Rainy Tokyo

It's been raining all week... Even it's almost July, it's quite cold maybe around 22 C.

I hope this rainy season will end soon.

Biz Trip to Taiwan

It's been a while since my last post.
I was in Taiwan from end of May till last week to exhibit at Computex Taiwan (June 3-7), one of the biggest electronic trade show in the world. It was very very busy and tiring but was good experience and a lot of fun.

I arrived earlier to spend the weekend in Taipei, to see my friend and also to see my house where I used to live. It was one of my dream to visit my old place so I'm very happy that I could achieve my dream. I didn't remember anything since it's been almost 20 years...

The show was a success. We had very nice booth (I did the decoration!) , many customers were interested in bringing our product into their market. Now that back in Japan, it's my real job to contact them, discuss and negotiate to have a new business. We had many buyers from all over the world but my target is Dubai!! (well, kinda personal purpose because I want to go there and it's so expensive to go by myself)

Other than work, I dinned out a lot. Every night, either dinner with customer or company staffs, we went to have Taiwanese food, Shanghai food, beef noodles, noodles and noodles... Therefore, I was craving for sandwitches and cheese cake for lunch. Too much Chinese food is heavy for my stomatch... but you know, chinese people eat a lot!! I don't know why how can they eat so much and not being so fat!?

Anyway, I met many people during this trip. Everytime I could meet people and they treat me well, have fun together, I feel very lucky and appreciate this opportunity so much.

Taipei 101

Still the tallest building in the world (one in Dubai will be the tallest but still under construction), the top view was amazing. 508 m, 39 seconds to the top floor.

By the way, do you know what 101 means? It's a bit embarrassing but I had no idea what it meant. When we got to the top (91F), my co-worker started to count, 91, 92, 93..... 101! Then I noticed, wow 101 means 101 floors! Everyone looked at me probably thinking "you didn't know that? Anyone can guess what it means." well, I didn't...

Things I ate in Taiwan

These are just a few, unfortunately I didn't take any photos when I ate at a nice restaurants.

ジンザイ

企業の「じんざい」には3種類ある。

「人罪　・　人材　・　人財」

人罪：いても役に立たない人。給料だけもらっている人。
人材：ずば抜けた能力があるわけでもなく、かといって不出来でもない普通の人。
人財：企業の財産といえる能力のある人。

自分は一体どれなのだろうか。
今は人材でも、必ず人財になろう。

ちなみに前の会社での経験だが、大企業は「人罪」が多い。
厳しい競争の中勝ち残り、大手に入社した新入社員はそう感じているのではないだろうか。 私の友人からもそのような話はよく聞く。
大企業病、あと10年くらいは続くだろう。。

In My Garden

How many 4-leaf clovers can you find in this photo??
In our garden at home, there were a pile of clover leaves and there are lots of 4-leaf clover!! Isn't this amazing?
I also found 5-leaf clover! In Japan, we have a saying that if you find 5-leaf, it means bad luck.

Art of Taro Okamoto

I had friend coming over from Nagoya and went shopping in Aoyama. Aoyama is a very nice area to walk around and do shopping.
While wandering around, I saw this interesting statue and had to find out what is is. It also reminded me of something familiar... I went closer and noticed what it was. It was the same artist of "Tower of the Sun" in Osaka Park; Taro Okamoto.
Very interesting figure, I enjoyed them.


Also, it was funny to see this cause I have been reading this manga (comic book) called "20th Centry Boys" recently, and this Tower of the Sun plays a big role in that story. This manga is very popular in Japan now, not my type of the manga, but sooo interesting that I cannot stop. Mystery and futuristic story. I cannot read alone at night because it's too scary ... I heard that it'll be a movie soon and maybe it'll come out in foriegn countries sometime. I know there's already an English translation book.

Anyway, the Golden Week Holiday has started in Japan! Just sharing with you some of my activities and update you more later.

Hanami with Prime Minister

I went to the event which was called "Hanami with Fukuda prime minister" @ Shinjyuku Gyoen Park.

It was very very interesting. I was invited from a friend's friend who has some connection with the goverment, you need to have the invitation from prime minister, or I guess LDP is the host . The whole park was reserved for this and there were so many people from all kinds of world; politicians, ambassadors, soilders, TV stars etc. Many people I see on TV news!
Since my friend is dealing with in the middle eastern countries, I met many ambassadors from Africa and Middle-East. I remember Eygpt ambassador was a very nice guy.
The second picture below, who's drinking sake is the prime minister, Fukuda Yasuo. Since many flowers were already fallen, someone expressed that "Fukuda government is almost over like the cherry blossom here..." haha, quite a harsh comment.

Spring has come

Spring has come!
My favorite, sakura (cherry blossom) season.
This is inKyoto, Maruyama park, one of the most beautiful place to see sakura. I used to see this every year when I was in Kansai area, but this year I couldn't. but my friend sent me this photo and made me very happy. (Senpai, sorry for using this photos. it was too beautiful.)

Family Dinner @Tofu restaurant near Tokyo Tower

It was my dad's birthday so we had dinner together at a very nice place. It was located right below Tokyo tower called "Ukai-tei (tofu restaurant)" Great atmosphere that you can enjoy the dinner with the view of Japanese garden, beautiful food and fantastic hospitality. If you have someone visiting Tokyo from another country, this is a perfect place to take them.

Dinner Course
1. Appetizer with Plum wine
2. Fried Tofu and sashimi
3. Sushi, beans soup and i forgot...
4. Fish Soup
5. Their speciality; tofu-nabe
6. Forgot to take photo of the main dish... it was grilled fish
7. Cooked rice with miso soup
8. Tofu pudding
9. Japanese Sake!

View from Tokyo Tower