Paul Godbold

Background

About Paul Godbold

I am originally from the U.K. but have been living in Tokyo, Japan since 2007. I have a family here now and currently live on a permanent visa in Shinjuku-ku. My first paid employment was as a church choir singer when I was around eleven years old and I worked part time jobs, on an off, throughout my schooling. After college, I held a job in a microbiology laboratory for five years. I elected not to apply to a university until I had a firmer idea of what I wanted to study there. Since I have always had an interest in science, I thought experience of working in a laboratory would help give me a foundation in this area, should I decide to make my career there. In 2007, I made a bold decision to try and gain more experience and grow as a person by moving to another country. I chose Japan as I was interested in the culture and wanted to live somewhere comfortable yet different to western cultures. Japan seemed to fit. I immediately found a job at Berlitz Japan at a time when their hiring restrictions were particularly tight and have been working there ever since. In my time at Berlitz I have received training in many back office tasks as well as mentoring of other teachers and assessments of potential new customers where my conversion rate as been between 50-60%. I have also been pursuing my other serious interest, which is writing. Although I have been writing on and off since I was a child, I have grown more interested in publishing a novel through the traditional route in recent years. In 2020 I was able to finish my first full length novel, which has given me a great sense of achievement. I am currently seeking representation from a literary agent for this book. In the meanwhile I am also working on further writing projects in my free time.