This is our 5th working holiday interview!
Nazaret is from Spain, and is passionate and full of emotion, and was so friendly even though it was our first time to meet! We visited Social Residence Fussa to talk to Nazaret about her perspectives on Japanese culture.

Please introduce yourself.
I'm Nazaret, and I'm a 25-year-old illustrator. I was an illustrator back in Spain.

I have many friends who went to Australia on working holiday, and I wondered if Japan had a working holiday program, so I checked, and found out they do, so I applied.

Was it hard to get the visa?
The hardest thing is the money. You need about 4,000 Euro saved up. But once you do, the visa is easy.

How did you save money?
I saved and worked hard, and also my parents helped me a little bit.

That was nice of them.
My parents understood that I wanted to go to Japan, so they were like, "go follow your dreams!"

What do you like about Japanese culture?
I've loved Japan since I was 14 or 15, mostly anime, Pokemon, and other culture. So it was always a country I wanted to visit. I went to the Pokemon store actually, that was a great experience. Of course it's a worldwide phenomenon so we have goods in Spain too, but there's just more in Japan. I think I spent 30,000 yen that day... on t-shirts and gifts for friends and things.

So in Spain, when we greet people, we give two kisses on the cheeks, right? But you can't do that in Japan! I went to go greet a man I was introduced to in the Spanish way, but they stopped me. So of course I learned how to greet in the Japanese way after that!
Also I didn't know how to use the oven at first. It took me 2 hours just to bake a pizza, because I can't read the buttons. But somehow I got through it with Google Translate!

What did you do in Spain?
I studied art. I love art, and tattoos, so I studied tattoos as well, and even did some on my friends as practice. Even my mom liked my work so much she let me do her tattoo!

Japan has a very different culture surrounding tattoos.
Right, and I understand that. I ride the train a lot, and one day I had on a long-sleeve shirt but you could still see some on my wrists, and I got some looks. But I get it. And it's sad that I probably won't be able to use a public bath here. But hey, there's a great bath right here in the house!

I learned about Oakhouse from an ad, actually. Before I got the visa I was looking for a room, for a place to stay. But I didn't want an apartment, because it seemed so lonely. But with Oakhouse there are many people living in one place, and that sounded nice. So I found a cheap room!

Why did you choose this house?
I discussed it with my family and settled on this house. I like the area. And it's not too small. There's so much nature nearby. When I wake up in the morning and open the window the sky is beautiful, and sometimes I can even see Mt. Fuji! I love this house.

How about the people here?
Everyone is so friendly and kind. It's so easy to make friends, and everyone is helpful. Even when I get mail that has so many kanji I can't read, someone helps translate for me, and someone even helped me prepare some paperwork. It's like a family.

It's pretty relaxing here. I go to work early, at 6 am, then come home, and then hang out with house mates, or go to izakaya or something.

What work are you doing now?
Right now I work in a hotel. I found the job through Hello Work. They even help foreigners find jobs, and always follow up, like how was the interview, or we have a job for you, what do you think? There are jobs even if you don't speak Japanese.

Where would you like to go next?
Next I'll go to Osaka and Kyoto. I want to learn more about Japanese culture. Also I love snow, so I want to get up to Hokkaido!

Eileen's thoughts
Going to Fussa and back, I got to take in a lot of nature. It heals the heart and mind!