Day 34 - Mar 25 2010 - Commuting To and From Kanda

Day 34 - Mar 25 2010 - Thursday, Commuting To and From Kanda

It's been rainy, damp and in the upper 40s / low 50s F all week and Thursday was no exception. Leona, Benjamin, Yann and I typically commute together. We all like leaving our residence at 8:45am and arrive at our desks by 9:15am which is about 15 min before everyone else gets there. Personally I'm used to arriving at work at 8:45am, but Tokyo leads the world with the beginning of the day so there is no need to rush in early, especially when working late with other parts of the world. Last week, I had a successful online demonstration with some colleagues (Shigetomi san and Akimoto san) in San Jose and I arrived to work at 7:30am and it was a ghost town. So early, many local breakfast spots weren't even open.

Today, I also got to interact casually with our divisional head on two occasions. Maki san, was waiting at the elevator and I think his executive position in the company is so high, that many coworkers feel a bit uneasy about chatting him up casually. I noticed he was just anxiously waiting to grab some lunch at the elevator but you could tell he was interested in interacting with his staff. We headed into the elevator, where normally you can hear a pin drop. He struck up a conversation with me about the cherry blossoms blooming in the next two weeks and I told him I have seen the ones in Washington DC but not the ones in Tokyo. But what was funny is that we carried on like two Americans would in any elevator setting in the US, yet everyone else, about 12 others were silent and probably a bit shocked. We walked and talked to a lunch spot and grabbed some food to go.

Later on in the day, as I was leaving early around 7pm, he was off to recycle his beverage and we talked about his recent trip, last week to America, where he met with our customers. He enjoyed his time there, as he was only scheduled to speak for a quick 10 min intro, but the customers were so happy to have him there he interacted and spoke for 90 minutes, off the cuff. From all other sources I had talked with earlier in the week, I agreed that I heard the meetings went well and was happy that he was able to attend. These are American based customers that my colleagues and I work hard for, and to get support from 'the man in Tokyo' is something not to be taken lightly. I took this opportunity to explain who I was and give him my business card. He laughed when I told them they stuck a Finance guy in Product Development but he understood and was happy to have the help. These upper upper guys are very busy so to just get a chance to chat with them is always a fun time. He's the only guy in the two floors I've been on, that has an actual office, for those keeping count. But its these types of interactions and information exchange moments that makes the program I'm in extra special. When these big bosses visit our offices in the states they have to meet so many people and everyone's running around frantic making sure everyone is happy and all is going well, quiet end of day conversations are always impossible.

I may get a chance to meet with Maki san again and demo some good things our colleagues have spent long hard hours on over the years. Now that I've already met him, we can concentrate on the material and not who I am and should he trust me or where do I come from. Baby steps...

I met Ming for dinner at an Unagi restaurant where we dined on some amazingly bbq fresh water eel. He and I are scheduling all sorts of time draining activities in the next month; Yokohama Japanese Classic Car show, Japanese Motorcycle Gran Prix in Motegi, and visiting a Honda Factory.




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