January 11, 2022 • bachelor insider
‘The Bachelor’s’ Susie Shares How Moving to Japan Helped Her Grow into a Stronger Version of Herself
Fans are getting to know and love Bachelor Nation star Susie on Clayton’s season of “The Bachelor.”
From receiving the first one-on-one date to showing off her jiujitsu skills in her opening package, Susie swept both Bachelor Nation and Clayton off his feet.
But even after getting to spend solo time with Clayton on this week’s episode, there’s still so much more to learn about Susie.
She stopped by the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast and opened up more about her life before her time on “The Bachelor” and how she grew into the woman she is today.
Susie, who is now 28, shared that she moved to Japan when she was 22 years old and lived there until she was 25.
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The Bachelor Nation star said, “It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever done for myself. Leaving the country by yourself and starting a new life and a new career, I worked at Tokyo Disneyland. I always say that was a really special thing to do, but being in Japan was the true gem of that job. I got to experience something totally outside of my comfort zone. I learned a lot about myself, things I needed to work on, and how to become a better person.”
Susie continued, sharing that in Japan, “Their society puts a huge emphasis on hard work and grit and I am very much a free spirit, so living in that culture, I was expected to be top tier at everything that I do, and anything less was critiqued. I was held accountable for all of my actions, even if that was just being one minute late to work. So having a strict culture for several years allowed me to grow into a stronger version of myself.”
During her time in Japan, Susie took up Brazilian jiujitsu as a hobby at a local studio.
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She said, “Learning jiujitsu and having a community of people there who cared for me who were locals, when I left Japan, saying goodbye to them was probably the hardest part about leaving. They threw me this huge going-away party. We went to a sumo wrestling house and we shared food in these giant pots. It was the coolest thing ever.”
Susie explained that her time in Japan overall “changed” her life. “It changed my perspective on work ethic and just how to be a better person.”
And now we get to see that person on our screens each week! Clearly, there is still so much more to learn about Susie, so make sure you’re tuning in to “The Bachelor” on Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC or streaming on Hulu.
If you want to hear more of her conversation on “Bachelor Happy Hour,” check out the full episode below.
