Recently I was lucky enough to get to visit Finland for the first time with my wife and son, we were even more lucky as we were able to visit the area surrounding the town of Fiskars for a truly unique experience filled with nature, foraging, saunas and more!This was all thanks to my wife’s best friend Konomi who lives in the area with her Husband and Son. Konomi and her family really made our trip a magical experience and showed us an amazing level of kindness that I hope to soon repay.
I’d wanted to interview Konomi for a while but we’d never had the chance to meet, so one afternoon while the kids were taking a nap we decided to sit on the porch of their lovely home which looked out towards a dense, beautiful forest and get down to understanding some of the reasons they ended up in Finland.
Q. Thank you for taking the time to join me today, could you introduce yourself for the readers?
A. Hello! I’m Konomi, I live in Finland but I am originally from Japan. Currently I am a housewife and looking after my baby boy as well as an avid cook and baker!
Q. Where in Japan are you from?
A. I am from Saitama Prefecture which is close to Tokyo and the same prefecture your wife is from.
Q. I know a little about the area of Saitama because my wife has told me about it but I’m interested in your experience. What was it like growing up there as I am told there is not that much to do there and it is primarily a commuter area.
A. Yes we have a term for it, a ‘Bed Town’ because people only come back to go to sleep after working in the city. I enjoyed growing up there though because while my area was more of a city it still had surrounding rice fields and nature. My Junior high school was actually in the middle of a rice field so I had lots of fun exploring and playing in the area.
One memory that stands out is gathering leaves and branches to make a fire and roasting Sweet Potatoes on it, It was a fun time and I felt there was plenty to do.
Q. Was there a point as a child where you felt you wanted to start traveling the world as you’ve since lived in a few countries?
A. I think around Junior High School time because my uncle is a pilot and since I was quite small we were able to go to a lot of places abroad quite easily. As a family we’d been to the USA and Australia a lot, because of this I was quite familiar with travel but I wanted to continue to see the world as much as possible.
Q. What countries have you lived in?
A. Well Japan of course and then in order, Australia, Thailand and now Finland.
Q. What made you choose Australia as the first country to try to live abroad in?
A. I initially wanted to go to the USA because I’d worked in a fashion company which focused on American style casual wear. I found it was quite difficult financially to get a Visa in the US and a Student Visa would mean I could not really work so I looked in to a Working Holiday Visa in an English speaking country like the UK, Canada or Australia.
I wanted to be near the ocean if possible and that’s why I chose Australia, I first lived in Sydney and then traveled more.
Q. How was your experience in Australia?
A. It was amazing, generally Australia has a lot of people from all over the world so I didn’t feel like a foreigner I felt I could mix in very well. When I was in Sydney I found it quite safe, for example walking home alone from the pub, so I felt really comfortable overall and It was easy to speak to other Japanese people as there were plenty around.
I did some farm work at one point near Brisbane in order to be able to stay on the Working Holiday Visa for another year, in doing this I met my husband, so I am forever thankful for my time in Australia.
Q. To skip ahead a few years, your partner is Finnish and you now live in Finland. When did you decide to move to Finland?
A. It was right after Covid-19 started because we were planning to go to New Zealand on a Working Holiday Visa as I’d already had mine granted however all the flights started to be cancelled so we had to look at some other options on where to move to and live.
We thought about either Japan or Finland but I wanted to try something new so we decided on the latter.
Q. What was your perception of the country before you moved there and has that now changed?
A. I honestly didn’t know too much about the country before I came here, I knew more about things like Finnish design as it is quite popular in Japan, brands like the Ceramics company Arabia or Marimekko. I was very aware of these products.
When I moved here I wasn’t really ready for it, I thought I was going to New Zealand so I didn’t research much about Finland as it felt like more of a short stay or holiday at first, I felt like a tourist and I honestly was not excited about living here because I didn’t want to experience the cold weather and darkness.
Winter time is quite difficult but now I realize after living here that the summer time is amazing and I would say one of the best places in the world to experience the summer season.
