Our team at Inside Japan Tours

After five and a half years exploring Japan, this Brisbane native has finally found his way home.

Having worked as a tour guide, Tommy knows Japan well beyond the Golden Route. While many first-time visitors rarely make it as far south as the Okinawa archipelago, these subtropical islands became home, spending days working in a resort bar, and idyllic evenings watching the sun set over the sea and listening to live sanshin (three-stringed guitar) performances.

When Tommy yearned for the buzz of city life, Osaka was his go-to metropolis. While he insists the street food scene is "beyond compare" (it's often thought of as Japan's foodie capital), his favourite dish is the Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (savoury pancake). As a fierce competitor of the Osaka equivalent, this is a controversial statement indeed.

A keen skier and snowboarder, the sun-soaked Okinawa archipelago did occasionally come up short. To make the most of Japan's famous powdery conditions, he also worked in Hakuba, a world-class area for winter sports.

Sun, sea, sand, snow? Japan couldn't possibly come up short. Could it? While there are far more pros than cons of living in Japan, Tommy missed baked beans and cheese "like a physical pain". Okonomiyaki eat your heart out.