About Kalan

Kalan is a Taiwanese software engineer, tech lead, writer, and speaker based in Fukuoka, Japan. This site is where I write about software development, technical judgment, career questions, and what it is like to live and work in Japan.

I care about clear technical writing, but also about the reasoning behind decisions. If you searched for my name, this page is the fastest way to understand who I am, what I have done, and what I usually write about.

What I am doing now · What I usually write about

📍 Based in

Fukuoka

The largest city in Kyushu, Japan

👋 Who I am

I have more than ten years of experience across frontend, backend, architecture, cross-functional work, and technical leadership.

I keep writing about software, career, and Japan because I want useful ideas to stay understandable and grounded.

✍️ Topics I write about

Software Engineering

System design, delivery, collaboration, and engineering decisions.

 Frontend

Architecture, performance, maintainability, and practical details.

 Career and Essays

Career reflections, Japan, working life, and broader observations.

❓ What I am doing now

These days I split my time across writing, indie projects, blogging, and exploring work that sits between technology, planning, and content.

I do not want to be trapped inside a single label. Programming, writing, studying Japan, learning instruments, and making media all feel like parts of the same long-term path.

☕ Things I enjoy

☕ Coffee Light-roast Yirgacheffe and a smooth latte are both hard to beat.
🎬 Anime I have recently been watching Orb and Ron Kamonohashi.
🔍 Mystery novels Keigo Higashino and Honobu Yonezawa are longtime favorites.
💻 Programming I still enjoy making complex things easier to reason about.
👥 Cross-disciplinary conversations Talking to people in other fields often teaches me more than reading alone.
🎸 Learning guitar It has become a way to revisit music theory and practice patiently.
Fender Telecaster electric guitar

Electric guitar is one of the things I have been spending time on lately. I like the range of tones, the freedom of pedals, and the way it pushes me to rebuild my understanding of music theory from the ground up.

💼 Background

I am a senior software engineer with more than ten years of experience. I have worked in startups, growth-stage companies, and large public companies across product surfaces like campaigns, live streaming integrations, fintech, admin systems, and data visualization. I have also worked as a tech lead and VPoE.

A lot of my strength comes from cross-functional work: aligning teams, clarifying trade-offs, and helping international teammates ship together. I have also worked closely with Japanese planning teams and given technical talks in Japanese inside companies.

In recent years I have worked closer to high-traffic systems, full-stack architecture, and technical decision-making. That is why my writing often connects frontend details with product delivery, infrastructure, and engineering process.

Outside software, I keep writing about living and working in Japan. That includes culture, workplace reality, institutions, and everyday observations, which gives my writing a wider perspective than tool-focused tutorials alone.

More links about me →

🎤 Speaking

  1. MOPCON 2022: Accessibility in Single-Page Applications
  2. JSDC 2021: Three Reasons I Chose Svelte
  3. ModernWeb 2021: Why Svelte Stands Out Among Frontend Frameworks
  4. React Hakata (Japan)
  5. SITCON LT – Sudo_ Quartet A talk about technical experiments and change inside a company.
  6. Multiple internal engineering talks