When I was in elementary school, I decided, someday I would move to Australia.
I wanted to explore the world. I wanted to go to many different places. Why Australia grabbed me the most among all? I don't really know. A sense of adventure, maybe? I went through books at the libraries and bookstores trying to learn whatever I could find about other countries. There was not much available about Australia back when I was growing up in a small town in southern Japan. Australia seemed so distant, kind of unknown, and definitely different from the life I knew.
Another thing is that I suffered severe frostbite every winter. I remember thinking if I lived half a year in Japan and another half in Australia, I could avoid winter.
Then I read Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence. A tropical island in the southern Pacific somehow mixed with Australia’s exotic animals and plants, beautiful beaches, and expanse of red dirt. Funny how a child’s mind worked. The excitement I felt from the book sealed my desire to go to Australia. (The story is actually a tragedy. I did not get that until I re-read it many years later.)
Michelle, the girl in Brisbane, often sent me cutouts from magazines and talked about pop singers she loved. She made and sent me a few cassette tapes filled with her favorite pop songs. (One of them was ABBA's Dancing Queen. I didn't know they were Swedish until several years later.)
I moved to a bigger city to attend a girl's high school, and lived in an on-campus dorm supervised by
Catholic nuns. I was expected to move on to it’s Jr. college, work a few years and marry.
Halfway through HS, I suddenly decided I wanted to go to a four-year university. I respected my parents. I also knew my decision would not fly with them. Apart from that, my HS was not equipped to help students prepare for rigorous college entrance exams.
I started to study for the national exam like mad relying on guidebooks and radio programs. I was able to convince my teachers to let me switch my class/curriculum middle of the school year. My new homeroom teacher helped me persuade my parents to let me sit for the exam. They finally agreed with conditions. I could only apply for a national university; have to stay in Kagoshima; no 2nd or 3rd options allowed (if I fail to get in, I had to get a job - Jr. college option was gone.) Basically, I had to pass the exam to get into Kagoshima University. There were no other options. I got in. I was the only one from my HS.
