Hey all! I am a 25-year-old guy from Istanbul, Turkey. I am a Software Engineering (Bachelor's Degree) student, and I will most likely finish the course in 2 years.
I have a story to tell, so if you have time and if you read it, it will make me happy!
I was a curious child (and I still am). I believe curiousity is a sign that your brain is hungry for more information. It shows that you actually have a working brain! I mostly befriend curious friends, and I feel happy in such communities. It was when I was around 10 that I first saw a Japanese person (or people in this case). They were some tourists visiting historical places in my hometown and I saw they were curious themselves, asking their guides about this and that. Again, I was curious since I hadn't seen any Asian people upto that point. So I have gone and said "Hi!" to them, mainly because I didn't know that many English words back then
About 15 years later, here I am. Let me put this straight: I still want to live and work in Japan. I am interested in the country, the cities, the people, the history and the historical buildings, the language, the culture, the food, everything... I have checked the web and I wanted to join this forum and share my story with you.
Meanwhile I am not sitting around idly and waiting for a miracle to happen. I usually set myself some goals and try to achieve them in time. I wanted to get into a decent high school when I was younger, and I managed to get into a very established high school. When I first got into high school I didn't speak English that well, so I wanted to improve my English, and even though English was not the main foreign language there I managed to get fluent in it. A few years later, I decided that I wanted to become a Software Engineer, and now I am in one of the best Software Engineering schools here, studying on a full scholarship.
I am teaching myself Japanese now. It is not easy, it seems, with all the different alphabets and characters, and it is even harder to study alone, but I am determined to overcome this obstacle. I am not bad with languages; my skills in my native tongue (Turkish) is well above the average Turkish citizen. Also I think my English skills are better than most, since I have managed to skip the English prep schools in 2 different universities I studied at, attaining the highest scores of all the entrants (some 1,000?). I now have a Japanese teaching application on my smartphone, and I am working hard to get better in it. I read that Japanese and Turkish are 2 closely related languages. We shall see
I have already said that I am interested in the history. I am dazzled by the mere sight of a historical Japanese house by the river with banks covered in red leaves. I am reading historical books in English nowadays, but my dream is to be able to read about the Japanese history in Japanese one day. I don't know much of the Japanese history now (except the obvious stuff, like the Samurai) but I will hopefully improve.
The culture is the most important part I guess, if you want to move into Japan from a western country. Things are really different. Since I don't want to look like an idiot, I will have to improve on that.
The food is also important. I love eating. I am looking into alternatives to Sushi, since I hate fish and eating raw fish is not going to improve things
Even though I am not that much of a religious person, I am also interested in learning more about religions of Japan.
I want to visit major Japanese cities (mainly Tokio), oogle at electronical devices (one of my biggest hobbies is electronics) since I hear that Japan is like a heaven for electronics lovers. Also my favorite video game genre is Japanese RPG's (Final Fantasy anyone?)
I am a strong chess player. I also have an interest in Go, and I have been paying more attention to it since it is really popular in Japan. Is it even more popular than chess?
Here is a touchy subject. One of the reasons I want to work in Japan is a difficult one. I studied in a software company here for a while. It was a young and small one. One day, our boss asked us if we wanted some beer. I believe it is out of question. Yes, I do drink a beer from time to time, even though I am nowhere near an alcoholic. Yes, everyone is free to do whatever they want, including drinking alcoholic beverages. But not at the office. I have lost all my faith in working in my country. I hear the situation in Japan is quite the opposite of what I described, disciplined and chivalrous.
Also, not to skip, I find that Japanese women are really attractive. Who knows, I might date a Japanese girl or even marry one in the future
I am making preparations for moving into Japan. Besides learning the language and the culture, I am trying to achieve a success where I live at the moment. I also learned a Japanese programming language called Ruby in the past. Out of all the available languages, I picked Ruby purely because it was written by a Japanese programmer and was one of the most popular programming languages in Japan. And then there is my new goal: Achieve an internship in a Japanese company here in Istanbul, and eventually start working there after the school. I believe it should be possible to switch to the Japanese HQ later when my superiors see my affection for Japan and all the things I have written here? Wouldn't it be impressive if I discussed with the local Japanese manager in his own mother tongue?
The only obstacle I cannot tackle is time. I cannot stop ageing. I am 25 already, and getting to a suitable position to move into Japan will take like 5 to 10 years. I will be 30 or 35 years old. Do you think this will be a big problem?
Other than that, generally, what do you suggest I do? Like should I spend even more time and earn a Master's Degree? What are the essential advices? How do Japanese people regard Turkish immigrants (since I keep hearing the governments respect eachother and the people also like eachother)? Are there any others on these forums who have immigrated into Japan? Any resources you suggest?
