Hi I’m Allan and thanks for the chance to participate.
I’m a long-term resident here in Japan living an hour outside Tokyo for nearly twenty years. I’ve tried most of the usual jobs for foreigners in Japan…JET Programme, English teacher, university instructor, etc. now working in advertising, mostly for pharmaceuticals.
This is kind of ironic as I’m suffering from a rare disease called Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) and end up taking a lot of heavy medication every day. In case you’ve never heard of TN, it’s a disease of the facial nerves that causes unbearable pain to the patient and is known as the most painful disease known to man.
One of my hopes is to help raise awareness for TN and rare diseases. Research funding is drastically lacking compared to common disorders, while the cost to patients in dollars lost to disability and suffering is absolutely greater.
My hobbies are Heavy Metal, J-Pop idols, PS3 gaming, and cooking stews. You can find that and my rabid scribbles on my main account at @yabaikankei.