I escaped my highly regimented #salarymaninjapan job.

Now I have some freelance #VR #softwaredevelopment work to keep me busy #workingfromhome in between moving to Kyoto and setting up a business!

So... of course I end up staying up all night without any sleep, killing myself to deliver code to meet an approaching customer driven deadline!

I didn't have to wear a necktie, or take a shower for that matter =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q0ePuLSxCw

Here we go to #Kyoto again. Sorry no leg room pic. Will discuss #dudeNamedBenkei contract work and hopefully see prospective new places to live. #salaryManInJapan

With good #karma, I go to the #salaryManInJapan job for the last time today, after enjoying some built up vacation days. I will turn in all company issued stuff. I will do some final coding. I will commiserate with my fellow small co. team members who have to stay in the Big Co. because they are #partOfTheSystem. Then I'm #audi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYL5H46QnQ

#salaryManInJapan update: I attended #TokyoGameShow event produced by friend from #Kyoto last night. Didn’t drink a lot. Many #Gaijins there; a bit crowded low budget bar scene for me.

Rode near last train home 40 mins & then couldn’t find my key (still not recovered - cry)

My station has no hotels for miles.

Talked to Famimart guy distibuting flyers near station. He kinda knows me by now. Him: maybe 24 hr Internet cafe? Ugh. Finally nice middle aged taxi driver lady helped me find a hotel.

#salaryManInJapan update. My 6 month contract is ending this month. It was fun but yeah, not that fun. I sent email a day ago expressing my intent not to renew. I think the big company totally botched how they brought in our team of #dudesNamedBen which is one of several reasons not to stick around. Sad.

Next plan is moving to #Kyoto and founding a new company with my friend if the government approves it.

I got 2 tables delivered from "Nitori", described as the Japanese Ikea. Quality & price were good.

Pictured is a "Kotatsu" : a short table with a heater attached underneath (observe power cable.). You put a blanket over the base & under the tabletop, draped down to the floor, & you sit on the floor with your legs under the table to stay warm in the winter.

It's not cold season here but I wanted a floor seating table for the Japanese room anyway.

#salaryManInJapan

no furniture, lol.

"Washiki Heya" aka "Japanese style room"

#salaryManInJapan

I rented this house in Setagaya/Tokyo against the advice of my Japanese friends who said most Japanese people wouldn't want to live in such an old house (built in the "Showa" era i.e. the 70s)

I think it has all the traditional touches that a silly foreign Japanophile would expect to have for an authentic experience. (fantasy vs. reality, haha)

Hi NASocial.

I've been doing my #salaryManInJapan thing and not getting enough sleep, riding crowded trains to work everyday, being underpaid, etc.

The #coding work is interesting though.

I rented a nice house west of Tokyo in a wealthy area near where a friend lives and got a good deal on the rent.

I'm hanging out in my tatami room (和式部屋）posting a re-hi to y'all.

Day 1. It remains to be seen how deep of a hole I have dug myself into. I’ll keep digging. #salaryManInJapan #出社初日

I get a waiting # at the Shinjuku gov’t office to obtain a registered residency address. #303 There are multiple queues but I guess mine is the one at #261. I watch it go to #299, almost my turn! But then it goes to #200! I ask an attendant and she explains my queue is the one currently at #570. I explain that is past my #. She says, “oh that queue will go back to #300, when it passes #599”

#bureaucracy #salaryManInJapan

I did so much moving out work on my Silicon Valley house in last month (including landscaping work and building a custom storage shed)

My hands are so beat up now that finger print recognition won’t work on my iPhone

I don’t think they will believe I’m a software guy at my new job.

#salaryManInJapan

One way ticket to #Japan, leaving now #salaryManInJapan

Personal update: In the last few weeks I have been furiously packing stuff, throwing things away, and cleaning up the landscaping as a full time job at my house in the People’s Republic of California. I have about 1 week left before I move to Japan. A friend will rent my house so I can leave some of my stuff here.

I’ve had to write multiple emails to corporate HR in Japanese using “Keigo” (super polite grammar)

Feels like the end of this American Life; Surreal.

#salaryManInJapan

To work in #Japan, you 1) Need sponsor / hiring company, 2) Apply to Japanese Immigration Bureau for “certificate of eligibility” (COE), 3) Take COE (if awarded) to Japanese Consulate in your country, 4) Consulate staff performs background check, and puts a special entry visa on your passport, 5) Enter Japan and obtain a resident status ID card, which enables getting bank account, apartment etc. 6) get to work slave!

My COE arrived yesterday.

#salaryManInJapan

In Japanese, as with most languages there are ways to say things very politely and respectfully, or more casually and intimate, or even rude and condescending. In business communication the politest factor becomes very important especially with respect to relative standing. I had to write my first business reply using such polite language in Japanese last night. I still have much to learn about this in the future. #salaryManInJapan