I decided to continue w/ the English blog for now, since I got a lot of hits last week.

Last week my company was bought out by another company. The old parent company decided to concentrate on its main business (selling information on Chinese companies to financial companies) and sell off its subsidiaries. The new parent company is a financial communications and global stakeholder management company. This is very specialized language so to dumb it down, the new parent company owns companies like mine. My company is an Investor Relations and Financial Communications firm. Put simply, we help companies with publicly traded stock build and maintain relationships with current and potential investors. We do that by helping tailor a company's communications (Presentations, Press Releases, Announcements) to better suit the people they are being delivered to. For a primer go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor_relations

This week I need to discuss with my current boss and the new parent company people what they would like to do with the Tokyo office going forward. My office is in the old parent company's office. On top of that, the parent company's office in Japan is moving to a new location and not taking me with them.

I was presented a few options in the past, none of which will be guaranteed to be there when I discuss the issue with my bosses next week.

1) Move to the company's office in Hong Kong
2) Work from home
3) Quit/get fired

That's about it. I am pretty sure they want me to move to Hong Kong, but I have no intentions of doing so. It's not exactly somewhere I want to be. A nice place to visit with great food. But for me, the fun stops there.

Working from home does not really seem like a good option either. I don't think I would be doing any actual work. Additionally, I don't know where to put all the office equipment/supplies in the meantime.

That leaves the third option. I could quit/get fired and collect unemployment. The bright side would be I would be able to study Japanese everyday and take/pass 日本語能力試験1級 this summer (it's being offered twice starting this year). The drawback is the monetary costs. It ain't cheap living in the love hotel district...

I am a little compelled to move to Osaka to live with my dad. I would be able to live rent free and at the same time concentrate on my studies since I would have no friends/distractions there. In English we often say you have to take a step back to move forward. Moving to Osaka would be a good real world application of this saying.

Anyway, that's what's up at the moment.

This is my first blog entry in English. Sometimes I cannot express what I want to say in Japanese not because my Japanese skills are lacking, but because there are no words/phrases for what I want to say in Japanese. Mainly because Japanese people don't talk about the same things that non-Japanese people say. Either that or it's very difficult to translate. I haven't decided if this will be a permanent thing, but at least today you'll get to see the other side of my personality.

For example, someone asked me how to say 社交辞令 in English the other day, but I don't know. I don't believe we have a phrase for this concept in English. We are aware of the concept and use it just as often as Japanese people, but we surely don't talk about the topic as much as Japanese people do.

Anyway, for new readers, this blog is about my life in Japan. I am a half Japanese-American that moved to Japan three and a half yeas ago. I worked at an 英会話 for my first two years until I rejoined my current company last summer. For past blog entries please go to - http://blog.livedoor.jp/yourboyjk/

OK so we're in the full swing of the 忘年会(another phrase you can't really translate into English) season. It's December 10 and I have only had one day this month with no plans. The holiday season is really busy in Japan. Tons of parties/events to attend. Tomorrow I'm heading to check out the lights at Tokyo Midtown. I actually was there twice last week for a conference but didn't really get a chance to enjoy the scene.

After this week it will die down for me. I don't have anything scheduled at all next week, actually. I'm sure something will come up but for now I'm totally free. My last day of work in 2008 will be December 19, and then I'm off to Thailand for the first time on from December 22 to 30. Hopefully the airport will be operating without any glitches and the protesters will let us tourists have fun.

I'll be in Tokyo for NYE, then most likely head off to Osaka to visit my father. I haven't seen him in a while and he asked me to fix his computer. I really don't know why he always asks me to fix his computer. At some point he started thinking that I'm some computer expert when in reality I know no more than your average joe.

OK, I need to get back to work. Sorry this was so boring but I felt like I needed to update my readers. And I apologize to those readers that can't read English well. If you want, I can update you individually later.

いつもより更新が早いです。

先々週合コンで出会ったAちゃんって若い子とデートしてきた。彼女がデートが終わるまで、ずっと敬語使っていてこのわしが始めて歳をとってるって感じした。初デートだからじゃない?またAさんとデートするかどうか分からないけど、敬語で話されるのは嫌。ジムの失礼なお姉さんと全く違う。笑。皆さん、いつまで敬語を使うのかな?人によるんだろう。

一昨日ライバルの会社に面接に行ってきた。ライバルって外資系で社員が日本に5人。良さそうだったけど、今回日本の大企業に入った方がいいかなと思ってる。

日本の会社だったら、外資系より勉強になるし、首になる可能性が低いし。でも、自由に帰れないから、いつも平日遊んでいる僕にとって辛そう。もう30代になったのに、遊びに飽きないのかな?

仲良しのマビットが今日から来週末までアメリカに帰る。つまんなそうだけど、今日と明日ハロウィーンパーティーがあるから、三連休楽しめそう!