Phew... It took me nearly an hour to write this. Hope you are not bored! Cheers from Istanbul!
I have a story to tell, so if you have time and if you read it, it will make me happy!
I was a curious child (and I still am). I believe curiousity is a sign that your brain is hungry for more information. It shows that you actually have a working brain! I mostly befriend curious friends, and I feel happy in such communities. It was when I was around 10 that I first saw a Japanese person (or people in this case). They were some tourists visiting historical places in my hometown and I saw they were curious themselves, asking their guides about this and that. Again, I was curious since I hadn't seen any Asian people upto that point. So I have gone and said "Hi!" to them, mainly because I didn't know that many English words back then
About 15 years later, here I am. Let me put this straight: I still want to live and work in Japan. I am interested in the country, the cities, the people, the history and the historical buildings, the language, the culture, the food, everything... I have checked the web and I wanted to join this forum and share my story with you.
Meanwhile I am not sitting around idly and waiting for a miracle to happen. I usually set myself some goals and try to achieve them in time. I wanted to get into a decent high school when I was younger, and I managed to get into a very established high school. When I first got into high school I didn't speak English that well, so I wanted to improve my English, and even though English was not the main foreign language there I managed to get fluent in it. A few years later, I decided that I wanted to become a Software Engineer, and now I am in one of the best Software Engineering schools here, studying on a full scholarship.
I am teaching myself Japanese now. It is not easy, it seems, with all the different alphabets and characters, and it is even harder to study alone, but I am determined to overcome this obstacle. I am not bad with languages; my skills in my native tongue (Turkish) is well above the average Turkish citizen. Also I think my English skills are better than most, since I have managed to skip the English prep schools in 2 different universities I studied at, attaining the highest scores of all the entrants (some 1,000?). I now have a Japanese teaching application on my smartphone, and I am working hard to get better in it. I read that Japanese and Turkish are 2 closely related languages. We shall see
I have already said that I am interested in the history. I am dazzled by the mere sight of a historical Japanese house by the river with banks covered in red leaves. I am reading historical books in English nowadays, but my dream is to be able to read about the Japanese history in Japanese one day. I don't know much of the Japanese history now (except the obvious stuff, like the Samurai) but I will hopefully improve.
The culture is the most important part I guess, if you want to move into Japan from a western country. Things are really different. Since I don't want to look like an idiot, I will have to improve on that.
The food is also important. I love eating. I am looking into alternatives to Sushi, since I hate fish and eating raw fish is not going to improve things
Even though I am not that much of a religious person, I am also interested in learning more about religions of Japan.
I want to visit major Japanese cities (mainly Tokio), oogle at electronical devices (one of my biggest hobbies is electronics) since I hear that Japan is like a heaven for electronics lovers. Also my favorite video game genre is Japanese RPG's (Final Fantasy anyone?)
I am a strong chess player. I also have an interest in Go, and I have been paying more attention to it since it is really popular in Japan. Is it even more popular than chess?
Here is a touchy subject. One of the reasons I want to work in Japan is a difficult one. I studied in a software company here for a while. It was a young and small one. One day, our boss asked us if we wanted some beer. I believe it is out of question. Yes, I do drink a beer from time to time, even though I am nowhere near an alcoholic. Yes, everyone is free to do whatever they want, including drinking alcoholic beverages. But not at the office. I have lost all my faith in working in my country. I hear the situation in Japan is quite the opposite of what I described, disciplined and chivalrous.
Also, not to skip, I find that Japanese women are really attractive. Who knows, I might date a Japanese girl or even marry one in the future
I am making preparations for moving into Japan. Besides learning the language and the culture, I am trying to achieve a success where I live at the moment. I also learned a Japanese programming language called Ruby in the past. Out of all the available languages, I picked Ruby purely because it was written by a Japanese programmer and was one of the most popular programming languages in Japan. And then there is my new goal: Achieve an internship in a Japanese company here in Istanbul, and eventually start working there after the school. I believe it should be possible to switch to the Japanese HQ later when my superiors see my affection for Japan and all the things I have written here? Wouldn't it be impressive if I discussed with the local Japanese manager in his own mother tongue?
The only obstacle I cannot tackle is time. I cannot stop ageing. I am 25 already, and getting to a suitable position to move into Japan will take like 5 to 10 years. I will be 30 or 35 years old. Do you think this will be a big problem?
Other than that, generally, what do you suggest I do? Like should I spend even more time and earn a Master's Degree? What are the essential advices? How do Japanese people regard Turkish immigrants (since I keep hearing the governments respect eachother and the people also like eachother)? Are there any others on these forums who have immigrated into Japan? Any resources you suggest?
Phew... It took me nearly an hour to write this. Hope you are not bored! Cheers from Istanbul!
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