Hi, my name is Steve. I was born and grew up in London, England. At the age of 39 I quit my job, sold my home and decided to travel. I've never regretted it. In the last seven years I've been very fortunate to have visited many interesting countries and been able to experience their different cultures. Among those I've been to are Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil in South America. I've also travelled all the way from Panama to Mexico in Central America and spent some time in Cuba which is a fascinating country. Strangely, I've never been to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland the countries that, along with England, make up the United Kingdom (UK)!

I first came to Japan in 2003 and stayed for three months. If I'm honest, my first impressions of Japan were not good. The culture is so different to my own and those of other countries I had been to. I felt completely lost. Since then, however, I've come back to Japan a further three times and developed a great fondness for this country and the Japanese people and their culture. The Japanese people always appear so friendly and welcoming. I'm now married to a Japanese woman and we're living in Machiya.

My Japanese is still very poor (thankfully my wife speaks English) and I know how difficult it is to learn another language. But, whether you're a beginner or your skills are more advanced the key to improving your English is confidence and the way to gain confidence is by talking with a native speaker. I hope to talk with you soon.