10 trips and counting...

My first blog post, another page of my journey and a massive step into the uncharted digital desert. This post is a "Hello this is me and this is what I want to do with this blog" post. So, let us get started!

My name is Ben, some of people might know me as the yellow capped ghost or the man with the cap on twitter. I am currently studying cyber security in the UK, but I might be known more for my passion of Japan and it's infosec scene. Because I am fortunate enough to have worked in that scene and soon will be going back to work in it. And this is one of the reasons I have started a blog about my journey.

I have two components that will make up my blog and it's future posts: First component will be me looking at Japan's infosec scene while I am working out there and the second component will be me talking about life in Japan, to be more exact, life in the busiest metropolis, Tokyo.

The one of the reasons I want to talk about life in Japan, actually comes from a chain of tweets involving me and @kieczkowska:

These tweets were before I got offered my placement out in Japan but now with me being a resident in Japan soon, I realised that it would be a good idea to share my experiences with other people.

I will always remember getting off the plane in 2017 which was my trip. To be honest with myself, I already knew a lot about Japan before then but no matter how much research I could have done, would have prepared me for the things that I have experienced. And I am not talking about weird and wonderful Japan that individuals in the west dream about, I am talking about the neon wonderland that has caught my curiosity. I will do a blog post talking about the weird and wonderland Japan soon, but this comes to another reason why I started my blog.

When I look over the past 3 years and my past trips, I realise my viewpoint of Japan has changed due to my knowledge improving but when I look at the internet and all the things that talk about Japan, very few individuals actually explain the "weird and wonderful" things that the west sees from Japan.

For example, when I talk about Japanese TV, my friends always mention Takeshi's castle or other crazy game shows but that is not normal Japanese TV. Time for the first "capped" fun fact, Takeshi's castle finished in 1989!  Well I will do a blog post about "normal" Japanese TV and the magic small box that contains all kinds of celebrities in the future so keep your eye out for it.

Before I finish the first ever YellowCapped blog post, I just want to mention something, just in case I caught the eye of anyone who might be interested in learning more about Japan and its cyber security scene. I will be doing a talk about Tokyo and Japanese cyber security scene in October at BSides London for their rookie track. A massive thank you to my mentor Stuart Coulson (@SPCoulson) for helping me with it.

Otherwise, come find me, and have a chat with me.

Credits: Quick thank you to two gentlemen who made it very clear that I should get this blog up and that I had no excuse not to. These two gentlemen are: Andy Gill (@ZephrFish) and Funsox (@Funsox).