Disconnect

It has been nearly twenty years since I had the pleasure of spending two weeks in Japan on a business trip. The trip was a whirlwind that came about at the last minute at quite possibly the worst time imaginable.

We had just broken ground on our new home when my boss mentioned the possibility of a trip to Japan for one of our best clients. I had developed the framework for troubleshooting and diagnostic software for the client's field service engineers that enabled them to use their laptop instead of carrying dozens of systems manuals for each product in their line. The client wanted me to fly to their Tokyo division to teach their software engineers how to implement the framework on their products.

Nothing was set, though, so there really wasn't anything to worry about. All of that changed in the blink of an eye when, on Friday morning, my boss called me into his office to tell me that I was booked on a flight to Tokyo at 11:00 AM Sunday.

Sunday, as in two days away Sunday??? Yep. I had almost exactly 48 hours to have everything ready for two weeks in Japan in the midst of building a home.

I left work and raced home to break the news to Diane and begin preparations for the trip. There was so much to do and very little time to get it done. I was supposed to be applying the insulation to the poured concrete walls over the weekend, but that got pushed off on a contractor, instead.

Saturday morning started off wonderfully with my glasses breaking. Add an emergency run to an optical shop to get new glasses to the already exploding list of things to do.

We somehow managed to get everything done in time for Diane and the boys to take me to the airport Sunday morning where I boarded a flight first for Chicago and then on to Tokyo.

Tokyo provided what had to be the biggest cultural disconnect I could fathom. I had to take a train from my hotel to the town where my client's office was located. I boarded the train with my computer. The trains in Tokyo all seem to be packed all the time. I put my computer on an overhead rack and was gradually pushed further back in the car at each stop. I feared that my computer would be gone when I went to retrieve it, but there was nothing to fear. I made my way through the throngs of people on the train as we approached my stop to find the computer sitting on the rack just as I had left it.

The first cultural disconnect.

Each train car had Silver Seats, so named not so much for their silver color, but for the silver hair of the senior citizens for whom the seats were reserved. The riders could be wedged into the train cars like sardines, but the Silver Seats would remain empty if no senior citizens were in the car. Younger people simply would not sit in the empty seats.

The second cultural disconnect.

The work culture was totally foreign to me. The desks were jammed into double rows throughout the entire work area. I found myself staring into the face of another person if I looked past my monitor. I could reach out and touch the workers on my right and left; so close were the desks positioned.

The third cultural disconnect.

A bell chimed at 10:00 each morning, followed by a voice on the intercom talking the employees through stretching regimens. All work stopped throughout the entire facility as everyone stood behind their desk chair and followed the leader's stretching instructions. I did not know any Japanese, of course, so I used that time each morning to head to the coffee pot to refill my cup.

The fourth cultural disconnect.

Perhaps the biggest cultural disconnect came, though, on the weekend when my Japanese host offered to take me around Tokyo. We saw the Imperial Palace, the busiest train station in the world, Akihabara -also known as Geek Heaven - the electronics marketplace of the world in Central Tokyo and Tokyo's version of Times Square.

As we walked along a narrow street in a market district, I couldn't help but notice the presence of vending machines selling beer. This prompted a discussion with my host about a legal drinking age in Tokyo. He assured me that they had laws against underage drinking just like we had in the United States. This prompted me, of course, to ask, "What's stopping a 17 year old from putting his money into the machine to buy a beer?" I will never forget the ensuing discussion. He as shocked that I would even suspect such a thing. The young people wouldn't buy beer from the street vending machines because it was against the law. I continued to press the question of what was stopping them from doing so. We went around and around on the topic for several minutes before finally getting to the point where he said there was nothing other than the weight of Japan's traditions to stop an underage person from buying beer if they chose to break the law.

The fifth, and biggest, cultural disconnect.

Although I'm sure there were many underage people who bought beer from the machines and I'm equally sure that their culture has changed much in the past twenty years; I am still amazed when I think back on that trip and the cultural shock that accompanied those two hectic, yet wonderful weeks.

I would love to be able to visit Tokyo again sometime with Diane: to be able to share with her the joys of wandering the narrow, shop-lined streets of the neighborhoods surrounding Tokyo; to be able to eat at the seemingly ubiquitous small, family owned noodle counters throughout the city; to be able to laugh together at the disconnect of being an American in Tokyo again.