Sunday January 29th 2023 - Wrap up part 2 - Japan trip for work, day 8, walked earlier today

Best moments or accomplishments:

1. Landing at Haneda, getting a Suica card and taking the monorail into town.  The weather was wonderful, windows were open and it seemed so welcoming.
2. Spending time with Yukie and seeing the Tokyo office
3. Getting all the major work tasks done according to the schedule I very spontaneously came up with on my first minutes in the Tokyo office
4. Being able to drive here surprisingly without stress

Toughest moments or situations:

1. Jet lag.  My body really hasn't adjusted even a full week later.  I'm waking up too early and going to bed too early.
2. Being alone.  Not only am I physically alone, even messaging people in the US isn't really doable during much of the day. The time zone difference is just very tough to work with especially for East Coast US communications.  A lot of the things I find fascinating wouldn't be interesting to others and there are benefits to not having to negotiate every activity etc.  but the poignancy of things is reduced when it's just my memory not a shared experience.
3. Getting to Nartia and renting the car.  Saturday morning was just a drag.  Nothing worked right and I was *very* agitated by the time I got in line for the rental car let alone the stupid process that followed that long wait in line.

Things that seem enviably great in Japan:

1. The train systems
2. How fast lunches are served for workers.  I don't know how they make tasty quality food come out so quickly but it's a good fir for time crunched Japanese office workers.
3. Customer service.  It's often commented on for a reason.  Everybody seems to always be thinking what you might need. Not just what you bought but what you might appreciate to make us of what you bought.  A napkin and spoon with your meal.  A sincere invitation to try on multiple items and information about the features of each etc etc.  It's just very coddling wonderful service.
4. Not having to register or agree to a giant legal agreement to use wi-fi.  It's just an SSID and a password and boom you are on.  This is a lot nicer than having to re-agree to some long legal document every 24 hours which is the norm at US hotels.

Things that seem out-of-date or needlessly complex in Japan:

1. Pre-Registering for JP arrival is a fussy process.  The individual tasks ask some of the same information over and over and sometimes without clear instructions. For example, where will you be staying in Japan.  That assumes you will only be going one place and even then the phone number field didn't accept the phone number formats I was seeing online.  It's also almost essential that you be pretty comfortable navigating both the web (before arrival) and the mobile web (when you actually do arrive).  I'm sure lots of travelers just show up having done none of the prep work and gum the works up and wonder why it takes 2 hours to get through the airport.
2. I don't know how typical my car rental experience was but nobody at Rent Toyota has seemingly ever rented a car in the USA.  It just shouldn't take more than 10 minutes per customer. 
3. Japanese electrical outlets. This one is US centric (so kind of selfish) but it is clear that US compatible 3 prong sockets are legal here and I can't see any serious downside to Japanese to using them versus their older 2 prong standard.  They often arrange the two prong sockets horizontally instead of vertically but that would still work with 3 prong plugs.  Many JP domestic market appliances are intended to be grounded and it's very common to see the ground wires uselessly dangling in the air so it would be a safety win also.

Japan surprises (things that weren't as I had prepped myself for):

