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When I moved to Japan in 2025, I knew I wouldn't be here forever — but having a full year ahead of me felt like an infinite amount of time.

Now I'm getting ready to head back to my hometown in Canada, and I can't believe how quickly my year passed.

Since moving here, I've been lucky enough to live in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kumamoto, visit more than a dozen cities and towns, and become a version of myself I really love.

I'm excited to go home and see the people I've missed, but saying goodbye to the life I've built here feels a lot harder than I expected.

I'm going to miss how affordable my life has felt here.

One of the biggest things I've noticed during my time in Japan is how much less financial stress I've felt on a day-to-day basis.

Before moving here, my husband and I paid almost 2,000 Canadian dollars a month for our apartment in Ottawa. In Japan, I've been living in Airbnbs and generally spending roughly 20% to 30% less on rent alone.

High-quality food has also been noticeably cheaper in Japan's major cities than in my home in Ottawa. Sure, some fruit, like apples and strawberries, can be pricey, but I've found basics like meat, eggs, milk, and bread to generally be more affordable.

Then, there's eating out. A nicer date-night meal that would cost us anywhere from CA$60 to CA$100 back home might be around CA$30 or CA$40 here. Since tipping isn't really part of Japanese culture, my meals are even cheaper.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting back into a bigger kitchen, but I've eaten very, very well in Japan, and I'll miss how easy and affordable it is to do so.

Japan has seriously spoiled me with convenience.

I've been surprised by how much you can actually do at a convenience store in Japan. At a 7-Eleven, you can find bathrooms and ATMs, order hot meals and smoothies, and even pay your bills.

In Ottawa, I was much more used to gas-station convenience stores where I could only go in to pay for gas, buy a lottery ticket, or grab a very overpriced snack. (And good luck finding a bathroom you're able to use when you're there, too.)

I've especially loved how easy it is to find a printer here. In Japan, I can walk just a few minutes to a convenience store whenever I need something printed; meanwhile, back in Canada, I used to have to make a special trip to Staples.

I don't think I'll ever get over how easy it is to travel.

I'll really miss having the freedom to hop on a train and spend the day in a new city whenever I feel like it. I don't think I would've explored nearly as much without Japan's great transportation system.

Unlike in Ottawa, the trains here are frequent, affordable, and make it easy to say, "I've never been there before. Let's go tomorrow!"

I'll even miss the little things, like the songs that play before the doors close, the art on some trains, and the cute deer-shaped handles on the Kintetsu line between Osaka and Nara.

I really like who I've become here.

Living in Japan has changed me fundamentally.

I've become a lot more comfortable doing things on my own, and I think the country's solo-dining culture has helped me get used to going somewhere because I want to, without needing someone else to go with me.

Beyond that, I feel so much more confident than I did before moving here. I've never been happier, and I really love the person I've become while living abroad.

I'm excited to bring that version of myself home, but I'm also a little nervous about returning to the life I had before Japan — worrying about the cost of living in Canada, feeling stuck in my hometown, and falling back into the same routines I was so eager to leave.

On the other hand, there are also things I'm excited to return to.

As much as I'm going to miss Japan, there are things I've been looking forward to.

Most importantly, I've missed my community. I've made a couple of wonderful friends here, but building a social circle in Japan has been difficult.

I've also missed so many moments back home, like my little brother's first day of high school. Texting and FaceTiming help, but nothing compares to sitting around a table with my family, and I can't wait to have a holiday dinner with everyone again.

I'm also looking forward to being a tourist in my own country. Back when I lived in Ottawa, I wanted to get away so badly. Now, I'll see photos or videos of Canada on my feed and catch myself thinking, "How have I never seen this?"

Ironically, living abroad has shown me that I've barely scratched the surface of my own country. After spending almost a year traveling around Japan, I'm excited to change that.

So, as bittersweet as it is to leave Japan, I'm trying not to think of going home as just returning to the life I left. I'm bringing a lot of new experiences, confidence, and curiosity with me, and hopefully, I'll use them all to see more of everything Canada has to offer.

