T O K Y O & L I F E: 2012

ALRIGHTTTT!!

So, the written test that I had to take for the job was something called an SPI test. What the hell is an SPI test? It stands for Synthetic Personality Inventory test. INTENSE. It is a very common test in Japan.

Basically, the SPI test is your typical aptitude test, with a little Japanese twist. It is an extremely time-limited test that challenges your ability to answer problems, which may include things like math, logic, pattern solving, puzzles, geometry, Japanese, and English. Knowing that I've never taken this kind of test before in Japanese, I knew I definitely needed some kind of supplemental resource. I definitely needed an excuse to go to Convoy.

Before going to Tokyo, I went to Book Off near Convoy with my boytoy CJ and bought a study guide for the test. As always, the entire guide was in Japanese, but it had hundreds of problems, solutions, formulas - So I snatched it, and the journey begun.

With the help of Kosuke, Miho's websites, and this lovely guy named Bobo, I was able to successfully PASS the test. I don't even know what passing means. I'm pretty sure I got around 40%. Anyways, HR told me to come in for another interview. So that was a MAJOR relief.

Here is a website that has some good practice questions for the SPI Test (Make sure correct encoding is enabled)
http://hpcgi2.nifty.com/q-a/quiz200/tqindex.cgi

*edit*

I deleted a lot of what I previously wrote.

Check the website below if want to see some sample questions for your typical SPI Test.

Pretty interesting test, huh? Well, that's the kind of test you take when you apply as a new-graduate here in Japan. They know you don't have true, actual, pure, sensual working experience. Only street-smarts and book-smarts. I could dive into the topic of educational and post-educational/career differences between these two countries, but that's for another day.

Well, after passing, I was asked to come in for another interview. So let's talk about that real real quick. I think I did pretty well. This interview was called an APPAKU MENSETSU, or PRESSURED INTERVIEW. It was me and 3 others. I already felt the pressure. Fortunately, the person from HR was extremely nice, and surprisingly used to live in Irvine.

The questions that were asked were much harder than the first interview - A majority of the them reflected the position rather than my personality. In case you didn't know, the position I am applying for is "International Localization." I had to express my dedication to them, and the country. I've been using Vega since vanilla man, you think I don't understand dedication!?! Did you know I wore a visor for 4 years in a row?

Anyways, the interview finished, and I left with a huge sigh of relief. I can't say my answers were amazing, but I did manage to throw in some good points, in which they seemed impressed. I had to give it my all. The pressure and nervousness really helps with my Japanese. I don't know why, but I feel way more focused when the pressure is on. My focus meter exploded the moment I walked into the HQ.

So that's the situation. I am currently awaiting the results. I hope the next Blog will have some really good news.

NO MORE JOB TALK!!!!!!

Well TOO BAD!! That's all I've been doing really. That, and having reunions, and messing around in arcades. I've actually been playing a lot of JuBeat lately. I find it pretty stimulating, since it's basically a combination of "sudden" slight pattern recognition (Gah I'm sick of this word).

Here are some random pictures that I took. Check em out!

White dude glaring and palm trees? Felt like I was in SD for a second...

Nice little chill spot. Wired Cafe is one of the few places that actually provides free WiFi in Japan.

No idea but intriguing...

MANPOWER

Gyoza for dinner <3 Homemade deliciousness

My palace

Toto, the cat. Super chill and sweet.

But sometimes psychotic

Those eyes!

Small store next to the HQ

Stalking the backdoor entrance to the HQ

Right after the interview. I definitely needed some CHUUTORO

TOO GOOD

THE CLOCK!

Got to chill with the MAY of MAYSY and Kim himself.

This was our first time eating FAKE-O-YAKI

Rainy Shibuya

It'll never die! NEVER!

Nostalgia, even from the people who made it! X3 vs 2nd Mix

This is very inspiring. I'm curious how long this place will last. I have ideas.

YOU LIKE MY VAGUE TALK?

