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Comment by srvmshr | Hacker News Reader

I will be tad shameless & mundane: I don't enjoy working after 9-6. No great intellectual side hobbies to burn the midnight oil. For me, two things give a lot of bliss:

1. Watching a new interesting show or a re-run on Netflix, sipping a cup of coffee (or having a few drags of vape occasionally).

2. Going on a long aimless drive with country music, and stopping somewhere along the coastline to enjoy the view of sea or ships sailing at a distance.

I don't have kids or pets. Living in Japan. The horrors of everyday dealing with GCP/AWS & Japanese office regimen needs occasional quenching by solitude.

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I too live in Japan. You don't have to put up with the Japanese office regimen if you don't like it. My last and current roles have been at Japanese companies and I've been able to WFH for both. No guarantee you'll be able to rid yourself of GCP/AWS though.

This! Also live in Japan & work for a domestic company w/friendly work culture (no dress code, WFH common, flex time). Definitely look for something new if you’re not happy.

I have all the three you mentioned. The problem lies with staffing.

I am the only one who does their ETL, manage their database, build the backend and dashboard and pursue ML projects on 3D AR/MR at the same time. For them, as the 4X engineer I am shouldering half of the engineering workload

Get a new job? That would be the us solution, but could that work there?

what is GCP/AWS?

Google Cloud Platform / Amazon Web Sevices, probably

I’d love to hear more. This sounds good to me. How did you end up in Japan?

> How did you end up in Japan?

Quite simple. US became a nightmare towards the end.

As an immigrant grad student without much means, I couldn't support myself long. After my advisor cut off funding, I tried finding a job. I didn't have money to pay the bills soon after & US job process was getting long & convoluted with internal referrals, pointless rounds of interviews, HR meetings. I needed money to feed myself - I was skipping some meals to save money.

I had self respect not to work at a gas-station illegally or at one of the asian IT sweatshops by falsifying my CV. Japan government offered me funding at University of Tokyo & I grabbed the offer. Finished my PhD in CS with that opportunity. It has been 6 years and counting.

Here is one thing though: I earn comfortable now. But the trauma of poverty never leaves you. Even though I work in CS/ML, my life is pretty austere. I stick to the 'needs', and avoid the 'wants' as much as possible. Maybe it will take some years - or maybe these habits won't go. The one thing I never wish for anyone is hunger. Once you have lived through it, you won't want to be in that position ever again.

There's nothing wrong or PTSD-like about living below your means

It can be the "correct move" 10/10 times, and still be done out of learned fear for certain people.

> Here is one thing though: I earn comfortable now. But the trauma of poverty never leaves you. Even though I work in CS/ML, my life is pretty austere. I stick to the 'needs', and avoid the 'wants' as much as possible. Maybe it will take some years - or maybe these habits won't go. The one thing I never wish for anyone is hunger. Once you have lived through it, you won't want to be in that position ever again.

Congratulations on getting out of it tho! My father grew up pretty much piss poor with a single mother. His reaction to living in poverty is completely the opposite. He never keeps money and buys everything in excess. Probably a way to overcompensate and, as you said, to not want to love in that position ever again.

I'm reading your post with tears. I'm deeply touched by your last paragraph, actually I could feel your words. I'm an international student studying for a graduate CS degree in the bay area. The covid pandemic has made it really difficult financially for my family recently. Skipping meals has been my daily routine. I'm 6 feet but weigh around 130 pounds. Despite all these, I really enjoy coding. Like one of the other comment mentioned, I feel like being in the zone when I'm coding. Reading your post tells me I'm not alone. I wish I could go to Japan one day to meet you.

Thanks for sharing. I take it you’re not a Japan national to begin with. Do you plan on living there, planting roots?

Japan has been kind to me. I have a very comfortable life here. Plus, Tokyo would come up somewhere in the top of the list of desirable places to live. Maybe yes to your question. But who has seen life ahead of time. If you asked me in 2009, I would have said finishing my grad school in US and settling down in NY maybe. Plus, going back to US / Canada is not easy for foreigners, remote position or not.

How large is the language gap and how difficult is it to work in Japan as someone who, initially, doesn’t speak English?

In Tokyo, it is passably fine. Business communication is strongly preferred in Japanese. However, learning resources are many & people are generally helpful and accommodative. 20-30% will be proficient in English. I am told Osaka-Kyoto work setting is more traditional than Tokyo, so expect less foreign language fluency.

I wouldn't discount the difficulties of not knowing the local language. Living in Japan is not easy if you do not speak or understand Japanese. Every single form or application is in Japanese. All government related procedures are in Japanese. Banner signboards & instructions too. You'd miss out on several important bulletins e.g. tax instructions, license updation etc., if you read only the EN versions, as Japanese ones are more detailed & explanatory. One-to-one translation of information is not guaranteed with such documents.

Thanks a lot for answering. I‘m not even sure what to do after the (hopefully successful) PhD so I‘m thankful for every perspective.

I appreciate your grit. May I DM you for some guidance?

Feel free to. My email is in my bio. I am not sure how much I can help you but I will try answering your query(s)

Sure thing. DM as you desire.

I’m assuming you aren’t Japanese based on your Other comments. How has dating and your social life been in Japan.

Oof, that's the one thing I was hoping to avoid answering. But since you asked I will be honest:

I dated three women in past 5 years. The first, a dentist of same nationality as me. She was caught cheating with her senior. It was a body blow because I was an inch away from marrying her. The second was 7-8 years younger than me, and she left me when she moved to NY. It was unceremonious & rude, and given that I came to know about her new status from mutual friends rather than herself, it was bitterly humiliating.

I met a wonderful person - a local - while discussing music. We have been married for sometime now. We are not from the same field. That reduces friction & gives some opportunity for different perspective on work-life. No children yet but that's okay.

Social life is otherwise fine. I have a core set of friends, which I can count with my fingers. We meet up weekly & have dinner, usually on Fridays.

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