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Alessa Hickman

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Alessa Hickman is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist working across lifestyle, travel, food, and career storytelling. Her work includes personal essays, travel writing, and reflections on life abroad, as well as digital resources and brand content. Connect with Alessa at https://www.alessahickman.com/ or on LinkedIn.

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I've been feeling so nostalgic, in fact, that I decided to ask my fellow writers who their first MMO character was. Or, at least, the first one they could remember. In doing so, I have discovered two things: First, we're all a bunch of mid-2000s kids. This much should not surprise you.

Secondly: It's amazing how many details we can drum up about these games, especially from 20+ years ago. You always remember your first—and if you feel the warm rose-tinted fuzzies, I encourage you to share your own first MMO character in the comments down below.

Harvey Randall, Staff Writer

Harvey Randall, Staff Writer

Game: World of Warcraft

My first ever character was in World of Warcraft, after—as my bio states—I pretty much begged my parents to give me a WoW subscription, and was rewarded for my articulation with a proper WoW account and a life-changingly debilitating enthusiasm for videogames. And while I did technically have a Runescape character before this, I can't remember 'em, so Leetman is here.

I was not a good rogue. In my defense, I was 10 years old—but I didn't level my poisons, I didn't reach level cap, and the height of my career was spent futzing around Un'Goro Crater. I did, however, manage to get the gold for a mount, which made me feel pretty swanky. That was a big deal back in the day.

Leetman would eventually be traded out for the troll shaman Earthborn when The Burning Crusade rolled around, but I shall remember him fondly. Perhaps his reticence to use poison was merely a question of honour—but he's deleted, now, so we shall never know.

Joshua Wolens, News Writer

Joshua Wolens, News Writer

Game: EverQuest

Karokan's is a simple tale. When I was six years old, I saw my dad having a good time in a then-new release called EverQuest. Obviously, I wanted in on that, and badgered pops into helping me make a character.

My dad played a gnome magician, but I was revulsed by the idea of being as short in the game as I then was in real life. Also, magicianry sounded complicated. I settled on a half-elf whose class I no longer remember, and came up with a basically random series of syllables to serve as a name.

And then! I went nowhere. I was terrified. I wasn't so much scared of dying (though I was a bit scared of dying) but of getting lost. EverQuest felt impossibly vast, and I knew for sure that the second I stepped out of Freeport I'd never be able to find my way back. So I spent Karokan's life just outside the city gates, fighting orcs and rats, and never venturing further. It was a simple life, but a happy one.

Steve Haines, Community Manager

Steve Haines, Community Manager

Game: World of Warcraft

After a friend bought me a video game bundle that included Diablo 2 and WoW, I jumped into Diablo and thought the Druid seemed like the coolest thing I’d ever seen. When I made the jump to paying a monthly sub for WoW, I was ecstatic to find I could also roll a shape-shifting Druid, so Ovidlords was born.

I was a Druid tank at a time when absolutely no one wanted that. I managed to MT Gruul in the Burning Crusade when I was told that was impossible. He also eventually ended up getting our server-first Ashes of Al’ar when we beat Kael-thas.

The account has since been deleted, but I’ll absolutely always remember my bear-y first MMO character.

Lincoln Carpenter, News Writer

Lincoln Carpenter, News Writer

Game: World of Warcraft

Technically, my very first MMO characters were in a RuneScape account (that was later hacked during years of inactivity) and a Trandoshan force-sensitive in Star Wars Galaxies, that I only played long enough to realize the New Game Enhancements were bad.

After enough hours of watching cinematic raid clear videos on WarcraftMovies.com and daydreaming about the legendary weapon names I saw after Googling my way to Thottbot, I convinced my parents to foot the bill for a WoW subscription. My intention was to make an Orc hunter.

I misclicked. I only realized I was playing a warrior after noticing my new character didn't have a bow.

But I rolled with it, and Maldirr remained my WoW main for years, Mortal Striking his way through casual Arms DPS rotations across somewhere in the neighborhood of four expansions. Eventually, however, the thrill of big Execute numbers gave way to other curiosities, and I started putting more time into my Worgen rogue. Then my undead mage. Then my dwarf shaman, who gets the most attention during the couple times a year I pay for a month of subscription time.

