The Narita International Air Cargo Terminal was our destination this fine morning. Like Tsukiji is with fish, Narita is Tokyo’s main port for all goods shipped via air. Much like ships that ship our goods, air cargo is essential to the survival of the human species. Our economies are contingent upon air transportation, and today, my group got the chance to tour the air terminal that supplies Tokyo and other major Japanese cities with the goods essential to the survival of civilization.
The custom’s terminal wasn’t much to see, as it was just a giant warehouse. What was interesting though was the pace of the government workers in the building. Essentially, the warehouse is not big enough to contain all of the goods shipped to it in any particular day. What allows it to fulfill its duty is the speed with which goods are shipped in and out on a daily basis. Good’s only stay in the warehouse for a few hours before being cleared by customs and shipped off to various destinations within Japan.
One of these destinations is DHL. DHL is a third party transportation company. In this case, the DHL warehouse we visited acts as a storage facility for air cargo coming in from Narita and as the final tier for products or other items needed by companies DHL serves. For example, a certain company uses DHL as a center for processing advertisements. DHL is used by another company as a storage facility for spare parts for cell phones. DHL’s job in both cases is to be the final tier in the production line; as an advertisement processor, it constructs the final add-ons to the advertisements and adds software to computers used in showroom floor demonstrations. As a storage facility for spare parts, its job is to obtain the addresses of the persons in need of spare parts and ship them the parts. DHL has specialized in the final tier production of goods, and this leads us to the final segment of our company tours for today… 
Higuchi-san is the president of a company called Kawasaki Rikuso Transportation Co. Ltd. The company specializes in transporting the goods of foreign food and beverage manufacturers around Japan. His clients include Coca-Cola, Cadbury, Hershey’s, and a whole host of small and large food and beverage manufacturers from around the globe. We were given a tour of his warehousing facility in Tokyo, which was the largest of its kind. Interestingly, as a warehousing unit, his business is designed to act as a consignment shop for his client’s goods. Similar to DHL, the business also acts as a third party final tier in the production process of goods. In particular, his warehouse gives his clients the ability to take products that are sold everywhere and tailor 
them to the Japanese market. For example, every Cadbury candy bars come with English on the wrapper. As a Japanese warehousing unit, it is his businesses top priority to place stickers with the Japanese ingredients and health values on the back of the bars on behald of Cadbury. This adds value to his client’s products, thereby al
lowing goods to get shipped to Japan with the needs of the Japanese market easily handled in Japan before being sold to the end consumer.
This was our last night in Tokyo, and as such some of us guys went down to Shibuya to check out the Shibuya crossing. If you’ve ever seen a movie involving Tokyo, you have probably seen the Shibuya crossing. It is this massive 5 way intersection where everyone is allowed to walk in whatever direction they want to when the walk sign turns on. When the walk sign turns off, the crossing, which is full of people, almost magically clears and traffic proceeds as normal.
Tomorrow, we’re off to the ancient capital of Japan…
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