When the Cherry Blossoms Fall: My Life as an English Teacher in Japan

During two adventurous and challenging years, Kim Hotzon found herself faced with the joy of discovering a new country and a new culture in the Far East. However, at the same time, she struggled to cope with ongoing illness, a language barrier and the pressures of living as a female foreigner in Asia. While on a short holiday in Thailand she and her fiance encountered the reality of the Gulf War and its far reaching effects. Despite these obstacles, Kim challenged herself to become a better teacher and to adapt to her new home. Living as a gaijin in Japan changed Kim's life forever and she shares her incredible experiences of this incomparable country in her riveting memoir. This memoir is no longer in active publication. When Kim Hotzon and her fianc Bill decided, on the spur of the moment, to take leave of their jobs in Canada to seek work in the far-flung country of Japan, the twenty-two-year-old only imagined swaying cherry blossoms framing elegant bridges. However, when she and Bill landed in bustling Tokyo, the two soon found themselves deeply immersed in a strange new world that was often as confounding as it was exhilarating.