Hello, I'm Ken.

It's already 2020. Lately, I've been feeling like time is passing by so quickly.

It's a bit late, but 2019 had a lot going on, so I'll take a moment to reflect on it in this article.

I'll also write about what kind of year I want 2020 to be.

Since this is about my personal life, if you're traveling and have some free time or have arrived early at a meeting spot, I'd appreciate it if you could read it with a "Oh, I see" kind of mindset.

Reflection on 2019

I'm not sure the best way to reflect, so I'll divide it into "Places Visited, Work, and Personal Life".

I enjoy traveling, so in addition to work and personal life, I thought I could also write about the places I visited, so I added that section.

Places Visited

First of all, I think 2019 was the year I visited the most countries and places.

Countries and Places Visited in 2019

• South Korea (Busan)
• Cambodia (Phnom Penh)
• Cambodia (Siem Reap)
• Thailand (Bangkok)
• Thailand (Phuket)
• Spain (Barcelona)
• Spain (La Tomatina)
• Guam

Not only did I visit more countries than usual, but what's interesting is the number of New Year's I spent.

New Years Spent in 2019

• Japan: Regular New Year
• South Korea: Seollal
• Cambodia: Khmer New Year
• Thailand: Songkran

I experienced all of these "without knowing in advance" lol

Regarding each location, it was like "Oh? Really?" In South Korea, I ate traditional foods eaten during New Year, in Thailand, I participated in Songkran, and in Cambodia, since it was quiet, I took it easy lol

Have you ever experienced New Year four times in a year without planning? ww

I also visited places like Nagoya and Saga, so I was able to go to various places.

Thanks to that, I'm broke lol

South Korea

Since my girlfriend was working in South Korea, I visited South Korea twice, not only in 2019 but also in 2018.

South Korea is close to Fukuoka and inexpensive, making it a great place for a quick trip. Plus, public transportation like taxis and buses are cheap!

Busan has a high-speed ferry from Fukuoka, so it's convenient to reach the port near Busan city in about three hours.

Day trips might be iffy, but it's perfect for weekend trips, so everyone should try it.

There are plenty of stylish cafes ^ ^

Cambodia & Thailand

I received an offer from Gogo Kengo-san to work on video shooting and editing in Cambodia.

The shared house of the community I belong to, Token House, is in Phnom Penh, so I stayed there.

This is a photo from Phuket, Thailand ↓↓ My friend took it for me.

The reason I went to Thailand was because while I was staying in Cambodia, frequent power outages were occurring, and I was having half-day outages almost every day lol

As a result, I couldn't charge my computer, couldn't use Wi-Fi, it was hot and tough... so I fled to nearby Thailand.

I contacted a Thai friend living in Phuket and stayed at their house in Phuket for a week.

Since I have lots of Thai friends working at Phuket Airport, they let me go up to the control tower and took photos.

The sunset from the control tower was amazing.

At Kata Beach in Phuket, I also met Zizi-san and relaxed while watching the sunset together ^ ^

In Bangkok, I stayed at a shared house of a nomad programming school called iSara and participated in Songkran with the people involved in iSara. (I didn't take many photos... lol)

After Thailand, I returned to Cambodia since my girlfriend was there, did a bit of traveling, and went to Siem Reap as well.

This is Angkor Wat ↓

Even if you go at 5:30 AM, there were still quite a number of people.

Since my girlfriend's Cambodian friends live in Phnom Penh, they helped guide me around and drove me around, which was super helpful.

Towards the end, we both got sick and had to take it easy... lol

Overall, work and sightseeing were enjoyable.

Spain

A friend who works at a travel agency happened to win a "La Tomatina festival tour," and since his girlfriend couldn't go, I decided to go as a substitute (Lucky!!lol)

It was a short period and part of a tour, so the free time was scheduled, but I managed to visit quite a few places, so it was fun.

Usually, I stay long-term, work, and do sightseeing within a manageable range, so it's refreshing to do thorough sightseeing on a tour ^ ^

The friend I went with organizes international exchange events in Fukuoka and manages groups of over 500 people. He is very skilled at planning, so I felt super safe.

La Tomatina is probably something many of you have seen on TV show called "Itte Q" where people throw tomatoes.

