The day has come

Hello everyone,

Wow. Back to blogging after years of being away from this space. It feels so antiquated to write a blog instead of filming reels on Instagram, but here I am, doing what I did 12 years ago when I first went out into the world. Don’t scold me for the cringey alliteration in the title :D I just thought sushi, science, and shotokan (my karate style) describe quite well what I will be spending my time on during the next year.

After years and years of making plans, applying for scholarships, attending language courses, sorting visas, and never letting this aim out of my sight, I am off to JAPAN. 😍 Anyone who has ever spent more than ten minutes with me knows that I have been wanting to go for years, and that the pandemic ruined all the plans I had thus far. But now I am clear to go: no pandemics around the corner (fingers crossed), a finished PhD, and a fellowship in hand. I will be joining the Centre for Brain Science at the RIKEN Institute in Saitama (Tokyo) as a visiting scientist for one year.

This is a space for me to share with you what I am up to, but also for myself to create a record that I can look back on in a few years and remember these exciting times.

With the amazing help of Emiko, part of the technical staff in my RIKEN lab, I have successfully applied for a Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) and a visa for Japan, both of which I will have to show upon entering the country. There, I will receive a resident card, which is probably equivalent to my German ID card. I already have a flat in the I-House (International House) at RIKEN and will be working on a pretty cool, bioinformatics-heavy project in the Laboratory of Molecular Pathology of Psychiatric Disorders under Atsushi Takata. More about that later, though (I’ll probably make a separate post about it at some point).

After a crazy move from the UK back to Germany, I had to cancel all my insurances in Germany, get my visa, and pack. I also had to officially deregister and — something I did not expect — they actually changed my address on my passport and German ID to Japan! How crazy. It was quite fun to watch the nice lady trying to enter a Japanese address into a German computer system at the resident registration office. I’m sure that counted as an exciting day at the office for her.

Today, 12th March 2026, marks the day that I am setting off to Japan. I have two suitcases, one big and one small, and a couple of bags — all just within the limit set by Japan Airlines (JAL). I am now comfortably sitting in the first-class carriage of a DB Intercity Express, writing this blog post. It takes me about 4.5 hours to get to Frankfurt International Airport. I will then be flying out from there at around 8 pm with JAL. The flight is 15 hours. On Friday, 13th March, at 5 pm local time, I will be landing at Narita Airport in Tokyo. I have not quite figured out how to get to Wako (where I will live) from there, but I am sure it will all work out ok.

I will spend the weekend getting my bearings around Wako and maybe having a look in my lovely Lonely Planet — a birthday present from my wonderful grandparents. <3 

My new job starts on Monday morning. I am so nervous and excited, but it will be ok.

Maybe I’ll have some time next weekend to update you on what’s been going on.

Until then,

Johanna