5/20

The first meeting of the day was at a Japanese university with Dr. Kazunori Suzuki. The meeting was very entertaining because of Dr. Suzuki's viewpoints in comparison to many other more reserved Japanese. He was not afraid to tell us his political opinions or ideas about how to solve the various problems and issues that Japan is facing such as a declining population, social security, and traditional thought processes dominating decision making. It was also fascinating to hear about how a Japanese school works and how teaching styles must vary to accommodate a lack of student/teacher interactions.

The day proved to be quite busy and after an on the move grocery store lunch we met with the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the president Michael Alfant. Mr. Alfant was a unique character who was very charismatic and made his own success in Japan with his company Fusion. He told us about his entrepreneurial strategies and how they worked in Japan as well as some about nonprofits and charities. Although his discussion with us seemed over the top at points, it was very entertaining to hear him speak on his own experiences with the mentality that only a salesman from Brooklyn could. We had an extensive question and answer period and created a very useful contact if we ever needed it for the Japanese market.

The third meeting of the day was with two employees of Itochu, Shinya and Mamie. They gave us a quick summary of Itochu and what they dealt with (apparently every industry), as well as answered personal questions that we might have about work/life balances and common job practices. I personally found it very interesting to hear about the interview process and how teams of applicants are sent to different companies to take exams, have individual/group interviews, and prepare for these interviews about 4 months in advance. Another interesting difference was learning that the employees of Itochu work in very close proximity to each other surrounding a table with their boss at the head of the table overlooking all of them daily for 12 hours (something that I personally would be very uncomfortable with everyday). But from a business model approach to viewing Itochu it was very large and spread out with not one clear focus, and left me curious about how business expansion decisions were made.

Later that night we went to Shibuya which was the apparent equivalent to Time's Square. The only real difference at first glance was that the general age demographic of the district was between 15 and 30. It was a very young, lively, and colorful area where we had very little trouble finding some way or another to occupy our time, whether it was looking at the club nightlife scene or visiting the 6 floor tower records. But the most enjoyable part for me was just to people watch and take in the sometimes comical outfits and conversations. We called it a night semi early due to us having to wake up at 4 am the next morning, but plan on potentially going back on our free day this weekend.