What I’ve learned since university (as told to 100+ teenagers earlier this month)

A couple of weeks ago I stood in a lecture theatre at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, in front of 100+ gathered teenagers who were all thinking about studying Japanese, invited to give them careers advice. It went something like this…

“Who here is 16?” (lots of hands go up)

“17?” (lots more hands go up)

“18?” (lots more)

“In that case you are probably looking at me thinking, she’s well old.” (Cue embarrassed laughter and some shuffling in seats. Gotcha!)

“Maybe you are t...