Spent a bit of this week debugging an infrastructure problem in an unfamiliar stack, and I’m really enjoying this period of discovery. Finding the problem was super affirming.
Did a little intro in the engineering all-hands. It’s hard to distill yourself into a slide but I think I got away with it. (it had pictures and I got distracted mid-sentence by the chat trying to identify one!)
Closed the week with the really big yearly all-hands. My head is still spinning!
Met up with JK & FT for dinner in a wine bar in Shimbashi to reminisce, and learned more about how all these visas work in the process. Also walked away slightly more optimistic about learning the language.
The 21st was the winter solstice, and marking the occasion I went to the incredibly packed Hōjōji in Waseda to pick up a Ichiyo Raifuku.
It needs attaching to the wall, facing the right direction at exactly midnight. Unfortunately I didn’t have a surface facing the right direction, so instead it is now sitting on a shelf. Maybe my next place will have a more opportune spot.
Another big achievement this week was finally locating a copy of Metroid Fusion. I’ve been trawling store after store when I get the chance. Why look for it? Like many GBA games in Japanese, it has a mode with the simpler alphabets (the kana) and I could use the practice. It also includes hard mode!
Did a few viewings at the weekend, and some of the places I saw were nice, affordable and walking distance to the office. But I’m not sold on the area - it’s too fiddly to get around.
If you compute all places on or within the Yamanote line, where there is an intersection of 3+ train lines, you end up with a large number of surprisingly affordable places. Doing the same in London with the Circle line - I famously gave up there and honestly regretted it.
Bumped into MA very randomly on Sunday evening while standing at a crossing and getting my bearings. Led to an impromptu tour of the area and dinner. And drinks. And that's also why these notes are late, sorry!
