Tokyo

11 Jan

12 Jan

13 Jan

14 Jan

15 Jan

The in fashion in Tokyo is mini skirts and knee high boots.

The trip to Tokyo was a real eye opener for me, both from the people who we talked to and what I saw.

When we landed, we took a long bus ride to the hotel, Asia Center of Japan (which had really tiny rooms but decent rates and a great location). At first the comment was "no traffic", then we hit it. It was as bad as Jakarta but more orderly.

We had about 2 hours before our first company visit so Bill, Kevin, and I went to look for some food. We found a small eatery and had a Ton Katsu (pork cutlet w/ miso soup and rice) for 850 yen (101 yen = $1).

Bain and Co was our first company visit and a real mind numbing experience. It was nothing like what I imagined a consulting firm to be like. It has now been explained to me that consulting in Asia is not as prestigious as it is in the states, but the one who talked to us couldn't answer any of our questions and when he tried to BS an answer, he didn't do it very well.

After the visit, some of us decided to walk back to the hotel. We went down through Hibiya Park, over to the Imperial Palace (nice walls), through the government center, past the Diet building, past Roppongi (the Americanized entertainment district), and back to the hotel. It was such a change from Bangkok and Jakarta. No dodging motorcycles on the sidewalks, no horns, the cabbies were suits and gloves, no smog.

When we got back, it was time for dinner which wasn't bad, but ordering w/ 22 other people results in a little food for a lot of money. It's not that I'm miserly (not much anyway), I don't mind spending on good food but not food that I can get back here in Berkeley. I came away spending 2000 yen and people were still eating and drinking. Next time I'll try to stick to tables of 6 or so.

After dinner we went down to the Shibuya, one of the entertainment districts to look around. It was pretty nice. We met Sesi and Howie there and linked up with one of Owen's friends at the statue of Hatchiko, the obsessive-compulsive dog (Rhonda loved this story). I also had my first introduction to a pitcher of Japanese beer (2000 yen). Tom, Nora, and I walked back from Shibuya because Tom wanted to check out an Internet bar he had read about. When we got there, it seemed to be more of a private club that was called a bar. The beers were 800 yen and they had 2 terminals to the side. Not exactly what I had expected but it was interesting to see one for the first time.

The next day was extremely full. We started in the morning with a visit to the American Chamber of Commerce, Japan. I thought this was a very good visit as all of our questions were well answered and we got some good information. The breakfast was another thing. Everyone had to pay 2000 yen for a plate of French toast and a piece of ham, and like me, I'm sure that everyone else was wondering when the next plate following the French toast would be coming.....never. Oh well, at least I got some coffee. I felt even worse for Nora, she didn't eat her ham.

Following the ACCJ, we took the train to the Nissan plant. This visit was also rushed but very interesting. It was really neat to have seen the plant in Jakarta first and to see autos being made by hand then coming to a very automated plant with all the robots and such. I was impressed.

This is a picture of the Shinjuku district at night. The Taisei Tower is one of the buildings in the middle. You can imagine how great the view was from the top.

The last visit, the last one before the alumni party, was to Taisei, a $20B construction company. It was a very short visit but a very impressive one. I wish that we had more time to talk with them. The most impressive part was when they displayed a graphic of Tokyo and one by one all the structures that Taisei had constructed lit up on the map. It seemed like they had build most of Tokyo. I guess the neat thing for me was seeing how much of an impact one company (with a lot of Haas alums) can have on a city.

Of course after the Taisei visit, we had the alumni party that everyone had been waiting for. We were not disappointed. For the company visit, we were on the 53rd floor of the Taisei tower. The alum party was held down the hall and at night you can see almost all of Tokyo lit up, particularly Shinjuku. It was probably the best view in Tokyo. Anyway, there was everyone, hobnobbing, drinking, and singing karaoke (I have proof that I did too) with the execs of a $20B company and with alumni from all over Tokyo. The had great big plates of food for everyone (everyone was starving again). This was probably the best single day of our trip.

This really is me, singing "Country Roads" with Patrick, David, and Nora. We sang "Country Roads" because that was the song we sang along with the mariachis in Jakarta.

Following the alumni party, some of us followed the alumni down to Roppongi where Howie recommended a bar called "Bar Isn't It" where everything is advertised to be only 500 yen (of course the beer comes out of a vending machine buts it's still only 500 yen). The area is full Americanized and Bar Isn't was full of sailors and Japanese girls looking to pick up foreign men. Jerry had his intercultural exchange there and Sesi was working on another. It was a little too smoky for me so I left early and missed all the best parts of the night.

Saturday was a nice lazy day. Christina met up with a friend of hers and took a loop of the city starting with Ueno Park where we just wandered around a bit. Tokyo has nice parks, the kind I would love to see more of here. The major museums are there too, which Dan went to visit, but we didn't in the interests of time.

