I felt confident in my appearance and how I dressed. Then, I moved to Japan.

I didn't realize how much moving to Japan would change how I view my body and make me so critical of how I dress.

Kerri King Moving to Japan made me more self-conscious about my appearance than I've ever been before.

Being noticeably different from those around me made me critical of my body and how I dress.

On the bright side, living here pushed me to explore beauty, style, and self-expression in new ways.

Moving to a new country comes with plenty of adjustments, from language to social rules, but I didn't expect to feel out of place in my own body.

Before moving to Japan from New Zealand, I was mostly content with how I looked, having already survived the body-image hurdles of early motherhood.

Despite being a plus-size woman , I considered myself to be confident and rarely cared what others thought of my appearance.

After three years here, the visibility that comes with being a foreigner has brought along a level of self-consciousness I have never grappled with before.

I couldn't stop comparing myself to everyone around me Wherever I went, I felt like I was being judged even if I wasn't.

IronHeart/Getty Images Being visibly non-Japanese meant I often felt more conspicuous than I ever had, and that made me hyper-aware of how I looked.

I often felt like people were staring at me, making me wonder what they were noticing, and before long, I found I was scrutinizing parts of myself I hadn't thought about before.

The hair on my arms used to feel as normal as having eyebrows, but after noticing how uncommon visible body hair seemed to be among locals, I became convinced I must look like a yeti in comparison, and soon found myself reaching for a razor.

Still, I always thought a bit of body hair never hurt anyone until an older woman, who had been openly staring at my legs, scoffed as she walked past and shook her head.

Afterward, I found myself questioning whether it was my slightly unshaven legs or the large tattoo on my calf that had prompted such a reaction.