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Japanese woman finds love & home in S’pore, becomes local tour guide & SAFVC volunteer
Her favourite restaurant is MTR Singapore.
Megumi Nakazawa may not come across as a typical Singaporean.
Tempted to ask her to recommend good Japanese restaurants in Singapore? You may not get the answers you expect.
Instead, she will tell you where to find good local food, share stories behind Hindu gods, and point you to beautiful parks and heritage sites to visit.
That’s just how well she knows Singapore, perhaps even better than some of us.
The only person she knew in a foreign land
Born in Japan, Megumi, 52, first came to Singapore after she found a position in a Japanese company here.
When she arrived, she knew only one person on the island – a Singaporean man she’d met 10 years prior during a cultural exchange programme in Penang.
They’d become pen pals then, but fell out of touch. But in a foreign land, he was the only Singaporean she knew, and so she reached out to reconnect.
He helped her with the logistics of settling down in Singapore — how to open a bank account, getting a mobile phone and setting it up — and as Megumi grew to rely on him, they naturally grew closer.
“We started out as just friends,” she said. Today, they’re married with a 16-year-old daughter.
Megumi on a family trip to Yuzawa, Japan, in December 2024. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Deciding to stay
At first, her parents disapproved of her Singaporean boyfriend.
“When I first told my father that I wanted to get married [to a non-Japanese], he immediately said: ‘No, cannot’,” she quipped.
It was only after they met in real life that he eventually relented.
“He’s so natural, very gentle, and a really family-oriented person,” she said. “My father saw that.”
Three years after she arrived here, her work deployment came to an end. She’d originally planned to return to Japan, but changed her mind by then.
After all, she had found the man she wanted to marry. When the time came for her to make a decision, it was hardly a decision at all.
She would stay, and start a family with him in Singapore.
Megumi and her Singaporean husband got married in 2007. They took their wedding photos at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Adjusting to life in Singapore
It was a natural choice to settle down in Singapore instead of Japan.
To her surprise, she’d fallen in love with the island state. It was more comfortable and convenient than her hometown; she enjoyed the cultural diversity, the food, even the ever-present heat. “I really love the tropical weather,” she laughed.
But life in Singapore was not without its challenges.
She missed her parents back in Yokohama, and she had to adapt to the cultural differences between her and her Singaporean husband.
She also initially found the Singaporean accent “very difficult to understand”.
Today, 20 years on, Megumi is fully adjusted to Singapore.
She speaks fluent Singlish (her accent is nearly Singaporean). “I can speak a lot of Singlish [now],” she told me with some pride.
She also has grown to embrace the local culture.
For instance, she has become more blunt – a Singaporean trait that she admits shocked her when she first came here.
“Japanese are very conservative and shy people (sic), we’re not so direct,” she explained. That candor has become one of the things she likes best about Singapore.
Megumi enjoying a night out in Singapore, against the backdrop of Singapore’s financial district. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Her family gathers at her in-laws’ place every weekend — something many Singaporean families can relate to, but a practice that’s uncommon in Japan due to geographical distance.
She goes to Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple and Sri Krishnan Temple to pray.
While Megumi is a Buddhist, she’s curious about the meanings and roles behind the Hindu gods.
“I started from my curiosity, but it’s more than just curiosity now,” she said.
Megumi also loves South Indian food and her go-to place is MTR Singapore, a popular vegetarian restaurant, which was introduced to her by a long-time Singaporean friend.
She recommends their Masala Dosa and Curd Vada.
Megumi (first row, second from right) visits Sultan Mosque. She is a member of the SAFVC National Education Team. They conduct visits to various cultural, religious, and historical institutions in Singapore, to better understand why Total Defence is important. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Megumi participated in an Indian festival called Ganesha Chaturthi at the offshore waters from Changi Point in August 2025. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Becoming a Singaporean
Interestingly, it was her experience with the SAF Volunteer Corps (SAFVC) that marked a turning point for her.
At the end of 2014, she heard on the radio that the SAFVC was recruiting. At that point, she was a housewife and had been living in Singapore for 11 years.
She had been wanting to give back to Singapore and hearing that on the radio felt like a “golden opportunity”.
“I’m married, I have a daughter, we have a home. We are a really happy family, and I really enjoy my life in Singapore.
I wanted to give back to Singapore in any way.”
SV3 Megumi (second from left) helped fellow volunteers with recruitment efforts during a citizenship ceremony in 2024. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
“Volunteering really changed me a lot,” she said.
She discovered a newfound passion for Singapore and Singapore’s history, and met many like-minded people who till today, she considers her “inspiration”.
“All the volunteers are my inspiration. We all have the same passion. We have the same thinking, that we really want to give back something to Singapore,” she added.
It has also become a yearly affair for Megumi to support the security checks for the National Day Parade (NDP).
“The task looks simple, but there is extensive planning, preparation and coordination that goes on behind the scenes,” she said, citing examples such as studying throughput of audiences attending the parades and the managing of different scenarios and contingencies.
In 2024, she was even selected to be part of the SAFVC marching contingent for NDP, alongside fellow volunteers from Singapore Police Force and Singapore Civil Defence Force.
SV3 Megumi (third from right) was part of the SAFVC marching contingent for NDP 2024, together with fellow volunteers from SPF and SCDF. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
SV3 Megumi posed against the backdrop of the National Gallery Singapore during a full dress rehearsal for NDP 2024. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Megumi decided to settle down permanently in Singapore and is now a Singapore citizen.
Does she miss Japan? “Of course, I miss my parents. I miss my friends,” she said.
But they still see each other several times a year, with either party flying to meet the other.
“I really like my life in Singapore. I even miss it whenever I go back to Japan,” she said.
“Singapore is really my home and where I belong.”
Becoming a tour guide
It was in this spirit of pride for her chosen home that she was inspired to become a licensed tour guide.
She mainly shows Japanese tourists around. Apart from attractions like Marina Bay and the Merlion, she also brings them to historical places that reflect Singapore’s wartime past, which many Japanese people are not familiar with.
As a tour guide, Megumi (first row, right) showed a group of students from Japan around Gardens by the Bay in 2025. Photo from Megumi Nakazawa.
Megumi paints a picture of a typical off day with her family: the three of them relaxing at home, then going to a nearby hawker centre for a simple dinner.
After sunset, as the weather cools, they’ll go for a walk or jog at the park, or bike down the park connector.
Her daughter, husband, and herself — just like many Singaporean families.
Writing this PMO-SG-branded article reminded this writer that Singapore can be pretty great. (Still hot though.)
Top photos from Megumi Nakazawa
