After living in Southeast Asia for ten years, I returned to Japan and was struck by how little had changed. Unlike the folktale of Urashima Tarō, where the hero comes back to a world transformed, my “reverse Urashima” experience was finding a society that felt almost the same. From 100-yen coffee at convenience stores to the rigid business manners expected abroad, I reflect on the comfort and frustration of Japan’s stability. This episode explores what it means to return home, the tension between change and continuity, and how cultural expectations shape our lives inside and outside Japan.