The long arm of the Japanese government

The long arm of the Japanese government has extended out to my former place of employment, Citibank Private Bank Japan, and crushed it like a grape *insert squishing sound here* (though I doubt you'll see this in any news but in Japan). *update* - You can find the news of this on bloomberg.com Supposedly they will have to shut down within a year.

I must say that I did enjoy my first 3 and a half years of working in a very serious and advanced corporate environment and I learnt a LOT from everybody that works there. I would have to say I am thankful for the training and experience I was allowed in such a short time. How projects work, how corporate companies handle new ideas, technology, ways of thinking and procedures of getting things done. I know for a fact that I am by far not fully versed in the ways of the corporate world but understanding the basics and a bit more sure does take me in directions that can only bring me forward into the success I drive for. I won't comment much on the remaining 8 months as this is when Citi started coming under the harsh scrutiny of the Japanese government for their thieving ways of taking millions from rich Japanese here. All management were, and probably still are, extremely tense and it just wasn't an atmosphere that one could grow and mature in.

Taking destiny into my own hands I immediately surged off into a new yet related direction and seriously couldn't be doing better. Sometimes we all need that extra kick in the arse to get moving in the direction we would rather be going and I think that's exactly what it was. I am not a religious person, but at times I truly wonder what these "signs" are that keep getting sent to me. Do you believe in fate or destiny? I know I do, but it in all cases does require a bit of shaping with your own hands. One extremley good example is literally me being here in Japan... but that's another story so..

As I sit back and reflect on the chain of events that has brought me to where I am right now, it amazes me as it is literally like a set of dominoes lined up just waiting to be knocked over. One thing leads to the next and then the next and it just seems to move forward like clockwork. Unconcious decisions I may have made "on the spur of the moment" fit in, and then fit in again later down the road. Is something steering us all in the directions we go? where one thing that may seem bad or against where we think we want to go really was put in our path to deter us from making a worse decision down the road? Or be forced into a worse situation than the one we may be in at the moment?

Had I still been working at Citi at this moment, not only would I have been miserable and unchallenged, but I would have missed out on all the things that I have experienced and given the chance to do and see now. Which have of course only contributed to my wealth of experience and knowledge which I'm sure will in the end be called into play sometime in the future. I *may* have learnt a little bit more, but the shape that I left the techonology dept in, it didn't seem so to me. Does it all happen for a reason? Yes, I think so :) I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me from here on, and as always wait humbly as new and exciting experiences and knowledge rain down from above like an unending Spring rain.

Posted by Graeme at September 17, 2004 07:37 PM