I’ve always been wary of the various agencies that offer jobs abroad, most are just out there to pry on the one’s desperate enough to give anything and everything just to have a shot of leaving the country, but every now and then you do meet and find an agency that stands out from the rest, one that thinks about “you” the applicant and his well being in mind. Such is Star express, from the moment you walked into their office and meet the people working there, you would definitely feel at ease and comfortable, Its not the numerous awards that they have lined up on the walls that matters, it’s the way they treat each and every applicant that sets them apart from the rest. Thank you so much for helping me achive my dreams of working in Canada Star Express”

JURIDIS SANTIAGO
SYSCO – Canada

Buhay Japan

Taon 1994 Marso ng matapos ako sa College ng BS-Industrial Technology at nag OJT-On the job training ako sa syudad ng Makati (Trans-Asia Philippines). At sa taon na 1994 Abril din ako natanggap sa Company na ito tumagal ako ng halos 7 years dito,bilang isang Senior Cadd.

Dito ko halos nakilala lahat ng mga kaibigan ko, akala ko noon dito n ako tatanda, maganda ang Company may pangalan, kilala at dumating ang taong 2002 ng magbago management at may-ari ng Company. At dito na pumasok `yong mga di inaasahan ng lahat bumaba ang sahod, nagbawas ng tao, hanggang sa anim(6) nalng kami natira sa Department namin CADD Section, hanggang sa naiisipan ko na rin mag apply sa iba`t-ibang Company. Di na kasi sapat ang sweldo ko sa amin Ako kasi ang inaasahan nila sa bahay Bread Winner ikanga...

Napasok ako sa LineComm bilang CADD Designer sa DTT Konstract isang Contructor firm bilang CADD designer ito ang huli kong pinasukan na Company.

Isang araw habang nasa site ako sa parte ng Alabang kung saan doon ako naka assign sa Filinvest Projects under ako ng DTT Konstruct pa noon ng tawagan ako ng isang dating kaopisina si Joel na mag apply kami sa Star Express kung saan nangangailangan daw ng CADD Operators sa bansa ng Japan, isang japanese national ang mismong pumunta dito sa pinas para kumuha ng CADD Operators.

Kinabukasan, pinuntahan namin agad, grupo kaming pumunta noon kung tawagin namin Trans-Asia Group (4) apat kami noon pumunta, tatlo ang nakuha, isa ako don at may dalawa pa kaming kasama di namin sila kilala nagkakilala na lang kami sa Ortigas kung saan kami nag aaral ng basic japanese langauge.

Lima kaming napaalis noon as Engineer status (1)one year visa. Tatlo kaming magkakasama sa isang Company (Meiritsu Engineering) `yong dalawa ay sa ibang Company. Unang 3months namin ay training regarding kung paano ang Pro/E Software gamitin. Ang sarap gamitin ang Pro/E. Japan! Masarap magtrabaho dito, mga kasama namin sa office mabait sila lalo na ang boss namin si Nishoka San at yung head ng training sa Cadd si Aoyama San. Sila lahat tinuturuan kami ng iba`t-ibang technique sa pag mo-model gamit ng iba`t-ibang software.

Pro/E, Solid Work, Solid Design (One Space designer) at Pro/E Wildfire. Ito yung unang project naminng tatlo. Na gamit ang software na Pro Engineer.(see inset picture) Ang ganda di` ba? Ang 1st year namin ang pinakamahirap kasi di namin maintindihan yung salita nila although nag-aral kami ng basic pero iba talaga pag sa conversation na. Ang maipapayo ko lang sa mga gustong pumalaot sa bansang japan ay mag-aral muna kayo ng japanese language para di kayo mahirapan pagdating dito sa bansang japan. Kami sa batch namin lima nag-aral pa rin kami dito ng japanese pero hanggang ngayon masasabi ko sa aking sarili na di parin sapat `yung nalalaman ko sa japanese language.

Anyway... so bale yung 3 years namin ni rere－new kami yearly pero ngayon 3 years na yung visa namin at ito pa ang maganda nakuha ko yung familya ko yung asawa`t anak ko nabigyan sila ng visa (dependent visa for 1 year) masaya! dati magkakasama kami nina Joel at Richard sa bahay pero ngayon pansamantalang nahiwalay dahil kumuha ako ng sarili bahay na inuupaan.....syempre dati libre ang upa ng kuryente at gas lang ang binabayaran naming tatlo....pero nung humiwalay na ako sagot ko na lang mag isa. Marami na rin kaming kaibigan. Mga Filipino din sa simbahan kami lagi nagkikita-kita every Sunday.

