About

I'm Nick Ramsay. I'm originally from southeast England, but I've lived in Japan since 1998.

I studied Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence back in the mid-90s, though I've spent the last 28 years running my own English school in Gifu. This blog is simply my digital notebook - a place to jot down things I discover while working on personal coding projects, and tech topics that catch my interest.

How I build and use tech

For web projects, I use WampServer on Windows, and PHP. In recent years, I've shied away from databases and user logins, preferring to build simple, static sites that are easy to upload and maintain. They tend to be a bit more secure this way, too.

Having an AI background, watching today's LLM boom unfold has been fascinating. I use AI daily as cheap labour - doing the tedious task of generating weekly worksheets for me to review, and even helping me write the code that built this very website. I do write the blog posts myself, though!

A few things I've made

Shisensho Solitaire: A tile-matching game I released on Steam.
HotaruCMS: An open-source project I founded many years ago.
Websites: I run several sites, including Nick's English for my students.

When I'm not coding

I spend my spare time playing PC games, learning Chinese with an app, and enjoying the countryside here in Gifu prefecture. I passed the N2 Japanese exam a couple of times, though I still find the language a challenge after all these years.

Get in touch

Feel free to drop me a note below. The answer to the anti-spam question is 1998.