Q. Why do you feel Finland has such a great summer?
A. I feel that the weather is just amazing as it’s not too hot most of the time, it doesn’t rain that much and the sun shines until late at night! Because of that there is much more time to do activities in the evening like hiking, swimming in lakes, picking berries and camping to name a few of them!
Q. How have you tried to integrate into Finnish Society and did you find that hard to do as a Japanese person?
A. I wouldn’t say it was easy but I think Finnish people are similar to Japanese people in some ways. For example, in terms of time and scheduling if you said meet at 12PM they will meet at 12PM and be on time, rather than super early or even a bit late.
I also find the Finnish people do not really make small talk, they speak with more purpose and they don’t care about any pauses of silence in the conversation, they are quite happy to enjoy peoples company without the need to fill those gaps in conversation.
One thing I love is that if they say something, generally they mean it. For example if they say “It would be great to have you over for dinner” they mean it, it’s not just to be polite like Japanese people or British people.
Lastly they focus a lot on the individual and being in their own space, these are all things I’ve tried to do and I feel I have become more open as a person because of it, the only difficulty I really find is making closer friends here because people have this individual nature and like to be alone more.
Q. Would you consider yourself becoming more Finnish or do you retain your identity as a Japanese person more
A. I don’t really see myself as Japanese I am me, I am Konomi so this is a bit of a hard question, I guess I feel more Japanese but also a person of the world because I’ve been to many places, I’m more individualistic than the average Japanese person may be.
Q. Do you find you try to retain or share some of your Japanese background while living here, for example by sharing with the local community?
A. Well I cook so I’d say that’s my hobby. I try to use my country in my cooking when possible and I try to wear a Kimono too! I actually brought some of my Grandmothers Kimonos to Finland with me to wear and share with others within the family.
Often there are some opportunities to share my heritage with the local community, I do so through Origami for example but these days I feel there’s been a culinary boom of Asian cuisine and Asian culture in general in western countries, this has spread to Finland and I get a lot of people asking me about my country and life there which is nice.
Q. I think younger people are interested in Japan a lot these days with media being a doorway such as Manga, Anime, Music and Video Games but certainly food can also be a starting point right?
A. Yes, I think this is the main one these days with the spread of Sushi and Ramen restaurants for example. A lot of people tell me they would love to see the Cherry Blossom in Japan too.
Q. Would you say you still feel connected to Japan in some way?
A. Yes for sure, through the food mainly. My family and I tend to eat a lot of Japanese food and I do find it to be on the healthier side which is good! I feel connected to my country more as time goes on really, through sharing my culture with others I realize it’s a big part of me deep down.
Q. How do you feel being a new parent in a foreign country, would you say it’s a daunting experience or do you feel there is enough support outside of your family?
A. I feel okay really but I feel like I always have a lot of questions as any parent would like is it okay to do X or Y. I have tried to seek out more Japanese people living in Finland though, I wasn’t that worried before but now I have a child who is half Japanese and half Finnish I want them to be around more people from both parts of their heritage, so I try to connect with people in person or online through my Instagram or YouTube Channel.
Q. Speaking of YouTube, you do run a VLOG channel that I believe focuses on your life primarily in Finland.
A. Although I started it as a Travel VLOG kind of channel in Finland and documented my time in places like Thailand it is now primarily a channel about my experiences in Finland yes.
Q. What made you want to start a channel like this?
A. One reason was because so many of my friends and family would message me while I was living away from Japan asking me how I was or what was going on in my life so this was a nice thing to document and share with them.
I think one of my strengths is finding a positive in any situation so I feel like being able to share that on a wider scale where I can encourage people, such as Japanese people living abroad, is a really fulfilling thing for me to do.
Even if one person can watch my videos and I’ve encouraged them or made a difference in their day or even life this makes it all worth it.
