Hello, this is Frank.

In Japanese, the word “ikigai” refers to one’s “life and passion” or even their raison d’être—a deeper sense of purpose or reason for being. It invites the question: “Why do I exist? Who do I live for?”

For spouses living in Japan while their trading-company husbands go on frequent business trips or overseas assignments, there’s usually a support system: parents, siblings, and relatives are nearby, offering emotional relief and chances for social engagement.

But when couples relocate together abroad, the dynamic changes dramatically.

The husband often has a job to focus on—meetings, business dinners, and social obligations that help distract and ground him. But for the wife, especially if there’s no Japanese community or neighborhood network, isolation can set in quickly.

Even without fluency in the local language, a basic command of English can open doors. But for women who are naturally introverted or anxious about communication, daily life may shrink to simply waiting for their husbands to return home. That’s no recipe for a fulfilling life.

Some women may have the inner strength to withstand solitude, but too much inward retreat can lead to depression. In fact, a friend of mine—married to a trading company employee posted abroad—fell into a deep emotional slump and tragically experienced a miscarriage.

Women who marry men in globally mobile careers must be mentally prepared for this lifestyle. A certain degree of extroversion and emotional flexibility is often needed to thrive overseas.

If we think of “ikigai” as a sense of purpose, it shouldn’t revolve solely around your husband or family. You must proactively create a version of yourself that’s valued by others—not just loved ones. Whether it’s baking, cooking, or a craft, find what you’re good at and share it.

Teaching local women Japanese recipes, for instance, can be a great way to express your identity and connect meaningfully. In doing so, you start forming a version of yourself that’s needed—desired—even abroad. That’s where true “ikigai” begins.

Things handed to us from outside can vanish in an instant. But what we cultivate from within is far more enduring. Don’t live reactively. Live proactively. Create yourself—and from that, your sense of purpose will emerge. Keep this close to heart.

Interested in more of my published works? Click here to explore.

For those curious about my online consulting or English/Spanish lessons, feel free to explore the links below.

If you’re a beginner or just getting started, I highly recommend my daughter O-Hana Fantasia’s chat-based lessons. Check them out via the links below.

■ Online Lesson Guide
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
● Advanced Professional Course with Frank: >Click here
● Chat-Based Lessons with O-Hana Fantasia: >Click here
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Thank you for reading today.

Back to Genre：>Here

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
Need a break? Why not check out my daughter’s YouTube channel,
O-Hana Fantasia. We’d be so happy if you subscribed!

￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
Currently, I’m participating in the popular blog rankings.
Today’s ranking for [AMISTAD] is?