I started blogging back in 1999, even before the term blog was invented. Back then, I created a website and called it My Online Journal, focusing mostly on my experiences moving from the Philippines to Japan—first as a trainee, then as an employee based in Kagoshima. Every week, I wrote about what happened, what I learned, where I went, and how I felt.

I eventually moved to Tokyo, and though I don’t blog as much as before, I’ve realized that many people have shifted away from blogs in favor of social media. I started posting more on social platforms and even explored videos—both long-format, YouTube-style content and the more recently popular short videos. However, I later realized that social media and YouTube weren’t for me, and I kept coming back to blogging.

More than two decades later, I’m still in Tokyo, still writing about my experiences in Japan—though perhaps not as frequently. I share stories about my travels both within Japan and abroad, and sometimes, I also post videos of my attempts at music. At the heart of it all, though, I continue to write about my journey as a …

Filipino in Tokyo.