“With a purposeful grimace, and a terrible sound; He pulls the spitting high tension wires down…”
Been a while since I wrote, but it is Saturday morning here in Tokyo, 23rd floor of the Hilton Tokyo, and I am reflecting on a week of work travel.
I am here for a trade show (JASIS), and to train our Japanese distributors on our new product. A busy week, with a weekend to punctuate the insanity.
First the show. It was remarkably good. The system behaved well, and the interest was high. Lots of people spent time talking to our reps about the product, and my partner in crime, Gil Min, did a fantastic job of keeping it all working well. But as with all trade shows, three days of standing on your feet definitely grates on you. Add to that the complete lack of padding under the thin carpet, and my dogs were barking.
The show was in Makuhari, about an hour train ride from were we are at in Shinjuku, so add 2+ hours of commuting to the daily load. Then a quick dinner, and drop into bed exhausted.
One thing that has changed in the 7 years since my last visit to the land of the rising sun, in the wake of the Fukushima reactor disaster, and the idling of all the nuclear power plants in Japan, the dress code became mroe casual. Instead of it being mandatory to wear a jacket and tie every day, you see a vast majority of men wearing short sleeved shirts. Air conditioning in this steamy season is much less than it used to be, and there are allowances made in dress codes.
Cool.
Second – the food. The first night, we connected with the local office manager and our new Business Development person (his first day on the job too) for dinner. A little yakitori, some tempura, some sashimi, and way too much alcohol.
Another benefit seems to be that the overwhelming majority of people smoking in restaurants is waning. Most of the places I have been were non-smoking establishments.
The second night we went to a Katsu house, and last night, being totally exhausted after the week, we just went to the hotel’s “pub” for pub food and drinks. That hit the spot. My colleague wanted to go walk the club district, but I thought better of it, and sacked out at 11:00PM.
Saturday is here, and I am preparing for my training on Monday, and catching up on my inbox.
I fly back on Wednesday, looking forward to being home, but I know I will have chaos at the office when I return.
C’est la vie.
