More Welcome Drinks

July 13

LATER:
Did I forget to mention that the Aussie arrived wearing an eye patch? It was the result of a horrifying, but completely recoverable, accident. I won’t go into details because, frankly, it’s something I’d rather forget. Nevertheless, he looks a little like a Varsity Captain Bligh. The Japanese were mortified; they didn’t know where to look. Most of them didn’t understand that the injury is temporary. They thought he always looked like that.

He’s got a great personality so he’s already winning them over, though. We had “welcome drinks” for him at the hotel across the street. (See photo of me with the 4 presidents.)

There was so much food, I felt like Oliver Twist. I had a mad urge to start stuffing my pockets with sashimi and shabu-shabu. One of the rituals that the Japanese still observe is that no one drinks or eats before the most senior person in the room. So we had to wait until all three presidents, the Aussie, and the big wig made speeches. Everyone looked a little faint. They asked me to say a few words, too, but I kept it brief because visions of unagi and maguro were dancing in my head. After an appropriate amount of eating and mingling, the higher-ups started to leave. But, like most office parties, there’s always a group of people who stay the longest and drink the most. The Aussie found us (I was among them, of course) and pulled up a chair. He was a big hit. He’s already started giving people nicknames, which they think is hilarious. He calls Billy Joel the CEO (Chief Entertainment Officer); Miki is the CCO (Chief Cocktail Officer) and this other guy is the CFO (Chief Fun Officer). The "CFO" is one of the shyest men I’ve met here. He looks a little like an Asian “Where’s Waldo?” (see photo in blog “I Drank Beer”).

We all had a great time. I feel like I’ve broken the ice with a lot of people, even though conversations are still difficult. By the way, for those of you who gave me “talking points” on baseball: It seemed and felt ridiculous to go through it, but I got a big laugh when I said that the Mets’ Kaz Matsui was “All hype. No hit.” (Thanks, Dan Hassan!) Somehow, this segued to a discussion of old professional wrestlers “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Superfly Snooka (Su-nu-ka!), Hulk Hogan, and Jesse Ventura.

Selfishly, I’m glad the Aussie is coming because I think he will make my life at work more productive. Right now, they don’t quite know what to do with me, so I spend a lot of time alone working on presentations. I think there’s a lot more I can do to contribute to this business, but the language barrier has been prohibitive. Since the Aussie speaks no Japanese, I think they will either have to bring in a translator, or the poor AE will get promoted to CTO (Chief Translation Officer).