The Swiss Adventure...: Arigato Mr. Roboto

I left on a Wednesday, the same time I usually leave for work. However, it was only 5 minutes earlier than the day before, ironically, to board the train next to the one I take to work every day. I was early, and Melinda and I sat on the train bound for Zürich, but before it left the Basel station, she had to leave to take her train to work. Somewhere between track 39 and 45 (on my iPod) the train pulls into the Zürich Hauptbahnhof, and I realize that when you have your iPod set to “random” and playlist set to “favorites” it miraculously plays all appropriate music for any emotional occasion. How does Apple do that? After the crowded train to the Flughafen, I make my way to a familiar and yet relatively empty check-in with Air France. I was unlucky enough to not have a direct flight to Tokyo, and even more unlucky to have a layover in Paris, Charles de Gaulle. For anyone how has not had a layover there, everything is so far apart, it requires buses everywhere, with intra-airport traffic (sans logic), some areas under construction, and of course chaos prevailing. I make it to my gate remarkably in time to board the plane for Narita Airport, Tokyo. One of the benefits of traveling so far for work is the luxury of flying business class. The perks include ample space in a near flat reclining seat, all the alcohol your body can tolerate including free dehydration, and your choice of movies (including and limited to) Harry Potter, Die Hard 4.0, Transformers, and The Simpsons Movie. (I won’t bother to mention the extensive international playlist.) So much fun on a 12 hour flight, how could anyone try to sleep?

Tired, groggy and lacking caffeine, I follow the pictures of suitcases to baggage claim. My bag was one of the first ones on the carousel, so I grab it, and make my way suspiciously towards customs. Normally I get stopped at customs because of all the odd things I need to bring with me for my job, but today, I was supposed to be traveling as a tourist, at least that’s what my company travel agent told me to do, reasoning that there was not enough time (2 months) to obtain a visa. (more like, that is not a clearly defined part of the job description.) So, on my maiden voyage to Tokyo (exclusively for business) I am asked, on behalf of the company, to lie, and say, “I’m here for vacation,” and the white box in my bag labeled with a black sharpie “PROTOTYPES”, is actually titanium jewelry and rapid prototype candy for all my Japanese friends that I am visiting. I wonder what the guy in the blue uniform with white shoulder stripes, black rimmed hat, sidearm and ironed white gloves was thinking as he neatly, bordering on robotic, ransacked my flower patterned luggage? I was shitting my pants, and swore I was visibly sweating. I really think so. Somehow I was cleared, and made my way to Tokyo by bus - but with 3000 less yen in my pocket. Door to door, it took 20 hours. 25 hours if you were my boss who had delays with the direct flight.

I noticed that bowing is quite common. I mean, I know it is a big deal in the Japanese culture and is a sign of humbling oneself before another (a sign of respect), but even the people who loaded and unloaded the bus would bow to the bus drivers as they pulled in and again as they left. If you don’t come from a culture that does this, than it seem strange. What makes it awkward is that you think you should bow too but your counterparts don’t expect you to, so then everyone is caught off guard feeling out of place. On my way into the hotel I notice Umbrella racks outside. Picture bike racks, and now picture umbrella racks, complete with small locks on steel hinges. I make it to my room, which is small by international standards, but comfortable. I was surprised what was automated, like the toilet. Heated, auto-filling when seated, among other things, but not auto-flushing. Enough about that. I grew an appreciation for the signage through out the room, which uses overly polite English that would otherwise never be used. If you look next to the English version you will observe the amount of characters in Japanese to convey a similar message. This made me think of the scene with Bill Murray having the photographer explain the photo shoot to him with a translator saying only a couple words in Lost in Translation. A movie I can now relate too but not as much as those who have traveled to Japan and feel as though that movie has defined their experience. Later, on my first day, my Japanese colleague met me at the hotel to show me the way to our Tokyo office via the train system. It was not as complicated as it looks, once you get past trying to figure out how to buy a “Suica” card to get access to the train area, and of course figuring out where the hell you need to be relative to where you are. Japan is trying harder to promote tourism, so a lot of the signage is bi-lingual and flashes between Japanese and English. At first this is confusing, even though the office was 4 stops away from the hotel, it was very helpful to have a native help me through it. If I was left to my own vices I would have clearly gotten lost. With many exceptions, I felt like Tokyo was a little like London, only in the fact that the roads are winding and do not form a grid and cars drive on the left. So renting a car was not an option as someone would probably get hurt if I did. I really think so.

Over the course of a few days, it was evident that there is a hierarchy. Although not clear to me at first, you could pick up on the body language which showed who was humbling themselves more than others. When conversations were made entirely in Japanese, I found myself honing in on the gesticulations. Most of the time I knew what the topic was (or thought I did), and since many people talk with there hands, I could understand certain things although still no Japanese except Arigato, Konichiwa, Saimasan, and Sorry.

The food was quite different. I had read a few things about what to expect, and since nobody can say no in Japan, I completely refrained from asking what anything was, unless of course they offered to tell me after I ate it. Namely, sea urchin, jellyfish, caudle fish, cold and colorful gelatinous circles (tofu, I really think so), and fish head miso soup (which was obvious). Most of the food was served cold, which made the warm stuff more enjoyable, and the beer, and the sake (which was served cold, for those who are taking notes) which seemed to pour all too freely. It is customary not to pour your own drink, so you need to keep an eye on where the bottle is. Making sure it is close to you, will ensure that you do much of the pouring and not the drinking. Also, boxed lunches are very popular, and are quite elaborate. I wish I had a picture of it, but taking a photo of your lunch is not appropriate when you are sitting with the President of the Tokyo Office, the VP and 6 of the top customers in Japan. It consisted of a box patterned to look like wood, with a colorful and cultural design on the lid, wrapped with a two toned elastic. Inside, the food was arranged in 5 sections all perfectly aligned and orderly. The tofu circles looks so nice you didn’t want to eat them, the sushi was so fresh it appeared unreal, and the soy sauce bottle was so small it belonged in a doll house. I ate everything. Did you know there are different soy sauces for sushi and sashimi? I had no idea.

One time five of us were driving back to the office, about an hour drive, and the driver stops, and someone says, “Ok, we stop now and refresh for ten minutes. Is it ok?” As it turns out we stopped at a Shinto shrine to walk around for a few minutes. This was the only sightseeing I had a chance to do, since it was monsooning outside the hotel on my only free day. The tour of the shrine was interesting and it was described to me that the shrine has no monument to what it is for, only that the people know what the shrine is for. Because of the people’s knowledge of what it is, the people become the shrine itself.

All in all the trip was an interesting experience. Sianara.

The Friendly Limousine...