Spending time abroad later in life is a ‘gift’

Val Monroe is a former New York beauty editor who started spending part of each year in Tokyo after her 6-year-old granddaughter was born there. Her motivation was simple: to be part of her grandchild’s life. But she says living part-time in a foreign country where she knows almost no one has opened up a whole new chapter in her life. “It’s all fresh to me,” she told The World’s Carolyn Beeler during a walk around her Tokyo neighborhood. “I kind of am in a constant state of child’s mind when I’m here. Which for someone at my age is remarkable.”