Last month, my wife and I travelled to Ireland to spend some time with my parents and explore the island I grew up on. Despite being known the world over as the Emerald Isle, it’s easy to forget just how green it is when you have been living away for such a long time. Indeed, County Wicklow – where we spent a few days – is nicknamed the ‘Garden of Ireland’ because of how lush it is. The mountain passes we travelled through really were stunning.

It always takes me a while to reacclimatise to life ‘back home’. My hometown of Bangor in Northern Ireland (population: 65,000) is certainly very different to Tokyo, but there are things it offers that I certainly can’t get here. Walking round the familiar coastline and seeing the sea is always a highlight – and the island in general always throws up little moments that feel distinctly ‘Irish’. One of my fondest memories is stumbling across an old abandoned church that had been left alone to the elements. It wasn’t a tourist attraction: it simply sat in a field, overgrown with vines, as long blades of grass rustled in the wind. Those spontaneous moments are always the ones I remember most.