Revival of The Blog - The Gap Between 2015 & 2017

The last update was back in June 2015 and oh boy, lots of things have changed since then! Looking back, things sure looked optimistic then. Things however, kinda swayed towards another direction after that. To put things simply, things kinda went downhill and I’m still sort of recovering from it even now.

I’d like to write about what happened in between the 2 years gap.

This peaceful park used to be part of the Edo Castle.

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(1) Career

Few months ago I’ve quit the digital marketing agency that I’ve been working for about 2 and a half years. I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow at the agency, as well as giving thanks to my awesome colleagues who had supported me back then. Without the experience working in the agency I would not be able to got my current job.

That being said, while I had great relationships with my colleagues at the agency, there are some things that I couldn’t agree with the agency that prompted me to seek for opportunity elsewhere.

先週は超嬉しかった一週間だったな。 ・久々の職場飲み会で盛り上がって思わず爆笑してた。 ・仕事で海外の担当者に提案したら、向こうの要求に刺さって早速受注に至った。 ・初めて伊豆へ行った。これまであまり話す機会のない同僚にも交流ができて良かった。 ・ずっと東京にいたので偶に東京離れしたいので、伊豆に来て良かった！ ・電車で東京に戻る時、窓から見た海はとても癒される。 この夏、もっと楽しもう！

A post shared by CLiFf クリフ (@cliffclf) on Jul 29, 2016 at 7:40pm PDT

Taken during summer 2016 when visiting Izu with colleagues. It was one of the better times.
I was very lucky to have met the right recruiting consultant which happened to have a client (my current employer) in need of a SEO specialist to join their company. The whole process happened faster than I expected as I managed to progress from the first meeting with the recruiter to getting the job offer all within a month.

Currently I’m working as an in-house digital marketing specialist, specializing in SEO while also looking into content marketing and social media fields. It’s a highly competitive industry and I’m still picking up something new day by day. Then again, the more things that you don’t know, the more eager you’d want to learn more about it. Looking forward for the opportunity to build up my skills and experiences to advance into this digital marketing field. Speaking of which, perhaps one day I shall write something about digital marketing, as I’ve been involving in it even without realizing it.

Company trip to Hiroshima. It was a solemn experience and looking forward to revisit the city again one day.
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(2) Health

Physically, thankfully not much major issues. I really should work out something to reduce the belly, and somehow i started to feel the symptoms of aging, though I’ve yet to reach 30’s. Mentally, that’s a different story though. To be honest, I wasn’t at the best state of mind for the past few years.

A few months right after the last blog update, something happened which prompted me to reshuffle my priority to be more immersed with the work. From that onward, things worsen while I wasn’t aware of it and the moment when I realized something wasn’t right, it was too late.

Some days I would work close to the 11th hour, literally.
At the moment I’m slowly recovering from it. Rather than keeping within myself I’d prefer to speak it out. Am considering of writing it out at some point, as mental well-being issue is not something people would be eager to talk about it openly, however if left unchecked it can destroy a person from the inside.

A bit of anxiety, but I wouldn’t call it as a depression, as it’s way messier than what I’ve been through. My case is considered juvenile compared to what those who had severe depression been through.

A post shared by CLiFf クリフ (@cliffclf) on Dec 1, 2015 at 4:21am PST

There were times when I do not look forward walking to the end of this corridor.
Perhaps I should have acted earlier to pull myself out of the mess, but better be late than never, as now I’m slowly taking steps to regain my life back. Updating the blog here is one of the initiatives to have myself do what I used to enjoyed doing. Besides writing, I’m also thinking of getting involved with sports again and have a real proper vacation for myself, sometime in 2018.

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(3) Social Life

Those who had stayed in Japan for an extended period of time will inevitably face the fact that the social circle is shrinking year by year. Many people are eager to come to Japan, but after experiencing the reality here, some decided to leave and go somewhere else, which is totally fine.

I used to laughed that some people said that they don’t really have any friends, but now I started to feel the same and can understand their sentiment in it. As we advance into adulthood, we have different priorities to take care off, and we tend to be more selective on choosing who to hangout with. If you look into yourself, nowadays we tend to spend more time with colleagues than our friends, isn’t it?  

The most obvious solution for this, is to get to know more new people.

The winter illumination at Tokyo Midtown is one of the popular spots in the city.
Which brings us to another topic which I’m frequently asked, whether I’m seeing someone. At the moment, I’m slowly regaining back control of my life after the hectic working hours at the previous workplace. I’m looking for someone whom I’m willing to commit much of my time on. Hopefully, in 2018 I can have an answer for it.

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(4) Post-PC Life, Mobile-centric

Another reason why I seldom update the blog, is because iPhone is good enough to handle most of my daily usages of Internet. Personally I find this change surprising as back then I was known as the kid who couldn’t live without turning on the computer for a day. Now, I haven’t switch on my personal laptop for almost 2 years!

iPhone 7 Plus' size is almost exactly the same as the original Game Boy.
Another reason would be, after starring at the computer screen for about 10 hours a day at work makes me shun computer during the off days. On weekends I would wonder outside rather than spending the time indoor playing with computer. The priority of spending the off days too, has changed drastically in that sense, as having a mobile device means you can get connected anywhere no matter where you’re going (except for places with poor mobile reception).

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(5) Resolutions for 2018

Now that this is the end of 2017, as usual I’d like to write down a few resolutions for next year.
Things that I’m looking forward to accomplish:
・Cycling - There are still a lot of places to be explored in Tokyo!
・Photography - I’m taking pics mostly on iPhone but am thinking of getting back into my faithful Canon.
・Writing/Composing - Training to express myself better by updating this blog more regularly.
・Traveling - It's time to have a proper rest, as I haven’t had a long vacation ever since I’ve started to work.

That’s it for now. Thank you for reading til the end and I wishes you all the best in 2018! :)

東京ビルの灯り 無数の眠れない理由が煌めいている。 #東京 #Tokyo

A post shared by CLiFf クリフ (@cliffclf) on Dec 17, 2017 at 4:05am PST

Likely to be around Tokyo for some time.

Memorable May

May has been a special month for me, as it signifies progress in my life for the past 2 years. 

In May 2014 I went back to KL briefly and successfully landed my first job. 

A year later in 2015, after spending 2 weeks back home, I came back to Tokyo fully recharged and looking forward for the challenges in work. 

