The early crashing was a bad idea. Between the nervousness about my presentation and the slight (but not overbearing) presence of jet lag, I was wide awake once again at 4AM. Although Tokyo is the TRUE "city that never sleeps" the fact of the matter is there really isn't that much to do that early. So we ended up watching "Good Choice" (a.k.a. News with Penguins) yet again, and then ventured out around 7AM to pick up some bento boxes for breakfast. I wanted to try Royal Host, but we decided it was probably best to avoid hotel prices for subpar Western-style breakfast. After picking up the bentos at a 24 hour place and returning the hotel, both of us ended up asleep. Fortunately I set the alarm clock ahead of time, so I wasn't late for my meeting.
I woke up in time, showered, got dressed and was out the door by 10AM for a 12PM meeting. I was very worried the subway system would be confusing and I'd end up getting lost - but, on the contrary, the subways are actually easier to use than a lot of the trains in Tokyo. I arrived in Hakozaki roughly 45 minutes early, and got a few brief moments of solitude that reminded me of my first trip to Japan. IBM Hakozaki is located right next to a small park with a fountain, trees, and some benches - a perfect place to relax or take a walk before the meeting, and I sat for a few minutes taking in the sights and sounds of a busy Tokyo morning. I had originally planned to go get a coffee to kill some time, but I didn't really need to. The air was pleasant, the park wasn't busy, and I had a few moments away from the chaos of central Shinjuku - time to gather my thoughts in preparation for my presentation.
I won't discuss the presentation much, except to say that I got all the answers I wanted and made some more connections with folks here in Japan - which is exactly what I wanted to do. I showed the team a picture of my basement, so now they all think I'm a game otaku. But I have a girlfriend, and friends, and a social life ... so that isn't possible (in the traditional sense of "otaku"). In any case, I did find out a few interesting things about how our IBM colleagues in Japan work...
1.) You think your cube lacks privacy? Try sitting at a long table, with a spot for your laptop and a few books - with coworkers on each side, no walls separating you. It kind of amazed me that in a culture where everyone is supposed to be heads-down in their work, the environment seemed very open - albeit a bit cramped. I suppose I was expecting cubicles out of Equilibrium or 1984, all looking the same, stretching for miles, with no personality whatsoever. Nintendo of America also had a similar setup with their cubicles, so this isn't the first time I've seen an environment like this.
2.) Their caf is light years ahead of Rochester. Most of the food items are Japanese (sorry Dave and Chad), but there was a large variety, everything appeared to be prepared fresh, and it was (comparatively) quite cheap. They also offered free cold or hot tea with each meal, and had two types of cafeteria: one caf of the traditional sense (like what we have), and one where you sit down and they bring you the food restaurant style. We're really missing out here!
3.) Everyone dresses up. No sandals and T-Shirts for IBM Japan. Suits are the norm, and at the very least you want a shirt and tie. Though I was told that khakis and a collared shirt would have been fine, showing up in that attire would have made me feel incredibly underdressed.
After returning to Shinjuku via the subway, we went to Hanazono Shrine to check out the festival going on. For those unfamiliar with a typical Japanese matsuri, think Minnesota State Fair - but take away the cows and wild rice and replace them with with yakitori and other Japanese foods. They did have fried stuff on a stick, fried chicken a.k.a. Kara-Age. But most of the other finger foods they served were not fried. There was yakitori (chicken skewers), candied bananas, several types of Japanese pastries, yakisoba noodles, squid skewers, and a lot more.
We then headed towards Nakano Broadway, in hopes of locating some fighting game posters for the basement. Our search ended up empty, but Lisa did find a couple pairs of knee-high Japanese socks that fit her. She was a little upset that she couldn't figure out the size and wanted me to ask, but that store was packed full of Japanese women that gave me strange looks or ran away every time I took a step into one of the aisles - not to mention my Japanese regarding women's clothes sizes is nonexistent.
So we went to Nakano Broadway, and all we got were two pairs of socks...
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