Dahil sa tulong ng isang pare na si Padre Jun Peralta na laking Cebu tubong Ilocano pinasok kami ni Richard bilang isang choir sa simbahan. Mababait ang mga kapwa nating Filipino dito sa simbahan (Nagoya Cathedral) yung mga kapwa naming Filipino na nasa Japan Kung gusto nyo kaming makita pasyalan nyo kami sa Nunoike Church.

Well maraming salamat sa lahat ng tumulong dati sa amin para maka-alis at maka-pagtrabaho s ibang bansa una sa Poong maykapal sa aming kalusugan. Sa Agency (Star Express) na tumulong para mag-ayos sa aming mga papeles maraming maraming salamat. I know, We know na maraming blessing pa ang darating sa inyo...keep up the good works. MABUHAY kayo! To the management and staff of Star Express I would like to extend my deepest gratitude.

JOSEPH B. ABENOJA
MD Corporatation - Nagoya, Japan

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Life and work in Japan is almost beyond words.
Great achievements and challenges awaits anyone here.
Life is great... I made lots of friends and have been to many places.,br> Clean and fresh air without the hustle and bustle I experience back home.
A whole new environment at work... better beef-up those nihonggo skills at least.
Thanks to Star Express and its staff that I have gone to this part of the globe.
There's no other place like Japan!

EDDIE PO
MD Corporatation - Nagoya, Japan

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Working in Japan propelled me closer into realizing my dreams for my Family. Upon leaving the Philippines to work in Japan, I brought along with me the love and care of my Family, my hopes and dreams for a bright future, my skills and experience as an IT Engineer, my Filipino Spirit, and most of all my faith in God. These were my provisions that kept me going. Working abroad is tough and it takes hardwork, sacrifice, and a lot of faith in God to persevere.

One nice value that I have discovered from my Japanese colleagues is that they are working hard(perhaps the reason why they were workaholics) for the company because they know that in return, the company would take care of them.

I would like to thank the staff of StarExpress(Boots and Jeanne) for their kindness and support. Congratulations, you're doing a great job!

DIOBERT DIONEO
MD Corporatation - Nagoya, Japan

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Joel Constantino, Richard Ricafort and Joseph Abenoja. 3rd floor (Production Area) Meiritsu Engineering Main Office in Mizuho-ku. Taken during office hours 4:15 PM. We are the only Filipino workers in this office. But we are expecting Filipino workers this month. this was taken-up to our meeting last month with our boss (Mr. Nishioka). Punta kayo dito..! Magandang experience din. Kakaiba sa lahat. Hope to see you here soon.

October ng itext ako ni ako ni Belle. She was the secretary of Mr. Tsumagari, na broker naman namin. Yung husband ni Belle ang kaibigan ko since college, and we are both in the same fraternity. So sabi ni Belle sa text na itry ko mag apply as Cadd. Sabi nya na magsama daw ako so isinama ko ang kaibigan ko. Tapos sabi ni Belle magsama pa daw ako ng marami. So tinawagan ko ang buong grupo namin sa Trans-Asia (co. na pinasukan namin dati ni Joseph). Lima kaming napaalis noong January 8, 2003. Sa group ng Trans-Asia 3 kaming napili. Isa si Joseph sa napili at nakasama ko sa work (Meiritsu Engineering Inc.) at sa bahay. Afterwards lumipat din si Joseph dahil pumunta ang family nya dito (isa yan sa mga benefits namin). Yung isa naman, he was assigned to a different company here in Japan. 3 kaming napili sa Trans-Asia.

Dito sa Japan? Sarap dito. Sa office, mababait sila. Lalo na si boss. (Mr.Nishioka) yung supervisor namin (Mr. Aoyama) ok din. Sya lahat ang nagturo sa amin ng trabaho dito sa office. Pro/e, Solid Works, Solid Design ang mga softwares na ginagamit namin dito sa office. Halos lahat sila dito mabait. Di lahat, meron din naman di ok. Ang 1st year namin dito ang pinakamahirap. Dahil nihongo wakanai grabe. Pag napapagalitan kami gusto na naming umuwi. Nung una pangiti-ngiti lang kami pag pinagagalitan. Pero nung naiintindihan na namin masakit pala. Well sa una talaga, iyun ang critical. Ngayon? masasabi kong ayos na kami. Yung first three (3) years namin, yearly kami nagrerenew ng visa. Itong last December 26, 2005, (3) years visa ang ibinigay sa amin ni boss. After January 8, 2009? Ewan..

