Big Move Finale: I'm moving to Japan!

This was taken back in 2006. Since my trip to Tokyo in 2004, I swore to myself that I will go to Japan every 2 years. I guess all good things come in threes. ^_^

Some of you already know it, and some of you don't. The previous three "Big Move Announcements" were a build up to this one, coz this is the biggest move I have ever made in my life. I'll be flying off to Tokyo this coming 28th September. Yup, you heard me right. I'll be in Malaysia for another 3 weeks before the great flight.

And no, it's not just a holiday trip. I'll be studying in a Japanese language institute, together with my cousin Dzaid, for one and a half years. And apart from my one-year experience in a hostel during Form One, this is the first time I'll be living independently *nervous*

Why learn Japanese, you ask? You see, I have two life-long dreams:

1. Create a game with a one million purchase/subscription mark. Need A LOT of experience for this to happen.
   
2. To obtain Japanese PR. (this is subject to change in case of culture shock, etc)
   

With this trip, I plan to kill both birds with one stone. The bigger picture of this journey is that I could join their independent game-making community, aka the doujin game culture.

Twice every year, they have a convention called Comiket, where tens of thousands of people visit booths opened by doujin enterpreneurs to sell their own manga, games, etc. Zun, creator of Touhou, also opens a booth once in a while to promote his product. Even Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, which started as a doujin game, had a lot of exposure through this convention.

So my short term goal is to join an independent game circle and open a booth to sell my games at a dirt cheap price. To some who are concerned, don't worry, I will still market myself as a Malaysian game developer ;) I just wanna have this booth-at-Comiket experience at least once.

But to do this, I need to perfect my Japanese.

I've been studying Japanese for two years, but I stopped coz I just didn't practice enough. You know, since we're in Malaysia. My JLPT Level 3 certificate means nothing if I can't even speak smoothly. And that's why I'm going to the source of it all: Tokyo!



As with anyone who plans to stay in Japan to work or to study, I had to obtain the Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) from the Japanese government 6 months earlier. I'm telling you, it ain't easy. They needed A WHOLE LOT of documents, so I drove to and fro to my former Japanese institute in KL Plaza. But it was all worth it, coz with the CoE it's easy to get my visa done, since a lot of background checks have been done already.



And of course, the flight ticket. Man, this is where I directly felt the impact of the fuel price hike. A one-way ticket to Japan cost me a freaking RM 2,600! _orz

Yup, that's the time of the flight. 28th September, 10:50 pm. I'm still in my numb state, I just couldn't believe that I'll be flying off so soon :S



This is where a whole lot of my money will go to. Apartments in Tokyo are small and expensive. Dzaid and I will be sharing an apartment, and it really looks similar to Sato's place in Welcome to the NHK: a staircase leading up to the room, with a ladder inside leading to the bed (though Sato used it to throw all his rubbish!)

It's a very decent apartment, and feedback from Malaysians who lived there before were great. It comes with a fridge, kitchen, microwave, an attached bathroom, and most importantly, an internet line! The price, though comparable with other Tokyo apartments, is really crazy by Malaysian standards: A freaking 53,000 yen/month, or RM 1696/month! And that's the price PER PERSON! Yaaaahooooo!

I will keep everyone posted about the trip. The blog will be revamped (about time!). To my dear close friends, let's yamcha more often! And my humble apologies to the classes that I'm teaching now, coz you'll be getting a new lecturer 3 weeks from now. You might get a more interesting one, so no worries! And to the students whom I taught before, don't be surprised if I come in with a camera yea ;)

Oh before I close this post, 6 months ago I had to xerox my passport to get my Certificate of Eligibility. The stewpid photostat machine in the shop had their toner set to high, so I asked them to do it again. Just to let you all know, this is the first result:



No government would want this freak in their country!