Japan

January 13th, 2025 (21 days ago) • 3 minutes

View of the moon

I flew to Japan today.

What a view. The moon is so round and bright.

It's bigger in the eyes than through the phone.

It was unusually packed today here. Tons of people on the sidewalk and niche shops are all open. Walking through the streets makes me want to explore each and every shop there is and see what are they selling. The vibe here is just so different, it's so refreshing and relaxed.

Ben, Adrian, and I decided to go to Social Study today for work. It was a nice place to work except for the fact that it's no laptops after 5pm. The person who chose the music has a good taste. I would like it if I went there to just chill; for study maybe not. It was also a little loud that I could hear them through my airpods. Other than that, the coffee is pretty good - I had a mocha with Ghirardelli chocolate (something about Ghirardelli chocolate that makes it so good).

I managed to finish my studies for the day so I felt pretty accomplished.

At 5pm, we went to Kabuki Hotel since it's nearby and Reddit said it's pretty good for co-working. It's definitely true.

It's quiet, there's table and chairs (appropriate height as well like what you expect in the office), and a water dispenser! This was the floor below the reception.

We worked there for a few hours and then the tummy grumbled. It was cold tonight so we craved something warm but would not break the bank - we landed on Suzu Noodle House.

The trio of Japanese food (Ramen, Udon, and Curry Katsu) ~ $17 each

Called it a night after that and went back home.

Also dropped by Nijiya and Woori for a while - those are my favorite grocery stores there. I picked up a curry paste from Nijiya (apparently Java Curry is the best one). Woori ran out of their homemade kimchi, so I am a little sad about that. The last time I went there I bought 1kg worth of kimchi for myself - that's how much I liked it. The cashier said they make it fresh every Tuesday, so I will need to come back next week.

Random thought of the day: What does it feel like to live in Japan and work there for a while? It's a place of culture, so I think it will be interesting as a gaijin.

This was mainly influenced by the fact I watched Currently Hannah's video on Life in Japan and being in Japantown today.

I remembered I was so close to going to Japan for work. It was back in 2022 when I interviewed for Rakuten as a New Grad Engineer. Everything went smoothly and I reached the final stage. It was a behavioral interview with a PM from the team. I did my best that day (even learned a few japanese phrases to introduce myself) but it didn't work out. Nevertheless, I still met few people who I can call friends in MoneyLion(A, JT, N, D) and I'm grateful for that.

Oh well, but the dream lives on.

p.s if you look closer, I'm at SF's Japantown haha - I wish I was in Japan.