Adventures in Japan (Work)

Posted on 21 April 2009

Back in 2004, I took a business trip to Japan.  While away for a total of 4 weeks I wrote this random collection of notes.  They were not meant to be much more than simple emails to my friends and family, so don’t expect fine art.  Some are pretty amusing, others are just odd, and still others are a bit sad.  Just a note, I no longer work at AMANO.  I now hang my hat at audible.com part of the Amazon family.  A much cooler place to work, but less trips to Japan.

Work.  That was the main goal behind this trip and we did lots of it.  Just in case you are not in the know, I am a computer programmer and I work for a company called AMANO CINCINNATI.  The company is originally Japanese and our new product was actually designed in Japan.  So before we can take over the project, we need to learn from the masters that originally created it.  Thus the trip to Japan.

And now we bow our heads…. 12 – 13 –04
In the office a bit early this morning.  They start playing classical music about 8:15, then it goes into the little morning work out (I’ve only heard it, never seen it.  I guess it’s mostly for the factory workers).  At 8:30 we do the morning meeting.  Which means we march up to Pay station central (3 floors up in the building next door) and have one of the higher up talks at us for a few minutes.  It’s usually brief and I never understand a word of it.  I consider it almost like a morning prayer.  I just bow my head and wait until everyone says something.  Then I head back to my desk.  Hiro generally lets me know if something important is said.  Meetings don’t start until 10. So I generally have time to tinker with one of my work related projects. At some point I usually hit one of the many many vending machines for either some Mt. Fuji water or some of that coffee in a can stuff.  Coffee in a can isn’t as bad as you might think, but it’s not really all that good either. It’s always very warm, which is the nice thing, since its generally freezing in the office.  Everyone smokes, so they leave the windows open.  And since it is winter, it does get cold (oddly enough).  Dang smokers.

More on the Schedule 1-12-04
So I know I have mentioned this before, but it still amuses me to some degree.  The schedule here is just so different.  We get here early and the music kicks in for the morning work out.  Its not modern music mind you, it sounds like something from a movie in the 30s.  Like someone, somewhere, starts everyday by putting one of those really thick old records on the phonograph and lets it crank.  I try not to giggle every time I hear it.  There’s someone going through the workout too.  I think its just stretching, but I still haven’t seen it.  I could stretch.  I certainly could use it.  I’m really looking forward to get back into my work out routine, but that’s an aside for a different email.

So after the morning workout, the tone rings for the morning meeting to start.  It’s less of a tone and more of a short jingle.  It works on the same concept that everything here in Japan has its own theme music.  Its one of 4 tones during the day.  There’s the “run to the meeting tone”, the “run to the lunch room and eat as fast as possible tone”, the “you should be back at your desk and working tone (or lunch is over)”  and my fav, the “you could leave work if you are a lazy bum tone”  which goes off at 5:15 to mark the end of the day.  No one every pays attention to this.  Generally people don’t start leaving until about 7.  But its nice of the office to remind you, that you could leave….if you wanted to be fired.

Morning meetings or the prayers as I have labeled them (see past emails) are generally short.  But its the mad dash to them which takes the most effort. Everyone one runs to one meeting area.  well there are probably others that I don’t see, its a big place.  But the one place is of course on the top floor of a building so everyone dashes up the stairs and though the maze that is the Amano office compound.  Once arriving to the meetings most people are generally short on breath.  Which ok cause its a short meeting.  Someone says 5 or 6 words, and then we all dash off back to our separate areas. Just enough time to breath so you can run again.  It occurs to me that this is a good way to stay in shape.   We really need this back in the US.  Plus more stairs.

The first of these short meetings was the worse.  Arriving here on the first day, I had let my guard down after meeting the president and all the higher ups, I thought I was in the clear.  But during the meeting all eyes turn to Harry and I.  Apparently its proper tradition to introduce yourself to the (large) group.  Harry, prepared for this, rattles off a short introduction of himself in Japanese.  Me on the other hand, caught of guard and scared to death of public speaking, managed a hello.  In English….That was it. Luckily the meeting moved ahead anyway.  And I haven’t again had to interact.  That’s good.  That’s  the way I like.