Work hard on weekdays, and play hard in weekends. 

The Thai Festival in mid of May is an annual event that I wouldn't miss, for it's glorious Thai food, which suits well for my Malaysian taste bud. 

The next day, joined fellow committee members of MSAJ for fiery dinner at Manhattan Fish Market. 

A week later, went to Naruto and Star Wars exhibition at Roppongi Hills. 

Attended the official Dinner with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib with fellow Malaysians at Palace Hotel Tokyo. 

And lastly, enjoyed some nice curry rice at Penang Restaurant near Tokyo Tower. 

So as you can see, May has been a wonderful month for me. I'm grateful for everything and everyone who's been involved. 

Let's hope June and months to come will be as great as May! ;) 

My Experience Working in Japan's Marketing Industry (1st year)

I'm currently having a short break back home in KL, and have a bit of time to write about my experience working in Japan so far. At the moment I'm 2 months away for my 1st working "anniversary".

I'd like to share it in few phases on working in Japan so far.

Prelude

Home sweet home KL, somewhere I belong.



Just over a year ago, I arrived back home in KL 2 months after I've graduated in March. I was in the middle of job-hunting, it was an uncertain time and I wanted to unwind myself back home for awhile, before continuing job-hunting again soon.

After fully recharged back home, I headed back to Tokyo and successfully landed my first job.

Phase 1: Entering the Marketing Industry

View of Shinjuku from the office.


While I was hired as SEO consultant, my initial job scope was to manage a media website introducing life in Japan from the perspective of foreigners. That's my first encounter with content and search engine marketing.

The boss gave me the freedom to manage the site whatever ways that I want, and in return demanded the increase of unique user' session counts each month. All this while the industry has been emphasizing on creating original content, and we tried to employ it as part of our strategy. How's the verdict? To put things short, it didn't went as planned.

However, it was a valuable experience on trying to manage such a website from end-to-end, namely the maintenance of the platform (WordPress for this case), recruiting writers, update & fine-tune the blog posts, and finally spread it out on the social networks.

After working at the first company for few months, here comes an offer from the parent company who're looking for staffs to fill up the larger parent company. I took the chance and looking forward working at a different environment.

Phase 2: Shifting to the Bigger Arena

The parent company is a total different story and scale.

The number of employees in the Tokyo office is about 500 compared to 20 at the previous company.
As one of the top Internet marketing agency in Japan, the parent company handles quite a number of big-name clients' cases. It's SEO solution is one of the most sought-after services provided by the company.

During the initial 2 months, I've went through various training courses about the basics of Internet marketing, something I should've done it at the previous company. Good thing about company of this scale, is that there are opportunities to attend seminars hosted by big G and other major players in the industries. It's certainly helpful to keep myself updated with the latest trends happening in the industry. Sometimes this kind of talk is much effective in making a point than reading it online.

At that moment, I was trying to absorb as many knowledge as I can by doing things at my own pace. I didn't really understand the need of staying back til late night. Those days were the honeymoon period when I'm able to leave the office on time around 7pm.

Christmas cake sponsored by the boss.

Phase 3: Facing The Reality

One of my favourite pastime is take a stroll after lunch enjoying sakura bloom.


As I was a freshie in the company, I was eager to proof my worthiness to be in the company quickly by handling cases.

Over the next few months I was given the tasks of making proposal to clients on how can they improve their websites. I did struggled but that's normal as it was my first time doing it. After all, we learn the most by embracing mistakes that we've made along the way.

However, when the dateline presses on, it's not uncommon to leave the office after 10pm, and on extreme days, barely able to catch the last train of the day. When I reached my apartment, it's already passed the dateline (12am) and when I finally managed to settled down, it's already 1 or 2am. After sleeping for a few hours, I'm back in the office working just like zombie.

I don't mind to stay up late once in awhile, but I'm alarmed that this continues for weeks to come, to an extent that the unhealthy work-life balance has taken a toll on my own health. Plus, sleep deprive makes me a very different person than I'm usually is.

Fortunately, I've supportive supervisor and colleagues around to guide me when in need. I'm thankful for that, really.

Surprised to know that 2 other colleagues are sharing the same birthday as mine!

To Infinity, and Beyond!

Exploring an unknown territory in life.


I realized that I'm fortunate able to work at this current company because it's not be easy to be able to get into such a big agency.

When it comes to future prospects, there are a few points to ponder.

1) Over the few months or years to come, I wanna learn as many things as I can to become an independent marketing consultant. It takes time so I shouldn't rush for it.

2) If the work-life balance issue still persists, I may need to reconsider my plan in order to maintain myself to be able to work at the optimum rate most of the time.

3) For the next few years, I shall decide should I renew the working visa, or not. It's obvious where I'll be heading, should I didn't renew the visa.

I believe I have to make some key decisions sooner or later.
Life's having a little turbulence right now, but as I sort it out gradually, things will get better and I'm eager to announce it here, should there's any breakthrough progress.

Until then, thanks for reading this blog all this while. :)

I get wings to fly, oh~ I'M ALIVE.

Hi there, it's been awhile, really.... 

Doing pretty well here so far.... 

Mainly wanna test just how good is this default Blogger app for iPhone. 

A cool graffiti in somewhere near Naka-Meguro, Tokyo. 

Sushi set lunch around ¥800+, pretty good deal for 12 pieces. 

Ramen for lunch. 

Just a few pics update for now.... I do have some stories which I'd like to share, will definitely try to write up something soon. 

Lastly, something exotic, Sakura meat. Google it if you've no idea what is it. 

First month getting into the job.

Just a short write up about my job. For the first month I'm grateful that everything has been going on pretty smoothly.

Contra to friends' stories of workplace abuse by seniors, my colleagues are very nice and we get along pretty well. I only learn that I'm the first foreign employee in the company's Japan branch.

As August is the hottest season in Tokyo, I'm glad that my company don't have any dress code restrictions and therefore we can wear anything to work (sans birthday suit of course).

Shinjuku skyline view from the office.
To put it simply, our company provides SEO service and consultation for clients.
We have external and internal services.

For external service, we assist the client to make their current website getting better search result ranking and increase in traffic (organically), as well as patch up the penalties from Google that dragged the client's search result ranking down.

Currently I'm being tasked for the internal service side for building up SEO-friendly websites.
It isn't something complicated, just maintaining WordPress blogs and try to tweak plugins here and there.

