"I have traveled to 24 countries of the world so far."　

These are the words of Mr. Craig Langdon, an instructor at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba.  "Because I came from a very small town, I've always wanted to meet many different people and see many different things."

Mr. Langdon grew up in a town called Kawhia in New Zealand.  The town, which he explains "there are about 400 people and the nearest town is probably one hour away," is known as the spiritual and ancestral home of the Maori tribe, Tainui.  He describes his hometown as a place where "everybody knows everybody," and says that people living there are closely connected with each other in the community.

He was 16 years old when he started traveling to seek something different from what he had experienced in his hometown.  Since then, he has met a lot of people in the world through traveling, and has always tried to remember that being open-minded is the way to understand the unknown world.

When Mr. Langdon first visited Japan in 1985 for sightseeing, nobody expected that he would come back again to teach English in the future.  He had spent about four years in London following graduation, and then three years in Korea before coming to Japan.  "Although I had first worked as a transport manager at a transport company in London, I started to teach there, and decided to change my occupation from business to education," Mr. Langdon says.

Later, he got an opportunity to teach English in Korea and left London.  "Since the soccer World Cup was being held in Japan and Korea at the time," explains Mr. Langdon, who loves playing and watching soccer, "that good mood [from soccer] helped me to make the decision."

In 2007, he finally came back to Japan with his job as an English teacher.  After living in a small town in Saitama for a while, he moved to Makuhari, which is near his current workplace.  As for his view of Japan, "Everything is of course quite different from the 1980s," he comments, "but Japan has established a mix of high-tech and old culture: For example, very extensive cell-phone use is mixed with very old temples in Kyoto."

Speaking of his impression of Japanese people, "They are usually very kind, and forgiving of my terrible Japanese," he smiles.  "I think a lot of Japanese people travel, so they are quite open to different cultures and new ideas."  He sometimes feels they are too shy to express their feelings or too polite to ask the questions directly compared to people in New Zealand, but Mr. Langdon explains that politeness is a common characteristic of people in both countries. 

He is now teaching three different English classes at Kanda University, which has over 50 foreign instructors on campus.  Due to that environment, he says he has spent 70 percent of his time with foreign staff, and 30 percent with Japanese staff, mainly speaking in English at his workplace.

"It's not a very stressful job I think, and also living in Makuhari is very comfortable," says Mr. Langdon, who is a very calm and peaceful person.  "So I'm not usually very stressed, but if I feel stress, running is how I release it.  I just run, thinking about nothing.  Running on the riverside reminds me of my hometown."

As for the future, "Hopefully, I will stay another two years here, and we'll see after that," he says.  "I'd like to get a PhD and continue to teach in a university in Japan."  Although he hopes to live in New Zealand, he explains that there are many more career opportunities in Japan.

"It's important to have an open mind when you come to Japan," Mr. Langdon, who has also tried to live by that advice, says at the end.  "Since everything is completely different, it's important to keep an open mind so you can live with what you could never understand."

Mr. Langdon is still learning about the Japanese culture.  One day morning, he got onto a women-only-cart in a subway without knowing about the system.  "It was a mistake," he smiles.  "Many women were there at the time, but nobody said anything!" 

Even though he struggles each day, he is sure he will continue to journey throughout life.