To date, 2025 has been the greatest year of my life. It has included things like:

• Travelling to Japan and Korea with my favourite person in the world
• Winning a baseball championship with some lifetime friends
• Joining the BC Startup Ecosystem with Innovate BC and personal ventures

And honestly, those bullet points far from encapsulate how rich the moments have been that string together to form my individual experience in the human social construct that we call the year 2025.

The People | The Most Important Part

First and foremost, I want to express gratitude to everyone in my life who has enabled this year to be a reality.

To my family (dad, mom, and Ryan), I want to say thank you for helping me become the person that I am today and for supporting me in whatever I pursue. The amount of work that my family has put in to give me the life that I live today cannot be understated, for that I am immensely grateful.

To Jamie, I want to say thank you for pushing me to do things that I never would have otherwise done. Jamie, a constant of our relationship is that you have broadened my perspective on the world. From getting me to go on a scary roller coaster, to convincing me that we should explore another continent, you always make me go beyond my realm of comfort, enabling a crazy amount of discovery.

To my friends, I want to say thank you for supporting me in all of my crazy ideas and pursuits. It is often said, that when you tell people about your crazy ideas, you can expect a lot of pushback, but I have never found that to be true. I can not help but feel that whenever I tell any of you about my crazy ideas, you express so much support. Along with that, we have all engaged in so many journeys and adventures. I am so grateful for that. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your lives.

(honestly there were way too many photos to choose from for this.)

The Activities

A Trip to Asia | Visiting Japan & Korea

This year, I have doubled the amount of continents that I have visited (yes, I never left North America until this year)!

Since I returned from my journeys in Japan and Korea, my worldview has dramatically changed. Experiencing life in a different culture, where different languages are spoken, and different lifestyles are led, has forced me to rethink the way that I think about my life.

Moments in Japan | The Busy-ness of Tokyo, The Hospitality of Osaka, and Zen in Kyoto

In Tokyo, crowds were a constant, the experience, made me realize just how small of a city Vancouver is. On the world stage, the size of Vancouver relative to Tokyo, is like the size of Chilliwack relative to Vancouver.

Prior to this experience, I thought I lived for crowds, but honestly, I was often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people that were present. I now know, that maybe there is a cap, on how often I want to be around huge crowds.

Something that I found fascinating and first encountered in Tokyo, was the spectrum of how simple and how complex businesses can be. On one end of the spectrum, exists Don Quixote, a retail chain that can quite honestly, be best described as Walmart on steroids, but make it like a Casino. On the other end, there is Wasachi, a tiny little matcha shop in the bottom floor of a house, serving up some of the best matcha in Tokyo. I loved engaging with both businesses (although, Don Quixote, is something I look more fondly upon in retrospect), and yet they feel as though they were polar opposites of another.

In Tokyo, we also experienced a Giants game at the Tokyo Dome. As a huge baseball fan, this was an incredible experience, as Japan loves baseball and the Giants are the NPB’s most prolific team. Getting to experience a walk-off win for the Giants, is something that will always stick with me.

Within Osaka, we experienced great street culture.

Roaming the neighbourhood of America-mura, was a pleasure. Within the space, people remained a constant, but fascinating and fun retail experiences were abundant, with a plethora of retro-stores and cafes.

At the cafes, hospitality was more than a highlight. With myself being a tourist who knew essentially no Japanese terms, the staff that I engaged with all spoke fluent English and were dedicated to their craft.

A few favourites include LiLo Coffee Roasters, Barista Map Coffee Roasters, Coucou Amande, and Coucou Churros.

After spending over a week straight within the big cities of Tokyo and Osaka, we ventured into Kyoto, also making a day-trip to Nara.

During this component of our trip, things felt as though they slowed down. We were in Kyoto for only a few days, but reconnecting with nature, enjoying some curry udon, and visiting awe-inspiring temples, provided a nice refresh; offering a window into what slower living can look and feel like in Japan.

(also, we got to hang out with Monkeys!)

This far from captures, what my time in Japan entailed (honestly skipping most of the amazing food we had, including our awesome Omakase experience), highlighting just how good of a time this was.

Korea | Feeding the Soul in Seoul

Before arriving in Seoul, I expected it to be as busy as Tokyo. To my surprise, it was far from it. While both cities are immensely dense and expansive, thinking and imagining that they would in any way be similar, is a mistake.

A specific area that I want to highlight in Seoul, is the neighbourhood of Seongsu-dong, a place often described as the Brooklyn of Seoul. In my view, Seongsu can best be described as a place that has mastered the art of experiential retail. The neighbourhood was full of engaging pop-ups, brand flagship stores, stunning cafes, and mouth-watering culinary experiences.

If I had to choose one of each item, I would choose to shoutout:

Jones Golf & WAAC Golf Collaboration Store, this pop-up was in an old gas-station. The owner of the pop-up was there, present with her dog, ensuring that anyone who stepped into the building felt welcomed and appreciated. Here, I got my favourite clothing item that I acquired in Korea.