1. Portion sizes.  I expected a lot of miniature meals and mini items  I'm sure there are some dainty meals somewhere but I found most the things I had to be surprisingly stout.  The non fast food lunches in particular were really filling.  I've not heard that Japanese eat their main meal at lunch but for me, any day I ate with coworkers that meal was more filling than the breakfast I had or (if I even had one) the dinner later.
2. Development sizes.  I would have thought that Tokyo, like New York City, being the most expensive locations in their respective countries would have lots of cramped buildings with minimal communal space.  All rentable office space almost nothing else.  Other than a ground floor retail space or 2 I also expected each office tower to be a stand alone tower with no relation to the things around it.  The reality was that both the Shinagawa Prince Hotel and the Gate City Ohsaki office complex are astonishingly huge inter-connected mini cities.  The lobbies are enormous with high ceilings and wide walkways and moving walkways and multiple elevators and escalators all over the place.  It's just incredibly high capacity and has a direct connection from the train station. No streets to cross at all.  I don't know how they put these together financially but I think a lot of US cities would do well with a gigantic set of office towers with many dining and shopping destinations integrated compared to isolated office only towers and annoying trips into possibly bad weather to get lunch or shop etc.
3. The Suica card. I knew it was the key to paying for transit and I read that convenience stores and vending machines often accept it but I didn't realize how great it would be.  It's just so handy being able to ride the subway or local trains in Tokyo or Sendai or any other large Japanese city without having to buy some dedicated transit card for each system.  And paying for a drink at any vending machine just takes a second. And at a convenience store you always get a receipt which shows your remaining balance.  So handy, it will make having to buy yet another MTA card next time I go to NYC seem so stupid.
4. Economical.  A lot of this is just luck that the dollar is really strong right now but food and service in Tokyo seem at least 35% less than at home.  Breakfast at McDonald's is 3-5 dollars for one or two sandwiches and a drink.  No coupon or app needed.  A hearty plate of curry or noodles or whatever for lunch from a non-fast food place?  About 900 yen (7 dollars).  Even today's gigantic hamburger steak with rice and salad, soup and a huge Coke was only 2400 yen (18 dollars).
5. Convenience store quality.  We have a ton of convenience stores in the US.  But the amount of real food in 1 Japanese 7-11 is more than about 10 US convenience stores.  Pasta, rice dishes, sandwiches that aren't scary looking, quality candies, nice wines and liquors, yogurt, fresh fruit and so much more is available at most 7-11 and Family mart stores which are every few blocks int the downtowns of Japanese cities.  Also, buying alcohol is surprisingly casual.  No mandatory age check you just self-attest that you are over 20 on the touch screen by the cash register. 

Things that were about like I thought they would be but still worth mentioning:

1. Feeling foreign.  While people in any public facing roll are unendingly helpful and gratuitous, people who are not paid to be nice almost never say anything.  I realize Japan isn't a naturally outgoing culture but the number of silent stone faced elevator rides etc make me feel tolerated more than welcomed.  There are LOTS of videos and news stories about things foreigners doing things that they shouldn't.  On the flight over here I watched a video that was ostensibly for foreign visitors to know what not to do but it was so lame and the foreigner character was such an idiot that I can't help but think it was made for the benefit of reassuring Japanese people that foreigners should know better about things. I've heard that even if you live hear 10 years and your language skills are very good etc, you are never with the 'in' crowd. You are always thought of as a foreigner first. This is one enduring aspect of US society that we do better than almost anywhere int he world excpet maybe Canada. If you come to the US and you work and are open to friends etc, you very quicly cease to be 'the Japanese person' or 'the Mexican' and quicly you are Toby the awesome database person or Juan who is super fun to play Halo with or whatever.  This applies to other things.  Personally I appreciate being able to be Chris the helpful or funny or even annoying coworker, not Chris the gay guy at work.  In the US you are remembered for what value you bring to your circle of people not where you came from.
2. Rigidity.  The strength of Japan's success seems to be discipline and listening to customers.  Our Japan colleagues do more and better documentation and planning than we do in the US.  Full stop.  They rehearse and rethink everything so that things go right the first time.  But I think in the US our strength comes from being adaptable and flexible.  We have a broad idea what we are trying to do but the millions of details are sometimes just easier to tackle as you run into them than to try to analyze them all ahead of time. Sometimes things you think could be troublesome aren't and things you didn't think of are.  Being flexible and able to make quick decisions seems to be a big asset for a lot of US people.
3. Conformity.  The amount of latitude that native Japanese seem to have in terms of personal expression is really narrow.  I think it would be easy to be considered eccentric here and eccentric isn't often a desired trait in Japan.  The goal is to quietly get through your life and not draw attention to yourself.  I'm sure for introverts this is a huge relief.  But we aren't all natural introverts. I don't know what extrovert inclined people in Japan do but it seems like it could cause problems and be a road block to a peaceful harmonious life in Japan.

 Wow I write too long.  It's 9 pm, time for bed.