My First Diwali in Japan, Alone: A Gurudwara, Karaoke and Four Bowls of Kheer

Do you know how it feels when you're a student living alone in another country, and a big festival comes around?

This morning was Dhanteras. The house was being cleaned, everyone was planning to buy crackers, and it took me straight back to the year Diwali came and I was alone in Japan.

Welcome to Japan Unfiltered, episode 6. This is the story of my first Diwali in Japan.

The part of Japan nobody shows you 🪔

When you think of Japan, you picture a fun life where everything sorts itself out. Fine, I'll give you that. But when a festival like Diwali comes, you'll miss things you never thought about: cleaning the house, the puja, buying crackers with friends, putting up lights, buying a new kurta. And you'll feel very, very alone.

That was my first year in Japan. I was at a language school in Osaka, away from my parents, friends and family for the first time. I opened Instagram and every single reel was crackers and lights. My friend Rishabh and I looked at each other: shouldn't we do something?

Around then we found out that in Kobe, a train ride from Osaka, there is a whole Indian community that celebrates Diwali, with a temple where they hold a proper puja. I video-called my mummy and asked if I should go. She said, "Of course, go. Enjoy it." So on Diwali we took the train to Kobe. I had exactly one kurta with me, a red one, and I wore it.

Indian masalas in a Japanese shop 🛒

The first surprise came before anything else. We went into Don Quijote ("Donki"), a big Japanese chain that sells everything from groceries to electronics. Down in the basement, there were Indian masalas. MDH. Garam masala, pav bhaji masala, chutneys. Ready-made packets of kadhi pakoda, paneer butter masala, bhindi masala, dal makhani, palak paneer, navratan korma, chana masala.

That's when we understood the Indian community in Kobe isn't small. Many Indian families and business people have lived there for years, and a whole little world has grown around them.

A gurudwara on a hill 🙏

The one place we knew about was the gurudwara, 10 to 15 minutes' walk from the station, up a steep, slanting road (Kobe sits against the mountains). We told them we had come because it was Diwali, and they said, "Come in, come in."

My mummy comes from a Sindhi family, and Waheguru ji means a lot in our house. My nani used to sit in the gurudwara and read paath, and every Sunday my mummy still goes. Before I left for Japan, I bowed my head at Bangla Sahib in Delhi, and again before my written exam. I've always felt Waheguru ji is with me.

So when I bowed my head in Kobe, it felt a little like home. I video-called my mummy and told her. For the first time that week, I didn't feel alone.

The people there told us there would be a puja and a Diwali party that evening, and to come back at 7.

Karaoke in a kurta 🎤

We had the whole afternoon, so Rishabh and I explored Kobe. Then we found a karaoke place and spent hours singing and dancing to Indian songs.

Think about it: in Japan, wearing a kurta, singing Indian songs in a Japanese karaoke room, eating Indian food. Next level.

Hearing Hindi again 🕉️

At 7 we went back to the gurudwara and walked with them to the Indian community's building. It has a properly registered temple upstairs, with beautiful idols of Krishna ji, Ram ji and Lakshmi ji, and a banquet hall where they hold Holi parties, Diwali parties, even weddings.

We got there early and sat down in the temple. Someone handed me something to play during the aarti, and I thought: okay, today I'm doing this properly. Over the next 40 or 50 minutes the room filled up: couples in sarees and suits, people in kurtas, everyone in traditional clothes. It felt like I was in India.

For 50 minutes we sang bhajans in Hindi. To you this sounds normal. Of course bhajans are in Hindi. But I had been in Japan for six or seven months. I spoke English with friends and Japanese in class and outside. Hearing Hindi felt like a relief, like meeting my old self again.

When you miss home in Japan, it won't be the food that gets you. It'll be the little things: a song, someone's clothes, a smell, a few words in your language.

Four bowls of kheer 🍮

The reason we hadn't eaten all day: we'd been told there would be rasgulla, puri sabzi and kheer. I was crazy about kheer back then. I won't lie: I finished four bowls.

The whole hall was Indian. And here is what I didn't expect. In Japan you'd think people come alone, or as a couple. But in Kobe everyone came with their family: wife, mother, younger sister, brother, the whole khandaan. These were Indian families who had lived in Japan for 10 or 20 years and were completely at home there.

That touched my heart. People say, "You all want to run away to Japan, you have a problem with your own country." Honestly, people who truly love their country stay connected to their culture and roots wherever they are. Look at the Ganesh Utsav processions in New York. These families lived far from India and still celebrated Diwali their own way.

We left around 10 or 11 at night, caught one of the last trains back to Osaka, and slept very well. I was very grateful.

My message for your first Diwali away from home 💌

One day you'll go to Japan and start your student life. When a festival comes, I want you to read this again.

• You don't need to feel alone. Grab whoever is next to you, Indian, Mongolian, Indonesian, anyone. Wish them Happy Diwali and take them with you. Life is meant to be celebrated.
• Find the community. If you can, go to the gurudwara or the temple. There are Indian communities in Kobe, Osaka and Tokyo that celebrate Diwali, and common events like Holi now happen in Osaka too, not only Tokyo.
• Homesickness is normal. Being lonely and missing home is one of the hardest parts of being a student abroad. It doesn't mean you made the wrong choice. You can face it.
• Keep your roots strong. I never imagined I'd miss a festival, a puja, a kurta, the lights and the sweets this much. You will too, and you should. Don't go to Japan and forget your country or your culture.

Happy Diwali to you and your family. Whatever difficulty comes your way, don't lose heart. Keep chasing your dreams. Japan is not as far as you think.

Start your Japanese this Diwali 🎆

If you're serious about Japan, the language is where it starts, and the people around you decide whether you keep going. At our demo class on 6 November, more than 200 people learned Japanese with Sahil Sensei, and then asked me their questions. Almost none were about Japanese: "I want to do medicine, what should I do?", "I'm in class 12, can I do this after?" Those are career questions, and that's why Kihon has a live career counselling session with me every month.

In Kihon you get two live classes a week, all your books, a fixed routine, a WhatsApp group of people learning with you, and those monthly sessions where we check where you've reached. Some of our N4 students are now applying to language schools in Japan, some to master's programs, some to English-taught degrees, and some are preparing for scholarships in FS – Future's Scholar.

• Free demo classes: 11 November (5 to 7 PM), 17 November (7 to 9 PM) and 21 November (7 to 9 PM). Book a demo class.
• New Kihon batches start on 25 November. If you're aiming for the July JLPT, start now. Board exams in the way? You can join after them in January.
• See Kihon and its fees or fill the interest form.

Read next: 5 things normal in Japan that surprise Indians and student housing in Japan.