Beyond Culture
How nice it is to have got to know her.
Through the volunteer to teach Japanese to international students studying at our university, I have got to know one woman who comes from Denmark. It did not take time for us to become good friends. Even if we have culture differences, we have similar ideas, and I feel close to her. Thinking of it, I believe we can be beyond culture.
She is really thoughtful and hardworking. We often share our thoughts and learn each culture. Such as today, she just wrote an essay about manners of using a cell phone in public comparing Denmark and Japan, so we talked about it. Customs differ from one country to another. For the reason, when we visit somewhere another country without knowing its manners, we might act as if we were in our own country. Supposing it, we can be seen as foreigners who do not care about manners. I (We) think having good manners is one of the morals. It is hard to gain an idea of manners from books, but we can learn it faster if we see and pay attention to people around us.
We just chat at times and talk deeply at other times. I have a good time being with her at all times. And I admire her.
Internship-Productive Meeting
Do you have a productive meeting?
The company where I work holds an off-site meeting twice a year, which we call Advance. It is not at all the so-called company recreational trip, the event that we have to give special and respectful consideration to our boss, or the party that we are forced to drink. It is productive and meaningful. I have never joined it, so I cannot explain how it looks like. However, I understand it has a clear goal of achieving better communications, working in a team, knowing ourselves, and getting good business results.
All trainers and staff had the off-site meeting at the end of last week, and today they explained to me what they did. It was interesting to know that they pointed out an individual good and bad point (Can you speak out your boss’s bad point face to face???) and played a team-building game to improve team performance using brain.
They are always learning.
They are always developing themselves.
They never stop doing it.
There are a lot of learning elements at my workplace. I can see some of them in the office, and I find others from trainers. There should be more that I still don’t know. I want to find those as much as possible until I have to leave the office.
P.S.I just got a little surprise from the president tonight. He called me and said, “thank you for your work.” It was very kind of him to take his time to call me to say so. Do you know how much I was surprised to hear that? Do you know how much I felt happy to know that? It was a nice gift for me. I never imagine there is such a president who calls his employees to thank them. (I am even an intern!)
Being Refreshed
Laughing can take away our tiredness.
Having a dream gives us energy.
I have not seen my old university mates for a while since they started working. We’ve known how we’ve been doing just by e-mail. Reading their e-mail, I imagined they were suffering from stresses caused at work, though they sounded all right. All I wanted them to do was to felt refreshed. That’s what I hoped…
Today, we got together finally. They seemed to be having fun by spending several hours together. We laughed a lot and talked about what kind of dreams we have. Since we met close to our university, they might have been able to go back to the days when they were still students getting away from the work. We shared such a good time.
They run into obstacles at work but seem to enjoy working. It was good to know that one of my friends had gotten over one anxiety and found a hope. Once we get over something bothering us, we would be able to be a stronger person.
To work until late at night…
To catch the last train…
To stay in the office overnight occasionally…
My friends are the ones. No wonder Japanese are said to work too hard. No wonder the Japanese term KAROUSHI (過労死=death by overwork) is recognized in the world without being translated into English. I cannot deny the national character though.
I want to tell them to take good care of themselves. Be in health.
Dear my host family and friends,
I’ve been receiving great news. My host father will come to Tokyo from Germany on a business trip! Plus, my good friends may come here from Seattle and Taiwan this winter! The news made me so excited!!!
I miss my host family and all of my friends living overseas. No matter where we live, I always think of them. As long as we keep in touch, we will have a chance to see again.
Dear my host family and friends,
You are always welcome to come here.
I am happy to meet with you.
Lots of love
Business by Foreigners
In addition to a number of foreign workers in Japan, I see many foreigners who start up a business here. It seems very original.
I’ve known the business both through the news and magazine that two foreigners targeted the business areas and started providing service of customized business English. It is also unique that one foreigner who questioned wide range of Japanese funeral expenses gives a customer-oriented funeral, which arranges the service by customer’s preference for the style and money.
I was looking for something interesting to read related to this topic, and found a book as shown. I will probably read it, but have you ever read it?
The government removed the controls on business, and that made it easy to start a business for everyone, not only Japanese, but also foreigners. Foreigners sometimes have different views from those of Japanese, which could have an impact on the economic market.
