been put together to try to show visitors some of the inside of Japan as it exists today.  Some of my Japanese photography is contained here.