When I get those resurgent bouts of the WoW bug, I still try to put a few levels into Maldirr for old times' sake. At some point, I changed his hair color from brown to gray—but he's still wearing the same old Stone Guard tabard I'd earned from too many hours in Alterac Valley, when there was nowhere I'd rather be spending my time.

Fraser Brown, Online Editor

Fraser Brown, Online Editor

Game: World of Warcraft

Zarwulf was not my first MMO character, but I'm far too addled to remember anything about playing Ultima Online in 1998, or pretty much anything about my childhood. I do remember a wee bit about what I was doing at university, though, and that was mostly playing World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies and Guild Wars.

My buddy Zarwulf had a big sword, an impressive grimace, and probably a pet wolf. And he still exists, frozen in time—a situation I'm not going to remedy by playing him again. Better to leave the past in the past. In a way, he lives on in Guild Wars 2, where I sometimes muck around as a Daredevil with the same name.

Jacob Ridley, Managing Editor

Jacob Ridley, Managing Editor

Game: RuneScape

My memories from this time are hazy at best. If this is all bollocks to a seasoned RuneScape player, this is at least what I thought was happening at the time. I was very young, but I think I remember a few things.

I got really good at fishing. Like, really good. I was top level or something like that. Fishing and cooking. I used my skills to trade cooked fish with higher level players, and they'd give me good armour. I always wanted the black armour with golden highlights, whatever that was, and I got it by becoming a virtual fishmonger. I also got a red face mask and a black halberd. It was wicked.

One day, I just stopped playing. You don't realise it's the last time you'll play, but it was—at least for a very long time. I always kept my account details, though. Not too long ago, in 2025, I decided to log back in after God knows how many years. I'm 34 now, but I was 33 then. I must've been 10 or under when I was playing RuneScape.

I was banned. My account had been banned for years. Some clown had stolen it and used it to do nefarious things in my name. I don't know why, but I felt a real sadness for losing that account, even despite not logging in for years. So I sent Jagex an email. It read:

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Hi, I’ve had my RuneScape account for many many years and occasionally return to play. This time it looks like I’ve been permanently banned for botting in 2020! I’ve not logged in for many years so I’m very surprised. I was just giving the iPad version a go.

Is there any way I can get my old account back? I’ve had it since I was a kid and I’m now 33!

Would be much appreciated and I promise to turn on 2FA if it is returned. For the record I’m in the UK, in case there’s any way to see where the player was in 2020 that got me banned.

Thanks for your help,

Jacob

And, wouldn't you know, someone at Jagex un-banned me. So I'd like to take this moment to say thank you to 'Mod Frenzy' at Jagex support. I don't know if that's a specific mod or just some collective name for the support team at the bottom of every email. Either way, they saved probably my longest running character in any videogame from near-certain banishment. Legend.

Andrea Shearon, Evergreen Writer

Andrea Shearon, Evergreen Writer

Game: Priston Tale

I spent time poking around in RuneScape and Graal Online as a kid, but they didn't stick. It wasn't until my failed campaign to persuade my mom into giving me her credit card for Final Fantasy 11 that I found my true MMO gateway: Priston Tale.

The western release was in beta for years, and I spent most of that time lagging to death on a 4MB integrated GPU as the game's worst archer. I have fond memories of arguing with grown adults twice my age about winning strategies in Survive or Die—the game's big arena brawl against waves of monsters—and distinctly remember a thread on an old fan forum dedicated to complaining about me. I was a menace.

I made multiple characters before Priston Tale eventually died out and was sold to Suba Games, where I'm fairly certain it remains active. I'm sure Rennyfuu is long gone by now, but sometimes I toy with the idea of going back for a visit.

Jessica Kinghorn, Hardware Writer

Jessica Kinghorn, Hardware Writer

Game: RuneScape

As a child who was not willing to try to convince their parents to send money to a strange company on a monthly basis, I had resigned myself to looking at MMOs like Final Fantasy XI longingly from afar. After being introduced by my best friend, the browser-based RuneScape was it for me…well, at least until we got a bit older and began devoting all of our time to Gaia Online.