Point of View Flagship Store, a stationary store that felt more like a piece of art. With the store, my experience was as follows: Before you come into the store, you are greeted by a line to enter. One that moves really quickly, but which builds anticipation before you enter the store. Once you enter the store, you are directed to head to the top floor. The top floor is a place where you can not buy anything, instead it is an art exhibition, one that masterfully displays just what it possible with some simple pieces of stationary. Then you move down into the retail areas, where SKUs are depicted as pieces of art. Finally, we found this engagement activity, where visitors were encouraged to write about how they use various tools to improve their own lives. This store, was emblematic of how the retailers of Seongsu, understand how to build retail, that is not about shopping, but about creating experiences that make people feel like humans, not commodities.

Daelim Changgo Cafe, this cafe serves up speciality coffee from around the world, mixing it with beautiful and elegant pastries. It does this all in an old warehouse space, designed to feel like a jungle.

BEP Vietnamese Restaurant, here, we dined in class for <$30 CAD. We ate seafood-filled fried rice, crunchy spring rolls, and a hearty bowl of pho.

Working for Servicing the BC Startup Ecosystem with Innovate BC

In January, I was considering my next steps. I wasn’t sure, what lied in the future for me, and was applying for some co-op jobs that I found interesting.

One of those jobs I found interesting, was the opportunity to be a part of the team at Innovate BC. Honestly, I never thought I would work a government job. Although I have worked in academia as a teaching assistant, and loved my time doing it, I have always though of myself as being someone more destined to work in tech and one day start their own business. But, Innovate BC is a government agency, that aligns with those interests of mine. I got so lucky, that they called me back and after an interview process, invited me to join the team.

Whilst I am not sure, what my future looks like with Innovate BC, I can say that I am really grateful for the time I have spent on this team.

I really do believe that the future is what we make it to be, and Innovate BC, is an organization with that belief embedded in its mandate that supports organizations who too share that belief.

Highlights from my time at Innovate BC include representing the organization at the BC Pavilion and Web Summit Vancouver 2025, working with a team to deliver a hiring grant, and being provided the opportunity to work on projects that support my team in servicing BC’s Innovation ecosystem.

Ventures

This year I have been super fortunate to have been able to participate in, start, and engage with so many ventures. Some that I would like to shoutout include:

🧶 Red Thread Club, this venture is being headed by my friends Mai and Ty. They’re working hard to nurture Vancouver’s startup ecosystem through curated events and experiences for founders.

⛳️ The PGL, Poco’s very own version of Tiger Woods’ TGL, hosted by the chairman (me) in my own house!

🥾 Gear2Peer, in 2024 (not 2025, but gonna include!) I was super fortunate to have helped with building the foundations for Gear2Peer. Tache, at Gear2Peer is working hard to build AirB&B for adventure equipment.

🏗️ @BuildwithKobe, on this IG account I have highlighting my involvement with the venture space and my own venture journeys! While I am still in the process of perfecting this art of sharing, drop a follow and check it out 🙂

💿 Steps Co., this is my latest journey. We’re just getting started. Stay tuned to learn more!

Sports | Golfing Around the PNW and Playing Baseball

The final items that really stand out to me when I look back on this year, is golfing around the Pacific Northwest region with friends and winning a baseball championship last weekend.

Golfing in the Kootenays – a region of BC that I had never been to is the Kootenays, and this year I was so fortunate to be invited by my friend to go on a trip with 11 other guys to the region, so that we could play 5 rounds of golf in 4 days. While it was a long drive to get there, the drive was amazing; the highway was winding, but full of spectacular views and great conversations. Once we were there, the golf was even better. Greywolf, being BC’s #2 ranked golf course, stands out. There is definitely merit to that ranking, and I loved every course we played on the trip.

Other trips include going to Southeast Washington/Idaho, and Kamloops. I love the game of golf, and being able to travel with friends to play is such a privilege that I cannot be more grateful for.

Baseball this year was interesting. We had a team of 25, and that came with its challenges but concluded with a great triumph. I am so thankful for this team. It was composed of a great group of guys, who showed up day in and day out, prepared to contribute however they could. Admittedly, we took some time to work through group dynamics and figure out how to play together as a team, but the struggle is what made the conclusion that much more sweet.

For Everything Missed

I know that I missed so much in this post! And that is part of what has made this year so great. Just know that anything I did not discuss in here that happened in 2025, I am so so so grateful for too!

What’s Next

Admittedly, I am at a time in my life, when the future is really uncertain. I genuinely can not tell you, what my life is going to look like in 5 years. I mean heck, I am 23 years old.

While I do have some preconceptions about what I would like it to, I can not really say, whether or not those will hold true as time continues to pass.

At the same time, we are not even 8 months into 2025. Over a third of the year remains and I can not be more excited about that idea.

Thank you to everyone in my life, everyone in the world, and to the freaking universe itself.

Let’s keep the good times rolling and let’s continue to enjoy them.

What a life!

KS