こちらの『えいごで読む物語』シリーズでは、メイトの日常や思い出をえいごでご紹介しています。

さて、今回のコラムはニュージランド出身のKyleが執筆した英文をそのままお届けします。

「来日のきっかけは？どうして日本で生活してみようと思ったの？」
このような質問をされたとき、Kyleは時々答えるのが難しいと感じるそうです。

それは彼の来日のきっかけが、よくある「日本文化が好き。日本語を勉強していたから。」ではなく、ちょっと変わったきっかけだからだそうで･･･！
気になる内容はコラムでチェックしてみてくださいね:)

またここでは「インテンシブ・リーディング（精読）」を意識して読んでみるのがオススメです。
ちなみに、インテンシブ・リーディングは構造理解や推測力UPに役立つリーディング練習法で、わからない単語を調べたりじっくり理解しながら読み進めてみましょう！

初心者の方でも、チャレンジしやすいようにコラム内の押さえたい英単語や表現については随時まとめています。またリーディングスキルを養う上で役立つ学習動画もご紹介していますので最後までお読みください。

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It’s inevitable that as a foreigner living in Japan, people are always naturally curious as to why you decided to live here.

While a seemingly easy enough question to answer, it has often left me wondering how I can best explain my story to others. If anything, it’s only gotten a little harder over the last year or so the more that I think about it.

One of the reasons why it is sometimes difficult to answer is that it’s a bit hard to explain all the various reasons why I decided to come, and probably quite different to the usual responses.

I’m not interested in popular things like Anime, Manga or the like. I also didn’t study Japanese at university, even though I did study the language for a short time in High School in Australia (sorry Ms Notting!) I didn’t relocate here for a job either.

So, why did I come to Japan? The reason may not be quite what you would expect..

For as long as I can remember, I have been into all things to do with cars in a big way and in particular, Japanese cars. Another reason is that for most of my working career I previously worked at a popular tourist resort in Australia, visited and staffed by many Japanese natives over the years, which was a great experience that opened my eyes to this wonderful country and I made some wonderful friends along the way.

So, about 6 years ago in late 2015 I came on a holiday to Japan with a group of about 15 friends, with the sole purpose to eat a ridiculous amount of Ramen (Tantanmen is a particular favourite) and participate in anything car related that we could. Driving at the home of drifting at Ebisu Circuit in Nihonmatsu, visiting the iconic Fuji Speedway, attending the Tokyo Motor Show at the Big Sight exhibition centre in Odaiba and many a car tuning workshop – we lapped it all up for just over 2 weeks.

This left me wanting more, to see and do more, try new things, learn the language better and really dive further into the culture and history. For many years I spent time daydreaming about the possibility of moving here, but the thought of quitting my secure day job and moving abroad, especially to a non English speaking country honestly terrified me. There was also the small issue as a New Zealand citizen living in Australia and not having permanent residency status, which I needed during the application process for the working holiday visa.

After a few holidays back to Japan I finally decided that I would take the big leap and do it ,but it wasn’t going to be easy. In late 2019 I quit my job and relocated back to New Zealand for about 4 months to make it possible, though when I finally got the visa I was struck with another big decision to make. Was it a good idea to move abroad during a pandemic with so much uncertainty in the world. Would I be okay? Would they turn me away at the airport on arrival, given that a lot of flights were being cancelled and borders closed?

I was intent on making the best of the situation and decided that I should at least try while I still could after everything I had been through to make it happen. Looking back, I can honestly say that I have no regrets about the decision to get on the plane that day (they cancelled all flights from Australia 2 days after I arrived) and made the move to the landing of the rising sun.

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いかがでしたか？
Kyleの新たな一面を知れた！という方もいるかもしれませんね♪

英文リーディングに関しては、インテンシブ・リーディングは慣れ親しんでいる方も多いと思いますが、このシリーズでは他にエクステンシブ・リーディング（多読）の練習にも使える英文コラムを紹介しています。
実は、リーディングは読む力だけじゃなく、英語の構造や組み立てなど英会話の基礎力を底上げできます。
スキマ時間に手軽にメイトの英文コラムを読んでみてくださいね！

LanCulのアプリでは、リーディングやライティングの学習動画も取り扱っていますので、気になる方は下のプレビュー動画をチェックしてみてくださいね。（全て動画冒頭はアプリから無料で視聴できます。）
*マンスリーメンバーはアプリからフル動画を視聴できます。

ボキャブラリーを増やす方法＜プレビュー＞

LanCul英会話とは…？

LanCul英会話は、英語上達のインプット・実践知が学べる「オンライン動画学習」をお届けしています。
「オンライン動画学習」は、1本3分から、スキマ時間に実践知が学べて、かかる費用は月々参考書1冊分程度。
アプリでは動画学習のほかカフェとオンラインで気軽に英語のアウトプットができる日本No.1「英会話カフェ」にも参加できます。
今ならすべての学習動画が見放題の無料体験を実施中！