Homogenized Global View

This week was back to more of the usual... work, work, work. Nonetheless, I had the chance to meet a few visitors in from our London office, and similar to a couple of weeks back, was able to see a new comer's reaction to Tokyo.

Why is it so hard for people to get out of their comfort zones?

Heineken
Krispy Kream
Marmite
McDonalds
Hot dogs

All they want is to do what they can already do at home. Why do so many people refuse to step out of their comfort zones?? If you come and visit me (and I hope you do) be ready to not eat/drink any of the above.

Sorry... busy so time to go. Will try to post again soon...

Finally some life!

Seems like someone was listening last week when I was moaning about my work/life balance issues - this past week has been awesome. First of all, I managed to get out of work most days only having done a 10-hour day, but more importantly I met some great new friends from Spain/Netherlands.

I have always been one to love showing people around Japan, but just haven't had many opportunities lately (most of you have either already been here, or have been too slack to actually make the trip!!). So I was definitely up for the chance to show some new people around the city that I have come to call my home.

Starting 2 Fridays ago we went out in Roppongi and Shinjuku... yakiniku (Toraji) for dinner followed by a night of drinking and all sorts of fun. Sunday we went to Kourakuen to ride the huge city-center roller coaster (Thunder Dolphin) with one of the most terrifying drops in Japan, followed by an evening wandering through Ginza and a dinner of Shabushabu at Shabusen.

Tuesday was the night for Okonomiyaki and Karaoke... got out of work just on 7 (nice change) and headed on over to the guys' hotel, to meet and take them to Okonomiyaki Kiji in the Tokia Building near Tokyo Station. Yakisoba (fried noodles) and Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza pancake with pork, squid, octopus and a variety of veggies) were enjoyed by all. Then it was on to Karaoke... they asked me to take them there but both also seemed a little hesitant. Once they realised that Japanese karaoke is done in the privacy of your own personal singing booth things settled down and the fun got under way (pics for this to follow soon).

Thursday and Friday were both spent heading out to bars and having a decent dinner at the new Tokyo Midtown complex. The guys partied well into the early hours of Saturday morning before heading off to Narita to catch their plane home. All in all an awesome week!!

Remember... I only plan to be here until early next year... so hurry up and make your plans to come and visit for two reasons... first, to have a great time, and secondly, to give me some sanity and motivation to spend less time in the office!!

Photos to follow...

Work/Life Balance

I sat down the other day and got to thinking about my life and where it has taken me so far. I've had the chance to live in a lot of interesting places, out of which I have spent by far the most amount of time in Japan. It's definitely time for a change... but where, why and how?

Since I joined my current company my life has been much more about work than actually living, and the sad thing is I haven't minded so much. That is until lately...

I have lots of friends who work in different industries to me, and whilst the money is not as good, their quality of life outside of work is much better. Makes me wonder, at 26, what should I be focusing on?? Is it time to work as hard as I can to build for a better life later, or should I be taking a more relaxed approach to life - still work hard but leave a lot more time for things that aren't centered on work? I have no idea... and get lost whenever I think about this.

I love my job in some respects... I feel challenged, I have great colleagues (mostly), an awesome boss and lots of opportunities for travel and career progression... but is that enough? Lately most of my social interaction has been through work... movies, drinks, clubbing, shopping, weekends away... all with colleagues. It's fun, but we inevitably end up talking about work at least a little... so in a sense I am never actually getting away from work. I am happy with this level of interaction, but it needs to be for a job that I really care about and feel I am making a contribution with (and not just to my own bottom line and that of shareholders!!).

So it's definitely time for a change. I'm aiming to leave Japan by the end of February 2008... not sure where I will go or for what reason, but I know I have a few concrete options. With my current job I can move to the UK or NY, but lately more and more I am thinking that instead of moving for work I should move for life... just determine where I want to go and what I want to do and focus on the 'work' part after I have the wheres and whys sorted out. Aargh... I so thought I had this all sorted just a couple of months or so ago... and then something came up to change everything... not happening again at the next opportunity.

Anyway... watch this space if you want to see where I end up... and more importantly, this should be a subtle hint that if you are planning on coming to Japan to visit then you had better get it over and done with in the next 10 months!!!