Tsukuba Monogatari: 26th post Yokota-san, who had been in one of the first groups trained in the U.S., attended my send-off. Yokota-san may have been a classic example of style-switching gone awry. I was never able to determine whether his abrasiveness was innate or a misguided effort to adopt a more Western style, and all […]
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Category: Japan stories
The truth about “form”
Tsukuba Monogatari: 25th post Until I had lunch with Yamazaki-san and Koizumi-san the other day, I had always thought it was the value that Japanese place on “form” that makes them want to mark beginnings and endings, comings and goings. You may die of loneliness in between, but you will be properly welcomed when you […]
Marui Christmas, Seibu Season
Tsukuba Monogatari: 24th post For the longest time I thought Tsukuba was truly the incarnation of the Western, rational city, a kind of Santa Clara plunked down in the middle of the Kanto Plain. I had almost given up hope of finding anything remotely Japanese about the place. No train station. No schoolchildren in uniforms […]
Leaving works
Tsukuba Monogatari: 23rd post There must be a Murphy’s Law to account for this phenomenon: Just as you enter the homestretch, and you think you won’t possibly be able to finish all your reports, feedback meetings, Christmas shopping, packing, etc., in time to get onto your plane – everyone in the world suddenly wants to […]
How to have a one-on-one with a Japanese...
Tsukuba Monogatari: Twenty-second post I requested a one-on-one with Morita-san, Marketing Communications Manager, who is sending a subordinate to our U.S. training next year. He had stated in a written questionnaire that he expected the training to give Uno-san “a complete understanding of U.S.-Japan trade issues” – so I thought I’d better have a little […]
How to survive karaoke (or bonenkai, par...
Tsukuba Monogatari: Twenty-first post Sing “Love Me Tender” as a duet with a Japanese man who has a loud voice, and lip synch. “Love Me Tender” requires a vocal range of about 3 notes and is mercifully short. Sing early. That way, you can get it over with and enjoy the rest of the evening […]
How to experience a Japanese bonenkai
Tsukuba Monogatari: Twentieth post Just as I was starting to think evil thoughts about Japanese people, my spirits were lifted from the valley of the shadow of cultural adjustment by two Eastern Region sales guys who recognized a soul sorely in need of fun and invited us (“us” means Jennifer and me) to the Eastern […]
Stages of adjustment
Tsukuba Monogatari: Nineteenth post Key: A: Arrive in Tsukuba; welcomed by ex-trainees; get car, company badge, e-mail account; take lots of pictures B-C: The novelty wears off; you start getting tired of gyoza and yakisoba; you get tired of wearing your one week’s worth of clothes over and over; you work, you sleep, you’re married […]
Recommendation to the current administra...
Tsukuba Monogatari: Eighteenth post If the U.S. government wants to inhibit consumer spending and encourage Americans to increase their personal savings, I recommend that it pressure banks to institute Japanese cash corner hours at their ATMs. I think I now understand why the savings rate is so high in Japan. Japanese people can’t get to […]
Narita Airport Go-Annai (Guide)
Tsukuba Monogatari: Seventeenth post Jennifer told me it took about an hour to drive to Narita, so I allowed two hours, figuring I’d probably get lost a few times, get stuck behind a slow truck, or both. I also allowed a half hour to get from the parking lot to the terminal, 1.5 hours to […]