You can’t read Kant for the first time. Or anything for that matter.

It’s been a while since I made a random post.

The days of being a student are long gone and writing about little things that happen is just not a part of my priorities these days. It can’t be when you’re first in, last out of the office on occasion.
The lack of time does not mean that I am too busy to think. So that’s what I’m doing today: sharing some of the things that have been going through my mind in the last few months doing that shakaijin seikatsu.

First, is a reflection on what my philosophy professor once told the class.
It was during a course on the Critique of Pure Reason by Kant. We had all done the reading(some did it in English-some in Japanese), but no one wanted to speak up to summarize chapter 1. It’s not that we were against active participation, it’s just the reading has, as one might put it, “High-levels of abstraction.”
After our professor pushed us individually (all 5 of us), he proceeded to close his book, then closes the Japanese book, then closed the German text. The class looks at each other- we are wondering how we will make it through the 1.5 hrs left on the clock. Most of us had never picked up the book until the day prior, and it was showing.  He speaks.

“You can’t read Kant for the first time.”

‘Does he expect us to read it twice through?’ I was not excited, but I knew one reading was clearly not enough; There was no way that I was going to understand enough of the words on that page. No way was I going to comprehend it and spit it back with any semblance of eloquence.

Fast forward to 2015. At the end of one year I was sitting in a meeting room with my manager discussing my performance. By that time I was already moved several times, and I was being notified of another move… Working in Japan, is full of surprises.

Every job is different, but the knowledge carries over.
After each move,  it gets easier. It helps that it’s not the first time.

Coming out of college and expecting to do things perfectly at your job is as unlikely as comprehending all of a Kant reading in one go. It’s tough, but you might have to be willing to give it several run-throughs before you can really start to ‘get-it.’

If you are worried about how to deal with a new environment or unsatisfied with your ability, you might just need to try again. The first time is usually the most difficult, the second time will not be so bad. Just remind yourself that you might only need to read Kant once more.

 

Post ICU (life after liberal arts)

I often get asked what I majored in university. What’s the value of a liberal arts education? What can you do with a media communications major??
To colleagues at the work place I just remind them that I have the same job as them. That usually shuts them up.

But really… when you don’t know yet where you’re going, it can be a frightening thought -How IS a liberal arts education going to help me? Some of the hottest jobs involve coding and fancy computer engineering skills, wouldn’t it be better to just go to a school that preps you for that??- Sure. you can do that.
But some of us are just not cut out for that kind of path.

Anyway. Here are some stats of ICU students after graduation (2013):

POST GRADUATION
70.4% – Enter Workforce (438)
16.9% – Continue studies ie. Grad school (105)  ←National average is 13.0%
12.7% – Other (including pending placement overseas, prep for civil service exam) (79)

Let’s take a look at the top choices of those who enter the workforce (* includes June graduates)
1: Rakuten inc.  ——————————–8*
2: Ernst & Young Advisory Co. LTD —5*
3: Mizuho Financial group —————-5
4: Tohmatsu Group(Japan group)——-4*
5: Panasonic Corporation ——————4
6: The Asahi Shimbun Corporation—-3
7: JTB group
8: Dai Nippon Printing Co. LTD  *
9: Nomura Research Institute, LTD
10: Benesse Corporation
11: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, LTD
12: Anderson Mori & Tomotsune LPC
13: Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation
14: Toppan Printing Co, LTD  *
15: Proctor & Gamble Japan
16: Marubeni Corporation  *
17: Works Application

Some of these names are quite impressive.
But how about Grad school?

1: University of Tokyo —-29
2: ICU ————————-12
3: Hitotsubashi Univ ——5
4: Kyoto University ——–3
5: Waseda University —–3

I know for a fact that many of the people in the lists above are entering into fields they never touched before. I for one never thought I’d be involved in the financial sector. But the fundamental goal of liberal arts is to gain understanding from diverse points of view, maybe even blur the lines between fields. In this way a liberal arts education prepares you more for ‘real world’ working environments that constantly throw curve balls your way. It’s easy to see the value in having a specialized knowledge and skill base. Less clear yet equally important is having the ability to move like water in and out of problems that do not necessarily have a fixed solution.

