My Trip to Japan and its interesting surrroundings
I landed into Japan via Malaysia on a late sunday evening and then was picked up by the Cabbie at the Narita Airport. Incidentally the City of Tokyo has 2 major airports with the Narita being the main one. The airport is around 65 KM from the main city and hence I got ready for a long ride into the city. The tolls are horrendous, I really pity the local residents on paying these high tolls but then heck so is life. My cabbie dropped me to a hotel called Presso Inn and I checked in. The hotel was around 100$ per night but the hotel room is very very small, but it was cute and nice. Lots of electronics in the room from multiple alarms etc. Heck there is a machine to press your trousers each morning outside on the floor of the room.
Post my check in, I went to Dennys's (Yes the same USA one), for dinner, but was in for a interesting surprise, the Dennys in Japan only serves Japanese food. So had a early dinner and then went off to bed.
Next morning or rather early afternoon, went to meet my Japanese colleagues at their head office, which was only 100 metres away, so not too bad. Met many folks and they were very nice and polite. We discussed some business and moved out for dinner at night.
Dinner was a traditional sit down Japanese dinner with lots of Sake and many different types of Sashimi and Tuna/Sushi etc. It was a very different dinner, last time I had something like this was in Detroit around 2003, so almost 9 years earlier. Dinner went late and I got to understand the Japanese culture, people drink pretty heavily in Japan and can really pack it, I could not drink so much (but then again I am not much of a drinker, only some beer). Post dinner went home and tried out the high speed internet at the hotel. Frankly I had heard so much of the internet speed in Japan but no where have I experienced very very high speed including various offices I have been to, it is just a myth. My internet speed at home is as fast as this. The fastest speed I have experienced is at universities in the USA.
Next day I went to Yokohama, which is home to a automotive company. Along the way I had a fried Eel with Rice, again something I have never eaten before. The business folks were very polite and acknowledge the fact that I am a foreigner and greet you with much respect. The same day it was announced on TV that Tokyo is going to have a huge storm such that there was huge panic everywhere, but then nothing happened so it was a 'Phusssssss'. I guess the folks are paranoid after what happened during the Tsunami!!
Next day, I went to another customer and was surprised how much the people trust each other, you can carry your wallet open in your laptop bag open, and no one at the train station will flick it. Imagine doing this in Mumbai... heck by the time you reach home your account would also have been hacked. That night we travelled to Nagoya and had some interesting Chinese Dim Sum. In most of the Japanese cities for business travellers there are good hotels at the stations and the eating joints are also at the train stations.
Early next morning, took a commuter train to meet some more customers. I must say that most of the Japanese customers are very well informed in what is happenning in different parts of the world, something the Indian customers have little idea about. I was pleasantly surprised, but the trick is they dont let you know anything and hold the cards close to their chest. Post my meeting, I am on a bullet train going back to Tokyo.. heck the trains are very very expensive, a typical 300 KM travel on the bullet train costs around Rs6500/- around 120$. Even the local metro / subway is quite expensive and I thought that London was expensive hahahahahah.
Over-all my experience in Japan has been very pleasant, the people are very polite and very very very hardworking. A typical Japanese office goer leaves home at around 6 Am to catch a train to come work in Tokyo and then leaves office at around 9 PM and reaches home around 11 PM when he has dinner at home.. normally he sees his family only on the weekends. MOst Japanese folks dont take more than 5 days holidays and work continuously. It is a matter of pride if you take no vacation days in a year. Unbelievable but then that is why they are one of the most advanced countries in the world. All possible combinations and permutations of doing business is thought through, even my dinner items were thought through 1 week in advance (compare this with India where we are not even sure if we go to office tomorrow or not or if the customer will change his/her mind on a important project). Big cultural difference and I hope one day India also rises up to this level of committment and hardwork.
Day after tomorrow I travel to Mumbai via Malaysia again and will keep you posted on any new developments that might be worth a mention.
Bye,
Shiva
