Introductions
Hi, I'm Lauren.
I'm a poor software engineer transferred out to Japan in March of 2002 and then left to fend for myself when the Japanese branch was closed.
I live in a small suburb of Tokyo with my wife (since July 2001) in a large apartment by Tokyo standards. It's not very convenient, but it was necessary after living in comparatively palatial quarters back in Seattle, WA.
I'm a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Languages and Linguistics with a degree in Japanese which, I think, gave someone the idea that sending me out here would be a good idea. I haven't regretted moving, but to say that I was severely unprepared for life in Japan is an understatement. Maybe I should have paid more attention in school, but that's all water under the bridge. I am getting a prolonged crash course in Japanese language and culture and I don't have much say in the matter.
After graduating back in 1997, I headed west to the rain-soaked lakes of Seattle. It was either Seattle or Silicon Valley, and it was a Seattle company that called first.
I spent three and a half years working in Seattle for a small, then large, then small again embedded systems integration company. It paid well, the people were great, and I was able to hone my skills to a sharp point.
Then around the end of 2001, a couple openings in the Japanese branch opened up and I was asked if I would like to make the transfer over to the Tokyo office. I said yes and in March of 2002, I was over here to provide technical expertise to the nascent QA team.
That's how I ended up over here.
I love getting out of the city. My wife and I bought a car last Christmas and have put several thousand miles on it already. We hope to put many more thousands of miles on it before we finally leave here.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm also very excited by photography. My photos are absolute garbage most of the time and I lack what artists call 'vision'. Still, it takes my mind off of the crowds and bad manners of Tokyo-ites and gives me an excuse to get out of the house every now and then.
I don't write much, so I don't know the first thing about this blogging. Let's just hope it grows into something interesting.
I'm a poor software engineer transferred out to Japan in March of 2002 and then left to fend for myself when the Japanese branch was closed.
I live in a small suburb of Tokyo with my wife (since July 2001) in a large apartment by Tokyo standards. It's not very convenient, but it was necessary after living in comparatively palatial quarters back in Seattle, WA.
I'm a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Languages and Linguistics with a degree in Japanese which, I think, gave someone the idea that sending me out here would be a good idea. I haven't regretted moving, but to say that I was severely unprepared for life in Japan is an understatement. Maybe I should have paid more attention in school, but that's all water under the bridge. I am getting a prolonged crash course in Japanese language and culture and I don't have much say in the matter.
After graduating back in 1997, I headed west to the rain-soaked lakes of Seattle. It was either Seattle or Silicon Valley, and it was a Seattle company that called first.
I spent three and a half years working in Seattle for a small, then large, then small again embedded systems integration company. It paid well, the people were great, and I was able to hone my skills to a sharp point.
Then around the end of 2001, a couple openings in the Japanese branch opened up and I was asked if I would like to make the transfer over to the Tokyo office. I said yes and in March of 2002, I was over here to provide technical expertise to the nascent QA team.
That's how I ended up over here.
I love getting out of the city. My wife and I bought a car last Christmas and have put several thousand miles on it already. We hope to put many more thousands of miles on it before we finally leave here.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm also very excited by photography. My photos are absolute garbage most of the time and I lack what artists call 'vision'. Still, it takes my mind off of the crowds and bad manners of Tokyo-ites and gives me an excuse to get out of the house every now and then.
I don't write much, so I don't know the first thing about this blogging. Let's just hope it grows into something interesting.
posted by Lauren Smith at
6:26 PM
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