Brad In Japan

Brad In Japan: Starting Work

In which Brad has some spontaneity, takes a hike, and starts work!

Hello Everyone!

It has been a crazy fun two weeks and now a new chapter begins :) I will sprinkle in some of the fun this week and next to not overload, but it's been a blast.

Celebrating You!

Before diving in, I want to always remind you that I'm thankful you read these :) Many of you have also begun new journeys from new jobs, new businesses, travels, and even losing someone close. While there are many highs and lows, I'm glad to know you and share this part of life with you :)

Spontaneity

Kicking it off with two "events". One was meeting Josh at the bar I mentioned last time. He's taken the N2 and has been living in Japan for quite a while. Great chatting with him and hearing about his experiences.

Next, we have Lily who invited me to see a woodwinds concert. I was pumped because I used to play the clarinet in band. We went with some of her friends (who I failed to take a photo of haha) and got Mexican food too. They spoke Spanish so we had English-Spanish-Japanese translations going around the table. Chaotic but fun!

Take a Hike

I've posted about my solo hike adventure, but this time I went with friends & got many more photos 😆

We had to climb for about an hour to get to the "base" for many of the other hikes. About 10 minutes in, 2 of them called it quits and went back to take the trolley up to "base" haha.

There were numbers on the trees and when you made it to #1 you were at the top, but we proceeded to get lost and walked much more than needed. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Having made it to base, we went to see the shrine.

Other than the lots of stairs, it was pretty and they took many other great photos.

Now onto some nature. After a quick lunch, we took a hike to a lookout spot and then our steepest and most natural hike yet, to a waterfall.

My favorite part was once we made it to the waterfall, we climbed around and explored, but found a sign that said "Fatal slip-down accident spot" and took a picture by it...tehehe.

Like all great things, they must end (though I feel my fellow hikers were happy to be done hiking!) We made our way back to the trolley area and took it down. As we went to the bus station though, we had another steep downward slope and I walked backward which resulted in this:

Yes, we're going down! It stretches your calves and has less impact on your knee...but you can't see where you're going...

Work

From nature to food! I started my first day with Maruha Nichiro as of writing this, and it went well! The team was very welcoming and many of the "stereotypes" you hear about were not found which was a pleasant surprise.

I have a big task at hand of bringing Maruha Nichiro to the US market. That is intentionally broad as there are lots of possibilities but it is exciting to put my education to use and develop a strategy for them. Mentioning it now because I might use this blog to send a questionnaire to those interested in helping! It will be later in the journey, but a heads up.

Wrap Up

I hope you enjoyed this week's journey and look forward to the return of weekly letters :) I will have lots to share as my summer kicks in and I do my best to make the most of my time here! As always,

Thanks for Reading!