A Day in the Life

July 20

I’ve gotten myself into a little daily routine during the week. Since it only takes me 5 minutes to get to the office, I can safely sleep until 8AM and look fairly put-together when I arrive at work at 9:30. There’s a coffee shop on the corner called Doutour where I get my morning iced tea (or, in Japanese, aisu ti). I’m the only non-Asian for miles, so the staff has started to recognize me when I walk in. I’m a regular!

Once I get to the office, it takes me a few minutes to set up my stuff, say ohayo gozaimasu to the people around me, and dig into my oatmeal and emails. There’s usually stuff to follow up on, emails to answer, business research to complete. The mornings fly by and then, at exactly 11:45 AM, my “communication lunch” partners come to collect me.

As I’ve said before, lunch is the best part of my day. The food is almost always fabulous and even when the conversation is stilted and uncomfortable, it’s still conversation. I’m enjoying getting to know so many people. As in any office, this one has its cliques. Because these lunches are often assigned, the combinations of people are sometimes strange. I usually ask my lunch companions if they eat lunch together often. Many times, the answer is a shy no. Sometimes the interaction between the other people at the table is more interesting than the conversation.

The afternoons are like a long walk through the desert. The longest stretch is between 2:30 and 5:30 PM. Communications from home trail off as my night-owl friend, Doug, finally goes to bed. The steady drone of the office workerbees and the after effects of a too-large lunch make me snoozy and dazed. So far, there hasn’t been much to keep me in the office past 5:30, but I feel a little guilty leaving so “early” when I know many of them still have hours to go. I’ve been slinking out of the office at around 5:45. Not sneaking, exactly, but just not calling attention to the fact that I’m leaving. A typical phrase before leaving is osakini shitsureishimasu (I’m leaving before you. It’s impolite.)

I was in a meeting with the President and the Head of Planning today and they taught me a new one: otsukare sama. They told me that it’s a good thing to say as you are leaving the office for the night. When I asked what it meant, they said that it translates to “I’m tired. You keep working.” I guffawed. I resolved not to feel guilty anymore, but to do like the locals do: so long suckers!

The good news, though, is that I must be making a breakthrough at work, because I’m finally getting busy. I’m involved in three new business pitches and had a meeting today where I suggested some opportunities to explore between the US and Japan. Despite the fact that people always seem to be in a hurry, things move very slowly here in Japan. I guess this is why the first item they put on my list of things to gain from the experience was “patience.”

By the way, I finally got myself a mobile phone. For a while there, it seemed like I was the only one in Tokyo without one.

Price check: $23 USD to dry clean a 2-piece suit and a pair of pants!