Sa bahay namin ayos din naman. Sama-sama kaming 3 sa apartment namin. Utilities lang ang binabayaran namin. Yung rent ng apartment sa boss namin. Well madali lang magbayad ng bills dito. Sa convenient store lang pwede mo ng bayaran lahat ng bills mo. Sa ilaw, gas, tubig, even cellular phone bills. Ok di ba? Sa atin? Punta ka talaga sa office para bayaran ang bills.

Siguro ito yung time na dapat kong pasalamatan ang mga taong tumulong sa amin. Sorry po dahil 2 weeks lang ang ibinibigay sa amin vacation leave. Kulang na kulang talaga. Si Belle, kung di dahil sa text nya wala kami ni Joseph dito. Kahit na sumakit ang ulo nila ng boss nya sa aming 3 andito pa rin kami. And we are doing good.

Boss Eric, grabe kala ko di na ko makakaalis. Dahil lang sa physical exam ko. May tv daw ako although nagpapacheck-up naman ako annually. And it happen na luma pala ang machine na ginagamit. Isang tawag lang ni boss Eric ok agad. Pati na rin sa wife nyo sir. Well sorry po di ko alam ang name nya. She’s very nice. Sya kasi ang napagtanungan namin re: ate Butch. Sya pa mismo ang naghanap at tumawag kay ate Butch. Pag akyat namin sa office dun lang namin nalaman na asawa pala ni Boss Eric. Nahiya tuloy kami. To describe you ma’am you’re really down to earth and very accommodating. Kaya siguro daming blessings na dumarating.

Ate Butch, sya naman ang palaging kasama namin sa embassy. Kilala nya mga konsul ng Japanese embassy. Alam nya kung kanino lalapit sa loob. Di ka nya ipapainterview sa masungit. Ok ang timing talaga.

Cecille, sya naman ang nagassist sa amin sa POEA. Palaging maaga? Joke lang.. on time sa meeting place. Express kami sa pila sa loob ng POEA. Di pa kami tapos sa window na ito, sya nakapila na sa kabila.

Mabilis masyado ang pangyayari. In two months time nakaalis kami. Ni singko wala kaming ginastos..! Kung hindi mo nga kilala mapapagkamalan mong manloloko lang. Sa panahon ngayon karamihan kasi may bayad. At bihira ang nakakaafford ng magbayad ng malaki. Siguro kung may bayad yun di na rin ako tumuloy. Talagang broke ako ng mga araw na yun.

Experience talaga ang pagpunta ko dito. Magpapaalam lang po kay Boss Eric na kung pwede humingi ng copy ng posters or any ads ng agency ninyo. Para naman matulungan natin yung ibang kababayan natin na makarating dito. And I will gladly post it in Nunoike Church. Ito kasi ang pinakamalaking cathedral dito sa Nagoya. And extra copy for our MAKATAO Inc. office in Marikina City. This is a fraternal council recognized by the office of the Mayor M. Fernando. Which herself is a member of the said council.

In behalf of Constantino Family, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the management and staff of STAR EXPRESS. God Bless..

JOEL CONSTANTINO
MD Corporatation - Nagoya, Japan

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A JOURNEY IN JAPAN
By Richard Ricafort

During Application:
Never in my mind that I will able to go to Japan. I never expected that somehow I could work here. How I got hired to worked to Japan, well this is my short story! I was informed by my friend that they have hiring for I.T. Engineers in Star Express to work for Japan. At first I’m hesitated to apply for the position they hiring because of the lack of experience and probably lack of confidence to apply as I.T. Engineer. But yet I took the opportunities. Mr. Tsumagari a Japanese broker is looking for I.T.’s that time. They just gave as a drawing of an engine block to be drawn and that is all our examination. After the interview, on that the same day three of us was been hired. And later two people was also hired.