Our next stop was Kaminarimon Gate, "the Thunder Gate" to see the shrine there. We found out later that the Monday we left was a national holiday, the Japanese coming of age day. Most of the shrines seemed to be closed in preparation for the holiday.

The last stop in the loop was the Akihabara Electric Arcade. If you love electronic gizmos, this is the place for you. At night it's lit up beautifully and every street is crammed with vendors selling tiny cell phones, GPS (navigation) systems for cars, handheld TV's. Everything you could possibly want to see is there. The prices for comparable products are higher than in the US but they have some products with new features that haven't been introduced in the US yet.

The taxis in Japan are just a little different. A normal trip starts at 650 yen whereas in Jakarta, a trip started at 950 rp. That's a difference between $6.50 and $.40. Of course in Japan, the cab driver wore a suit and gloves and would let you cram 5 people in a cab.

After we got back, everyone went down to Shinjuku for dinner. There we all split up. Some people went for Shabu-Shabu (Chinese fondue), others went for tempura, and we went to look for a place that had both tempura (for Nora) and Sashimi (for Rhonda). There are not many places that have both. We finally found a place that did both which turned out to be both pretty good and reasonable.

Hard at work over the foosball table.

Following dinner, we went back to Roppongi and eventually settled down at a bar called Henry's Africa. It was a nice relaxed bar with little smoke and a mostly Japanese crowd. We all played some foosball and pinball and called it an early night. We liked it enough to go back the next night though.

One sight that everyone had wanted to see were the rock bands in Yoyogi Park. Apparently, on a certain street, bands, complete with groupies, play blaring music right next to each other. We never found them and later, someone told us that the government had recently passed an ordnance prohibiting them from playing. What a bummer. We did get to walk through a nice park though. After not seeing the bands, we visited neighboring Meiji Shrine. All along the approach, workers were unloading hundreds of blocks of ice which were going to be carved later that day for the holiday. I believe that Meiji Shrine is that largest of its kind in Tokyo. After, Meiji Shrine we went down to the Ginza Strip which I expected to be a little flashier than it was. I guess I was expected something more like Rodeo Drive.

Of course I had to go back to Meiji Shrine at 1700 to watch the ice carving. Unfortunately, they closed the gates at 1630. When I returned, there was a huge group of girls who turned out to be punk groupies. They were there when we stopped by the first time, and when I returned they were still fixing their hair. Some were dressed like vampires, others in sailor suits with angel wings. One girl had a black overcoat with a Nazi armband and a chromed .45 that she would point at her head. Across from the groupies was a group of Christians singing for their souls and a girl dressed up as a baby was walking about. Around the corner I found the Elvis impersonators, the Tokyo Rockabilly Club. There were 3 or 4 circles of Japanese men (I only saw 2 women) in boots and leathers with slicked back hair all playing air guitar and lip synching the songs. To complete the scene were all the girls in gorgeous traditional kimonos walking up to Meiji Shrine for the festival (including the one with pink hair).

Of course this is Patrick staring greedily at a spit of meat at Super Bacana.

That night, we all ate at a Brazilian restaurant (of all things) called Super Bacana. 3000 yen for all you can eat (the only thing on the menu which meant that Nora had to eat somewhere else) and another 2000 yen for all you can drink (which was pretty limited). The waiters come around with meat on skewers while the dancers and singers perform on stage. Good performance. While it isn't a place I would go back to, I imagine that for Tokyo it is a fantastic bargain measured in the amount of meat you get to eat (which is not much under normal dining conditions).

Just a note on food here. First people were hooked on Pocky sticks and the coffee from the vending machines. I wished they had that coffee here. Japanese food is a little saltier than I'm used to but still quite good. I don't remember any restaurant we went to (except Super Bacana) where the waiter spoke English and the menus are all written in Japanese. The saving grace is the plastic food. Every restaurant has its full menu displayed outside with plastic recreations of each dish with price, the ultimate in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) dining. It is quite acceptable to take the waiter outside and point to what you want.

Lesson: Try everything once, but if you keep snacking and drinking, it really adds up. Bring food either from another country or buy at the AM/PM minimarkets.

Well, that's about it. The next day we left for America. I did stop by Meiji Shrine for one last look at the ice carvings but they were half melted already which was a shame because even then, most of them were quite nice.

Another note about the trip; whether by accident or design, it was nice to see the developing countries first (Thailand, a more mature developing country, and Indonesia, an emerging market) then Japan, a mature economy. It was neat to be able to compare and contrast the three countries like that. Additionally, it was much easier on the pocket book. Thailand and Jakarta were much cheaper and that balanced out the expense of Tokyo.

Thanks go to David Yen and Patrick Lui for all their work in organizing a great Pac Rim trip. Additional thanks go to all the student liaisons in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Toyko without whose efforts we could not have had such good accomodations and company visits.

Regrets: Got to go and see Mount Fuji next time. Where would you like to go now?