Digital Nomads

 Since I plan to be living in Japan permanently when I get older, I have been looking for a group of people I can spend time with.  This is rather difficult as my Japanese is non-existent at the moment (I am working on that), but through the meetup.com, I have found a few groups of expats/digital nomads that have been fun and interesting.  I have learned a lot during this process.

Walking at Meiji Jingu

The first group has a few meetings a week.  Sometimes they are in the mornings at a coffee shop or they are co-working events at a co-working location (more on that later).  Sometimes they are evening meetings at local food halls or bars.  The organizer does a great job and has a private Whatsapp group so if I have questions, I now have a group of people I can ask.  When we meet, most of the discussions are in English. The second group meets around once a week at bars, coffee shops, or for walks in local parks. 

The people that attend usually fall into one of these groups:

• Foreigners who work full time in Japan
• Digital nomads who are in Japan for a 3 - 12 months who work remotely.
• Japanese who want to improve their English.  Many of these folks want to work in another country.

The digital nomad culture has been fascinating for me.  These folks hear about a country or city and then move there for a 3 - 6 months before moving on.  They seem to be so free as if they do not like an area, they just move. Most are gig workers while a few are full time remote workers.  A small sampling of people I have met are:

• American girl who worked for a gaming company before becoming a nomad.  She is planning to release her own game in 2026 with other nomads who she has met from around the world working on it.  She has some incredible pictures of riding motorcycles in Nepal.
• Danish guy who writes software for their power company
• British guy who decided why buy a house when I can travel the world on that money.  He does gig SEO work.
• Indian guy who grew up in Vancouver, Canada and is working as a program manager.
• American who owns a surf shop in Hawaii, but lives in Japan with his wife
• A couple who do web design and are trying out Tokyo after living in Hungary and Spain
• People from Korea, Malaysia who work for Japanese companies

The Japanese who attend are just as fascinating.  A doctor who wants to improve her English and is studying for another degree in public health.  Several people in their 20's who want more out of life and are trying to improve their English and make connections so they can work overseas. 

One side effect is that I am learning a lot more about Tokyo as the events take me all over the city.  Places that I can now share with Sawako which is pretty cool.  Co-working spaces are especially interesting as they are locations that are set up for digital nomads and to encourage technology.  Tokyo Innovation Base is one of the biggest with meeting rooms, open spaces, coffee shop, maker spaces, etc. They have a lot of events for entrepreneurs to help them get started in Japan.  It is nice to go and work with other people.