Daily Entry 43 : Travelling For Work Japan as an Engineer/Researcher in Japan

I started to travel to different prefectures for work for the past few months. About 3-4 days of my  working days is spent outside of the office. My primary job as a process engineer involves design machinery; equipment that helps to converts raw material into specific products. Based on the product, I calculate the necessaryContinue

Critical Thinking Explained in Just 1 Minute

There was once a time when I wondered what it means to think critically. Unfortunately, if you were to do an online search, you would come across guidelines explaining how critical thinking is basically “problem-solving” or a form of  “Information analysis”, along with other vague terms with zero concrete explanation. This compelled me to digContinue

Being a Great Communicator: The Common Traits I’ve Noticed in the Best

Communication is something that we do every day to the point that we rarely think too much about it. It’s become another routine just like brushing our teeth, opening the door, or simply drinking water. We are so used to the ways we do these things, that we continued doing it without thinking if there’sContinue

What Changed After One Year of Working: Life After a PhD

A year ago, I had my final defense for my doctoral thesis and began my career as an engineer/researcher. Needless to say, the shift from a student to a white collar employee has brought a lot of changes in my life. This includes my private life after the 9-5. These included both ups and downs.Continue

Life is Painful—But a Goal Can Make It Worth Living

I am by no means an overachiever but I have gotten people asking me about my motivation in life, how I keep striving in life etc. Even though I am far from living in poverty, life can be full of suffering for each of us. Being able to push through it is how we achieveContinue

My First Step Toward Work-Life Balance in Japan and Why I Prioritize It as a First Year

Recently I am becoming more conscious of work-life balance and realizing how hard it is to maintain that balance. Being in a white-collar job, my working hours are concentrated during the weekdays, a typical 9 to 5 just like the majority of people. But I think I speak for many people when I say, “SometimesContinue

Learning How to Accept Compliments

Recently I read a book and inside it are pieces of advice written by the author. I can’t remember the last time I finished buying a book but then I found myself in a bookstore in Japan and the first page I opened caught my attention. It’s a message in between the lines of saysContinue

What does it mean to be positive (after living in Japan for 9 years)

Life isn’t always a bundle of joy. You have days where even being alive is exhausting. It is something we all have to deal with in our own unique way. Some people do it better than others. Even for me, I lost count of how many times people asked me things like “how you constantlyContinue

Daily Entry 41: Switching roles in my job as an engineer

It has been a little over a month since I moved to a new workplace (in the same company). And I would say that the job description has changed a lot from where I first started. Sometimes when people ask me what I do for a living, I contemplate what to tell them. My answerContinue

Empathy, people who get it seems to get other people

We all wish we could befriend anyone. No one wants to be alone in this world. Even an introvert like myself, I would still want to surround myself with people I can talk to freely and be liked. Some individuals are exceptionally good at doing that. You know exactly who they are. They tend toContinue