Rural Reflections with Marshall Hughes

In this episode of Deep in Japan, I sit down with Marshal Hughes, author of Rural Reflections: What 11 Years in Provincial Japan Taught Me. His book offers a vivid and heartfelt portrait of rural Japanese life, capturing the charm, the challenges, and the cultural surprises of teaching and living in communities far from the neon glow of Tokyo. Our conversation goes beyond the pages of his book, as Marshal shares insights from his 35 years in Japan, reflecting on his early days as an adventurous international English teacher, the cultural differences that were sometimes charming, puzzling, or deeply challenging, the joys and struggles of rural community life in places most tourists never see, the ways his time in Japan shaped his identity, relationships, and sense of belonging, and what writing Rural Reflections taught him about memory, change, and the power of storytelling. More than just a book talk, this episode is a meditation on cultural exchange, human connection, and what it means to make a life in a place that is both foreign and, over time, deeply familiar.

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