Say what!?!

Next stop - LAS VEGAS!

Chillin with Anna and her eyeball

I had no idea this thing was chilling at my train station!

Takahadafudo Temple

YES...I FEEL IT

Roughly 65 bucks for these WHITE STRAWBERRIES.

Super curious about the flavor.

How cute! A little snow

Leaving my MARK

I miss you SD peeps

Snow got a little rougher...this once peaceful route started looking like something from the Ring.

I think I'll pass...

A little Christmas Tree I made on the stonesssss

I bet some guy walking home was freaking out with all these laying around

Finally home, sick view

Rinchan and Toto taking a peek outside

After the snow stopped. Beautiful picture.

Sorry for the amount of snow pictures. I just never get to see this stuff mang!

Bootyful!

Rabbit stew comin' right up!

The most difficult walk home ever. But fun as hell going down!

Well, that's about it. I have a little cold right now, but it doesn't seem so bad. I'm taking some hardcore Chinese medicine right now, and it seems to be doing the trick. Just taking it easy for the next few days...

SSF4AE2012

There are surprisingly a lot of Juri and Cody players around. The way people play Juri here is insane. She has all the necessary tools. with only a weak wake-up game. I got to play against Nekojita, and got bodied pretty hard after perfecting him one match. He has a very ambiguous cross up game that...well, no need to really explain. I got Abel'ed. Itabashi Zangief was also there, but I didn't have a chance to play him. There's a crowd of about 20 people surrounding the machines when these players are in the arcade (Sega @ Shinjuku West Exit), so it's hard to get a chance to play.

Shungoku Neurosis was there, but I always see him in Shibuya. I actually met him in 2009 when I first studied here, so we're homies. We tight. We don't chill outside of SF though. I'm always trying to break that barrier, but in Japan, it's a little tough. Or maybe he just thinks I'm a dumbass. I'll try to take some videos next time I'm out in Shinjuku.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

I realized that I don't have as much MONEY as I thought. The exchange rate really destroyed my wallet this time. $2,500 turned into 170000 yen, which I guess you could consider $1,700. I contacted my previous students who I helped tutor in 2009 and 2010, and have also been on the hunt for new ones. So far, I have 2 students, making about $15 per hour for each one. It's only once a week, so I'm still looking. I'm also looking for TANPATSU work, which basically means you work ONE time, for ONE day, and get paid about 7000 yen. It's mostly tiresome, labor-intensive or brain-dead work.

I don't think I'd be able to live in Japan if I didn't have some kind of California or San Diego vibe surrounding me. Having those people here really helps. I can kind of see myself working here, and it would be extremely cold and sad without them. Why? Well, It takes a long time to open up people in Tokyo. It's hard to just "hit it off" with a random person, kind of how you would in the States.

I'm trying to work out and eat a crap ton of good, high-protein food while I'm out here. It's tough, with the whole money situation and all, but since I have a kitchen I can use, it's definitely doable. Walking 5-6 miles a day definitely means you have to cram a lot more food in your body, or risk losing weight.

My serious meter is about to explode. You have no idea how badly I want to ENJOY this vacation. I'm restricted to be completely free. I just want to get this over with so I can HAVE FUN AND PARTY.

DJ AND AKEEM! Get your asses to Japan RIGHT NOW....

THATS IT FOR NOW! I will update in 2 weeks or so with (hopefully) GOOD news.

P-P-PEACE~~~!

DAMN!!!

So, I am finally back in Tokyo after about 1.5 years. Last time I was here was when I was studying at Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku, from 2009-2010. Amazingly enough, this is my 10th year anniversary of being in Japan. The first time I was here was in 2002 with Kazu. This is also my 10th time in Japan. 10 times, damn. Thanks to DJ and his mom for the years and years of first-class flights to Japan for $400!

