Fudged Reality: Scrapbook and Stories: The Move to Japan

December 23, 2008 to January 5th, 2009

Every journey has a call to adventure. My call to adventure came during the 2008 Siggraph in Los Angeles. For a whole year I had been trying to land a full time job as an animator in the industry, and upon an inquiry about the status of my application to my current company I thought I had been turned down, again.

But I wasn’t. And to my ecstatic relief I received my first interview. In Japanese.

When all was said and done, I had landed my first full time job as a CG animator in Japan, a country I had wanted to live in for at least a year or so. When the job offer came to work in Japan as an animator it felt like two great things colliding into each other. But I would not be fooled by the surrealism of it for I knew there would be many challenges ahead.

Leaving home would be challenge number one. I still remember saying goodbye to my mother at the airport and doing everything I could to calm my nerves down. I would have to say that was perhaps the hardest thing: leaving the safety of home (not to mention everyone I was close with--friends, family, Pippin) to set forth on the journey. My father’s decision to travel with me and help me set up is something I will always be grateful for.

After a twelve hour flight full of watching free movies and eating air plane food, we arrived to Japan. Going through immigration wasn't too difficult given I had the necessary paperwork. Most of the time if I don't know what someone is saying to me in Japanese, I just smile and nod saying "Hai, hai hai," and usually get moved along my way. For all I know I could be agreeing to the status of my insanity, which very well might be what others think of this crazy foreigner :P. And yes, I am a foreigner! It feels odd saying and thinking that.

The jetlag made me a morning person for a while. (That is long gone now. Psh, mornings. Who needs them? Though I will admit that I like getting to work early before everyone else. Gasp! Could I be losing my night owl syndrome? *looks at the current late time* Hmm. Naw). My father and I had a day of rest, but then the set-up and settling began.

The best way to describe how the set-up went is by coining it with the name, "The Butterfly Net Quest." For those of you who are unfamiliar with that term, it derived from the "fetch quests" of video games, where in order to receive an item, such as a butterfly net, you have to first get item A, but to get item A you need item B, and before item B you need to get item C. The Butterfly Net Quest is a run around errand task that much reflects a visit to the DMV in scale of frustration. In Japan the Butterfly Net Quest goes in this order: In order to get item A you need item B. To get item B you need item C. But to get item C you need both A and B. Put a language barrier on top of that and I’m sure you can imagine the peachiness of it all. Somehow we were able to set everything up without too many hassles, though I have to thank my company for helping me acquire item C so I could bypass the Catch 22 (specifically item C would be the apartment).

My Apartment! (click to enlarge). I rather like it. I sleep up in the loft area.
Yes, you are seeing the ENTIRE apartment in those photos. Where my dad was standing
to take the picutre in Photo number 2 is where I am standing in Photo number 3.
The only thing you don't see about my apartment is my bathroom, which you can see its
doorhandle on the far lower left corner in Photo #2.

Again, I have to express my thanks to my father for helping me through that interesting time. During the adjustment to the new life my father and I were able to catch some touristy fun, such as the holidays in Japan and Mt. Fuji. I think pictures will best describe those greater parts about the first days in Japan:

Chrismas in Japan. More of a couple's night than religious holiday here.