Now that the dots has connected, that all the years of blogging (since 2004) can finally be put into a better use in my career. Of course, given the head start I'll be learning more stuffs in the near future.

I shall continue to work and learn for the following few months, before consulting my boss to get better picture of the company's future plans. At the moment we're under transaction period, so I guess it's better to speak as the company settles down.

My company is expanding to SEA in the near future, and Malaysia's being one of their consideration, and therefore I was hired. At the moment we don't have a timeframe when we'll setting up a new branch in Malaysia, the fastest could be next year, perhaps?

Job Hunting in Japan

I'm delighted to announce that I've landed a job in Tokyo, and will be start working from July onwards. Main job focus will be search engine optimization (SEO).

Well, let me share something or two about my experience of job-hunting in Japan.

1) It’s better to start early, but no harm to start later either.

In Japan the job-hunting (就職活動) for university graduates started about a year before graduation, which means the final year will be busy with job-hunting and 4th (final) year projects/researches. In fact, the previous trend was such that students start looking for jobs at least 1.5 years before graduation. At the same time, it's a rather time-consuming process to go through the companies, attending the career seminars and interviews for many rounds...

This may be slightly different than other countries.

Back in Malaysia, the students either started few months before graduation, or few months after graduation (sabbatical vacation in between). The process is rather straight-forward with just a few interviews, compared to a norm of at least 3 or more rounds of interview per company in Japan.

For my case, my plan changed drastically in the final year. Instead of further studying in Masters, I've decided to take a gamble and get into job-hunting.

I started rather late, just a month before graduation in March. Went to close to 10 companies' interview before settling down at this IT venture at the end of May.

For international students in Japan, we are entitled to apply for job-hunting visa (特定活動申請), as the name suggested for us to continue looking for job even after graduation. The duration given is half year, but extendable up to a year (eg: graduated in March 2014, but eligible to stay in Japan til March 2015).

While it may seems to be a risky move, no harm give yourself a little more time to look for suitable companies. From my experience, small venture companies or non-Japanese companies have higher chance of hiring people all year round, unlike the usual period that most Japanese companies abide to.

2) The advantage of a Malaysian student in Japan

It's not just Malaysians only, but generally speaking South East Asian (SEA) students are being actively scouted and recruited by Japanese companies.

With the current Japanese government's pro-SEA stance, more Japanese companies are eager to expand their business to the southern region instead of their closeby neighbours (due to political clashes obviously).

Manufacturing plants in Thailand or Vietnam, and service hubs at Singapore or Malaysia.
Cheaper cost, politically-stable and decent infrastructures are some of the main reasons of the SEA expansion.

The Japanese companies like to hire SEA students, train them in Japan for a yew years, before sending them back to their home country to take on senior positions. My company is thinking the same as well. Some, will stay in Japan to work for longer terms.

While this may not apply on every Malaysian students, the companies and general Japanese audiences are in awe of Malaysians' multilingual ability. We can, at least speak 3 languages: Malay, English, Japanese (we're studying in Japan after all), and some who're able to speak Chinese Mandarin too, made us versatile to adapt to work in different countries as we have lesser language barriers.

Our linguistic skills are highly valued here, and therefore I suggest for anyone out there, try to brush up your languages if you can, especially Bahasa Malaysia heh.

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For now I shall leave it here with these 2 points.
Perhaps after working for awhile, I shall post my experience of working a few months later.

卒業生代表 答辞

　春の始まりを告げる、桜を咲かせる季節となりました。　



本日、私たち卒業生のために、このような盛大な卒業式を挙行して頂き、誠にありがとうございます。ご臨席を賜りました学長先生をはじめ、ご多忙にもかかわらず、ご出席下さった皆様に、卒業生一同、心よりお礼申し上げます。

4年前、この尚美学園大学に入学した時は、今までとは異なる環境で、慣れるまで少し時間がかかりました。不安もありましたが、今日この日を、共に歩んできた仲間たちと迎えられたことを、とても幸せに思います。

大学生活は、あっという間に過ぎました。しかし、一瞬一瞬を大切にし、新境地に挑戦する機会が増え、充実した日々を送ることが出来たと確信しております。

また、学業とサークル活動、アルバイトなどを両立させながら過ごした日々の中で、一緒に学び、悩み、励まし合って困難を乗り越えてきた仲間、先輩、後輩との出会いは、一生に繋がる絆になると信じております。

そして、私たちが安心して大学生活を送ることができたのも、職員の皆様、家族、多くの方々のお力添えがあって実現したことと感じております。お世話になった方々に心より感謝申しあげます。

本日、私たちは尚美学園大学を卒業し、4月からそれぞれの道に歩み出します。

卒業生の皆様にとって、今年お花見の雰囲気は少し違うのでしょう。大学入学式の時に、ワクワクの気持ちがあったのでしょうが、今年の桜はある意味では新たな一歩を踏み出すことになります。

いよいよ私達が社会に登場します。学生としての学習を終え、これから社会人としての自覚と責任を持ち、頼るのではなく頼られる人間へと成長していかなければなりません。険しく厳しい出来事に対しても、最後まで諦めずに、本学で学び得たことを生かし、努力することを惜しまず、自分が信じ歩んだ道に、いつか、自分なりの花を咲かせたいと思います。

最後になりましたが、未熟な私たちを温かく励まし、ご指導下さいました諸先生方、様々な場面で私たちを支えて下さった職員の皆様、そして大学卒業を迎えた今日まで私たちの成長を見守り続けてくださった家族、その他多くの方々に重ねて心よりお礼申しあげると共に、後輩の皆様方のご活躍を祈り、尚美学園大学のより一層の発展を願って、答辞とさせていただきます。


平成26年3月22日
卒業生代表　
芸術情報学部　情報表現学科
チェン　リン　ファン　

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こちらの原稿は、実際に卒業式に読み上げたものとは若干異なっています。

The First Quarter

Just a few days ago on 6th of March, I've celebrated my 25th birthday.
The first quarter of the century, hopefully I'll have at least 2 more quarters to go ahead!

If we breakdown life this way, I'd say the 1st quarter is essential as one learns most of the skills and experiences at this period before proceeding to the next stages, which our mind kinda "solidifies" and may not be able to absorb knowledges as good as we were before we hit the 20's.

