Heading off into the Sunrise

I have some news I have been wanting to blog about for some time – I’m moving to Tokyo.

This may seem like an odd space for this blog post, but I decided that this news affects my SQL Life as much as anything else. The short story is that my brilliant wife has been offered a job in Tokyo and we decided we couldn’t pass it up. I’ve shared the news with several people already, but after talking with my current employer I feel I can “go public.” We leave in about two months and the list of things we still need to accomplish is long, but will be worth it. If you know anyone in the SQL world or just IT in general that lives in Tokyo I am looking to make some connections.

The longer story is that my wife and I both graduated from high school in Japan . Its part of who we are and when a job notice came across her desk for a position to head up the adolescent program at the Montessori School of Tokyo she decided to apply. After several emails, Skypes, and phone calls at some interesting hours she accepted the job and a couple of weeks ago we bought four one-way tickets to Japan.

For my friends in the #sqlfamily this means I won’t be seeing anyone at the PASS Summit this year and more locally it means I haven’t had time to put together my idea for East Side meetings. Thankfully in these wonderful days of the Internetz I won’t lose touch with everyone. The plan is to come back to the US in a few years and we are only committed to two years at this point. It’s going to be a great adventure, but we’re wise enough to know that depending on how things work out we may need to make it a short adventure. (Or at least my wife is wise enough to know that.)

Part of the adventure for me is determining exactly what I will be doing for the next two years. My current employer has been amazing. When I approached them about the move they agreed that if the logistics/legalities can be worked out, I can continue working for them as a remote employee. The “if” part means that I am looking at what other options are available and I can see myself eventually getting full time employment in Japan. They use SQL Server in Japan, but my Nihongo (Japanese) is pretty rusty – and honestly it was never very complete. In the last few weeks I’ve re-taught myself Hiragana and Katakana, which to put things in perspective is like saying I have learned the SELECT statement when learning SQL. I’m sure my Japanese will improve, but until it does I am working on networking with the Tokyo IT community and leveraging my technology experience. I know a few people already over there and I’ve connected on social media to some IT groups in Tokyo (like SQLWorld). If anyone in the #sqlfamily has connections in Tokyo, I’d love to meet them and get the lay of the land. And if you are in the #sqlfamily and make it over to the Land of the Rising Sun in the next two years track me down and I will buy you a ビア.

Check this space for updates. I’m not abandoning my passion for SQL Server and databases and I’ll probably have some thoughts on the technology scene in Japan.