Stories from The DECK | Sophie (Part 1/3)

Every day, people from around the world bring their dreams, work, and curiosity to The DECK. Some stay for a few days, others for months, but all leave with stories that become part of their journey.

Entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, artists, researchers, students, and digital nomads each bring a unique perspective—and a story worth sharing.

Behind every laptop is a story worth telling.

In this series, we introduce the people behind the laptops: their journeys, their experiences in Japan, and the moments that shaped their lives along the way.

What Japan's Digital Nomad Visa Made Possible for Me

A conversation with Sophie, a software engineer from New Zealand

Interview by Tomo Morisawa, CEO of The DECK

When Sophie and I sat down before the interview, we didn't start by talking about visas or remote work.

Instead, our conversation began with Hunter × Hunter.

Coincidentally, the manga had resumed serialization that very week, and Sophie was excited to see it return. Growing up in France, Japanese anime and manga had been one of her first windows into Japan. Like many people around the world, her curiosity about Japan began with pop culture.

But over the years, that curiosity gradually evolved into something much deeper—an interest in the language, the culture, and what everyday life in Japan might actually feel like.

So when I eventually asked why she had chosen Japan, her answer wasn't about famous landmarks, anime, or food.

Instead, she smiled and said something that stayed with me throughout our conversation.

"I don't like going on holidays. I like living somewhere."

That simple sentence perfectly captured the way she had approached her six months in Japan.

For Sophie, a French software engineer now living in New Zealand, Japan wasn't simply a destination to visit. It was somewhere she wanted to experience as part of everyday life—working, shopping, commuting, studying Japanese, meeting local people, and building a routine.

Japan's Digital Nomad Visa made that possible.

During our conversation, we talked about why she chose Japan, what surprised her during her stay, and how living here differed from simply travelling through the country.

Choosing Japan as a Place to Live

Before coming to Japan, Sophie had already spent several years living outside her home country.

Originally from France and now based in New Zealand, she had become comfortable building a life in different places. Rather than collecting destinations, she prefers spending enough time in one place to understand how people actually live.

Japan had been on her mind for a long time.

Part of that interest came from Japanese popular culture when she was younger, but over time it grew into something much deeper. She became interested in the language, the culture, and everyday life that tourists rarely experience.

When Japan introduced its Digital Nomad Visa, it finally gave her a practical way to spend an extended period here while continuing her job remotely for a New Zealand company.

Rather than moving to Tokyo, she chose Osaka.

"I wanted somewhere that felt like a real city where people live, but not somewhere as overwhelming as Tokyo," she explained.

Osaka also offered another advantage.

It was close enough to explore other parts of Japan while still allowing her to establish a daily routine. Weekends became opportunities to visit places like Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, Kochi, and Nagasaki, while weekdays remained focused on work and ordinary life.

That balance was exactly what she had been looking for.