🇰🇷🇯🇵☕️A New Chapter Begins: From Korea to Tokyo, with Coffee and Curiosity

I have some news to share today.

In a broader sense, it’s a turning point in my life. In a lighter sense, it’s just another round of packing.

I’ll soon be wrapping up my life in Korea and relocating to Tokyo, Japan. These days, I’m spending my time between boxes and items to be donated or thrown away.

But honestly, this kind of transition isn’t unfamiliar to me.

In my twenties, I packed everything to move to Beijing, China. Then from Japan to the UK, the UK to Korea, Korea to Nepal—and back to Korea again. Pack, move, start again. I guess you could say I’ve become a veteran in the art of leaving.

But this move feels a little different.

I asked my favorite AI assistant, ChatGPT—nicknamed “CoffeeGenie”—to help me visualize the journey:
“Imagine my journey from Ethiopia, one of the most enchanting coffee origins, to Japan, one of the most fascinating coffee-consuming nations.”

It generated a beautiful image: a winding path from the coffee fields of Ethiopia to the glowing lights of Tokyo. Does it feel poetic to you? Maybe a bit cinematic?

Starting April 1st, I’ll begin a new research project called “Asian Coffee Road”at the African Studies Center (ASC) at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS). This project will explore new coffee narratives—through an Asian lens, in my own style.

Meanwhile, my YouTube quietly passed 100 subscribers and is steadily marching toward 1,000. Each subscriber feels like a companion walking this journey with me. I’m grateful.

No worries about business—I’m still running Beletu Korea Inc. as usual. This move to Japan isn’t a pause; it’s an expansion. My coffee playground is simply growing larger.

In the months ahead, I’ll be sharing stories of coffee research, my midlife DIY lifestyle in Tokyo, and experiments on YouTube—one by one, from the ground up.

This isn’t a leap—it’s just my rhythm.

Thank you for being part of it.