Having great time with friends at one of my favourite restaurant in Tokyo.

So today, I'd like to reflect upon some of the principles and values that become my way of life.

1) Stand by your own decisions with no regrets
At times I wonder, what I will be doing now, should I didn't chose to came to Japan almost 6 years ago.

And sometimes, I do wonder what sort of position I'll be in right now, should I chose another university instead of my current one (which I'll be graduating soon in 2 weeks' time).

In life we do have doubts over decisions that we've made. Often we do not know about the outcome until we've gone through it thoroughly. Naturally, no one likes to fail, so people would try to choose the path with less risk.

For me, I stand by my decisions, because I dislike the feeling of regretting over things. Part of me tends to dwell over things that isn't under my control, so I'll try to realign myself to get over the feeling of guilt of not making the correct decision at the first place.

Once you've decided something, stick to it and allocate full commitment for it 'til the end.

2) Timing is crucial
At times we get to know someone new, or given the chance to explore something unfamiliar. These experiences could be the 'something' that may change your life.

Given such opportunity, one has to seize the chance, at the correct timing.

Few days ago, I had a conversation with a close friend and it sort of struck me as if I were to take action during last summer, something could be brewing up right now. But then, my aim in last summer was something very much different, and therefore I didn't considered it at all.

Sticking to the 1st value, what's done is done, and there's nothing to regret, though I may need a few more days to ponder and move on.

3) Accept failure as part of learning process
Failure is a bitter pill to swallow, but that's part of life, whether you like it or not.

From my few years experience here in Japan, it isn't as successful as I appears to be in public profile (Facebook, for example). I mean, no one likes to make failures public, right?

For example, I didn't did well in the few interviews that I had so far. I thought I was confident enough and answered pretty well, but eventually the result suggested otherwise, which of course, can really make a hit on one's morale.

Nevertheless, I'll try to recall what had happened and try to be mentally more prepared for it, to do a better job during the next interview.

I used to take it hardly, and the downtime really affects me a lot. But now, I'll try to be more flexible with it....
It's OK to make mistakes, as long as it doesn't blow up the entire plan to smithereens.

"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up." - Batman Begins

4) Stop blaming others
When I'm working in a team with others, inevitably things may be messed up due to human error. When that something happened, it's important not to point the finger to the particular individual who messed things up.

From my relatively shallow experiences, I can understand that sometimes it's too harsh to put the blame on someone only. Instead, I'll usually analyze the case and if it's just an unfortunate accident, what we have to focus is trying to fix things up, instead of putting pressure on someone to make him/her even more guilty.

However, there's this someone that I'd blame when things don't go as well as I initially planned. That someone is none other than myself. While I can be kind to others, I can be harsh towards myself.

Whenever something doesn't go on my way, I'd try to figure out what's wrong on my side and how can I fix it up.... but sometimes I'm putting too much pressure on myself.
Luckily after a few days, I'm up and ready to move on as usual.

5) Cherish the friendship
I managed to made it through today without any major problems, for a large part of the credits I'd gave to the friends around me. Without you all, I may not be able to achieve what I had today.

During the 1st year in the university, I wasn't in the best position as I'm trying to adapt myself into a totally new environment where most people spoke in a language which back then, my Japanese proficiency level wasn't that good enough to blend in well.

Slowly and steadily, I built up the network of friends over the past few years. I always like the fact that in the school, walking pass a few corridors and you'll be greeted by other students or maybe lecturers. I felt at ease whenever someone I know is closeby.

As I'll be graduating soon, so do some of my friends as well. Some, will be leaving Japan and going back for good. To be frank, farewells isn't my cup of tea. Parting has always been something troubling to me.

Slowly, the end of March is getting closer, I got a feeling that I'll be attending a few farewell parties to come in these few weeks. :(

Group pic with lecturers and fellow coursemates in the recording studio.


6) Pay attention to the inner voice
I'm not sure about other people, but sometimes I felt like I'm having an inner conversation with the other "me" residing in my mind.

It's some sort of like the angel and devil figure pops out together, suggesting different views at the same time. One speaks of practicality, while another speaks of ideals.

This is especially true when I'm buying stuffs.
Sometimes I'd consider a few times whether I should get it or not, and often, I step out of the shop empty handed. My argument is that since I can make do without that thing, so I'm not losing anything even if I don't buy it.

I believe the inner voice represents the dormant thoughts that do not manifest itself on the surface. Some said, follow the lead of your inner voice as it will lead you to the answer of your question.

When hesitating over something, try to calm down and stay focus on what's inside you is trying to tell you.

7) Make peace with the past
This is a problem that I have yet to overcome so far.
One particular scenario that still affects me a lot, is something to do with my 'home' back in Malaysia.

Our family moved to a new place few years back while I'm still in Japan. When I went back to our new home for the first time, everything seems familiar and yet, so unfamiliar.

The place where I once called home, is no longer ours.
It upsets me when I went back to the old house and found out that the new owner has taken a drastic step to renovate the entire house that effectively erased almost every bits of my memory of that place where I lived for almost 20 years.

Even today, once in awhile in my dream the location will set at the old house. Everything seems to be great until I woke up, forcing myself to accept the fact that now it only exists in the memories or dreams.

Whenever I had the chance to go back, I'll try to make some time to revisit the old place, trying to reconcile my past and present. At least, once I've made peace with it, I can move on and look forward for the world that lies ahead of me.

Before the transformation, as how I remembered it.


I know, my past actions affects my present, and my present actions will manifest in the future. 

8) In search of true happiness
This could be the ultimate aim for everyone, to be happy in life, genuinely.

For me, I'm still in the process of achieving it.
How do I do it? I'll do it my way.
It takes time.... but have faith in oneself, I strongly believe that I can achieve it one day. ;)

Happiness is.... having your favourite food done correctly! One of the best chicken rice in Tokyo!

There are still somethings that I want to achieve here in Tokyo.
In the meantime.... I will continue to work hard to achieve it!