Look at the names of the companies. They clearly recognize that the people coming out of a liberal arts education have something to offer.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Being in the workforce here for close to a year now, I’ve come to realize that many of my concerns about working in a Japanese company were blown out of proportion. Some stereotypes are confirmed whereas some were apparently not true. For example, some of my friends are doing a ridiculous amount of overtime, but not all. It really depends on your boss and what kind of work you pursue.

Especially as somewhat of an outsider, there are different sets of expectations of me. To be concrete, I was recently moved into a division that needs a lot of reworking and my manager wants me to shake things up a bit. Perhaps its my personality and background or simply the fact that I’m young, but the idea was to get someone inside that doesn’t have the same preconceived notions  of how things ought to be and proactively make improvements.

For anyone considering going to ICU or doing shukatsu as a foreigner, you may want to understand/develop your personality and find an environment that could use someone like you. What I’m saying here is that there are places that require fresh perspectives. Question is, are you up for it?

Airsoft: An update

I’ve started posting about Airsoft in my last term of university.
Here I am one year later continuing it with people from my company. It’s a strenuous activity if you want it to be- you can sit around the back end not running around…but we will make fun of you if you keep it up.

This video was taken by me on two separate days. I put it together with some music for your entertainment.
Starting after June, I may become the new captain of the company team and will manage the events we will hold in the future.

 

Starting Shukatsu: Step 1: Self-evaluation (自己分析)

So you’ve started thinking about what you want to do when you get out of college. Maybe you’re already in Japan and want to continue living here or perhaps you’re looking to just go for broke. More and more Japanese companies are looking outwards for talent. That said, many of them haven’t developed a recruitment process that is necessarily foreigner friendly.

It’s always difficult to get started in Shukatsu, especially when people around you seem to only be writing ES and cutting class and wearing suits and what not. What’s an ES? What could they possibly be doing that is so time consuming that they cannot go to class?? -The answers to that become clearer once you start. So let’s get suited up.

Before you get serious. It might be good to give yourself a good look in the mirror. Make sure you’ve shaved, cut your hair nicely, no piercings… Most importantly look deep into your mind.

1 Who are you? What are you doing? and
2 What makes you feel like you are accomplishing something worthwhile?
3 Where do you want to be in 5 – 10 – 20 years?
4 When? – – – – – 今でしょ。

and for each one of these….
5-Why?

During an interview, you may not be able to find the words to express yourself since you never really had to justify the reason you chose your major, your club that you enjoy, the career path you are trying to start on. By knowing yourself and being able to put those abstract things into concrete descriptions, your argument will appear to have more weight.
Once you’ve filled your notebook with the answers you’ll notice some keywords that you wrote down. Use them. Prepare a story for them. Then with your cache of words, try an interview at a career forum at a company you are only partially interested in. Practice.

Logic is a key component to success. To force logic on your passion is somewhat awkward and unnatural, but possible. Readjust your answers as needed. And you’re allowed to change your opinion. (This relates to the question#5 above.)

More than anything else- Shukatsu is a mentally taxing. By prepping yourself before stepping into the battle field, you can avoid unnecessary freak outs and existential breakdowns.

 

Some other questions you might want to consider. They are asked quite often. -even as an ice breaker, but nevertheless it is an opportunity to stand out and shine.

1- Why are you interested in this company? This field?
2-How has your _____experience impacted your ideas on ____?
3-What did you learn/do during university?
4-Use 5 words to describe yourself.
5-What’s your strength/weakness?
6-What differentiates you from everyone else??

Shukatsu for people like you. (people who search for Japan job info in English)

If I’m right you stumbled upon this post because you’re desperate to find any information on Shukatsu or 就活 and most likely feel at a disadvantage because you are not Japanese, not full bred Japanese, not ‘純ジャパ'(Purely Japanese) or maybe you just felt like searching for information in English for some reason.

Whatever it may be, I understand your pain. If you don’t already know, Shukatsu is a Japanese style of career hunting. Imagine a bunch of kids doing interview after interview and writing essay after essay in the hopes of landing a job that may or may not be a dream job- All the while cutting class and not doing HW. Sounds fun?? The truth is, it’s not for most.

