She’s one of the best Dutch women players. She is a tennis player, but she quit playing last year, I think. Which three Dutch people (dead or alive) would you most like to meet? Things like that are completely different compared to Japan. When I’m working and I talk with Dutch coaches, they are really more simple and open in their approach. But here more people ride bikes than drive cars. In Japan, we have really narrow roads and it is neither comfortable or nice to ride a bike. I can go everywhere on a bike and safely. Everything is flat here, and you have bike lanes all over the country. Well, my favourite Dutch food is friet with mayo and peanut sauce. I can count in Dutch and listen to Dutch, but I can’t speak very well. I’ve been to a language school three times in three seasons here in Amstelveen. I’ve tried to learn and catch up to Dutch, but I just couldn’t get it. ĭo you speak Dutch and how did you learn? Well, actually, I hope I can leave whenever I want to. I am just working here as a tennis coach. How do you describe yourself – an expat, lovepat, immigrant, international? When I first came here in 2004, I stayed for three years before moving back to Japan.Then, five years later, I moved to Barcelona in Spain for a year and finally I came back to the Netherlands in 2013. I thought, ‘Wow, the Netherlands is such a nice country.’ So many things were different to Japan. We came to Europe for two weeks and also stayed in Wimbledon to see the tournament. I was with a group of players of between eight and ten years old and most of the kids were the best in Japan. I first came here in 2004 for a junior tennis trip.

She now lives in Amstelveen, loves French fries with mayo and would like to meet kickboxer Ernesto Hoost. She first came to the Netherlands while serving as a coach for a group of junior tennis players. Mayumi Konishi is originally from the island of Kyushu in Japan.

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