日本で、まだやらなければならないことがあるから、暫く残っていくつもりだ！

4年間の大学

随分長い間ブログを更新していなく、自分には申し訳ないな気持ちは多少あるけど、まあ言い訳はこれだけにしておこう。

日本語でブログ記事を書くのは初めてではないが、このブログは99%は英語でずっと書かれてきたので、今回は初めて全ては日本語で書きたい。

さて、本日のテーマは4年間の大学生活について正直な感想を述べたい。

2009年に来日、1年間日本語学校を通い、2010年に埼玉県川越市にある尚美学園大学に入学、2014年3月に卒業予定。と、簡単な日本にいる履歴である。

学園祭


それでは、一番最近の出来事から書こう。

卒業決まりの制作

4年生は卒業できるかどうかは、卒業制作発表で指導教員の先生たちによって決定される。
既に2月上旬に終了したが、よくできたとは言えない。
他人を納得させたような作品にはならず、むしろ「一体何なんだこれ」と自分にも質疑を出した。

発表終了後、いつも丁寧に教えて下さった先生からかなり厳しいコメントを頂いたので、少し心配なんだ。
でも、そんなに下手な発表ではなかったので、一応合格できるであろう。
作曲でも良かったなと今更だけど、考えた時もう発表後なので、悔しくはなんて思っていない。

何を勉強したか？

大学で授業を取るのは当たり前だが、学生に聞いてみて、授業で何を勉強したかと。

自分の専攻は音響と言うんだけど、他に興味を持つ科目はいっぱいあった。音楽やら、情報やら、文化とかについてはもっと知りたい、学びたいという欲望は確かに強かった。

ただ単位数を取るのだけではなく、自分が本気で勉強したいからこそ履修科目に登録した。

で、科目を選択する時、科目シラバスを読んで授業内容を理解しておく。

けど、いくら面白そうな科目であっても教える側のやり方が下手なのであれば僕にとっては最悪だ。

教室の雰囲気が上手く保てない、学生に適切な指摘をしない、そういう先生がいたら、授業アンケートに厳しく評価した。首になるまでではないが、僕の学習環境には妥協はしない。

授業を取っている時に実は先生の行動も観察している。ある意味では日本人を学ぶということだね。

幸いなのは、大学でも素晴らしい先生と出会えた。

難しいこと、かつつまらなさそうなことを分かりやすいく説明できる先生には大尊敬。

今喋っている日本語もある部分そういう先生たちに影響されたかと考えられる。やはり口癖が付いてくるんだね。（笑）

3年間過ごしていた上福岡キャンパス。現在取り壊し作業中。今後住宅になるかも？

生活費用と成績の関係とは？

私費留学生である僕にとっては奨学金が頂けたら日本での生活はもっと楽になるのだ！って考える訳である。
1ヶ月大抵10万円の奨学金は上手く利用すれば十分だと思う。
でも残念ながら僕はそう言った◯◯財団からの奨学金みたいなのは一切頂いておらない。

代わりに、僕は学業に頑張った（本当は果たすべき責任を果たしただけだ）。

大学の学費全免が頂けるため、この4年間ちゃんとある程度を維持してきた。2年生の時からずっと頂いており、おかげ様で大学生活は楽になった。あとはバイトすれば生活費用はなんとなく乗り越えられた。

ところで、大学の成績はあまり気にしない。だって就職活動では成績を見る会社は少ない。優秀な人物とは、
良い成績が取れるとは限らない。自分の才能がよく発揮できる、自信を持つ人間でありたい。

「上福岡丼」という唐揚げ丼、学食の定番だった。吸い物付き、390円。

埼玉県って何があるの？

大学の4年間は川越市の近くに住んでいる。

埼玉って特にとても有名なものはすぐにピンと来なかった。春日部と言えば、クレヨンしんちゃんのことくらいは知っているけど、他に紹介できるものは何かと悩んでいたりしたんでね。（笑）

川越というのは古くから存在している町で、中にも17世紀に建てられた神社やお寺がある。でも一番有名なのは、小江戸町だ。川越の一番街によく来ているので、友達が遊びに来たら観光案内でもできるようになった。

関東地方でも有名な川越まつり、毎年も学園祭の期間と重ねている。

川越は池袋から約30分の電車で、東京よりそんなに遠くない。

去年開通した東武東上線、東京メトロ副都心線、東急東横線の連携で、渋谷や横浜まで乗り換えなしで行けるようになって交通アクセスも便利。

ただ、自分の考えなんだけど、都市っ子の僕はやはりもうちょっと賑やかの方が良いなと思う。

また、東京にもよく行くので、もっと近くの志木市か朝霞市に住めば良いなも思うね。

埼玉って家族と一緒に暮らす良い場所だと考えている。

子育てに専念したければ埼玉は僕の一押しオススメだ。

自然に近いし、スペイスが広いし、大型のお店もある。

東京でないことのおかげで、物価もそんなに高くない。

狭山茶の畑。京都の宇治茶と静岡の緑茶と並び、日本三大茶と知られている。

良い選択だったか？

この質問は偶に自分に問う。

音響専攻でなければ、たぶん国際関係学部にしたかもしれない。大学を選択する時に、確かに国際関係も考慮していたが、ちょっと普通しすぎると思ってもっと専門的な音響にしたのだ。

国際関係だと都内にたくさんの大学があるはずだよね。

ではなぜ、埼玉県にある尚美にしたのか？音響を学べる専門学校はあるが、大学は少ないということである。

たった1年間日本語を勉強したので、当時の能力ではおそらく早稲田か慶應に受験できなかったであろう。

学校の名声は非常に良いが、学費も高いと知られるんだね。

今振り返ってみると、尚美にして良かったと確信している。

卒業後はどうする？

これは今の課題である。答えは、就職する。

本来は大学院にしようとしたが、結局上手く行かず急に企画変更になってしまった。

そのため、本気に就職活動をスタートしたのは遅かった。

進学したいと考えたのも就職するという心理準備はまだできていなかったからだ。

現在自分が本当に入社したい会社を見つけた。履歴書を出したが、面接の連絡を待機中。

今度の面接は上手く行けば、ここの近くで働くことになるかも。それは強く望んでいる。

できれば早く決定しておいて、一時的に帰国したい。

向こうで休みを取る訳ではなく、実際に大事な用があるから…それを済ませるために帰国するのだ。

以上、4年間の大学についての感想であった。ここまでお読みになって、ありがとうね。

（というか、読んでくれる相手はいるんだろう？いたらコメントを残しておいてね。（笑））

--------------------------------------

一晩で書き出した記事であった。

今回は英語にしなかった訳は、やはり日本の生活を語るのに日本語での表現が自然的に出てくるのだから。

もし英語にすると、頭の中に翻訳が必要なので時間がもっとかかるはずだ。

来日前に、自分が短期間に日本語を勉強できるのかと疑っていたが、今こういう文章があまり苦労なく書けて、あの時の疑いには応答したんだね。

このブログも今年11月になると、10周年ということで、もっと書いていくべきだと思っている。

これから数年の間、まだ日本に居たい。

Sparkle of Summer

The spring semester ended rather quietly, as I only have to sit for 1 paper before proceeding with my summer holiday.

