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Joy Blog

When facing the enemy pays off

The following story is in my book “The Joy Compass”. I would love to give it to you as a present - just because you are amazing and could need a great read for summer? You can even listen to my BEST English on the audio book : ). If you...

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The "real Heidi" experience...

It was in the underpass of Chur main station, the mountain district of Switzerland, where I approached two young Japanese ladies who were looking at their map.

“Doko e ikimasu ka?” Where are you going?

Ken always laughs at me for wanting to...

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Why my husband lets me down on invitationsā€¦

“I’m not a gorilla that you can show around!” Wooow, Mister Sakata, ookeeey.

I learned a lot about how to choose to go or not attend a party from my darling husband but let me start a little earlier than the gorilla-comment:

When we...

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How changing my name empowered me from my bullied past

If you think my life has always been full of joy, here is my story. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t.

Twice a week we had to wait for Mr. Hotz in front of the glass door of the gym. Anja and the popular girls talked about me every time as if I would not...

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I WANT TIME for MYSELF!

In the spring of 2015, Ken, Mika and I were in Japan for 5 weeks. It was such a cool time, we traveled to all the corners where our friends and the Sakata clan lived and celebrated life.

Family time. 24 hours a day. For some a dream, for me it was...

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I quit! After 10 years I had enough

I started playing Ultimate secretly to impress a long time player I wanted to win over. I hoped that he would be so thrilled to see me playing his favorite sport, that he would finally fall in love with me forever. Well… that didn’t work...

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My circus time in 1997 was the BEST!

“Just lay everything on the ground which could fall off the shelves during the move!” I could lock the door of my tiny room which was as long and wide as my bed. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to pack a bag. A few hours later...

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My love for Love Hotels: Maria Theresia is my No.1 : )

WHAT is a love hotel!? It may sound like a dodgy establishment, but primarily it’s a hotel offering for LOVERS. And I will tell you all about Maria Theresia in Takatsuki in a second.

In Japan, most sons and daughters live with mom and dad until...

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Embrace your feelings to prevent them from overwhelming you

Do you feel like you often have to pull yourself together and that it would be shameful to show your true feelings in front of other people or even yourself?

Chances are that you’ve been brought up like this. That it’s something...

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When the Japan Airline crew came over for dinner

I have one million fresh Japan Stories in my mind but THIS OLD ONE is the one I want to tell you. It was in spring 2004 when I was working at a pharma-company outside of Lucerne. The first job I found quickly after graduating as a food engineer and...

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Meeting Asai-san after 22 years for lunch

I’m still enjoying Japan to the fullest! 4 days to go until we’re home again. Switzerland seems soooo incredibly far away. Like “is it even real that we lived there?”. I’m not joking. It’s the same feeling I had...

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Carrying a chair up to the mountain lake - WTF?

Imagine the steepest road you know and make it even steeper. That’s about the hiking route up to lake Oeschinen in Switzerland. A very beautiful mountain lake…the one of the kind where you think this water could get bottled up as the blue...

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