Japan (日本) Week 4

Friends and Family - I hope everybody is doing great.

Things are moving along in Japan with a lot of changes for the Sales force to digest.

This week I flew to the Kyushu area of Japan, which is the farthest south main part of Japan. There are a lot of rolling hills, mountains and rice fields here.

I was able to ride my first Shikansen (Bullet train) it was Awesome!

The Carmel corn while tasty, tasted nothing like Carmel corn. On the grill we are cooking Okonomiyaki, which is mostly cabbage with a little egg, shrimp, pork and squid in it - you cook it like a big pancake. Tasty!

While walking around this weekend I saw this happy Marshmallow Man, I don't know what he was selling - but I was buying. When I got to his snack stand, it was closed - bummer.

Also, visited a few other temple sites in Tokyo. They all have a place where they wash (pour water) in their hands. At one, there was a very cool Dragon fountain (and you know how I like Dragons).

Another interesting picture was of the little devil like guy eating - I need to ask my translator (Kazuyo) to tell me what it says, but I'm not sure I want to eat here? The guy could also be Gollum? I just thought it was interesting.

That also goes for the Alien like creature that is showing all his internal organs - Just and interesting thing in the middle of Shinjuku.

Probably on of the funniest things that happened to me this week was on Saturday, I decided to blow 1,000 Yen (about $13) and play some Pachinko in one of the 8 story parlors. The place was super noisy and smoky inside - so I thought I'd blow my Yen and get out of there in 5 min. I noticed a small house, that if I got a ball in there, the machine went crazy - It had a small steering wheel like handle that if I held about 80% on balls went in there frequently. After getting several ball in there, the machine got very noisy and lit up and with a Ninja movie in the middle and puppets popping out - It was so cool that I stopped playing and started taking pictures of the machine. One of the floor attendants came over and put my hand on the wheel and pointed to an area that I needed to get lots of balls in (which was full power and easy). He also started dumping my stockpile of balls into several baskets - when the mayhem was over, I told him I was finished and wanted to cash out (I actually had to tell 5 different guys several times - they really wanted me to keep playing. So they took me and those baskets of balls to a counter and the guys gave me 3 small gold chips (bars) I thought OK, weird - but golds OK. Then they took me outside to a cashier around the corner who I gave my gold too and she gave me $11,000 Yen ($135) - AWESOME, so I got 10x my money in like 5 min. - Total beginners luck, so since I'm ahead I won't be playing again. Well, I'm doing good and miss everybody - I'm really looking forward to Kathie's visit in 12 days!

Japan (日本) Week 3

This week we flew to Hokkaido which is in the far north of Japan. It's where all the farms are at, it's like America's Wisconsin (lots of Dairy Farms & Cheese). It was about 15 degrees colder (which felt Awesome) and the leaves were changing colors - It was beautiful!

In most hospitals, you have to were slippers that they provide for you - all size 6. I will never get a pair in my size, so the smaller the better - then my whole heel can hang off the back. It better than the back of the slipper cutting painfully into the middle of your heel. Check me out, I'm rocking next year's models.

After visiting a Hospital, we went to dinner with our distributor named Yu-to (how ironic, almost sounds like Utah). Two things I keep seeing over and over: First, the guys over here eat A LOT (I think there were about 12 courses - I've got to pace myself, I was full after about the 4th). Secondly, they eat later and longer - we started about 8 pm and finished about 11 pm. But from this dinner I learned one of my favorite (#2) dishes is Yakitori (which is really a chicken Shish kabob with about 8 smaller (1/2 inch) cut pieces of meat. Each skewer had a different kind of meat - some with Beef, others Pork, Chicken or with all kinds of other animal parts. Of course, I sampled them all with mixed results.

I also discovered my favorite (#1) food this week, it's called Yakiniku - Again, no surprise, it's cooking meat of all kinds, but this time you do it yourself on an indoor-like BBQ grill. The smoke is all pulled out from the sides of the grilling surface - It's AWESOME!!

One thing I know we could never have in America, over here, all the GPS devices are also TV's - Here you see us watching a Baseball game.

Also, the hotels all provide Japanese Style robes - again, six 6, but I (of course) had to try it on and snap a photo. Also, in order to get any light to go on in the room, you have to put the key holder in a slot. Fortunately, I was in the dark for only a minute before I figured it out - but there was an awkward (funny) moment there.

