Just kidding! I know that the Golden Gate Bridge is several counties over from the Statue of Liberty. This was in Tokyo! Little known fact: France gave this Statue of Liberty to Japan as a gift, much like the one in the U.S. Second little known fact: France gave the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. as a gift! Third little known fact: just like nearly everything else in Japan, this statue is much smaller than the one in the U.S. This photo was taken from mere inches away. Little known fact: Just kidding about the inches away thing!
Today was the third and final day of the exhibition. Our newest machine, only recently ready for sale, was featured in the Nikkei newspaper, Japan's largest economic and business newspaper. So the number of people who filed in to see it and inquire about it was roughly the same as the population of Jan Mayen, which contrary to what is floating around in your head is not a location in East Asia at all, but rather in northern Europe. And also, I kid because Jan Mayen has no permanent population! But there were quite a few people interested in buying our machine, and that was awesome for me to see because I will eventually be trying to sell them myself.
Here's a picture of a place in Tokyo that has a big ball lodged in it. You can see clearly that Tokyo is on the cutting edge of architecture and coolness. Also, every night at 10 seconds to midnight, that ball drops slowly to the street and then Auld Lang Syne plays loudly. Just kidding! Boy is my blog chock-full of hilarity or what?
Today I was asked to be an intermediator/translator/interpreter between one of our folks from the US and our president and one of our materials suppliers and someone from the Mitsubishi corporation. It went like this:
Pres/MatsSupp/Mitsu: japanesejapanesejapanesejapanese.
Company President (in Japanese): Nic, tell Kyle.
Me: They said something about some kind of materials or something, and maybe a discount?
Kyle: Oh yes, a $100 discount per metric ton of materials for an entire year?
Me: That sounds right.
Everyone else (smiling and nodding): Japanesejapanesejapanesejapanese
President (In Japanese): Nic, tell Kyle.
Me: I think they want to make a decision. Or hold off on the decision until the supply is confirmed.
Kyle: Yes...?
Me: Yes.
Everyone else: Japanesejapanesejapanesejapanese
President: Nic, tell Kyle.
Me: zzzzzzzz...huh? wha? Where AM I?
It was a really great experience and I hope to do it again soon. I think the meeting went very well.
Little known fact: There is one of these statues in Paris, as well :)
ReplyDeleteYou'd think the Parisians could be more original with their gifts.
I heard the one in Paris and the one in NY are facing each other. Unfortunately it seems the one in Tokyo is facing due south.
ReplyDelete