Q. That’s great to hear and I think your channel has great production values and themes although I admit I cannot always understand the topics I still feel drawn to what you are saying because you’re very good at hosting content, I hope you keep it up. Do you link your channel in with your Instagram?
A. Yes of course! I will certainly keep making videos as I love doing it, I hope what I present can continue to reach more people and transcend languages.
Q. I understand you love cooking and baking; I’ve been lucky enough to sample some of these amazing things that you make while I’ve been visiting you and I wondered where did you interest begin?
A. My family has always been a family that was interested in food! When I was a small child we would head to the Tokyo area frequently because my family wanted to eat a particular food or go to a particular restaurant even if it meant waiting in a queue outside for over an hour!
That was certainly my parents’ passion and I think it rubbed off on me. When we were not eating out my parents would cook food at the counter in our kitchen and I recall bringing a chair to the counter and watching them prepare and make many different dishes. Rather than watch TV I think my hobby was to watch them and ask them lots of different questions about the meal they are making such as why they are using a particular ingredient
Q. That’s really interesting that it began when you were so young. I believe you now have a Bento service where you make food for local people in the area you currently live in. I imagine this marries together your joy of making food but also spreading some of your culture?
A. Yes that’s right I recently started the service as a way to share my passions!
Q. I’ve been told that your Bento is very popular and frequently sells out, congratulations! Do you have any idea on your next steps for this service?
A. Yes, I feel that being in this small community I am the representative for Japan and I’d like to use that to my advantage by speaking more about the culture and history of the country but through my food.
For example, with Bento we have a lid on it and cannot see inside until we open it but we do that because we want to create excitement in the person who is going to eat it. For me this is how it was as a child as I would be so happy with what my Mother had made me when I opened it at school.
I feel people generally don’t know these things until I tell them, so I’d like to incorporate these stories and experiences into my cooking and business, I hope it will entice customers to keep coming back and to continue to learn!
I’d also like to do this in a different setting like a cooking course or even a café I could run, it excites me to think about it!
Q. It’s clear you’ve begun to establish yourself more in Finland over time and I do hope the business continues to be as successful as it currently is! Going back to Finland now, is there anything that really stands out to you about the country that has helped you integrate?
A. Yes, the nature for sure. It’s very important to me and I feel nature here is very much a part of people lives. For example a young family member on my Husbands side would go to the forest alone for time to themselves when they felt stressed or down and it is safe to do that.
The connection with nature helped that family member release their stress and relax, then they would come home. For me to see people enjoying nature in that way is very important.
Q. Now that you’ve spent some time in the Finland do you feel there are any similarities to Japan?
A. I think there are many similarities because both countries people are quite shy. For example most conversations will go along the lines of a simple ‘Hello’ rather than asking any follow up questions like how they are doing. I think most people in both countries like to keep a bit of a distance in general.
Despite that I feel quite comfortable to live here, it’s familiar but also different
Q. I’ve always been told that many Japanese people do not have Passports, despite that I know a lot of Japanese people who moved abroad or at traveled to many countries. Do you Japanese people are travelling more and if so why?
A. I think people may be tired of Japanese society and also it is an isolated island so it can be difficult to experience more of another culture. I do feel there can be a pressure on men to start their career quickly so they may not travel much and for women it can be not so important and as such they travel around a bit more like myself. I personally just wanted to continue to see the world as much as I could!
Q. If you could speak to someone from Japan who is hesitant to travel or live abroad what would you say to them.
A. Everyone has this feeling at the beginning but take it step by step and you won’t regret it!
I wanted to thank Konomi for her time not just in this interview but also for showing my family and I around the rural areas of Finland! I can’t wait to see where she takes her business next and to hear more stories from her time in Finland. If you’d like to Follow Konomi you can find her Instagram and also her YouTube channel, please do show her some support!
As always thank you for taking the time to read this blog, It truly means a lot to me. If you’d like to read about more amazing people like Konomi please do check out some other interviews I have done and stay tuned for more!
Interviews With You! By Lewis Jane 
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