Things i learned in japan for the past 1 year

• Staying alive is not so easy in japan with various natural disasters.
• Japanese buildings are strong n almost immune to strong earthquakes. but tsunami is another thing
• Each city here has her own unique characteristics n cultures
• Japanese are NEVER on time... they always arrive earlier and leave late. 
• everywhere has cards... u have credit cards, member cards, point cards, restaurant cards, cinema cards, karaoke cards, pharmacy cards bla bla bla... we like cards! and i've LOTS of cards!
• the japanese bullet train, shinkansen is fucking awesome!... but expensive
• huge quantity of magazines, books, novels... available.. a very knowledgeable society.
• quoted a sentence from the comic book "crayon shin chan" saying by Sin Chan's neighbor's nephew, Robert-- "why japanese need to learn others' cultures like english when they already have a lot of awesome cultures in hand?" --- i couldn't agree more. 
• karaoke here is expensive, but if u check carefully, get a member card and choose a right time to go, it can be pretty cheap.
• No vegetarian shops here for me, sad.... and squash courts here is expensive, i'm still finding a cheap one. 
• The ability, way of thoughts that make them produce something from nothing.. 
• everything produced here has its own behind-the-scene touching story. Even the ticket sensing machines in the train stations were designed with a long period of hard works and determinations of the past few tens of years.
• to get into the points in a conversation here is extremely difficult. 
• watching the variety shows here... everybody laughing but not me... japanese jokes are difficult to understand. 
• u turn on the TV, every channel is variety show... 
• in winter, most people wear dark color jackets/coats
• Lots of japanese songs are very very nice and meaningful! 
• 2 single man and woman don't sit and have lunch together in factory. 3 above ok! 
• they walk faster then me!
• know how to speak english here sounds very high class
• know how to speak mandarin here is also "sugoi".
• in my country, suicide often means cut ur wrist, hang urself or jump of a building... here, suicide often means jump train or go mount fuji forest. lol
• the renowned suicide line, 中央快速線(rapid central line) delay frequently.
• "one piece" is more interesting when watching in Japanese language.
• oversea holidays sometimes are cheaper then travels inside japan. 
• Japanese Yen (currency) keep going stronger! people r sad but i'm very happy! lol
• The number of Jogging/running events here is like number of football matches.
• To get the chance to participate in Tokyo Marathon is more difficult then finding a job here.
• Engineering/Technology companies here often making losses in lots of infrastructure/technology business. -- reason: lots of things they build are simply so reliable that it just don't break. so no need to purchase a new one. lesson learned: build something easier to break, just like the nuclear power plant.
• it's very difficult to find a food court here.
• smartphone and iphone are different. mobile phone(携帯電話) and smartphone(スマートフォン） are also different. 
• lots of japanese songs are very meaningful. Below is one of them. I like it so much!