If you’re looking to start out career hunting, I have a few pointers that worked for me as someone who did not grow up in Japan nor had any family resources to really rely upon for help. So here I am to help you get started. Comment if you have specific questions.

FIRST:
Get an early start. Practice interviews. Figure out which companies you want to possibly enter.

1- It’s good to be innovative and interesting. But it’s just so much easier being first.
If you’re doing the whole Career Forum thing like at Boston – Tokyo – NY – Australia etc etc. you really are in luck. The companies there are looking for people like you there. Problem is…. everyone else is looking to take that spot too. So to increase your chances and ALWAYS sign up for the earliest possible interview on the first round. Companies have limited openings they are willing to give away, so the earlier you get your resume in their hand and your ass through that door, the more leeway you may have. Bring your A-Game.

There is a thing called the Dentsu-Dash. People run to the booth of Dentsu to get an early interview scheduled as soon as the CareerForum starts. The reason is exactly the same as above. You want that EarlyBirdSpecial. Why put it off when you can get it now??

-Starting our late??- That’s okay… Don’t fret, be persistent and make yourself heard. Squeaky wheel gets the oil.

2-Know thy self – Know thy company
Remember WHY you are doing shukatsu. It can be taxing mentally to get rejected or worse…not get rejected…or anything… just……waiting….
It’s possibly the worst part. You work so hard on your Resume and essays and nail the  interview… and you don’t know if they liked you or hated you. You get news of others getting through and your nerves get the better of you.
Do yourself a favor… Forget other people for this time being. When it comes to job hunting, the only person in this world you should worry about is yourself. Human Resources in every company need time to process your application. Give them and yourself a break.
Knowing WHY you do shukatsu can be a helpful reminder when times get tough. It can really put things into perspective and give you the energy to keep pushing or the wisdom to say…”this is not the place for me, and that’s okay.”

3-Passion is key.
I once heard someone say that these companies hire by “potential.”
I disagree. If you have an interview with me, you and all the other shukatu-sei are exactly the same to me. I don’t care if you made dean’s list every year or if you cut class all the time. Frankly, a quick glance at your resume and a 20 minute interview isn’t going to give me a clear understanding of your potential. So as far as I’m concerned, your potential is the same as everyone else.
What companies want to know is can you Unlock your potential? Can you unleash the business boss from within?
The Key to the lock is Passion. You can teach someone how to do the work. But it’s much more difficult to teach someone how to approach that work.
If you really are excited about the company, show it. Set the room on fire with your passion.

4-The Truth is overrated.
I understand you want everyone you care about to truly understand who you are. That you may be NationalityA but that word doesn’t necessarily describe the nuances of your life experiences quite as nicely as you would like. In fact you feel closer to B but are actually C.
Expressing to a stranger who you are and getting them to understand the intricacies of how you came to be AND a rationale as to why you are applying to their company is more than a challenge in the time provided. I’d go as far to say it’s impossible.
Conclusion…think of your life as a Hollywood movie. Your movie is not going to reflect the perfect truth, but more people are going to be interested in your story. You don’t have the luxury of taking your time to let the other party get to know you. In your mind make a 20 minute documentary from birth to career path. You’ll realize what the most important details to telling your story are. So what if it isn’t the whole truth. You can’t handle the truth!

This post was to get help you get started on your way to effective shukatsu in Japan or Career Forums. Everyone has their own success story  and my advice may or may not be applicable to you. But if you have questions.. feel free to ask.

Meanwhile in Spain

Right now im sitting in my hostel across from the Guggenheim in Bilbao. This is after spending the weekend in Barcelona.

Once i have propper internet capabilities, i will post pics and details of my trip. As i go along, ive been keeping track of money spent and – with the help of my pedometer- my step count. I’ll try to post how far along I am when appropriate. I dont start the Camino just yet but here is my total step count from Barcelona: 56371. More updates tocome.

 

The Kickout

This post may be a bit late, but it’s not my fault that people take forever to send photos over the internet…

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I just graduated from university. Now I don’t have an ID card, can’t access the network, and now I got kicked out of my clubs at school. Doesn’t stop me from going in and using the facilities though.

