Mt Fuji

Mt. Fuji was very impressive. We drove about three hours outside of Tokyo to reach the foothills and do some walking and photography. We had traditional Japanese box lunches and enjoyed the beautiful views. After that, we traveled another two hours to a green tea farm to see how green tea was grown and processed. It was fascinating. There are three harvests a year, and the processing plant only runs about 4 months of the year, remaining dormant for the rest of the year. Keiko’s wonderful family accompanied us on this journey and we were able to taste some of the delicious green tea afterwards. 

After a long and traffic filled bus ride back to Tokyo, we all went to a Karaoke palace. It was interesting because we had a private room where all of us could relax. They brought us delicious food, including whole soybeans which are eaten much like an American would eat peanuts. It was a great experience and I learned why so many Japanese people love Karaoke. Keiko’s family are all excellent singers and very kind people, and a great day was had by all.

Old Tokyo

Today we woke up early to go to the Tokyo fish market. We arrived around 5 am to find that they are still not allowing tourists into the fish market due (for some reason) to the Tsunami. Although we did not get to see the Tuna auction, we did see quite a bit of fish, and we had sushi for breakfast. I know that all of you are thinking this means I had raw fish, I did not. I had some pretty good veggie sushi, including some with fermented soybeans. I ordered the sushi and the chef looks at me, and confirms that I do indeed want the soybeans. I said that I would try it. It actually wasn’t bad; quite sticky, but not bad. Afterward, the chef asked me how I liked it. When I said it was decent, he laughed and called me a celebrity, saying that even he did not like it. Others enjoyed such delicacies such as melt in your mouth fatty tuna and almost live prawn. It was quite an experience. 

After that experience, we had a business meeting with American Express. This was quite informative and gave us a chance to compare and contrast specifics of American and Japanese consumers. For example, most Japanese do not carry any sort of balance on their credit cards, and have a better sense of what they can and cannot afford. They also prefer “busy” websites. For example, almost nobody in Japan uses Google to search, because the clean homepage is not what they want. They prefer the Yahoo! homepage which is COVERED with news, ads and photos.  To me this was fascinating because almost everyone else in the world prefers the Google page. 

For the rest of the day we traveled to the Edo museum which covered Tokyo’s history up to current day, and I learned that the Rickshaw was a Japanese invention. After that we traveled to the “old Tokyo” and saw actual Rickshaws you could ride in for 3,000 yen (pretty expensive, around $40). There were many vendors and a temple where you could get your fortune. A few Japanese people asked to take my photograph, which was the first time this has happened. I thought it would have happened before now, because I stick out like a sore thumb, but most Japanese people are too polite to ask. We ended our night with some delicious Vietnamese food. Tomorrow we are headed to Mt. Fuji!

Stereotypes busted (May 19, 2011)

As we have been traveling around Tokyo, I have noticed several previous stereotypes I had are now busted. For example, I thought that everyone in Japan would be short. This is definitely not the case. Most people are around my height and most of the men are about average height for America. There are some very short people, but there are also some very tall people. This has been eye opening for me. I was also under the impression that Tokyo had many more foreigners than I have actually seen. Although some of this may be a result of the Tsunami, we have heard that most people who left have returned. There are significantly less foreigners than I expected, and not as many Japanese people as I expected speak English, or are willing to speak English. We have been told that this is a result of the shame that Japanese people feel when they make a mistake. They are afraid to speak because they do not want to misspeak. This is a sharp contrast to the American adage of “just give it your best” or “fake it till you make it.”

Today we also had  several interesting meetings. We met first with a corporate finance professor from a Tokyo university. His insights into the Japanese culture, economy and post Tsunami Japan were enlightening and created great discussion. It was great to have an honest discussion and exchange of ideas. After this, we met with the US Japan chamber of commerce president and had a very spirited discussion covering a multitude of business topics, including some very interesting personal stories. To conclude our business day, we visited Itochu, a very large Japan based, international conglomerate, where were spoke with  employees around our age and learned a lot about the corporate culture in Japan, and the average work day, which runs from about 9am to about 9 or 10pm. Personally, I could never imagine working five 12 hour days, but apparently this is the norm in Japan. To conclude our day, we went to the Shibuya district which is the Tokyo that is most often portrayed in the movies. It was crowded and full of trendy shops, clubs, and food. It was great, but we did not stay out too late because we are getting up at 415 am tomorrow to go to the fish market!

Soy Presso- coffee juice box type beverage that can be bought in many convince stores

Panda Snacks (May 18, 2011)

Today I woke up to Russ saying “hey guys, I think we need to get up.” It was 8am and we were set to meet in the lobby at 815 to travel to Intralink. We had to rush like mad, but we still made it on time. Intralink was interesting because it was a private consulting firm which helps firms enter the Japanese market. It was perfect to have this meeting after the JETRO meeting the previous day because it gave us a contrasting viewpoint and facilitated great discussion. This is also where I first learned that as a foreigner (Gajin) the Japanese will tolerate us, and accept that we do not follow their cultural norms, and won’t be offended. The other side of this tolerance, however, is that, no matter what, we can never be Japanese. It does not matter how long one has been here, how fluent one speaks the language or how well one can use chopsticks. A Gajin will never be fully accepted as Japanese. This is in stark contrast to the American view that anyone can be American. As long as you follow the process, learn the language and the customs, you will be accepted into the culture.  

In the afternoon, we went to NTT DoCoMo which is the largest mobile service provider in Japan. They have about 50% of the market share. We were given a tour in perfect English and had the opportunity to see some advanced cell phone technology. The coolest thing at DoCoMo was the future simulation. One student (Russ) designed a Kimono with a dragon and cherry blossoms in 3-D. This was amazing because  Russ was literally touching the air in front of him and moving parts of the design, much like you see in the movies.

After DoCoMo, we visited the Electric city (Akihabara). There were lots of stores selling components to computers and hundreds of other electronics. We visited a 7 story arcade were Jeremy lost his star wars chopsticks L and a Pachinko parlor, which was louder than a rave. Midafternoon, I found some delicious panda-shaped snacks that made my day. Each panda had a separate emotion face and was uniquely delicious. For dinner we had some really good tempura and wandered around a little more before we headed back.

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 PACHINKO PARLOR, SO LOUD!!!!

Today we visited  JETRO, the Japanese external trade organization. It was every informative and we learned a lot about adapting business for the Japanese markets. It is a governmental organization, and it was interesting to hear their perspectives and strategies for business in Japan. We also had a tour of the imperial palace and gardens. It was very historical and I learned a lot about the Edo period of Tokyo history. For example, a guard tower was moved from the original imperial palace in Kyoto to Tokyo in the 1600s. We could not go inside the palace because it is the official residence of the Emperor and Empress. Although this was disappointing, it is completely understandable. After this excursion, we had some free time in the ginza district, which is similar to the times square area in New York City. There are a lot of expensive shops, including all of the designers: Chanel, Dior, Coach, and my favorite Tiffany & Co. We spent a significant amount of time in the Sony store checking out all of the cool technology including lots of 3D tvs, cameras and games. 

For dinner, we ate at a Korean restaurant where we met several Japanese friends of Professor Myer and Keiko. We had all we could eat for 2 hours. It was fun because we cooked our own food and learned some more Japanese table manners. The food was delicious and the company was excellent! Everyone I have met in Japan is so friendly and helpful. There are many cultures in the world where foreigners would be mocked for not knowing appropriate table manners, but in Japan they are helpful and just want to make sure you are enjoying your meal and your entire time in Japan.