My Life (or lack there of)
Ah, only a fool would click on such a link knowing it would only lead to some random dude's personal story! But now that you're here, I must entertain you...
I was born in LA (technically in Hollywood they say) in the early 80's.  | |
My brother (left) and I (right), probably around '83 |
My parents had been in the country since around 1970, which was when my father had been ordered by the juvenile court in Japan to be sent back to his parents' custody, who turned out to be in LA. For unknown reasons and under circumstances that have not been clarified to me to this day, my mother went along. They were married a year or two later.
My fairly typical childhood in Cerritos CA (of which I have very little recollection) saw a rude interruption when my father was transferred to Japan in 1987. In June of that year, our family moved to Kawasaki (in the suburbs of Tokyo) where I attended a public elementary school.  | |
In Japan (probably Spring 90) |
There, I established myself as an academic underachiever, a insatiable reader and learner of anything unrelated to school (esp. Japanese history), and the oldest kid in the block to play in the sand box in the nearby park; three traits that would lead me to, well, eventually lead to you reading this.
After only three years, our family was teleported by The Company yet again, this time to Dusseldorf Germany. There, I attended an international school (an English language school, usually based on an American educational system)
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Burning tests under bridge along the Rhine (probably 94 or 95) |
where I spent more time in an even bigger sandbox (commonly referred to as the Rhine River) just a few minutes from our house, and spent my free time making or blowing up random stuff.
My years in Germany, which lasted longer than in any other location, were spent living a fairly random life. I did a fair amount of reading, but I also indulged myself in various useless projects, half of which involved explosives or objects being projected at high speeds (although, others, like the raft and treehouse, were completely peaceful in nature).  | |
Abseiling off a cliff in Nieddergen (around '96) |
I spent countless afternoons sitting by fires on the banks of the Rhine, sometimes alone, often with my buddy James, where I learned to build a fire faster, using more techniques, and under harsher conditions (remember, this is Germany, it's not exactly sunny out all the time) than any boy scout I've come across to date.  | |
In theater sound and light booth ('98) |
My other obsessions included theater tech (we called it "Sound and Lights"), and after my freshman year in high school, programming.
After graduating from high school in 1998, I moved (or rather, was sent) back to Japan to attend cram school. I didn't know where I wanted to go, so when my parents suggested that I apply to college in Japan, that's what I agreed to. I was indifferent to say the least, and definitely unmotivated, which isn't a good state to be in in cram school.  | |
Cram school dorm room |
I survived by concentrating on illegal programming ("illegal" because we weren't allowed to have computers in the dorm I lived in) and by sneaking out with a few dorm buddies to go to the local bars and talk about life, the universe and everything else until wee hours of the morning. So it was probably considered a miracle (okay, not really, they just looked at my SAT scores and the test only involved an interview or two) when I was accepted to Keio University, School of Law.
Read the last three words of the last paragraph, notice something
odd?
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After entrace ceremony at Keio... (Spring '99) |
Yeah, "School of Law". See anything on this site that would indicate a law major? No, didn't think so. So you can probably imagine how that turned out. Maybe it's an excuse, but for someone who had received an American education, Japanese college education wasn't very interesting or easy to cope with. To give you some idea, my first semester there, I was taking 11 classes (not units, classes), three of which were year-long courses. The year long courses were lectures (with 300 other uninterested students), where we had absolutely no contact with the professors, and where the grades depended on one final exam. Thrown in was a horrible living condition (no hot water, worms in kitchen, 40 minute commute time, smack in the middle of one of the world's most cramped and crowded cities) and what resulted was one very unhappy Ryo.
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Next to a F-15 at Yokota AFB (Summer '00) |
As unpleasant as it was, it wasn't a completely negative experience for me either. On the plus side, I lost 60lb of weight, had a great cultural lesson, I learned (eventually) that true happiness can only result from misery, and had the wonderful chance to find out where I didn't want to be, which is, in all seriousness, a start towards figuring out where you do want to be.
Early in 2000, I began to plan my escape.  | |
Escape planning HQ (my apt in Gotanda) |
My first idea was to go to film school in the US. I gradually scaled down my plans but kept the "transfer to a college in the US" part of it. Regardless of what my parents might tell you, my "escape" plan was centered on transfering to college, not to simply get the hell out of Dodge. In May of 2000, I taught myself PHP in a week by writing an online bookmarks program, got a job with a small ISP/ASP and started funding my plan. That summer, I started working full time (that is, 50-70 hours a week as a part time employee), and completely stopped pretending to be a college student attending Keio.
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Alison and I (Jan
'01) |
December 3rd, 2000, I returned to my point of origin. With the help of my mother's friends, I found an apartment, got a car and a bike, and started attending Cerritos College to earn some units to take with me, and to regain my English.  | |
Me, in my apt in Cerritos (Spring '01) |
In August of 2001, I moved to Chico CA, to attend California State University, Chico as a Computer Science major. Why Chico? Because I wanted to be in the middle of nowhere, and because Chico State was the only place that would let me in (UCs weren't an option because I didn't have my GE stuff done, private universities were also out because I couldn't afford it - and I had horrible grades).
Two years went by rather quickly. Although I was thoroughly unchallenged, I did manage to get great grades for the first time in my life (had 4.0s two of the four semesters). Out of desperation, I was driven into taking classes outside my main area (Computer Sciences), which actually kept me sufficiently motivated. In fact, the most interesting classes I took were outside my area: Russian, Writing Center Theory (which lead to a job in the Writing Center), and Modern Japanese History. I also kept myself busy by working ~20 hours a week, at various jobs like User Services (Help Desk), the bookstore (as programmer) and Writing Center (as "writing assistant"). In May '03, I entered the CSU Student Research Competition, and won second place in the undergrad "Engineering and Computer Science" category (see article and PR).
In Fall of 2002, I decided yet again to transfer, to a school that fit me better and challenged me more. I knew I wanted a degree in computer
science, but I also wanted a solid background in the liberal arts as well.  | |
In front of Hitchcock Hall @ U of C (Jan '03) |
In December, I came across University of Chicago and fell in love. I got a feeling that the U of C was different, that it might be a place where I'd actually fit in. I was slightly disappointed when I learned that it was a highly reputable school, because I felt that that would jepordize my odds of getting in. Fortunately, their unique application process (they call it the "uncommon application") worked in my favor. I spent weeks on my application essays, and got a couple of great recommendations. If you ask me, it was fate. After I visited the campus in January, I left with the undescribable feeling of belonging; that Chicago was where I was meant to be. In May, my feelings were confirmed by a Large Envelope in the mail.
This September, I will be starting at the University of Chicago. In many ways, I feel like I'm finally starting college. It's been 3 years since I decided to transfer out of Japan; 3 years to correct a wrong turn I made 5 years ago. Yet, I have no regrets. As much as I envy my younger would-be-classmates for getting there straight out of high school, I am also grateful for the invaluable experiences I had in those years of wandering.
Epilogue
All that was written in the Summer of 2003. Here are some highlights in the intervening years...
- June 2005 -- Graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Computer Science
- June 2005 -- Got a job at Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, CA
- August 2008 -- Left Yahoo! after 3+ years.
 | The view I had outside my room in Germany... Beautiful, ain't it? |
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