back from tokyo

Just got back from Tokyo. Was there for some company interviews and the International CareerCross Forum and Tokyo Summer Career Forum. The interviews I had sounded positive but nothing's confirmed, so I'm hoping for the best. Whereas, being at both career fairs was quite an eye-opener as I was able to see the market for employees, especially foreign grads with bilingual skills.

While at Tokyo I was thinking about the next course in life. Should I stay on in Japan or should I venture elsewhere and of course should I return home?

Many people have been asking me if I would be going back to Malaysia after graduation. It's a tough question, which I'm still praying about. I now know how foreign grads feel around this time, the question to explore oppportunities elsewhere while you're out there lingers, especially when the situation back home ain't that rosy.

But no matter how qualified or experienced one is, there's always the language barrier, especially in a country such as Japan where most of the population do not use English in their daily lives. Even my friends who have advanced level Japanese are still struggling to answer interview questions in the language.

Most of the companies that were represented in the fairs required fluent Japanese and business-level English. Ironically, their interviews and data sheets were only in Japanese. But still, it was a good experience mingling around with Japanese graduates who had just returned from overseas and the few foreigners who want to try it out in this country.

I've already done my part, sending thank you emails to the companies I've talked to, and following up on the necessary. Now I have to concentrate on my thesis, of which the draft is due in 2 weeks' time!