Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

Nowdays, I simply do not get enough days where I have excess time to do things not work-related in any way. In fact, I do not remember a time like today where I have absolutely no plans with any coworker or assignments that I kind of have to work on for the company. Oh right, I was thinking about where I want to go for work in the company after this month's training is over, but that can be saved for tomorrow when I actually have access to the company organization chart. I am sitting here daydreaming about what my future will be like...but keeps getting these interruptions from the usually active mind that tells me to move on to something more productive. So far for the day I have checked all the recent news articles and good opinion pieces on the Economist magazine...so moving onto my second post for the day (At least the mind is countering this one, writing is pretty high up on the list of priorities even when I am this busy with work) So within these even-rougher-than-usual

So this blog was started AFTER the end of my college years to rationalize where my life will go now that the days of being a student are completely (well, at least temporarily) over...and perhaps now, that months-long exploration of directions may finally come to something useful in the next week or so as we the new graduates of Rakuten are put to the spot of choosing our career paths within the company. While the choice does not really determine our lives (people get next assignments in a few years at most after getting into one department), a short conversation with the head of HR department does sort of determine which direction each one of us will head toward, as the first choice will certainly throw at least some limitations on where the individual CAN go based on the skills he or she can learn in that very first assignment. So, gauging the intents of my colleagues, a few trends are already very clear. First, almost everyone is determined to head somewhere where international wo

As hard as people work here in Japan, there is always a need for holidays and vacations for the average salary-man like me just like white collar workers in any other part of the world. The "getting away from it all" sort of feeling is especially necessary in a city like Tokyo, where the endless concrete jungle simply let her residents feel a complete segregation from nature. But big words and feelings of adventure aside, people sometimes just need a reason to congregate and socialize, even in an environment where they seem to see each practically everyday for some serious matter. As I stated before , the separation of meeting for work and meeting for fun is so completely possible without a slightest hint of awkwardness. I thought that "meeting for fun" with your coworkers somehow stayed in the vicinity of the local drinking spot to complain about how difficult work is, but the past weekend was a real eye-opener for understanding how intimate a bunch of young profes

Another Saturday, another meet up with some coworkers for some English "lessons" and lunch. The topic somehow (and quite logically) came to the issue of how Japanese salary-men and Office Ladies spend their weekends. Not surprisingly, the typical answers were "taking it easy, hanging out with friends, and having a few drinks," but extent to which all of these mix in with work-related stuff is absolutely shocking for a foreigners used to a complete division between work and life. Sure, being good friends with your similar-aged coworkers and hanging out with them outside of office is of course possible and understandable (same reason why I am there every Saturday). But lets take a closer look at what we were doing: the lunch conversations frequently merged into classified technical fields of the company, interlaced with insider information each departments and their heads. This was happening all the while anything about the company is off-limits for everyday convers