My recollection is hazy, but I distinctly remember selecting flowing golden locks for my avatar, sticking her in a pink polygonal crop top, and setting out on a quest for cuter clothes. A rando gave me a ring and asked if I'd like to be their internet girlfriend. After that, I saw off randos by pretending I didn't speak English (if memory serves, I was obsessed with Final Fantasy X at the time and 'Suteki Da Ne?' was my go-to conversation-killing phrase—it was incredibly effective).

Somehow, some way I ventured into either a high-level area or player versus player zone and promptly lost everything. Many such cases—but perhaps it's time I pay a visit to the ol' RuneScape account.

Mollie Taylor, Features Producer

Mollie Taylor, Features Producer

Game: Toontown Online

I wasn't cool enough to be playing World of Warcraft or RuneScape. No, instead I was throwing pies and squirting gag flowers across the blindingly bright, Disney-themed streets of Toontown Online.

It was the House of Mouse's stab at an MMO for children. Ironically, one all about defeating giant, greedy corporations and rescuing small businesses from the "cogs" that would take over and turn their colourful storefronts into lifeless grey towers.

I don't recall much from back then, but I do remember joining roughly around the same time as a Halloween event that offered a limited-time black colour for any cat toons. Even back then I think I had the raging emo gene, so of course I wanted to parade around as a delightful Salem-esque feline. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I never ended up getting the black colour. Instead, I forever remained as a dark brown cat, which isn't quite as goff.

Unfortunately she's gone now, lost to the servers shutting down in 2013. But she lives on in the form of a lilac-coloured cat called Coconut in Toontown Rewritten, one of the many private servers that continue to keep the spirit of the MMO alive.

Note: My young memory is despicably hazy, which means there's also a small chance that one other MMO character predates this one—one whose name I cannot remember, but was from the game Puzzle Pirates. I played the hell outta that one.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. %!s()

My methodology is straightforward enough: I'm going to gradually add figurines to the inside of my gaming PC, running FurMark 2 to track any thermal fluctuations. Each time I add more figures, I'll run both the 1080p and the 1440p benchmark presets.

First, let's establish the base line: I'm testing on the iBuyPower RDY Y40 Valorant VCTA R003. On the temperate September day I carried out testing, my RTX 4070 Super enjoyed an ambient temperature of about 34°C / 93.2°F. Without even a whiff of anime inside the PC case, temps shot up to 83°C / 181.4°F under a 100% GPU load in Furmark 2. And, let me tell ya, our Jacob really wasn't kidding when he said those iBuyPower fans get loud under load.

The 1080p benchmark returned a score of 11568, and 195 fps. The 1440p benchmark finished with a score of 7812, and 132 fps. With the baseline established, I couldn't help but wonder: is it really all downhill from here? To find out, I installed the first of many Miku Hatsune figurines.

Immediately after sealing up the machine with one 10 cm figure inside, ambient temperature picked up by a couple of degrees before quickly falling back down to 34°C. I noticed a similar temperature fluctuation more or less every time I replaced the glass panel, though generally things didn't stay toasty for long during testing.

1 / 4

FurMark 2 Benchmark

This chart shows fluctuations in average frame rate in relation to how many anime figures were placed inside the PC case

1080p | Avg. fps

0 anime figures

195

1 anime figure

194

4 anime figures

195

8 anime figures

198

11 anime figures

194

15 anime figures

194

20 anime figures

192

Honestly, I'm surprised by these results. Having read countless comments under a cool, internally decorated build pearl-clutching about airflow, I was expecting a much more significant performance hit.

While the 1440p benchmark did see a dip to 130 fps around the eight anime figure mark, the frames sat pretty at 132 even after I crammed in more plastic. As for the 1080p benchmark, I actually saw a peak of 198 fps with eight anime figures inside the case. This doesn't necessarily show placing plastic inside your PC actually improves performance, but it's definitely tempting to make that claim.