Unlike past few years, this time I'm not going back to Malaysia during the break. I've things to settle here and boy I'm glad that I've chosen so. Particularly, the preparation for grad school's application requires a lot of reading and thinking, as such that I need the time and space to concentrate solely on this. At times I get distracted easily especially by the computer, so I'd just took the books, bought some snacks and consume everything at a nearby local community center, which at the same time I get to enjoy the cool breeze from the free air-cond.

I try to pamper myself with the optimum condition, hopefully I can came out with some brilliant ideas for the research theme for the grad school. It's like inspiration that struck at anytime, so you have to be prepared for it.

So far I've rough idea on what I'm planning to do, just need a little more polish up and refining the presentation of the theme. It's not an easy task as I'm planning to get into a totally different field. I definitely have to self-study a lot of materials in order to catch up.

Speaking of summer holiday, it isn't that boring after all.

I've got a friend visiting from KL few days ago, and since I decided to take some break from the daily routine, I brought them around downtown Tokyo.

But my style is more towards exploration on foot, so it's not the ideal way to bring ladies around, especially during summer. Good thing it wasn't the type of scorching summer we suffered few weeks earlier, the weather were rather mild and still survivable.

First stop was Ginza, the high-end shopping district of Tokyo.
For normal people it's not somewhere that you can shop frequently, but with certain know-how one can enjoy Ginza without spending a single yen.

Some of the notable shops to visit in Ginza would be:

• Sony Building (electronics) - free screening of 4K or 3D videos at the top floor, check out pre-release gadgets
• Uniqlo & GU (apparel) - full collection and reasonable pricing
• Yamaha (music instruments) - if lucky one can enjoy free piano recital at the top floor music hall
• Abercrombie & Fitch (apparel) - check out the shop's atmosphere and the salesperson

Of course there are definitely a lot more interesting shops around available for all to enter for free, but sometimes from the exterior it seems to be a place pretty stiff to step foot in, so yeah....

And since Tsukiji, Tokyo's fish market is not that far from Ginza, it's worth to walk 15 mins down the main street to reach the fishy territory.

Tsukiji Sushiko is the choice for gourmet sushi experience. Usually I'd prefer to visit the main branch as it's longer operation hours and pretty comfortable interior to let guests enjoy the sushi slowly. The price may not be the cheapest, but given for a probably once in a lifetime experience, I think it's pretty worth it. Set which cost 2,000~3,000 yen is satisfying as it comes in quality as well as quantity.

And of course, one of the highlights of the night would be the night view of Tokyo station.


The night before the Ginza trip, we actually went to the Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival (隅田川花火大会), but due to bad weather the show was called off halfway.

Unfortunately my camera was soaked by the rain, and was rendered useless with the lens error and weird noise. Sent it to Canon's service center and was told that water damage is excluded from the warranty, so I've to pay for the repair cost. Just hope that it won't cost that much though....

Ironically, I managed to took some decent shots of the fireworks before the rain falls....





During the last time I brought them around the west side of central Tokyo, namely Ebisu, Shibuya, Harajuku & Shinjuku.

Visiting the beer museum which named after a deity, Ebisu.

For dinner we wondered around the infamous RLD of Tokyo, Shinjuku's Kabukicho.

The guest wanted to tried out unagi (freshwater eel). At first I was a little reluctant as it's quite costly but thinking that they should try out the real deal, I gave in and we entered the shop. It was one of the best decision ever!

While I'm trying to explain to them the menu, the chef came over and spoke to us. Out of the blues, he told us that he's a Penangite! Now that we've a common language, he explained the unagi-related menu to us, which definitely helps a lot.

And, the unagi served in this restaurant (新宿うな鉄) is probably the best I've ever had so far.... Portion-wise it's may not be satisfying for some, but the grilled eel is sinfully delicious!

Many people love unagi, but the truth is, even for normal Japanese it's not something one can eat often. I think I can count the number of times I had unagi for the past few years single-handed.

And that, folks, concludes the brief blog update for this summer season.
Bless that the remaining August would be slightly cooler than previous years eh....

'til then.

"Are you from China?"

One of the common questions that Japanese would ask me when we first met.

"Are you from China?"
"Err... nope."
"Then, are you from Korea?"
"Nope!"
"Hmm.... Taiwan or Hong Kong?"
"Too bad! I'm from Malaysia hah!"

Well, my ancestors did came from mainland China, but I'm originated from Malaysia.

It's a simple question indeed, and most of the time they ask harmlessly, mainly out of curiosity.

Whenever I told them I'm from Malaysia, their attitude and expression changed drastically. Luckily, most Japanese have good impression about Malaysia so most of the time I managed to shake off the situation pretty easily.

For the Japanese, stereotype still exists for foreigners, but not all the time on the negative sides. They may not hurl abusive racial taunts openly, but if you observe carefully, you can notice the difference in treatment and attitude towards different groups of people.

And among the foreigners, unfortunately Japan's closest neighbours, China & Korea (North & South) suffered from least-desirable reputation. From my observation, South East Asians enjoyed better reception compared to those East Asia nations.

So.... why would the Japanese ask me such question?

1 Name

First, the clue lies within my name.

In Japan I either use my name in alphabet or in katakana, but I don't really use my Chinese name. Naturally, the name is pronounced and sounded like Chinese, due to my Chinese heritage obviously.

In order to fix that, I'd try to introduce myself a more westernized name, as Cliff (クリフ).
Not only it makes my name shorter, but it's also easier to remember than my full name, which can be confusing for the Japanese.
And by adopting a westernized name, I'm trying to avoid being stereotyped like typical foreigner.

2 Appearance 

Secondly.... my appearance does resemble Chinese (why of course!) .

For those who're unfamiliar with this issue, actually Malaysian Chinese looks slightly different than those from mainland.

