Beyond borders

The past may be another country and for many people the future may be a new one. To live in another country is to embrace challenge. A new culture, new language, new climate and food, all take adjusting to. All can be challenging, all can be enriching. The reasons why many people choose to live outside their home countries can be complex, and in the hands of Japanese director Ryo Takeuchi, fascinating.

He has visited hundreds of people who live outside their home borders and has filmed their daily lives and conducted candid, on-camera interviews. The result is The Reason I Live Here, a comprehensive insight into what makes a person move and what moves a person.

The 41-year-old director has been living in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, with his Chinese wife, Zhao Ping, and their children, for seven years.

In the documentary, Takeuchi and the other host Tsuyoshi Abe are seen meeting people of all ages, from various walks of life. All have one thing in common. They live in a foreign land.

So far, some 200 episodes have been released. In each episode, a protagonist relives their daily routine and shares their thoughts with the hosts. They have their own answer to the same question raised at the end of each episode: "What's the reason that you live here?"

As a Japanese citizen who decided to settle down in Nanjing years ago, Takeuchi gave his own answer. "Initially, it was the eagerness to film a documentary," he says. "As time passed by, it extended to my family, my colleagues, and our keen followers that I've been living with on this land."