I arrived alone in Melbourne port on the MV New Holland in the middle of September 1972.

I was 22 years old and had just graduated with a teaching degree in geography but before taking up a position in Japan, I wanted to travel and see a few other countries. My father, Prof. Yasuo Nakano, had a friend in Melbourne University by the name of L.R. Oates. I needed to have a guardian to obtain the entry visa and Mr. Oates was my primary contact. In fact, I did not know a single other person in Australia. The voyage on the MV New Holland – a half cargo, half passenger ship from Tokyo, Japan – took nearly one month, calling into the various ports of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brisbane, Sydney, Geelong and Melbourne. My English was limited, but the voyage was like an English school to me. A Chinese nurse on board was looking after children on board and she was very kind to me. During the one-month voyage, I quite improved my conversational English.

My first impression of Australia was the blue skies and the bright roofs of houses. Old-fashion Japanese houses had only black roof tiles but in Australia, the houses had red, green and colourful roofs. In Japanese text books, I learned that Australia had a White Australian Policy and Asian people were not welcomed. Despite this, I never encountered any discrimination. Mr. Oates’ wife was a war bride (a term used for wartime marriages between soldiers and foreigners) from Japan and she found me a job at Shoppers Paradise at the Southern Cross Hotel. A few days after my arrival, I was selling black opals and koala bear jewellery to Japanese business people. In 1972, there were not many Japanese tourists visiting Australia.

The Australian dollar was equal to 480 yen at the time and I was planning to return to Japan when I used up all my money.

I never thought I’d settle in forever at the time. I found my next job at the Noritake China wear showroom taking telephone orders with a code number. It was challenging but I think it helped improve my English. Later, when I was applying for jobs at the Education Department and Foreign Ministry, I found one of the requirements was to be an Australian citizen. So, after two years living in Australia, I was naturalized on 13th December 1974. Over the years since then, I got involved in various Japanese community activities. When people invited me to join them, I always joined. I did not have immediate family here and wanted to be a part of society and community. When I turned 50 in 1999, I thought that now, it is my turn to help the Australian society and community. I am now assisting newly arrived Japanese people to settle in this country.

Japan has changed very much from 1972. Current Japanese life is too fast, too busy and too competitive. I miss old fashioned and traditional Japan which was more caring and considerate. This is one of the reasons I am now involved in recreating ‘old Japan’ in Melbourne through Japanese bilingual elderly care services. We provide and build elderly care facilities and offer Japanese food, music, dance, onsen (hot springs) and gardens for the group. It is a good way for them and me too, to remember the beautiful ‘old Japan’ of my past.