I used to have trouble to differentiate Japanese, Chinese & Korean, but nowadays I can more or less able to differentiate them.

Although East Asians share a lot of common facial features, there are still some distinctive traits that separate one from each others. But sometimes the observation can be futile when the subject applied layers of make-ups.

Interestingly, or ironically, back in Malaysia I was being told that I somewhat started to resemble Japanese a little. Heck, even a few vendors at KL's Central Market (Pasar Seni) greeted me "Konnichiwa!" instead of "Welcome" or "Selamat datang" when I visited there earlier this year.

3 Intonation & Slang

Thirdly.... the intonation and slang perhaps?

It's easy to tell whether you're foreigner by the moment you start to speak the Japanese language. Even for someone who'd spent close to a decade living in Japan, there're still faint traces of the mother tongue mixed in the language.

Generally speaking, Malaysian Chinese's intonation slightly resembles those from Taiwan and southern China, therefore we don't show the characteristic "Rrrr~~~~" sound by those who speak the more proper Chinese Mandarin, eg the Beijing style. In fact, some of us have problem to pronounce "R" properly!

As for Malaysians, we would unconsciously mixed a few words from other languages into our conversation. It's not uncommon for our conversations contain at least 3 or 4 different languages.

Like from my own example, nowadays when I speak to fellow Malaysian friends, we would mix English, Malay & Japanese together. For some we'd throw in some dialects to make it even more confusing, and yet miraculously can be deciphered by another Malaysian without much effort.
(refer Bahasa Rojak on Wikipedia)

Well these 3 facts are based on my observations so far....

------------------------------------------------

Personally, I may have something to say about Chinese from mainland, but I'll try to keep it in a more neutral tone.

It's not just in Japan, in fact even in Malaysia and other countries, Chinese from the mainland don't really enjoy glittering reputation and reception, for certain reasons that I believe need to be written here.

Not sure whether is it because influenced by staying here for some time, I find it slightly insecure when surrounded by bunch of Chinese students here. Although they spoke a familiar and common language, however I find myself tensed up at times. Internally, there's this struggle of trying to distance myself from them.

One of the reason would be the tough competition among foreign students, as Chinese students made up more than 60% of the entire international students population in Japan. Competition for scholarships, job opportunities, etc....

However, all these are just psychological self-protection mechanism cast by myself. In other word, paranoid lol. In reality, it wasn't that bad at all!

So far the few Chinese students I knew personally are quite nice & friendly.
I guess it's really a matter that one might think unfavourably of others without trying to get to understand them.

But nevertheless, I'd still advise to be careful of them.
It's OK to be nice to others, but don't let others take advantage on your kindness.

End of the line, I for one, proud to be a Malaysian as ever & trying to broaden up the mind beyond the local ethnic Chinese's mindset.

Deciding The Future

It's been busy as usual.

Now that I'm in my final year, I only have to attend a class or two every week. But most of the time I'd still be going to school as I couldn't concentrate well doing things in my room. I don't really mind the 30 mins bicycle trip but the weather could be the worse enemy soon in coming months.

Well, the time frame of looking for the postgrad degree university is slightly earlier than I thought. At the moment 2 universities that offered the course I wanna study (sociology) is Ritsumeikan University & Doshisha University, both located at Kyoto.

This weekend will be heading to Kansai for some MSAJ-related meetings and at the same time looking out for the universities. Tentatively I'd like to meet with the lecturers who could support my research topic. What I plan to do with my research? I shall reveal them when everything's set and confirmed.... but those who're keen enough could smell something's brewing heh.... Just that, I won't be doing things related to sound and that's for sure.

But lately it's been kinda worn out.... Maybe I committed a little too much that I can handle myself, but sometimes I just dislike to let the time wasted just like that, might as well keep myself occupied to do at least something contributive & constructive.

Really, I shouldn't really be complaining about it as I learn a lot of things by getting involved in things, namely those in MSAJ & university's staff job.

Soon I might be joining up Confederation of International Students Associations in Japan (CISA), but to what extend I plan to commit, will have to observe the structure of the organization better. Currently it's still in infant stage where founding members are discussing and drafting the key constitutions for it. It ain't easy to get on hold to have so many different students associations gather up together on a common purpose.

Regarding the university job as student staff I've been working for a year, this year the school had changed their policies, canceling the students' working shift and instead we're mobilized as an "on-demand" unit where the different departments will call us up whenever they need extra hand to help them with certain activities or events.

And to add up the heavy loads of commitments, I should've started my final year project too.... but I plan to kickstart it in mid June when I'm done with MSAJ's affairs. Planning to take a break for a moment to concentrate on other more important things.

What about leisure? Hmm.... didn't really went to too much places lately, other then (almost) weekly commute to downtown Tokyo for various meetings and events. I didn't even went out for bicycle exploring as I normally did back then.... Maybe I felt a little guilty if I had a little too much fun heh....

Anyhow, to sum things up....
I'm currently occupied with
- MSAJ + CISA
- Post-grad univ admission
- Final year project

Hopefully by autumn, things can get settled down even more....
Until then again....

Q & A: Studying in Japan as a private student (Part II)

Part I here

Financial management

One of the most important aspects of living in Japan is financial management.

For starters it's recommended to spare some cash, say 100k~200k yen. Even in Japan, credit card may not be widely accepted all over the places, particularly paying miscellaneous fees or buying stuffs off local shops. It's natural that for starters to spend a lot initially to get essential items ready, like futon, bicycle, and some other stuffs.

If you're lucky you may get stuffs leftover by seniors, which really helped to save up a lot.
Or if you’re staying together with a bunch of friends, some of the essential needs can be shared together which save cost too, such as cooking utensils.

If you’re really short of cash, it is possible to withdraw cash from ATM using the credit card, but be warned that the transaction fee is not cheap, so use it when you really need it.

Setting up a bank account

The Japanese language school I attended was kind enough to help us to setup a Japanese bank account. I was being told that it's not easy for non-Japanese to apply a bank account in Japan without a guarantor. Having a proper bank account is definitely useful for bank transactions.

Another great alternative would be Japan Post bank (ゆうちょ銀行), which is the bank associated with the post office. Almost anyone can apply for it, and it’s very convenient to set the JP bank’s account as auto-paying account for bills. Definitely save up lots of hassle and some services even give discount for auto-paying the bill.

