Tsukuba Monogatari: Tenth post Around 9:30 am on Wednesday (Oct. 18) Hori-san (the HR manager) came over to our cubicle and said there had just been a big earthquake, and a bridge had collapsed. “Where?” I asked. “California,” he said. He didn’t say which city. David asked (hopefully, I thought – but this may have […]
You are browsing archives for
Tag: Japan
Conformity
Tsukuba Monogatari: Ninth post As I was leaving work today, I stopped at the entrance to search the umbrella rack for my umbrella (it was pouring rain). As my eyes roamed over a hundred identical black umbrellas, I thought, “The Japanese really carry this conformity thing too far.” I was thankful that my umbrella was […]
Pasta-san
Tsukuba Monogatari: Eighth post When Koizumi-san was in California for training, my co-trainer Dan and I did a semi-social “Survival Cooking” session at Dan’s house to ensure that the trainees (all men), away from their families for 3+ months, would not starve. It was basically an excuse for some informal social time, but, forgetting that […]
Canine cultural differences
Tsukuba Monogatari: Seventh post As mentioned previously, four dogs attended the barbecue (two Miyagawas, a Kato, and an Ogata). At the end of the day, the only leftover food was inappropriately large and essentially inedible chicken legs (brought by yours truly), which got left behind on the grill as the Japanese (and the Americans, the […]
Cultural informants
Tsukuba Monogatari: Sixth post I came up with the idea of hosting a picnic/barbecue for alumni of our U.S. training and future trainees who had been nominated by their managers. I nemawashied the barbecue idea and got a positive response. Then I asked a few of the alumni to recommend a suitable date for the […]
Japanese-style encouragement
Tsukuba Monogatari: Fifth post I fell into step with Hori-san (the HR manager) on the way back from lunch one day and told him how wonderful it was to have a company car. He asked me if I’d had any accidents yet. No, I said, omitting mention of a near-miss in the parking lot of […]
Recommendation to Japanese pantyhose mak...
Tsukuba Monogatari: Fourth post This is to recommend that Japanese pantyhose makers begin production of a size “LL” to target the gaijin women market. Currently, Japanese “L” size pantyhose literally falls short at a maximum length of 165 cm. Two additional centimeters could mean the difference between success and a critical incident. What evaluations must […]
Irrepayable debt
Tsukuba Monogatari: Third post Word must have gotten around about my minimally furnished apartment. Honda-san (who I trained in the U.S. last year, and who lives in my neighborhood) dropped off a t.v. and a heater so I don’t have to buy them for my relatively short stay. He insisted they were “extra.” Does this […]
Getting settled
Tsukuba Monogatari: Second post Because I would be staying in Tsukuba for three months, I offered to stay in a Japanese-style apartment rather than in a hotel. (This was long before the advent of airbnb). In reality, it was all part of my dream to once again live Japanese style. My company, ever eager to manage […]
There’s always more to learn
Tsukuba Monogatari: First post People who have lived in California all their lives can hear words like “hot” and “humid,” but I doubt very much whether they truly know what these words mean. It was mid-September in Wakayama, where I was visiting my friend Penny before starting my assignment in Tsukuba. I left her air-conditioned […]