My Third Grandmother
I got a phone call from my mother’s friend who is over 75. I have seen her only a few times but heard a lot about her from my mother. Maybe that’s why I feel close to her.
I gave her a little gift from the travels to Europe. The phone call was about it. She also told me how she felt by hearing my travel stories. In her youth, it was even hard to find something to eat. On the other hand, I can fly over the sea and feel the world. Time is changing…
She said, “Open your eyes and look at the things and people in order to be happy.” I want to keep it in my mind. She is like my grandmother.
Sudden Visit
“Dad, I'm home! Surprise~”
When I was taking a shower in the morning, one idea came up in my mind: I can visit my parents having this three-day running holidays. Otherwise, I won’t be able to see them until New Year…
I have not had a chance to visit my parents since I came back from the travels to Europe. I knew they were waiting for hearing my experiences of the travels face to face and seeing all pictures I took. (Over 600 pictures!) That’s why I was trying to make some time to go back to my hometown.
After I got the idea, I called my mom to make sure whether or not my parents stayed at home. She got surprised by my sudden decision but sounded excited. And we decided, “Let’s keep it secret to dad!”
Since I have many things to get done, I re-scheduled everything after finishing talking to my mom. Then I hurried to packing. I got souvenirs for my parents from the travels, a few clothes, about 10 books and textbooks for schoolwork, and some extras.
It takes about 4 hours to come to my hometown from Tokyo by super express train and local train. I was excited to see my parents, so I felt I did not spend that much.
Of course, my dad looked surprised when I entered the house! I kept talking with my parents. Since my dad went fishing today, we ate SASHIMI for dinner. It was really nice. It was delicious more than usual. I think to eat something with the ones I like makes food more tasty!
Get Ready for Working
We had a NAITEISHIKI (内定式) yesterday.
At the beginning of Oct, we have the ceremony for potential regular employees. I do not know how NAITEISHIKI is called in English, but I can call it “Informal Appointment Ceremony”. Most Japanese companies recruit employees once a year (Apr – June), though some companies started recruiting people year-round. So, job hunting starts on Apr 1st and usually ends before summer, and companies hold NAITEISHIKI on Oct 1st, which is the day that Japanese companies are allowed to give official job offer to new employees legally. At the ceremony, we receive an offer letter and sign an agreement.
However, I will work at foreign company and they do not have the NAITEISHIKI. I think foreign companies are more flexible as compared to Japanese ones. In my case of job hunting, I received the job notice from the company at the end of Mar and signed the agreement in Apr. What I feel is Japanese tends to be all at once and equal, while foreigners see individual or uniqueness, although I understand we need to set some rules about recruitment because job hunting is getting to start earlier year by year.
Thinking of look-alike, we wear in a black suit and white shirt and put on black shoes during job hunting. If students have dyed brown hair, they re-dye their hair from brown to black. Yesterday, I saw those students a lot who seemed to attend NAITEISHIKI.
Anyway, I had a party with the students who are going to be my peers. (We called the party as a Petit NAITEI Party!) It was not official at all, so we just enjoyed talking, eating, drinking and going to Karaoke. It was fun, but at the same time I felt I am going to be a banker by talking with them.
Yah, I need to be ready for that.
Busy? Music and Personal Organizer!
If I am busy, I think of this way: This is better than that! That way helps me not to feel stressed out.
I think of
“It is better than getting bored.”
“I feel much better as compared to my high school days.” (I did not anything but study in order to enter the university and kept feeling pressured. As long as I have time to eat something and sleep getting away from studying, I am alright!)
By thinking of a worse or hard situation, I feel I can go through the situation where I am.
If I am short of sleep and feel tired when I wake up, I usually listen to music which gives me energy like summer-like or up-tempo music. As I have learned ballroom dance, I also like Latin dance music like Cha Cha and Samba. 
I sometimes dance to music in my room! Anyhow, I can get some energy by listening to those music.
When I have a tight schedule, a personal planner helps a lot to organize my schedule and remember what to do. Since I started using a big one, I also need to carry a big bag with me though.
My To-Do list says schoolwork, internship, cram school, test, term paper, presentation, academic thesis, and online study for getting ready for working as a banker…mmm…What will come next? I feel a little bit worried about missing due dates or turning reports in late, but I will make it! It should be better than nothing to do!!
How about you? What is the best way for you to get energy and make your life easier when you have many things to do?
