LAST UPDATED: 29 Aug 2024

Hi, I’m Alvin — Welcome!

Index page — Updated regularly.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

What’s New?

1. Japan Is Not the High-Tech Paradise You Think It Is
2. Is Japan Turning into a Poor Country?
3. 6 Made-in-Japan “English” Expressions You’ll Encounter in Japan
4. Kicking off the New Year with a Massive Earthquake in Japan
5. I Made 6 Predictions for Japan in 2023 and Only 4 of Them Were Correct
6. I’ve Studied Japanese for 18 Years and This Summarizes Everything I Know

Top 5 Stories of All Time (Ranked by Reads)

1. Working in Japan Makes You Realize Why Japan Doesn’t Need English
2. Why So Many Foreigners Who Move to Japan End Up Hating It
3. Why Japanese People Don’t Understand When Foreigners Speak Japanese
4. I’ve Studied Japanese for 18 Years and This Summarizes Everything I Know
5. Japanese Salarymen Are Sleeping on the Streets of Tokyo — Guess Why?

Discover My Stories — Categorized (Not Mutually Exclusive)

• Japan
• Japanese Language 【日本語について】
• Culture and Society
• Business & Marketing
• Creator Economy
• Modern Work and Capitalism
• Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, and Related Technologies
• Short-Form (Below 150 Words)
• Personal Essays
• Fiction & Poetry
• Meta-Stories About Medium

Curated Writers

• Love Japan? Then You Need to Read These Amazing Writers Now

Bio

I Was a Social Science Grad Student Who Sold My Soul to Capitalism.

I was born, raised, and educated in Singapore. After graduating with an M.SocSci (Masters of Social Science) in Sociology, I made a 180-degree switch to start a career in marketing.

Still, I remain very much an “academic” inside. I like to reflect on the modern condition — what it means to be modern and the fates of our lives in capitalism and modernity.

I moved to Japan in 2016. Living in Japan and speaking Japanese lets me write stories about the Japanese language, culture, and Japan. I am also an editor of Japonica, a Japan-focused publication.

I also like to theorize (speculate?) about the future, which is why I also write about cryptocurrency — not so much in terms of the technology itself, but its social implications.

From time to time I also throw in a creative piece — a short story, flash fiction, poem, or reflective essay.

→ Get my posts via e-mail whenever I publish a new story.

→ Or see my feed first before you decide.

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