After almost 1 year in Japan

after 11 and a half months staying in Japan, lot's of things to share

• i bought my iphone4 here one week after i arrived. I didn't quite like the phone because it don't support a lot of technology i'm using, like Flash contents. But since everybody bought it so i bought it too.
• i bought my Sony NEX-5 Camera after i received my first salary payment 1 month later. Fortunately made it to the awesome yellow leaves autumn season in japan. 
• attended Japanese training classes for 3 months after i arrived here together with a bunch of great friends from lots of different countries.
• experienced the first earthquake in my life about 1 and a half month after i arrived. It was just a small one, one of my friends even joked about it, saying it was too weak, he was hoping for some stronger quakes and more fun. I don't think that was a good idea. 
• after 3 months, performed my first presentation in japanese. Acted in drama too with friends. 
• On job training, performed my 2nd presentation in japanese to my department. It was about my thesis in my university, University of Malaya. Prepared for a night or so, my title was "Audio Visual Recognition System". 
• Finally understand the sentence of "don't joke about bad things". 11th March, 9.0 Richter Scale Earthquake. Strong like hell. Ran out of the building. Tsunami and Nuclear explosion followed. Many people died. Feel sad.
• went to my first solo trip in japan for around 10 days. Destination was Osaka. Objective, to stay there, avoid and monitor the nuclear explosion situation. Of course i was carrying my credit card that time so if any deadly accident happened, i could fly home from Osaka. 
• Finally i didn't go home, i stayed in Japan. I went back Tokyo after 10 days. This was the time too i experienced my first shinkansen trip at 300km/h (japanese bullet train).
• attended 1 month of Corporate Entry Program of my company with other new japanese employees in April. Experienced the lowest point in my life here as i realised how weak was my japanese communication ability. 
• Attended some training programs in May and June. For example robotics, programming etc. 
• In july, went back malaysia for 2 weeks for the first time, met lots of friends and my family. Drove to Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Singapore to meet my friends. Spent lots of money.
• July, another lowest point in my life. Shot by my boss about my attitude of learning and adapting to the environment. I was not sure what they want from me. Was feeling very down.
• August, turning point in my life here. Starting the first design project of my own for our next generation products. Feel happy again, finally getting back again to real business. 
• With my experience in university, feeling confident about the progress of my project. However, things changed. With hundreds of previous designs in the server, realizing i need to get through a lot of them, calculate and understand everyone of them in order to start my part in the project. Feeling tension again as i'm in "self learning" mode from the beginning as nobody  was free to teach me anyway. Hair turning white again. 
• reached the top of mount fuji in August. From the 1st station until 10th station(top).
• keep on progressing with my first project. For designer, normally we need to plan for months before really start drawing something on the computer screen.
• Attended some R&D presentations of my company. Received lots of information about latest technology. Felt refresh and beginning to have some new ideas for my project.
• Went to CEATEC Japan in october, a mega technology exhibition. Felt that japanese are really great and clever in science and technology. Inspired by everything.
• Keep on progressing with my project. Realized that the expectation from people on me is higher. I need to perform. my first design project is exactly what the interviewers asked me in my interview session last year. The interview question sounded like this: I need you to do this, how long can u finish it?. My answer : 1 year.
• Can i really do it in 1 year? If i cannot, there is no point i'm here. I need to do it. 
• Attended the first seminar in japanese. Feel more comfortable with the language now. Watching lots of TV programs, news, listening to radios, musics to improve my japanese.
• Passed my JLPT N2 exam (Japanese Language Test Level2). Aiming for JLPT N1 end of this year. 
• Failed to get the entry into next year's Tokyo Marathon. feeling disappointed. Too many people apply for the marathon. I'll try to find another marathon event to participate during this coming winter.
• Bought my first CD in Japan. Angela Aki's "White".
• I finally know where is my favourite place in Japan. -- Maruzen bookstores.
• Still single, available, 24 years old. i've lot's of career planning for my future. But i need advices. I'm not clear enough about myself.
• met people from around the world, realized lot's of differences. 
• I feel japanese treating me better then people back in my country. Tell me i'm wrong.
• My target in 1st year here not yet been fulfilled. i was lazy. i'm lazy. but i'll not lazy.

The journey keeps on going. 

Convocation and memories

It's so so so fast!... one year & 2 months ago, it was my convocation. This week, again, convocation of my university, University of Malaya. It was deep imprinted into my mind, one of the sweetest moments. That's 1 year ago. I remembered clearly the hyperactive me in my first year, 2nd year... with series of mental challenges, my life was changed completely and i led a completely different life in 3rd year & final year. I told some friends, that i was continuing my final year projects until the last few days before i left the university, which was on the end of June, all of them thought that i nearly failed to graduate, and all of them advised me that i should finish my projects a few months earlier and wondering why i took so long in my projects =D...^^.. I like people asking me this question =).... I left for Japan a few months later on Toshiba Global Recruitment, began another completely new life.  this week, a lot of friends are graduating... I miss them so much. I've learned a lot from my friends, they were the main energy sources i had during university. some work together in a hot & toxic room, some sleep together during projects in faculty's car park. some staying in the same college, same family, same organizations in the college where i was staying in the same block, same floor, same side for 4 years. Some willing to come when i gave training, even though most of them not sure what i was rubbishing about. some are my buddies, we met once in half year but we talk until midnight everytime we met. Some doing projects in Power Lab, always open door and let me in as i wanna get some rest in that air-conditioned lab. Some willing to seat in my car as i don't want to drive alone back to penang. Some helped me to buy lunch and dinner... Some participated in schneider competition together, thinking green everyday... Some playing squash with me, although we were not strong, but somehow we worked hard and got a medal. etc etc etc etc..... there are still lots of memories in UM... i wish to be there this week.....! unfortunately....

If you ask me where i love the most, i would say it is university of malaya. If we ask ourselves, did we live our lives to the full during 4 university years? i would say yes. I feel that my university life was very very interesting with so many friends and i don't regret every single day i spent in UM... =D... i wish everybody the same! Last but not least, i have a nice Professor, Dr. Hew, who allowed me to sleep peacefully in the lab everytime i felt lazy to go home =D...

Happy convo to everyone!