Expats abroad: Alex Sinclair in Japan

He explains: "This year I left America for a new life in Tokyo while working as a director of Asian content for my publishing consultant firm, so for the first time I will spend Christmas in Japan.

"This will also be the first time I will spend Christmas on my own without English-speaking friends to piece together the usual grub.

"My apartment's oven is non-existent, so there will be no roast turkey. No Christmas carols sung in the air. No Doctor Who special blaring out as I sit with my friends, drinking sherry and playing games over a silent hush to see what happens next. For the first time I will be without the trappings of support and merriment that I have managed in the past."

Japan can be a strange world, Alex added, where earthquakes are the norm and wacky events fill the calendar. But Japan is ever eager to get into the Christmas spirit.

"Christmas shopping is still alive and well here, although it takes on a new interpretation with bright lights, no snow and shoppers dressed in kimonos," said Alex. "Oddly enough here in Tokyo Christmas is seen as more of a Valentine's Day than anything else. A time to show your loved ones how much you care."

Movie-maker Alex, 31, left England at the end of 2005 after a change in UK funding rules. He said: "I had been running my own film company back then and under the new system there was little to no opportunity for my films to be funded. So I packed up my company and started from scratch in New York City with two suitcases and the promise of a couch to sleep on.

"I had started working in the photo and publishing industry, setting up an education branch of a company that hired me in Ohio. So in a short time I found myself an apartment of my own and worked my way to stability."

In 2008 he moved to Chicago and started his own company called Learning Pictures, representing museums and archives from around the world in licensing educational images to publishers.

He also began working on a project to create an online library of images that could be used by children and teachers in a safe environment for their classrooms and in 2010 it was turned into a product with Encyclopedia Britannica called Image Quest. "It was at this time I felt I could hand the reins of my company to my employees and help with my family and in 2011 I moved to San Francisco to work as my niece's caretaker while I continued to work with my company.

"Life as a male nanny was harder than I expected and in my spare time I began to take part in a Japanese musical art form called wa-daiko taiko, Japanese drumming.

"This outlet grew until I was a professional member of my group and in 2012 I decided that for my 30th birthday I would visit the country that this music came from. I got to see some amazing things like Mount Fuji's sunrise and festivals that no sane person would perform in. I came to a realisation that I really loved it here."

One year on, he's now back there.

"I'm here trying to learn the language and the customs while working on ways to set up a new company in Japan. Who knows what adventures I will see next?"

Alex's Shropshire life can be traced back to Adams Grammar School in Newport, in 1992. "It was the school my uncle had gone to and my parents had raised me in America so they wanted me to return for a decent education," he added.

He went on to work as a chef at Copthorne Barracks in Shrewsbury, as well as attending Shrewsbury College on a multi-media course.

"I spent a short time with the Lib Dems working their election campaign in 2001. When they didn't win I went back to finish my schooling," said Alex.

"When school was over I packed my bags and lived in Bath, Somerset, with my grandmother and worked as a nightclub manager before going to university in Buckinghamshire where I studied film.

"I remember spending time in Shrewsbury, buying food from the market and custard tarts from Greggs. I would love to sit in the Quarry park to take a quick break from the world. Every Boxing Day all the old school boys would go back to Newport and have a pint or eight during the fox hunt."

He said life on the road does have its drawbacks. "I miss the Birmingham Christmas market and the mince pies at Drapers' Hall in Shrewsbury. I will miss the Boxing Day parade in Newport where all the old Adams Grammar boys meet up at one of the pubs for a drink or three.

"I miss shopping in the market for sausages and black pudding. I even miss the revellers that hobble home from the Buttermarket to the dismay of their sleeping neighbours."

But Alex added: "Most of all I will miss my mum, Bibbs Cameron Tomaszewski, from Shrewsbury, who on Christmas Day will most likely be sitting with her wonderful husband on her couch, saving the cost of heating by snuggling up under a few dozen blankets while watching whatever the TV shows and eating a lovingly prepared Christmas meal from the discount section of Waitrose. She will take a rest from her tireless volunteer work at the local museums to relax on what she has managed to save up that year and be generous with what she can spare to all those that pass her way.

"I, on the other hand, will likely spend the day with fellow travellers from Russia, China, France, Spain and maybe a couple of Americans too, giving a toast to all as they pass into the many Scottish bars and British pubs with glasses of ale held high wishing all who enter a merry Christmas in whatever language they may hold dear. If I am lucky I will toast Mount Fuji and enjoy the new year cheer."