But decision was made and my application was successful. So here I am, writing about it. I want to document this as much as possible so that it'll be cool to look back someday or maybe someone would find it useful or amusing. I don't know the format I'm going to use. I'm going to let it evolve as I continue with my life here. I'll try and update every week in a chronological order. It's not a commitment, but I'll try. I also think I would start my PhD blog/journal to document my thoughts on my research and other PhD related stuff.
This is the first post about Japan and I think it should summarize pre departure. I'm not going to start from the very very beginning. I'm going to start at about a month from departure.
So ..
1. Date was set for me to arrive in Japan on the 21 September 2018. Prior to that I had a briefing at the sponsor's office. It's mostly about funding, some basic info about life in Japan and providing information on how to arrive there safely. Mostly admin stuff.
2. In that session I was also given a letter/notice to bring to embassy along with my visa application document. I went to apply for my visa the same day since it should be ready overnight. But mine was on hold for few days because my name was not in the system. They finally got the clearance from Ministry of Foreign Affair Japan and few days later I got my Visa. Basically you need a Certificate of Eligibility obtained from your sponsor, fill out a form and submit along with your passport.
Tip: Japan got really weird visa photo dimension. I made mine at a photo shop near the temple. It's inside a mall with an open mamak shop with lots of motorcycle parked outside it.
3. Made my visa and I had to sell my car, motorcycle and settle other commitments in Malaysia. Luckily my wife will be joining me in few months time so any outstanding issues was looked out after by her.
4. And I also had a baby 1 week before I flew off to Japan. I'm glad that I was able to witness the birth of my 4th child. I also try and spend a lot of time with my family and not join any races or have this mad running binge in the middle of the jungle.
5. As far as work is concerned, I was still in the office a week before flying off. Had a nice farewell and I'm sure being in the Government, we will see each other again.
There's a lot going on in between but that is probably the bulk of it. Getting the admin stuff over the line, family, work and committment here in Malaysia. Now I'm here and there's more stuff to sort out.
Till then,