Like this ↓

All of these are tomatoes lol

My impression is "Just experience it once is enough" lol

There is a rule to squash tomatoes before throwing them, but of course, some people don't follow it.

Because they hit your face repeatedly, it's already tough. It hurts if it gets in your eyes. Dealing with it after the festival is a hassle.

I'll write more about it in a summary article on the Barcelona La Tomatina tour.

I was able to enter Sagrada Familia, watch flamenco, and had a great trip.

Guam

Due to various reasons, my girlfriend, who had quit her job in South Korea, was staying in Guam, and she wanted to meet before returning to her home country so I flew to Guam.

At this point, she had already decided to work in Japan, but obtaining a visa was uncertain.

Her home country apparently has a somewhat patriarchal culture, and she hadn't had much good experiences with officials there, so I was quite worried.

Also, visas can only be applied for from her home country, and since her home country is a dangerous place, I didn't want her to return there, but she ended up going back there.

If I write everything, it would be too long, so I'll omit some details, but she successfully obtained the visa and moved to Japan.

Work in Japan seems tough, but she's doing her best.

During her student days, she majored in Politics and International Relations at Yonsei University in South Korea, graduated at the top, and she's smart and hardworking. She was raised in NY, so She can speak English fluently, as well as Korean, Urdu, French, and Japanese.

Moreover, She have experience in marketing and sales writing, so I think there's no one else like her.

Even though I say this, I've never seen someone this smart, and they don't brag about their knowledge or skills at all, so they're wonderful.

Work

Usually, I work mainly on website development as part of the team Fump, but in 2019, I also did some video production work thanks to Gogo Kengo-san's offer.

Additionally, since the shared house of Token House is in Phnom Penh, I went to Cambodia.

I love traveling, and it was a good opportunity, so I'm grateful to Kengo-san ^ ^

About Video Production

In the end, Kengo-san decided to withdraw the YouTube channel project considering the return on investment, but it was a great experience.

What I felt about video production is that "I'm still lacking in skills and experience."

Also, I think "Maybe I could have done more... I'm sorry..." m(_ _)m

Video production took more time than I expected, and things were pretty tight.

I tried to streamline the process by creating templates and improving efficiency, but it still took a lot of time, making it tough to juggle with my main job of website development.

However, I believe YouTube has potential and will continue to grow, so I want to continue working on it both personally and with the team.

About Website Development

Until now, I mostly handled WordPress, but in 2019, I started learning JAMStack technologies and began using Headless CMS in my personal projects.

This blog, for example, is built with Gatsby.js, using the WordPress REST API as a Headless CMS.(It used to be...)

Additionally, to expand my web expressions, I started experimenting with Pixi.js and Three.js.

The top page of this blog uses Pixi.js to display images I took myself.(Again... It used to be...lol)

Since I already love photography and videos, I want to continue creating interesting expressions by combining them with the web.

Although I have a science background, I switched to literature for university entrance exams, so I’ve forgotten a lot of math. I probably need to review trigonometry and matrix calculations lol

Also, this year, I’m planning to learn React more deeply to be able to create simple web services (probably lol).

As part of team Fump with Kazuki, I want to do various things like website development, video production, photography, and music production.

I also love coffee so much that lately, I've been thinking about working at a café once or twice a week... lol

Personal Life

Lastly, about my personal life, the big change was "getting married."

I registered my marriage on Christmas Day, December 25, 2019. I caught a cold and was dripping with snot while filling out many documents lol

We've been dating for about a year and a few months.

Personally, I thought I'd be wandering around without getting married until I'm 30, but... life is full of surprises lol

We're still living separately, but I'm planning to move in together somewhere in the latter half of 2020.

She just started her job, and I don't have much savings... lol

I need to stabilize my work a bit more...

I'm building websites, taking photos, and making videos, so please give me work m(_ _)m

I'm planning to continue doing what I want to do and grow every year in 2020, just as I have in previous years.

However, doing what I want also requires money, so I want to balance work and personal life properly.

I'll aim to keep improving my skills so I can grow every year.

Additionally, I want to increase my offline activities, like leather craft, guitar, photography, sauna, and workout.

To do that, I need to eliminate waste and build good habits.

Well, I'm looking forward to your continued support this year as well.

Thank you so much to everyone who read this far.

I’d love to meet people, so feel free to send me a message ^ ^