This trip is basically a combination of fun and job hunting. Since I just graduated from SDSU and finally got that useless piece of ass BA, I felt like deserved a little vacation. This trip was honestly supposed to be pure vacation, but with some luck, I was able to get the chance to meet with the new graduate recruitment director of the company I'm applying to for the second time.

Let me bring everyone up to date with how I got this far. I'll try to make it as short as possible.

In November, I went to Boston Career Forum, which is a 3 day bilingual career fair held in Boston every year. Companies fly from Japan to try to find, select, and successfully recruit new graduates. The entire interview process is in Japanese, as well as all the documents and papers you need to fill out for the position. I applied to two gaming companies, while many other students applied to many more companies (applying to 7-10 companies is not uncommon at all). Since the entire thing was in Japanese, I didn't want to have to juggle information between several companies and risk the chance of screwing up. So I stuck with the two.

The first interview for both companies went great. Company A said I passed the first interview, and told me to take a written exam on Sunday at 10:30am.

Company B went even better. They told me I passed, and that the final interview was on Sunday at 9:00am. They also invited me to eat out with the company at this bomb ass Italian restaurant. I felt like I already got the job.

So when Sunday came along, I was feeling really good and mentally prepared. Well, the final interview for Company B was a group interview with 5 other applicants, and the topic of discussion was the "tourism industry in Japan, and solutions on how to fix it." We were given statistics, demographics, and a bunch of random information to help us create a solution. Then, we would have to present our solution to the HR folks. During our discussion. we were being starred down at by 3 of the HR people, who were analyzing which role we were taking. I think I was taking the role of, "nervous but hanging in there" dude.

It was tough. Some of the other applicants were half Japanese, which made the entire thing much more stressful. I wasn't able to keep up with some of the crap they were saying. Every time I heard a word I didn't know, I'd remember it (lets call it XYZ), wait until they were done ranting about it, and then say something like, "Yeah, I completely agree. XYZ is the bomb. However... ABC is better!" That was the only way to avoid getting pulled into a topic in which the vocab was out of my league.

Anyways, this is the crappy part of the story. The interview ended up lasting until 12:45pm, which means I couldn't take Company A's written test. I couldn't call Company A since I was in Company B's interview. When I realized Company B's interview was going to pass 10:30am, I didn't feel too bad, since I already felt like I got the job at Company B.

Well, after the 3.75 hour group interview and presentation on the Japanese tourism industry, my confidence was slightly crushed. I didn't feel like I got the job after my performance. I felt extra poopie since I missed out on Company A's written test, as well. I sent them an apology letter, and expressed my regret.

After receiving the well-expected rejection email from Company B, I was back at square one.

OK SO HERE'S THE HAPPY PART!

My friend Kosuke ended up getting a position at Company A after having the final interview with them in Tokyo. He told me the hiring director remembered me, or mentioned my name to him. When Kosuke told me this, I felt like I had to do something - anything. With the help of many friends, I was able to compose the sexiest apology letter I have ever written, both in English and Japanese. I expressed my regret, asked for forgiveness, and asked if I could have another shot to take the test while I was in Japan for vacation after I graduate. I wasn't expecting anything. I just really wanted to send the email out, to make myself feel like I did everything I could in the given situation.

BAM!!! He replied, and said okay. So that's kind of where I am now, and why this VACATION all of a sudden got a little serious. I already took the written test, and am currently awaiting the results. It was extremely difficult. Like Max 300 8x speed. Oh wait...

But regardless if it was something Kosuke said to the director, if he didn't tell me that my name was brought up, then I wouldn't have had the courage to email him to ask for a second chance. So I thank you, Kosukebe.

OK NO MORE JOB TALK, DUDE JUST TELL ME ABOUT TOKYO YOU FOOL!

OKAY!! It's only been 5 days, so I'm still just bumming around and trying to get my stuff straight. I've been chilling with KIM, playing some SSF4AE, and just seeing old friends. This week is full of reunions.

Here are some random pictures for your eyeballs.