Alright, let's talk temps: at 20 figures, the 1080p benchmark peaked at 84°C / 183.2°F. Otherwise temperatures under 100% GPU load were remarkably consistent. I was also surprised to see ambient temperature drop back down to 34°C / 93.2°F relatively quickly after each benchmark, despite all of the moulded plastic I'd crammed inside my PC.

No, despite my best efforts, it wasn't runaway temperatures that brought my experiment to an end but a much more practical matter: space.

Turns out, physics has a lot to do with ensuring a plastic facsimile of your favourite character stands upright. Very simply put that means the spindly legged, twin-tailed form of Ms. Hatsune often needs to be counterbalanced by a wide base. The more outflung her limbs, the bigger the base needs to be to keep her upright.

Unfortunately, that means my taller anime figures (I.E. in the region of 30 cm) took up way more standing room inside of my PC case than I had anticipated—I nearly shore off a bunny ear by sticking my tallest Miku a little too close to a fan. Speaking of, things started to look a lil' dicey around the eight anime figure mark as kicking off FurMark 2 resulted in a HORRIBLE noise from my machine, presumably as plastic struck a rapidly spinning up fan. Though easily remedied by hitting 'Escape', and adjusting the placement of my little guys, it meant I'd have to give over even more space to ensure there was enough clearance between my PC components and my many Mikus.

To make the most of the limited space, I began stacking my figures in a vaguely non-euclidean fashion. Running out of floor space? That's okay, I'll just build upwards. This is not ideal for either display or airflow purposes, but I had to make room somewhere.

By enlisting my partner's Lupin III figure and his many Amiibos, I got my final total to 20 figures of various sizes. No, not all of these were strictly anime figures; I had Sonic propping up a precariously perched Sailor Moon. Not all of them were able to standupright—I had poor Samus Aran lying down wherever she'd fit between all of my Mikus.

So, if you want to put a cherished anime model inside of your gaming rig, my testing shows that even a few figurines isn't going to meaningfully impact performance—and I think we can all agree that cramming 20 figures inside your PC is excessive even disregarding the question of thermal performance.

All of that is not to say 'airflow, shmare-flow,' though. The 60 second FurMark2 benchmarks offer a performance snapshot, and may not be representative of playing, say, Baldur's Gate 3 at Ultra settings with a PC case full of potentially heat-absorbing figures for hours on end… but maybe I should pitch that experiment to my editor next. You know, for science.

Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending a significant chunk of that time working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not investigating all things hardware here, she's either constructing a passionate defence of a 7/10 game, daydreaming about her debut novel, or feeling wistful about the last time she chased some nerds around a field with an oversized foam sword.  %!s()

A new opportunity to reinvent oneself arises every single day, though, and many automakers have been working hard to reinvent themselves in order to elevate or heal their public image. Some reputations are harder to move beyond than others, like the fact that BMWs and Minis are consistently ranked near the top of Consumer Reports predicted reliability ratings in recent years, but the unreliability of previous cars from these companies can continue to taint their respective reputations. So it begs the question, which automaker has had the biggest glow-up? It could even be an automaker that's not around anymore — maybe they had a heroic rise before their doors got shuttered. Either way, leave your answer in the comments!

I think Lincoln has had the biggest glow-up

Lincoln

Ford's luxury brand Lincoln, like many automakers and many people alike, went through some pretty bleak times during The Great Recession, but I think its recent products have really turned that around in a big way. Compared to the conservative and stodgy body-on-frame Lincoln luxury barges of the 1970s and '80s, the jellybean cars of the '90s and the Great Recession-era lightly rebadged Fords, Lincoln's modern lineup offers a much more compelling proposition.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I absolutely love Lincoln's design language, inside and out. I also think its cars have the coolest names of any brand on the market, I mean come on, who wouldn't want to drive a Corsair or Aviator? Its billion-way adjustable seats are unparalleled when it comes to personalized comfort, and with new generations of a few models about to hit the market, I think Lincoln is really poised for success. It has a lot of reputation management to do, but I believe in the future of the brand and its cars. What brand do you think has had the biggest glow-up? %!s()