After interviewing with three companies in Japan, I began to realize that Japanese employers may look beyond Japanese ability and academic qualifications. Work experience in Japan, communication skills, and the ability to work with others can also be important. I had avoided part-time work because I wanted to focus entirely on studying Japanese, but I have started to rethink its value. During my autumn break, I want to gain real experience in Japan, practice Japanese through work and communication, and step outside my comfort zone.
After coming to Japan, I had my first in-person job interview with a Japanese company. I was nervous because I still cannot speak Japanese fluently, but the interview turned out to be much more relaxed than I had expected. It was also my first opportunity to experience how job interviews are conducted at Japanese companies. Regardless of the outcome, it was a valuable experience for me.
From N5 to N3, I had always passed every Japanese language school exam. However, I failed the official JLPT N2 exam in July, and my study intensity dropped significantly afterward. Unexpectedly, I passed this time with a score of 97. What surprised me most was my reading score, which jumped from 23 in July to 40 this time. The result made me wonder once again how JLPT’s scaled scoring system affects the final score.
After using OpenClaw for more than six months, I finally switched to Hermes. This is my personal experience with AI Agents, including task reliability, progress reporting, GitHub CI monitoring, automation, and why I decided it was time for a change.
I scored 85 on JLPT N2 — five points short of passing. Instead of looking back, I signed up for December, started the job search, and committed to the next 100 days. This is my comeback journal.
On Japan's Marine Day in Yokohama, I met three very different Japanese people in a single day — welcoming locals who greeted us in Chinese and English, a rude waiter on Enoshima, and elderly activists protesting anti-foreigner discrimination. A single act of kindness — or unkindness — doesn't define a country. The lesson: think independently, and never let one individual stand in for a whole people.
JLPT N2 is done. Months of tension suddenly released — and I sank into a strange emptiness. The rhythm of running toward a clear goal just stopped. What now?
A degree measures whether you can keep working under fixed rules and delay gratification — exactly the trait most employers want. So a degree isn't ability itself; it's a ticket that saves them the cost of sorting through candidates.
Real strength isn't about winning. It's about being willing to take responsibility for yourself. Weakness isn't failure, and strength isn't never falling. The difference is what happens after you fall: do you lie there, or do you get back up?
We got used to AI seeming all-powerful, then discovered it forgets too — context lost in long conversations, memory wiped between sessions. A reminder to reconsider where AI ends and where our own memory must begin.
We keep believing someday everything will fall into place — but that someday never arrives on its own. Pushing too much onto your future self is a hidden form of procrastination. Only the choices you make right now truly belong to you.
Tomorrow will always be slightly older than today. If we pour all our hopes into our future selves, we sacrifice the version of us that's here right now. What we can truly hold isn't the tomorrow that hasn't come — it's this moment.