After couple of weeks after we’ve been hired we started studying Nihongo, we took it twice a week for 2 months. During that period we also started to prepare for our documents and requirements! We also go to the Japanese embassy for an interview and presentation of documents. Only few questions had been asked. After that we just wait for the visa to come. Our visa came out on December of 2002 and supposed to be we also have to live in the same month. But we asked the Japanese broker if we could live after the Christmas season. We depart on 8th of January 2003.

Living in Japan:
After we arrived in Japan on the next day we went on our work site which is the Meiritsu engineering office, it’s near to the place we live; 15 minutes by walk and 5 minutes if we go on bike. Three of us live together in an apartment, Joel Constantino and Joseph Abenoja are my co-Filipino workers in Meiritsu Engineering and share the same apartment. Our apartment are provided by our company and they pay our monthly rentals. But the electricity and water bills, we are the one who shoulder the payments. We also shoulder our own food expenses and we don’t have that some kind of allowances.

Our first three months working in our company is basically training about our job. The nature of our job is pure mechanical. We make model, drawings, layouts, make model for manufacturing and sometimes make design thru computers using Pro/E engineering software. Later on we have learned to use another software, Solid Works and One Space Designer.

The Meiritsu Engineering Co. mainly training people to be CAD operator as well as to became a designer, which they will be sent later on respective clients. The company sells the skills and manpower of their people. They teach about mechanicals, analyze drawings and create model using Pro/ engineering software and other softwares. I have also the experienced working in other companies like Sumitomo Nacco(manufacturer of forktlift) for two months during my first year in Japan and just recently I have also worked for Mitsubishi Electric Company for one month. It’s a good experienced for me to worked for another companies because I met new people and acquire some new knowledge and also able to increase my skill level.

Our life here is not mostly in good terms. Our first year in Japan is a real struggle; first because of communication, we couldn’t understand and speak only little Nihongo , second the adjustment period in our work, third the adjustment in weathers and fourth their culture is very much different with us Filipinos. Yet until now we still encounter those problems but we get to use it and can handle more of those problems now. During also in our first year we really do feel homesick all the times. Is like we just waiting for the end of the weeks and counting the passing of months until we can reach December and we can go all home. But as the days past we barely go over with our homesick. We just make something to make us busy during the end of work and weekends. We just go biking around, go to parks and window shopping.

　In our first month we ask and look for any catholic church around our area. Our boss helps us to look for a church, and luckily we have found one and it’s near our place we live. There we met our first Filipino friend, her is name is Lorena she is married to a Japanese and she live here for ten years as of now and she has one daughter. We are glad that we met her and she is very nice to us. She introduce us to the church members, show us were we can do groceries, teach us how can we send money to the Philippines and tell us basic things how to deal the ways here in Japan.

But not all people we encounter like Lorena is nice, we have also met Filipinos who is snobbish and we felt like such sort of an alien. There are lot Filipinos here especially working on the clubs are snob. But later on we’ve learned some of them are TNT’s and afraid to trust to their fellow Filipino’s. First I taught Filipinos here in Japan are mostly entertainers only but we’ve found that there are also lot of Filipinos working in Factories,as office workers, scholars and called NikeiJin(having a blood of Japanese) and we met lot of those for the past years. We also met Priest, missionaries and volunteers from the Philippines. Eventually we made good friends in some of the priest from the S.V.D.

After a while we make good friends with one of the Filipino priest and He introduce as to the community of Filipino in the church he serves. There we make many friends and we found a family on that Filipino community in Nunoike churh. Until now we have a very good terms with them. We have lot of activities happening in our community and as much as possible we make part of it so it will make us busy and in the same way we can help other also. I really make to a point to make my self-busy so I wouldn’t see the days passing and able to utilize my other time in good sense. I have already suit my life here in Japan but most of the time it’s very tiring because of work and feel it’s better to go home. Last January of this year, our contract had been extended for another three years. During previous years, our contract is renewed yearly and before the every renewal of the contract we had this fears that we may not get extended. So I’m thankful that we had a chance to work for another three years without worrying.

It’s been great experience to work in this country in terms of work condition and the salary they offer. But the things I profound more staying in Japan is the things I have learned in my life, of being independent by yourself and dealing with other people I don’t use to know. I had acquired lot knowledge and skills working in my company that I can use in the future. It’s really cool out here!!!

RICHARD RICAFORT
MD Corporatation - Nagoya, Japan

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