Earth Isekai

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. An ordinary overworked man dies in the course of doing something a little noble and is reincarnated in a different world.  He retains all his old knowledge and uses it to his advantage in his new home. But what happens when that ordinary man is a salaryMAGE?  And what happens when that new world is Earth? This is just an amusing little project caused by too much time and too many isekai animes.  It’s an experiment in having fun with some of the usual isekai and anime tropes and topics while telling a story that really should get told more often: what happens when the roles are flipped?  What happens when the isekai protagonist goes to Japan instead of coming from Japan? But before we begin let’s make one thing very clear: this is still a fictional Japan.  It’s more realistic than many of the other versions you usually see but it’s still not reality.  So take everything with a grain of salt, between the stuff changed for the purposes of the story and the stuff the author’s just plain gotten wrong you should be very leery of treating this world as the ‘true’ Japan. (Just for starters, the fact that I’m using Japan instead of Nippon… sigh) I’m trying to imitate a more Japanese light novel style since the story isn’t too serious as fiction goes and to make things seem more accurate.  Plus it is Isekai and it feels really appropriate for a foreigner in Japan.  But given that A) I am not Japanese B) occasionally the story gets a little harsh on aspects of Japanese culture (something you should always take with a HUGE shaker’s worth of salt if you’re not a part of the culture yourself) and C) that there are changes made for the sake of drama I have to emphasize, underline, and repeat once again: This is a fictional Japan in a fictional world, not the real one.  Don’t mix them up. Story updates every Monday evening.  Theoretically.  I've been surprisingly good about that, but real life is going to kick that in the nuts one of these weeks. This was originally posted to my DeviantArt account, but given some of the issues that site's undergoing right now I figured it was time to branch out a little more and post it elsewhere as well. Edit: I've had a few requests, and if you're on this site it's not unreasonable to expect it.  So I'll bow to convention and make this a little clearer.  What to expect: --- Slow burn slice of life.  The protagonist has a goal.  That goal is NOT world domination or defeating a demon king.  Fights and shenanigans happen, all too often for the MC's taste, but they're not the main thrust. --- Weak to powerful-ish MC.  He gets there slowly.  But he's very much aware the world has nukes and numbers on its side.  As strong as he might get, he's very much aware he's in check. --- Relationships.  Mostly friends, family, and non-romantic for quite a while.  But romance does start slipping in to the story. --- Realistic teenaged horniness.  Intrusive thoughts should NOT be mistaken for romance.  Teenagers have hormones and drives, that does affect things. --- Magic.  I wouldn't have thought I needed to say this, what with the fantasy and urban fantasy tags in play, but some people were surprised.  Since there's an argument for it, I figured I should add it here. --- Science!  Not the hardest science in the world, but more than you see in most fantasy. --- Occasional swearing (mostly realistic level) and some occasional disturbing subject matter.  I've included trigger warnings where appropriate.  It's not a big thing; but as we're dealing with the 'real' world, some nasty topics and circumstances occasionally come up.  Like encountering a suicidal character.