Cutting to the chase. The Aikido club has this “kickout” event. Lots of other clubs have this but each club does different things. Some have dinners and parties, while others put on a show. We beat up the graduate…. It’s like a reverse hazing. Imagine one person (in this case it’s me) surrounded by everyone else (about 30 people).  Then one by one, people come and attack. The person in the middle has to defend themselves for 30 minutes.

After 10 minutes, you start getting tired and every motion becomes an ordeal. But when it comes to protecting your head from a concussion, your body will find a way to move, although there have been incidents of bloody noses.

I survived my kickout. I was not prepared for the one final attack from behind- right at the moment when they took a picture.
I like this photograph.

Graduation. Finally! Already!?

Graduation is this upcoming Friday. I’m keeping myself busy with all sorts of tasks so the fact hasn’t sunk in quite yet.

I can’t say that I’m excited to graduate. But I will say that I do feel ready to move on from university. I mean that in a very sincere way- I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of the whole 4-year thing. At the same time, 4 years is just long enough.

closing thoughts?
It was what it was. It is what it is. Life will be what it may be.

I can live with that.

Camino de Santiago (Prep)

And so my favorite season has arrived in Tokyo. Can’t get enough of that rain and humidity. Don’t you just love that feeling of stickiness when you wake up? Gives you something to look forward to. Like…getting out.

Yes. The further we move into the sweaty season, the closer I get to turning my Summer plans into reality. For me, that means a lot of walking across Spain. Not just any old walk, but THE walk. Okay. That’s a bit of a lie… I’ll be doing One of the walks. The plan is to start on one side of Spain and end up on the other in Compostela de Santiago. It’s one of those things people do, and it’s called the Way of Saint James known in Spanish as the Camino de Santiago.

Pretty much anyone can do it, although religious and spiritual reasons are encouraged for those doing the walk. This gives a bit of a different bent to my previous adventures, which were also activity centered, but more for the sake of just doing them. The Camino will be longer (over 30 days for me) and be more of a test of mental endurance than physical(hiking) or cardiovascular(adrenaline related things like bungee jumping) strength.

Obviously lots of preparation goes into this type of endeavor. I’ve had to purchase some new gear like a compass and learn how to use it. Luckily the Internet is a wonderful resource and I’m glad I’m done with having to source my references for now. I’ve also increased the amount of time I spent walking and can now walk 30 minutes without realizing it. Slowly I’m increasing the distance and amount of weight I carry.

The Camino de Santiago is simply a pilgrimage to Compostela de Santiago and can begin anywhere and be for as long as one wants. There aren’t that many rules except for that you have to walk, bike, or take a horse… at least for the last few hundred kilometers – the distance varies with method of transportation. As a pilgrim, you can have access to cheaper housing and menus. But you must first be recognized as a pilgrim. This brings me to the Credential. This document is a passport issued by a church and gets stamped by different locations that you pass through.

My original plan was to fly into Spain and wing it. Just walk into the first church and keep saying “Credencial del Peregrino” until I got it or was pointed in the direction where I could obtain one. Thanks to the maternal unit, who is ever on the lookout for useful pieces of information in the interwebs, I ended up being able to get my credential early and could skip that bureaucracy. I was somewhat excited about that part, but nevertheless the more I get done in preparation, the less I have to do before actually starting.

I’ll be representing Japon.

Suntory Beer Factory

When someone offers FREE SOMETHING, one is not prepared to turn down the offer. Well, there is a beer factory in Musashino (the area around ICU) that offers to take you on a free short tour and get free beer! They do make you sit through a propaganda video of how awesome a company Suntory is and how they are helping the local environment, but you forget that you did by the time the beer comes around.

We had 15 minutes to down 3 beers-on a nearly empty stomach, we felt great on the way home. You can’t beat freshness when what you’re consuming comes from under the same roof of where you are enjoying- even under certain time constraints. They had their Premium Malts beer and a special Musashino Beer which is only available in the factory. The special edition version was a little more bitter and had some more flavor. After drinking this stuff, it’s difficult to get the stuff from cans.

I told you that you’d forget about the propaganda. There are pictures of the factory, but let’s be honest, we came for the beer.