By Akemi Katayose

English Major, 1995 Graduate

Except for a period of about one year, I have already been living in France for three years. It was wine which set me off. When I was 25 years old, I quit the company I had worked at since graduating from university, despite the opposition of my parents, because I did not want to be an office worker any more, and I got a job as a waitress at a French restaurant. Every day at my new job was filled with a stream of new discoveries, and I was gradually drawn into the depths of the drink called wine. I concentrated my efforts on my job and I qualified as a wine adviser, but I found myself losing my enjoyment of wine and started to see it only as a tool of my trade. At the same time, I really wanted to go to France to see with my own eyes how wine is made. So after much deliberation, and giving up the idea once as impossible, I decided to go to France just before my thirtieth birthday. I thought that if I did not go to France, I would regret it forever.

In the winter of 2003 I set foot on French soil for the first time. At first I stayed in Paris, and then moved to Dijon, the central city of the Bourgogne district. While I was attending a language school, I was given an opportunity to work at a vineyard harvesting grapes which I had always wanted to do, and to work at a restaurant which had one Michelin star. In 2004 I met the person who became my husband, and we got married two years later. I left my job when my contract finished, but I am now busy raising our child.

For the past year I have lived in a small village in the Champagne district, about 150km east-northeast of Paris, with my husband and my son who became one year old in March. The village has a population of less than 1,000 people and really has nothing but a vineyard. We came to live here because the couple who own the champagne company my husband works for worried about us living in France without any relatives, and recommended that we move into their neighborhood. Now my son can play with their grandchild, and the owner's wife advises me about child rearing.

I met my husband through wine. He is also someone who was charmed by wine and so came to France. In France he went to school to learn how to make wine and then worked for several wine makers and gained some experience. The work in his present company ranges from work in the fields, such as pruning, to making many kinds of champagne. Because many Japanese tourists come to the Champagne region, he sometimes serves as an interpreter, too. The owner trusts my husband, and leaves all kinds of work to him.

When it comes to myself, my life revolves around my son now. Although giving birth and raising child in a foreign country are very hard, I can learn a lot thanks to my son. For example, I take him to the hospital with a dictionary in my hand or look for a day nursery and so on, which is very interesting. I think that France is a country where it is very easy to bring up children. My baby was delivered at the hospital free of charge, and we can also get about five times as much child allowance here as in Japan every month. In addition, French adults are actively concerned with child care, and I feel that the attitudes towards children are very positive. Although I don't know how our son will be influenced by the fact he was born and brought up in France, I want him to grow up with a kind heart in this country where there is little racial discrimination.

When I take a walk with my son in a vineyard, I feel very strange being here in France where I have ventured to study wine. We haven't decided how long we will stay in France because there is always the problem of the visa. However, I like this simple, leisurely life. Of course, I sometimes miss Japan, but whenever I enjoy tasty champagne (so expensive in Japan!) or delicious bread and cheese, I feel I cannot return to Japan just yet!

My husband, born in Osaka, seems to like our rural life here very much, and he wants to stay in France as long as possible and continue to study. As for me, if I could be together with my family, I wouldn't mind living either in Japan or in France. I just want to make the most of this valuable time. Someday, when my son has grown up, I want to work again, so I want to study more French. We have a lot of things to learn even when we have grown old.

Now I spend the days imagining my son growing up watching his father; he too may work in a vineyard someday.