2014 will be the year known as my “Brand New Start”. Why? Because I had made a big decision that will impact me for the rest of my life. Approximately 2 weeks ago, I have left my first full-time job after graduation. I was given an opportunity of a life-time. I was given a full-time position at a company called Rakuten. Rakuten is located in Tokyo, Japan. Yes, you read it right. Tokyo, Japan. I was born and raised in Toronto Canada. Never moved, lived in the same neighbourhood for all my life excluding my University days. Which doesn’t really count because the places I lived at was for a short period of time and my current house in Toronto was still my permanent home. I had also lived in Vancouver for 8 months for co-op, but I knew it was temporary and that one day I would go back home to live with my parents in Toronto, Even now, after graduation I am living in my parent’s house. It is like nothing had changed over the years. Living in the same room, with the same posters on my wall. Didn’t put up any new posters since high school, the only difference are posters that fell off the wall, and that I am too lazy to put it back up again. If you come into my room now, you can’t tell that a post-graduate person is living in that room. You will probably guess that a high-schooler is living here. (Okay wow, I am really getting side-tracked here, time for me to go back to my main point).

Tokyo,Japan. In a month or so, I will be moving to Japan! JAPAN! A new country, a new language, a new culture! A culture that I had high interest in since I was little. I always enjoyed their food, their songs, their shows etc. I remember that when I was little I would ask myself if I were to be born again into the world which city will I want to grow up in. The answer always remained the same. Japan. Why? Perhaps it was all the anime, mangas, Japanese dramas I used to watch and read when I was younger. Which really boosted my interest in the Japanese culture even more. So when I was given an opportunity to work in an e-commerce fairly big company in Japan, seems like an easy choice right? Wrong. It wasn’t really an easy choice at all. What made the choice difficult was that it is not a contract-job but a full time opportunity. Which means that I will be living in Tokyo for a extended period of time. It won’t be for a few months but years, or perhaps decades. The longest time I been away from my family and friends was 8 months. That was the time when I decided to move to Vancouver. Yes it was really fun, and was able to meet great people. But I knew that it was temporally and that one day I would go back to Toronto. But now it is different. Not only am I going there for I don’t know how-long but I am in a non-English country. Perhaps people in Tokyo know some English but their main language is Japanese. My Japanese skills are close to non-existent. I won’t be able to order food, yet alone starting a conversation. Luckily, Rakuten is a English-based company, so when I am in work I can speak English to my co-workers but what about after work? Will I be able to read the road signs? The menu? Listen to the weather forecast on the news? NO. Which is why I am still a bit scared to go to Japan. Scared but excited and looking forward to. I know that if I were to pass this opportunity I would regret it for the rest of my life. I am still young. I recently graduated university (last year) with very little responsibility. So if this is not the time to see and experience the world then when will I be able to?

I know for a fact that Vancouver changed me. I enjoyed the lifestyle I had there. A lifestyle which I can’t have when I am staying at home with my parents. Yes, it is great to live with your parents, but there comes a day when you want to move out and just live on your own. Once you experience that, there is just no way you can go back. (Which I did for a year) The past year, I felt as if my lifestyle was changing back to my old lifestyle(before Vancouver). And that wasn’t the lifestyle I wanted. I wanted what I had in Vancouver. The freedom. The sense of adventure and exploration in a new city. To meet new people and to listen to their life stories. Vancouver was without a doubt the best life experience I had so far. With that in mind, I knew that it was time for me to get back my sense of adventure and exploration. Last year I went to Orlando, San Fransico and London for vacations. During that time I loved walking around and seeing new things, eating different food, Just getting out of my shell. I felt great! At that moment I knew that this is what I want in life. Working in Vancouver opened a new pair of eyes for me. I want to live a life with no regrets. I want to live a life full of adventure. I want to explore and do many new activities. The only thing I regret not doing was doing exchange during University. Not a day goes by where I really wished I had done it. But there is nothing I can do about it now. Which caused me to think about things I want to do in life. It all comes down to will I regret doing this in the future or will I regret NOT doing this in the future? For me the feeling of regretting NOT doing things is fair worse then doing it. The question I always asked myself is what if. What if I did this, or what if I did that instead. But in this world there is no what ifs. You just do it. I know for a fact that if I didn’t do this, I would regret it as much as I regret not doing exchange. Which is something I don’t want. So I’ll be going to Tokyo, Japan. Going to Rakuten in Tokyo will not be only a great working experience and good for my career but also a GREAT life experience. Something where no job can offer. The experience of moving to other country and experiencing their culture. If I were to choose one country, Japan is definitely the answer. I will be starting a brand new life in Tokyo.

So what I have I been doing since I am now unemployed? Many things. First of, after many months, I finally have the time to re-do my site. Now my site is re-designed, and re-amped. With this, I can continue blogging and my friends and family in Toronto can see what I am up to in Tokyo.

Looking forward to a new chapter in my life.