Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

Plenty of articles these days mention the correlation between social media and mental downturns at a personal level. Anyone using any social media platform would be bombarded by texts, pictures, and videos of others enjoying both their professional and personal lives. On the professional side, social media is inundated with boasts about the latest promotions, product launches, and other notable career highlights. And in private lives, others seem to be all having beautiful kids, getting married to beautiful spouses, and visiting beautiful locations for carefree vacations. It is not easy not getting jealous.

Previously, I wrote about my current plan to move to a new apartment in Japan, and all the hassles associated with fending off different moving companies as they offer ever-more competitive prices for trucking my few belongings somewhere just some ten minutes away by car. But after all the belongings went to the new apartment and set up in their proper locations, it was what end up being just one of many small paperwork-filled procedures that entails the end-to-end process of getting a new life set up in a new residence, Japanese style.

The small poster next to the main entrance of the neighborhood gym is clearly designed to be seen by all who try to enter its premises. In big red letters, it states that the gym absolutely prohibits tattoos and that anyone found with one will be reported to the police and be escorted off its premises. Regular members of the gym who are later discovered to have tattoos, the poster says, will have their membership immediately revoked. The gym proudly presents itself as a "clean" destination free of body art, and the poster at the entrance symbolizes it.

COVID-19 is a time of great instability. As one variant after another hits the global economy, many companies suffer from volatile costs associated with changing travel policies, supply chain disruptions, and clients being unable to continue business relationships. Many employees end up paying dearly for the suffering of their employers. For those unfortunate enough to be in the most volatile industries like restaurants , whole departments, workplaces, and business ecosystems have disappeared alongside jobs of individual employees.

The year 2000 started well. I was an ecstatic little boy graduating from elementary school in provincial Japan. Finally, I was joining the “big boys” at the middle school across the street, donning the cool uniforms that I observed in pure envy for the past six years. Change was afoot, and I was so ready to embrace it. Instead, the change was much more radical than I had ever imagined. Instead of moving across the street, father came home one day and notified us that our whole family is moving to the USA, thousands of miles away.

Chiba city is a decidedly underrated city in an underrated prefecture. Tokyoites find little reason to make the trip to the prefecture beyond the use of Narita airport, even though Chiba prefecture is right next door and the trip to the center of Chiba city can be done in less than an hour. That lack of firsthand experience with Chiba causes Tokyoites to have acquired a distinct misconception of the city with nearly a million residents just to their east. Tokyoites perceive Chiba city as lacking in basic amenities that make life comfortable, and that Chiba residents need to head to Tokyo for any sort of proper entertainment.

Almost as soon as I asked for quotes, my phone was buzzing with inquiries from half a dozen moving companies, big and small, national and local. Many immediately wanted to visit my apartment to see how much stuff needs to be moved to the new apartment, and to give a quote in person. The fastest visit happened within 30 minutes of my initial inquiries for a quote. The salesmen (and yes, they were all men) proved to be relentless even in the days after, sending follow-up emails and newsletters, just in case they did not manage to leave a good impression on the initial phone call.