I moved to a tiny ski town in Japan. I make $8 an hour, but life is cheap so I'm saving for my future travels.
He found Tokyo hectic so he ended up living in a small ski town north of the capital.
He's making $8 an hour as a chef but has found the cost of living low enough to save money.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Vitus Stenhøj Schiøtz, 23, a Danish traveler who got a working holiday visa to live in Japan. He moved to Japan in late 2024 and works as a chef in a restaurant in Nozawaonsen, a small town northwest of Tokyo. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I'd always dreamed of seeing different places. Last summer, I came across a surf camp in Portugal and fell in love with traveling while you work.
Knowing the surf season would end, I started looking for somewhere else to go. I visited Japan and traveled for three weeks.
Kyoto was my favorite, and I felt very welcome there, but Tokyo felt a bit overwhelming. I tried to visit areas I thought would be less busy, but it's jam-packed everywhere. Areas like the crossing in Shibuya were too much for me. I got almost panicky.
It's not necessarily the locals' fault, but I felt out of place. People would say "Welcome," but not in the sense that they actually wanted to have anything to do with me.
As a foreigner solo traveling, I felt separated, and in a sense, I felt I was wrong for being there.
Still, I enjoyed Japan. I really love the culture, the people, and the way of life. In September, I started researching how a Danish guy like me could stay longer, and that's when I came across a working holiday visa.
I'd heard Japan has some of the best snow in the world, and I also wanted to work a ski season, so I researched smaller towns that get a lot of snow. Hokkaido was in the running, but then I heard about Nozawaonsen from TikTok.
I spoke to people who had been, and they said it was the most lovely town ever. I was sold.
I came back to Japan in November after getting a job as a chef at Tanuki, a restaurant in Nozawaonsen. It's owned by a big corporation that has multiple restaurants and lodges. There are some Japanese workers but it's mostly foreigners.
My girlfriend came with me and found a job as a housekeeper.
Nozawaonsen is about 3.5 hours from Tokyo. You travel north by train and then take a bus into the mountains.
Going out of this huge city, all of a sudden, you see mountains around you and these valleys with autumn colors and leaves.
It's a little traditional village with two supermarkets and a convenience store. It's a very close-knit community.
Ski culture is also different in places like Switzerland, France, or Austria, where you have those huge parties that start in the middle of the day.
Here, it's a little more controlled. You ski in the day, have lunch, and then go to the "onsen," or public bath, in the evening.
I'm still very much a tourist, but I feel very welcome. People are very nice and greet me and say "Ohayou gozaimasu" when I walk by.
There's a misconception that travel has to be expensive, and I don't think it has to be.
My girlfriend and I live in the corporation's accommodation for workers with about 25 other people. It's 1100 yen (about $7) a night.
The thing I was scared about coming to Japan was I wouldn't necessarily be able to experience some of the restaurant scenes and buy the things that I wanted.
But before traveling, I heard that the yen was weak. It wasn't the reason I came, but it made me think Japan might not be as bad for traveling while you're young and on a budget.
When you go out in Denmark, you expect to pay about 6,000 yen ($38) just for one person for a meal with drinks. Here, you might pay 1,500 yen or 2,000 yen (between $9.50 and $12).
I make around 1,300 yen ($8) an hour. But with the living standards down here and how the company provides lunches and dinners, it's enough to actually save up money while working.
I don't see as much of the country while I'm working, but I do get off days where I get to experience the different areas.
My girlfriend and I are saving most of our money as we're planning to travel around Asia in April.
Coming from a background of office work, I really recommend finding a way to travel and work so you can stay in a place for months, make connections with people, learn, and grow.
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