The gum BLACK BLACK is extra strong for fresh breath and Kazuyo (My Translator) laughed when I told her they put a bonus pack of post-it notes in mine.

Quick note - Cheese Almonds, not so good!

We drove north into a canyon, and I swore I was in Provo or Big Cottonwood canyon in Utah, it was amazingly close landscape, Beautiful!

The area where I go to church (Hiro-o) is equivalent to a Chinatown in one of our bigger cities. It's where most the expats live, it's not really Americatown, more like EverybodythatsnotJapanesetown. There are a variety of shops and restaurants from all over the world in this area which is kind of neat.

All in all a fun trip to a beautiful place. But came to a big realization that I have a lot of work and training to do over here!

Japan (日本) Week 2

I had a great but very busy first week (They start work over hear around 8:30 but go till 8 or 9 pm). I was able to meet everybody in the Tokyo office - They impressed me with their English, Which wasn't great, but much better than my Japanese.

While in Japan, I will be working with their Cardiac Sales team. In the picture from left to right, bottom to top:

Kazuyo Yamashiro - She is my Translator & Guide
Yoshitaka Minami - Sales in Western Japan (Kyoto & Osaka)
Akio Yakukawa - Feild Service (All of Japan)
Me, then Jun Fujikawa - Country Manager for Japan
Hada Takahiro - Sales Manager & Sales/Education
Keiichiro Ajimura - Sales (Konto: Tokyo, Chiba & Kawagawa)

One of the salesman wanted me to feel comfortable and fit in so he gave me a welcome gift.

I thought it was hilarious!

There are a few things that caught my attention right away. First, when they eat hot soup or noodles, they slurp very, very loudly. My dad told me they would do this, but I didn't realize how loud and right he was.

The other thing is every time we visit a new person in the hospital, we
bow about 3-5 times at the beginning and about 3-5 times when were
done. Again, I was told, but didn't think it would be this much.

The bathrooms are interesting. As I mentioned in my last post, some are very modern with heated seats and washlets - others, like this one in a hospital are a little more difficult to use. I also have to carry around a small washcloth - because there is no way to dry your hand in most bathrooms.

As you can see, the maps are very helpful in getting around (jk), but having the iPhone has been VERY helpful in getting around, taking pictures - I even took a photo of the Tokyo Metro system and use it all the time
to figure out were to go.

One funny thing happened in a restaurant one evening, I sat down and waited for someone to bring me water and take my order - but no one came. I watched as other people came in, sat down and were immediately served water and a few minutes later their food came. I thought, no biggie, I can wait them out - another 10 minutes went by, and still nothing - I finally flagged down a server and they pointed my attention to the vending machine by the front door where I needed to order my food first (check out the photo). Ahh, they thought I was just hanging out and they were too polite to kick me out.

This last weekend I was Able to visit Yoyogi Park, The Imperial Palace and the Imperial Garden in Shinjuku (A Noah's Ark of vegetation - basically one of every plant from all over the world)

The Photos below are my favorite from each location.

Japan (日本) Week 1

As many of you may know, I am on a temporary assignment for my company here in Tokyo for 3 months.

I thought I'd do Blog updates as a way to keep anybody who is interested in knowing what's going on over here and a few of my adventures with some pics.

I left on Wednesday and landed Thursday evening. From the airport (Narita) I took a bus to the Tokyo Hilton where I met Jun (Country Manger) and Hada san (Cardiac Manager). We went over the agenda – we are going to be super busy and all over Japan, including the island of Okinawa.

I tried not to sleep on the flight (knowing it would be evening), big mistake – I was gassed.

The apartment is not bad at all – Basically two 15 x 12 ft rooms (one the bedroom and the other the living room and kitchen. All the toilets over hear have a washlett (which is like a bidet) – there are some very interesting spraying actions accompany it.

Another weird thing is that you may notice that the shower has not shower curtain and the tub’s spicket is outside the tub – especially the whole room is one big shower – showering is a great adventure.

Jun and I met for lunch on Saturday where he filled me in on the overall picture for the Japanese market and all the Teleflex business. He was also kind enough to show me a nearby electronic store – Amazing – 8 massive Best Buys size floors with everything you can imagine (I’ll have to send a picture in the future) and a massive bookstore (12 floors each the size of Barnes and Noble) that had a floor of English books, he also showed me an enormous department store where I can find virtually anything I need.

Tokyo reminds me a little of downtown Honolulu, except it’s like the size of 50 of them together and there are more Japanese and I’m the only white guy :).