Tim’s Ramblings

Hi all.

Yes…I’m still here. I haven’t been updating as much this trip because I’ve been dead the past few days. The humidity is getting to me. Just muggy…. However I’m hoping things will get better, especially after today when I don’t have to wear a suit anymore. Wearing a suit and walking and such really do take a lot out of you.

It’s 8am and I just finished e-mails and catching up on some work and stuff. Been up since a bit before 6:30. Fun….

Anyway, things are progressing as good as it can. Lots of work, lots of meetings, lots of translating. I think the translating tires me out the most. Especially in some of these really really important meetings where I’m using all of my concentration to make sure I don’t screw it up.

Yesterday was particularily rough for about an hour. We met with the new president of a company called PFU. Most of you have probably never heard of them. They are a company of Fujitsu and they actually develop and manufacture all of Fujitsu’s scanners. Fujitsu scanners has the world wide market share and is quite impressive. The company has over 4000 employees and he’s quite well known in the business world. Take a look at the label on the back of any Fujitsu branded scanner and you’ll see the PFU logo.

So….first off the pressure is there to make a good impression with him. That and he’s quite a sharp man and well spoken. Which means that he uses quite a bit of big words… And he will speak for quite a while before stopping to let me translate. And I have to watch my phrasing when translating for him. Eeeeeeesh… It’ll be like translating for, say, the president of Sony or something. It’s quite an honor to even meet with him. I’m not easily rattled but I DO have to use all my concentration so I don’t screw up what he says, I don’t make a bad impression, and I don’t mess up my translation of what he says so we can have a successful meeting.

I sometimes am amazed as some of the opportunities I’m presented with. For example, the past president (he retired at the end of last month) and I are almost on a casual friendly relationship. You see him walk through the building or the office and the demeanor of the other employees visibly change. They will stop in their tracks, bow deeply, mumble a greeting, and quickly go on their way. He will barely acknowledge them if at all. Meanwhile, I run into him and he’ll stop for ME, have a casual conversation, make a joke, and almost treat me like an equal. Of course I’m switching to proper formal Japanese but at the same time, there aren’t that many people who know who he is that can just stop him in the middle of the hallway.

In the end, business is business. But still, due to this, I have been fortunate enough to become known amongst some Japan’s top guys in our industry. I forget sometimes who they are and, working for the type of company I work for where the president is much more friendly and open, I sometimes forget the strict class system they have here. Craziness I tell you.

Anyway, other than that, things are moving along. Last time K, one of the new QA guys, and I had dinner and then walked around town a bit. I’ll write more about it later but we found ourselves in the….I guess it’ll be the redlight district…of Kawasaki. It’s really only a long street but it was interesting to be solicited openly for, say “oppai time!!!” (“breast time”) and such. Something you don’t really see in the US. Wait…you NEVER see in the US. Further emphasizes how uptight we really are… Whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing is up for debate but stll…

Well, time to start getting ready. A slightly late start today. We’ll see how things go :)