Getting In The Groove

As many of you know, I left Deloitte late last month and have moved onto a position within IT Audit at SMBC Nikko Securities. This new position puts me in the thick of a Japanese working environment, which is challenging on many levels – language being the least of which. I look forward to this career change since it pulls out of the rat race that Big Four job have turned into. Long gone are the days where Big Four managers could get regular work and charge exorbitant rates. The competition is stiff and the rates are falling through the … Continue reading Getting In The Groove

Back To Normal

Or, as normal as a foreigner living in a Japanese nuclear leakage zone can be. Packed my brief case, put on a necktie, and headed into Tokyo this morning. Was interesting with dark train cars, no heating on the trains, darker train stations, and all the escalators shut down. It’s a different Japan and will be different well into summer of this year. Our house is zoned outside of the regular power outages, so I can keep this new home server humming and continue to develop, script, and otherwise hack unencumbered. Well, almost unencumbered. This little server screams – it … Continue reading Back To Normal

Sensation Sells – CNN Is A Cauldron Of Liars

Throughout my life, the wiser individuals have pointed out propaganda, sensationalism, and how one should only believe a part of the news that’s broadcast. This experience has been a big lesson and has made those advisories so clear; especially as it applies to CNN and Wolf Blitzer. I am in Japan and have lived in Japan for a third of my life at this point. I read, write, and speak the language fluently at a near-native level. I am not confused by the events here… unlike the stupid American reporters that keep claiming ‘mixed signals’ or ‘unclear messages’ or ‘changing … Continue reading Sensation Sells – CNN Is A Cauldron Of Liars

All Shook Up In Japan

Just as I start to write this blog entry the NHK station that I incessantly stay tuned into reports an upcoming earthquake warning… yet again. Since Friday March 11, there have been over 300 after-shocks only about 40 of which I can remember actually feeling or experiencing. Also, if the only news you have is from Wolf Blitzer on CNN, then you are drastically misled about the current situation.Since I was small child I have experienced four major natural disasters – the first was typhoon Pamela when I was 11 years old growing up on Guam. Then the 1989 San … Continue reading All Shook Up In Japan