Day 1 (一)

Let me start off by saying that I have never, ever left America. Never. I've never even been to Canada, though I would hardly count such a visit as "leaving the country", if you catch my drift. I figured if I was to leave America, I would go all out and head for Asia; I've always had a fondness for Japanese culture and business, so I figured a trip to Japan was in order. All I have to say is that it has been quite a trip thus far. Yesterday (Friday for me, Thursday for you back in America) I flew into Tokyo, Japan. I was kindly greeted by Japanese health department officials who were brandishing infra-red cameras and health history forms. Upon clearance, I joined my group and traveled to my hotel in downtown Tokyo, in the Roppongi district.

My first impression of Tokyo, Japan was that there are a lot of people here. Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world, which means that our subway car leading from the train station to Roppongi, Tokyo was crowded at 9:30pm. When I say crowded, I mean we had 120 people crammed into the space of a doctor's office waiting room. Though the urban rush seems intimidating, I actually like it. Coming from the quiet, tranquil suburbs of Detroit, the stark contrast in culture hasn't perturbed me at all. I quite enjoy the hustle and bustle.

Today my group of 21 took the subway down to one of Tokyo's famous temples, the Asakusa temple. The temple is highly commercialized, as the picture below indicates. It is a picture of the shops leading to the main temple.

After chasing the temple shrines around the temple, my group got back on the train and headed to another area for lunch. At this particular restaurant, we had to grill our own food on a grill implanted in our table. I had my first serving of cow tongue here; though I've never french kissed a cow, I am certain that it won't be nearly as glorious as eating grilled cow tongue. After eating, we headed to Akihabara, the anime and electronics district of Japan. Imagine massive stores full of high tech card playing stations, hosts and hostesses dressed up as anime characters, Japanese girl pop bands rocking out, and every single electrical component from every era of human history for sale. Check this out:

I can honestly say that Japan has proven to be the ideal setting for studying business and the culture influencing a country's business climate. Japan is a very economically developed place, and despite the global recession, it doesn't seem to be lowering the pace at which it is growing by anymore significant degrees; soon it may even get better. When I asked my friend Lin what he is looking forward to the most on this trip, he said he can't wait to get an in depth look at the business practices of the Japanese, given their practices have led to so much of their economic success. Tomorrow we are going to meet up with some Japanese MSU alumni at a luncheon. Sayoonara!!