My Week in Japan
Three weeks ago, I was starting the second week of a two week vacation. The first week was spent in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region near Lake Winnepesaukee. The second week was going to be spent cleaning and organizing the house. On Monday, however, I got a call from my employer. They called to ask me if my passport was up to date. “No,” I answered, “it expired 9 years ago. Why?” Because MajorJapaneseCustomer™ was approaching a deadline in developing a $20K multi-function printer and was having a lot of problems using a piece of technology that I had invented. So, they wanted me to fly over there for a joint debug session in order to save the project.
On Tuesday, I went in to work in order to get the passport process started. My employer was going to use a passport expediting company in order to fast-track the paperwork. Meanwhile, my flight and hotel reservations were being made. The following week was spent waiting for my passport, ironing out the ever-changing hotel reservations and working on some of MJC’s™ issues before my flight on Saturday.
The flight was a lengthy affair. I spent an hour and a half flying from Boston to Detroit and 12+ hours flying from Detroit to Osaka’s Kansai Airport. I left at 12:05 pm on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Osaka at 6:30pm, Sunday. With Japan being over the International Date Line, I wound up losing a day after spending half a day in travel. I was scheduled to go into work at 9:30am the following morning.
The flight itself was uneventful. There was very little turbulence beyond the usual bouncing that occurs as the plane climbs or descends during a take-off or landing. Once we hit the cruising altitude of 39,000 feet, it was smooth.
Overall, the trip itself was a mix of culture shock, mind-crushing code diagnostics, pleasant surprises and complete serenity.
Hishida-san, from my employer’s Tokyo office, met me at the airport wearing a gray suit and a Boston Red Sox baseball cap. From there, we took a one hour bus ride to Nara, site of MJC’s™ manufacturing and development complex and my hotel. After we both checked in to our respective hotels, Hishida-san had to stay at a different hotel that first night due to limited availability, we met for supper.
“What would you like to eat?” he asked me.
Ah. The big question. I have always been a fussy eater and I hate seafood. In the days leading up to this trip, I had been dreading this moment. But, after such a long flight and finding myself in a different country with a different culture, I decided that I wouldn’t fight it. I could make this difficult and/or be scared of the unknown, or I could allow myself to be pleasantly surprised.
My answer: “I’ll leave it up to you. I’m willing to try anything.”
We went to a Japanese pub. The pub itself was upstairs and, once there, we took our shoes off and walked in. Our table was panelled off like the others and was low to the floor. It was Japanese. One pleasant surprise was the pit under the table so you could sit comfortably while sitting on the floor. We started with a glass of Suntory beer and waited for the first course.
The first course was sashimi. Raw fish. With chopsticks. Here we go.
It was excellent! Absolutely superb. And so began my love affair with Japanese food. Over the next few days, I would have sashimi, sushi, tempura and Japanese versions of Korean barbecue and Chinese noodles. All new and all excellent. I didn’t have a bad meal the entire time I was there.
I also tried sake. It was, again, excellent. On Wednesday, Hishida-san and I went to a more upscale restaurant and ordered three rounds of sake. Two were rice-based and one was based on plum leaf and they were each served in different glasses. They were delicious. On Friday, Takuya, a co-worker from our local office who does a lot of work in Japan, took me out to Kyoto for a night on the town. We went to a Japanese bar where I had another variety of Japanese food and two more rounds of sake. Tasty, tasty, tasty stuff.
I also found that my chopsticks technique improves with the amount of alcohol I drink. Go figure.
The work aspect started off poorly, but improved tremendously. The formal business culture of Japan, coupled with the language barrier, mixed with a nasty case of jet lag, left me barely functional. I spent the first day trying to learn the various nuances of the customer’s product and trying to rethink various aspects of my code. That night, the customers took us out to dinner, where I barely functional. My chopsticks technique was poor enough that I was given a fork. Without my asking for it. That hurt.
That Monday evening, back in my hotel, I felt lost and alone, in spite of Hishida-san’s welcome the evening before. The issues involved were difficult to solve and I felt like an outcast because of the language barrier. I was frequently left out of conversations, although some attempts were made by the customers to include me. However, my jet lag and the background din of the restaurant made even those attempts difficult.
I turned things around on Tuesday morning. Like Sunday evening, I vowed to not let it get the better of me. I got over the worst of the jet lag, though I would never get over it completely, and poured myself into the work. If I couldn’t speak Japanese, I would speak to them with the quality of my work.
The results were stellar. Not only did I fix the issues with my code, on Tuesday no less, but I also fixed two major bugs that were not in my area of expertise over the next two days. On Friday, Takuya returned to Nara from Tokyo to discuss our remaining role in the project. We finished by 3pm and then were asked to remain for an hour in order to meet with the general manager of the entire complex.
This was an unexpected honor. During my week there, I’d been working alongside MJC’s™ color scientist to fix the problems with the code. In addition, I’d met his boss and had met his boss’s boss. That is usually it. This time, though, the general manager of the complex was taking time out of his day to meet us. As Takuya said later, this never happens unless we royally screw up or do an exceptionally good job. I’m happy to say that we accomplished the latter.
As I mentioned earlier, Takuya brought me to Kyoto to thank me for a job well done. After walking around the city, Boston’s sister city as it turns out, we found a Japanese bar and ate a little and drank a little. The food and sake were excellent as always.
Takuya and I parted at the train station, where he took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo and I took the Kintetsu line back to Nara.
I was on Cloud Nine. After much pre-trip trepidation and a rough start to the work, I was able to meet and exceed all expectations, my own and the customer’s. My feet barely touched the ground during my walk through Nara back to my hotel. In fact, just to cap off the night, while walking down a covered street lined with shops and restaurants, I thought I heard someone behind me say, in English, “I think he’s cute.” Now, that comment might not have been meant for me, but I was the only foreigner there that I saw. So, yeah, I was on Cloud Nine.
Because of the nature of the trip, the sightseeing opportunities were limited. Still Hishida-san did his best to squeeze in some time for me. Early Wednesday morning, we took an early walk to Todai-ji Shrine before heading to MJC’s™ site. It was fabulous and quite ancient. The statuary and woodwork were exceptional. Unfortunately, I bought a cheap digital camera on this trip and the picture quality is quite bad. I may post pics later anyway.
While we were there, Hishida-san and I passed by a group of uniformed schoolchildren. After we passed, I suddenly heard, “Hello! Hello!” I turned and there were about 7 or so schoolgirls waving and saying Hello. I said Hello and waved back and they all giggled. I then turned to Hishida-san and said, “I guess I don’t blend in too well here.” He laughed.
Because Hishida-san was returning to Tokyo the next day and Sakamoto-san was coming to take his place as my interpreter, I was able to spend some time by myself on Thursday morning. After working on a bug in my hotel room early that morning, I set out for Kofuku-ji Temple, a 5-story pagoda-style temple. Hishida-san and I had walked there after our trip to Todai-ji, but it was closed. This time, I left later in the morning so I could get in. It was still closed, however. So, I walked around Nara Park a bit more before returning to my hotel room. Along the way, there were numerous school and Japanese tourist groups milling around. And, as happened the day before, numerous schoolchildren would yell, “Hello! Hello!” to me and giggle. It was very cute.
When I made the decision to turn back to the hotel during my walk, I had discovered a torii beyond which lay a nicely graded footpath. My hiker heart longed to hike beneath the torii and discover what sights lay beyond, but I dared not. I already had quite a ways to go to get back and I still had some work to do for the customer. So I reluctantly turned away.
Saturday, my final day in Japan and my day of departure, would find me back at the torii and in a mad dash to not miss my flight home. But that’s a story for another post.