Hello. I'm Osaka from the Kamiyama team of the Webmaster Support Department.
After gaining two years of practical experience in the Coding Factory department at the Yoyogi headquarters in Tokyo, I will be working at the Kamiyama satellite office from January 2018.
I attended Kamiyama as part of the first class of Monosasu Juku, but I'm ashamed to say that I was born and raised in Tokushima and have hardly ever been to Kamiyama. However, during my short time there, I found so many attractive places that I thought, "I want to work here someday," and that dream has finally come true.
I've only been working in Kamiyama for a month now, and I'm in the middle of transitioning from my Tokyo lifestyle. In this article, I'd like to share with you the differences between city life and here, and my thoughts on changing my environment.
The commute changes
When I was in Tokyo, I used to commute to work every day on the crowded Odakyu Line train, swaying for about 40 minutes. At first, it had been a long time since I last rode a train, and I remember clutching the handrail tightly on the way to work, afraid of falling on the train. I got used to commuting by train, but now I commute by car, which takes just under an hour from where I live in Tokushima City to Kamiyama.
Snow accumulation in Tokushima city. In Kamiyama, it's about twice as much.
The hardest thing about commuting to Kamiyama by car is snowy days.
In Tokyo, when it snows, the trains stop running and it can be just as difficult, but if you commute by car, you're the one who gives the go-ahead. It's hard to decide whether it's okay to go out now. Also, the road from Tokushima City to Kamiyama is often frozen, and on the way there I would sometimes feel at a loss, wondering, "Will I be able to get there safely?"
The other day, we were hit by the strongest cold wave. It was sunny in the city, but as we headed towards Kamiyama, the amount of snow piling up on the oncoming cars passing by increased rapidly, and on the way, we caught a glimpse of a car that had fallen off the road and was standing vertically in a rice field next to it... (It seemed that no one was in the car, so it seemed to have escaped safely). Then, after driving carefully through a long tunnel, we found ourselves in a blizzard! It's really surprising how the weather can change so suddenly.
However, even though the weather in the mountains is so changeable, and the commute is tough, the scenery is wonderful. Radiative cooling creates fog, creating a fantastical landscape that makes you feel like you've wandered into a fairy tale world, and on days when the moon is large and bright, roads that are usually dark and impossible to walk on without a smartphone light are bright enough to walk on without one. Since nature shows a different face every day, I make new discoveries every day. Every time I discover something new, I realize that I've come to Kamiyama and that I've come back from Tokyo.
Do it yourself
Currently, nine people work full-time at the Kamiyama satellite office. The Kamiyama office does not have anyone in charge of accounting, which is handled by members of the headquarters in Yoyogi. Therefore, we check the schedule and create accounting-related documents ourselves. Also, when we were in Yoyogi, we used to ask the headquarters to buy toiletries and other supplies, but now we do it ourselves on a rotating basis.
In Yoyogi, the garbage collector would gather the garbage and take it to the garbage dump, but in Kamiyama, instead of a garbage truck coming, you have to take it to the garbage dump at the town hall by the designated time. Even though they are both on garbage duty, the importance of it is different.
I think that even small inconveniences like this are a good thing because they make it feel like we are part of creating the office.
Life-changing
I've only been working here for about a month, but I feel the biggest change has been in my daily routine.
In Tokyo, I made full use of the flextime system and my wake-up and start time for work varied depending on the amount of work I had, but now I have a regular rhythm of waking up at 7am and starting work at 9am.
Not only is the food at Kamaya amazing, but the view from the windows is also wonderful.
For lunch, we usually have lunch at Kamaya .
The main dish is different every day, with meat and fish, so I look forward to it every day. There is a lot of Chinese cabbage now, and in salads it is very crunchy and chewy, and you can feel the strength of the cabbage that has grown well in the cold of winter.
When I was in Tokyo, I didn't make much of an effort to eat vegetables, but in Kamiyama I have many opportunities to eat seasonal vegetables, and I feel like my blood circulation is somehow improved, which may be thanks to my diet.
I went for a walk with coder Kane-san, who was also a first-year student at Monosasu Juku and had returned to Tokushima at the same time.
I often take a walk in the evening to change my mood. Until a month ago, I used to walk among the buildings of Shinjuku to change my mood, but now I walk surrounded by mountains and rice fields. I didn't notice it much when I lived in Tokushima before joining Monosasu Juku, but I feel that the air is clearer when there is a lot of nature.
As we walked and chatted about coding on the chilly weather, a lot of different ideas came out, making it a nice change of pace.
Changing work style
Communications and meetings with Yoyogi are conducted via the video conferencing service Meet.
Before starting work in Kamiyama, my biggest concern was whether I would be able to communicate and work well with the members in Yoyogi.
However, after working there for a month now, I don't think I've had any major issues.
Thanks to the video conferencing service Meet (Google Hangouts), we can smoothly share documents and screens, and hold regular reports.
When I hear the casual exchange between the people sitting next to me in a meeting, such as, "Are your eyes red today? Are you OK?", it feels as if the Yoyogi members are in the same space, and it's a strange feeling.
I realize that this is a way of working that is only possible in this day and age, when communication technology is so well developed.
Never forget your original intentions
At the end of 2017, after my move to Tokushima was completed without any problems and I was preparing to start work the next year, my much respected seven-time champion Yoshiharu Habu said something interesting on the NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen.
The phrase "never forget your original intention" does not mean the feelings you had when you first started, but rather "the first time at each moment." I think it's good to not forget the feelings you had at turning points.
Looking back at my life, I remember one day at Kamiyama Monosasu Juku when I realized the joy of coding amidst all the hardships of learning new things. Then, after the class ended and I was on a plane from Tokushima to Tokyo, I decided to make a living as a front-end engineer. And now, I have decided to return to Tokushima and work in Kamiyama. I still remember how I felt at that time.
I want to continue to challenge myself in various ways, never forgetting the feeling I had when doing something for the first time.
モノサスアーカイブ