Relay Column: A Journey of Shedding Layers (Nagisa Nakaue)

A Journey of Shedding Layers

As a graduate student, I've been researching high school tourism education. I recently spent five days in Tsuwano Town, Shimane Prefecture. Through the domestic exchange program known as Shimane Study Abroad, I was there to research the community development efforts made by the adults surrounding the high school students who undergo this exchange program experience. The program began in Ama Town, Shimane Prefecture, but has now expanded nationwide as Shimane Study Abroad and Community Future Study Abroad (Regional Education Attraction Platform 2019). Thanks to the kindness of a Shimane Study Abroad graduate I happened to meet from Tsuwano High School in Shimane Prefecture, I was able to participate in a five-day tour program held in Tsuwano.

As I always do when I travel, I pack my backpack with easy-to-wash essential clothes, cosmetics, a computer, and a camera. While watching the scenery go by from the bullet train, I feel as if I'm leaving my everyday self behind. I leave all my worries and anxieties at home and focus on spending a different time in a different place. I surrender myself to a life where everything from where I sleep to what I eat is coordinated by others. To focus on this ease, a T-shirt and shorts are enough. After seven and a half hours of leaving home, I arrived at my destination, carrying a heavy backpack, and I had become my lightest self.