Hi, I’m Aaron, originally from Honolulu, Hawaii where I lived throughout my undergraduate education. I moved to Japan in 2007 to pursue graduate studies in Physics and have been here ever since. I love the food and people here. Tokyo is great because it offers all the fun of a metropolitan city without the crime; there’s always somewhere new and interesting to go, but it’s safe enough that children can walk to school or catch the train by themselves.

Career

I currently work in IT. My official job title is Network Engineer, but I work on projects designing networks (our company has special emphasis in IP voice and unified communications) only half the time. I spend my remaining time trying to improve efficiency and increase sales. This has involved data analytics and designing business systems (CRM, sales/order management, HR, etc.) for in-house use.

I have most recently been focused on analyzing data from our online store that sells network devices in an effort to improve the design and marketing. Plans are in the works for a much needed upgrade to the existing site as well as a new site (selling different products), so any information I provide based on the data is extremely useful. My favorite data analysis tool is C and the awesome Root package…..I know it was originally created for high energy physics, but it has evolved into so much more with great visualization, fitting, simulation, etc. capabilities and since it’s basically a C library can be used with any other C code. I’ve also used R, python, and hadoop.

Hobbies and Interests

●Non-Profit Work
I spend a good deal of my free time doing non-profit work. As a director at Diversity World, an NPO in Tokyo, I handle many of our online PR initiatives. I have built websites, created mailing lists, and most recently migrated our IT infrastructure to Google Apps. Our mission is to create social businesses and spin them out as they become profitable. We are currently working on two projects: a counseling bar (improving the mental health of Japan through counseling available during non-business hours) and a global leadership program.

●Guitar
I enjoy playing guitar and going to jam sessions around Tokyo. I’m always looking for new people to jam with.

●Finance
I’ve been an active investor for over 15 years. My style is long-term (several years) oriented and I most enjoy investing in stocks with revolutionary technologies where I can quantify–or at least attempt to–the impact to the bottom line. I also enjoy retirement planning.

Education