Rarely do we hear about life stories that are as inspiring as the story and journey of Elma Kablar, an English professor that lived in Japan for the last nine years and that has just recently moved back to her home city Zenica with new experiences, ideas, and opportunities she is eager to share with her fellow citizens and countrymen.

Today Elma Kablar is an experienced trail runner and one of the founders of the program Modern Escape Japan. She decided to change her original profession a few years ago when she switched from teaching English to doing fitness and exploring healthy lifestyle. 

When she turned thirty, Elma found an opportunity to move to Japan:

„Not many people from Bosnia and Herzegovina had an opportunity to live “at the end of the world“, in the “land of the rising sun”, and learn about culture and lifestyle that are entirely different from everything we are used to.” 

Nine years ago, Elma was trusted with creation and conduction of a survey on the status of English language in Japanese schools. She observed and tracked ways in which Japanese people learned and taught English language, which helped her garner new skills and knowledge that she would one day bring back to Bosnia and Herzegovina.   

To move to Japan, as Kablar claims, was a decision she made because of the situation in which her home country was at the time:

“Young people do not get to be creative; do not get to start something of their own. We are damned to work hard and struggle in order to merely find a steady job, which is what kills all creativity and hope because there is no room for building something new. My departure to Japan was that opportunity I did not have. It was an opportunity to start something by and for myself – I turned thirty and found myself choosing between leaving or staying in this country forever.” 

The initial plan was to conduct the aforementioned survey within one year, however, as Elma notices with a smile on her face, that one year turned into almost an entire decade. 

She spent the first year in a student dorm in Tokyo, where she lived together with other professors from all around the world. All professors, including Elma, were given scholarships by the Japanese government that, as Kablar stresses, places high the quality of their national education system on the priority list. 

During that first year she experienced and noticed many new astonishing things, such as meeting people that come from countries she never had heard of before and showing remarkable respect to professors and academic staff in general. 

She could find job wherever she wanted with diploma she had, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to her opinion, she would be a surplus employee. Elma soon started working as a teacher in a private school. 

As she recalls dearly, even though most Japanese people have never even heard of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elma found her place among them. 

Her life however moved to a different direction once academic year came to an end. At that moment she decided to prolong her stay in Japan as she wanted to collect and gain as much knowledge as possible. Precisely at that time, Kablar started to do sports intensively, and soon afterwards she ran her first half marathon. 

This experience, Kablar says, changed her life for the better:

“My first half marathon, which was organized in Chiba, was attended and supported by a huge crowd. All those people, helicopters and cheering make you feel important and for me, as someone who comes from a small city like Zenica is, it was surreal.”  

Soon afterwards and because of her newly found love for running, Elma joined SOGO Fitness Club, started her own running club, gave a chance at and learned about trail running, and organized trail events. 

In order to turn her hobby to a real job, she decided to start the program Modern Escape Japan. Besides Elma as a fitness trainer and experienced runner, three more instructors work together with her on the said project. 

“Japanese people are known for their hard work, so we decided to start a concept of active rest that is aimed at people that do not have a lot of free time. We organize weekend leisure gatherings, exercising, healthy diet programs, and workshops on finding motivation and sense in life.”

The project made a huge success in Japan and now they plan to turn it into a big franchise. Since Elma's colleagues and instructors come from Canada and the United States, Elma will be their associate and link in Europe and will manage the branch office - Modern Escape Europe.

After returning to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elma has continued to achieve new and big things. In 2019 she took part in a national championship in mountain running for the first time. Not only did Elma manage to run a marathon with a distance of 47 kilometers, but she also won third place. Her record was updated and upgraded in September 2021 when she won second place in that same championship.

Elma Kablar is also the first woman from Bosnia and Herzegovina to run a marathon with an incredible distance of 105 kilometers on mountain Jahorina: 

„Our old people would say: 'What are you doing, stay home, and take care of kids'. But, we move and push boundaries and open new doors. “ 

To return back to Bosnia and Herzegovina was a decision that was hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Elma thought it was the right time for her to go back to her home country and enforce everything she learned in Japan. Besides, even though she sees Japan as her second home, Elma missed Bosnians and Herzegovinians and their hospitality and warmth.  

Once she came back, she started to collaborate with non-governmental organizations and immediately noticed how much things have improved and meliorated ever since her departure. As one of the examples of positive change, Elma listed and mentioned the running club “Zenica trči” whose representatives and members she contacted right away. 

At the moment, she is organizing Steel Trail Zenica, the first eco race in Zenica (and its wider region) that will take place between March 25 and March 27 on Smetovi. The main goal of this race is the promotion of the initiative to put Zenica's nearby mountain Smetovi on the list of national parks, as well as the promotion of the agendas for nature preservation and lower usage of single-use plastics in everyday life. For more details and information on how to apply for participation in the Steel Trail Zenica race, go to: http://steeltrailzenica.com/.

Elma concludes her story with these final words: „I believe that Bosnia and Herzegovina has enormous potential, but experiences need to be brought from abroad.“ 

PHOTO: Elma Kablar, Modern Escape Japan

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