Transferring money from Malaysia

Once we’ve run out of juice we’ll need reinforcement.
Now then, since you’ve a bank account ready, so it’s time to transfer money into it?

Initially I had the money transferred from Malaysia to the Japanese bank, but the transaction fee of JPY 5,000 (about RM 200 by that time’s rate) was a little too much to bear, so I’ve decided to try another method.

During the summer holiday I went back to Malaysia and opened a Maybank account.
The Maybank cherry debit card is very useful as it's a credit card and ATM card at the same time.

Once you’ve your Maybank account loaded, to get the money in Japan go to the ATM that supports PLUS card. If you flip over the Maybank card you’ll see a PLUS symbol. Usually in Japan, Seven-Eleven’s ATM supports PLUS card. I’ve seen that some bank’s ATM supports as well, but personally haven’t tried it before.

Do make sure that when withdrawing, choose Saving Account instead of Credit Card. For each transaction, RM 12 is charged for processing fees, which I tthink is still pretty reasonable. Do take note that there’s a default limit of RM 5,000 withdrawal per day, but you can set the limit yourself using a Maybank ATM in Malaysia.

I’ve seen my friend uses Citibank as they have branches in Tokyo.  

Another method I’ve heard but haven’t tried is Western Union service.
It’s essentially an international money transfer service that’s able to send money rather swiftly.
They seem to have a few outlets in Tokyo that handles Western Union transaction so might as well check it out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's all for today before it gets too long-winded..... To be continued in Part III.

Q & A: Studying in Japan as a private student (Part I)

Was thinking to write long-winded post as usual, but thought it could be a better idea to make it a Q&A style....

Q: What makes you chose to study in Japan at the first place?

When I’m done with my A levels exam in end of 2008, initially my plan was to consider settling down in local private institution, or maybe heading to Australia to further studies. What I planned to study was something related to humanities & culture, in another term, anthropology.

Then, out of sudden my father asked whether I’m interested to further study in Japan.

It was a tempting offer, because unlike my sisters, I did not consider studying in China at all. Maybe Taiwan? But either way, given the chance, why not give it a try, to the land of Far East.

Then, I reconsider my initial study plan, from humanities, to sound engineering/acoustics.
Ever since secondary school’s time I’ve been hooked up with music, so I thought it was another possible choice.

Q: Your brief history of staying in Japan.
I arrived in Japan in the early April of 2009.
Stayed at Arakawa district (荒川区) of Tokyo for a year while attending Japanese language school, Asian Students Cultural Association (アジア学生文化協会)  located at Bunkyo district (文京区).

Then in March 2010, I moved to Kawagoe (川越市) of Saitama prefecture to study in Shobi University (尚美学園大学). Tentatively I’ll be graduating in March 2014.

Q: How long did you spent to study the Japanese language?
I spent a few months studying the basics of Japanese before departing to Japan.
Followed by a year’s intensive course studying the the Japanese language school for full time.

Some other Japanese language schools usually took 1.5 to 2 years to complete the course, our’s only offered a year or 1.5 years’ course. The reason is because most other schools they teach at a lower pace and class ends early in the afternoon, allowing the students to have extra time to work part-time to earn money. Our school however, usually classes ended 2:30 pm the earliest, or up until 5pm depending on the subjects.

In the university, I picked up a lot conversational Japanese by talking to fellow coursemates and the lecturers. The Japanese language class in the university didn’t helped much though. The best way to improve the Japanese, is using it on daily basis.

Q: By just studying a year of Japanese language, is it enough to cope with your studies in the university?
Surprisingly, I didn’t find it that hard right from the beginning.
Perhaps I’m used to listening to the lecturer-style of speaking, but in contrast, I find it kinda hard to understand the conversation of normal students.

I’m not a genius or anything, so the credits belong to the lecturers who’re able to make complicated things easy to digest for someone who studied Japanese for just a year or so.

A lot of the terms are in katakana, which sounded similar to English so it definitely helps a lot in understanding the lessons better.

Q: How much do you spend a month? Can you provide a rough figure breakdown?
Normally I’d spent around JPY 100,000~120,000 per month.

The breakdowns:
Rent - 30,000 yen
Bills -  ~18,000 yen (electric, Internet, gas, water, mobile)
Food - ~30,000 yen
Transportation - ~10,000 yen
Other expenses - ~20,000 yen

Details of the breakdowns.

Rent - The part of Saitama I’m staying is still relatively cheaper compared to Tokyo. For the similar 1-room unit I’m staying,  it would have cost more than 50k yen in downtown Tokyo.

Bills - Depending on the season, the differences of electric and gas bill is quite significant.
Currently winter is the most expensive of all, as switching on the heater for longer time and hot shower would cost more. In summer however, the gas bill is almost minimum pay as cool shower took place of the warm water.

Food - Food took up quite a huge sum in the total expenses. Well to be honest, I don’t cook and I mostly had my meals outside. My room doesn’t have a proper kitchen and makes cooking a lot hassle and messier than I did back in the previous hostel I stayed.
So what I usually did is to visit local supermarkets later in the evening, say after 7pm to hunt for discounted food. Sometimes I’d had ramen or sushi as a treat.
But when I travel to downtown Tokyo or somewhere else, I’d like to try something different so I don’t mind stretching a little more on food.

Transportation - There are times that I needed to travel to downtown Tokyo quite frequently, but sometimes not at all. By average, I travel to Tokyo 1~3 times in a month.

Other expenses - I don’t spend much on clothings, so instead I take that money to spend it in Book Off, a 2nd hand goods chain. Mostly I’d spend on CDs and books, and when I couldn’t get what I want in the store, I’d head to Amazon for 2nd hand goods.

Q: How can you afford to cope with the expenses, especially when you’re a private student?
Thanks to the university, I’ve managed to scored full-waiver for university tuition fees for 2 years back to back, and now hoping that I can extend it for another year, which is my final year. It helps a lot as it covers 850k yen which is quite a huge sum of money.

I’ve tried to applied for a few scholarships, but wasn’t selected for those that offer 100k yen per month. But anyhow I settle down with the one provided by JASSO which gives up 48k yen per month.

And, I’m working part-time in the university somehow helps to cover up a little more especially on the daily spendings on food.

I did receive an amount of backup fund back home, but I try not to touch them unless I really needed it. I’d either use it to pay some other fees, or maybe use it for traveling.

To be continued...