3Ss for Conferences

Earlier this week, I attended a conference for two full days in a row. When I got back to the office late afternoon and had some water, a colleague talked to me.

"Hey, I haven't seen you lately."

"I attended a conference, which was actually more interesting than I had thought."

"Then, didn't you obey the rule of 3Ss?" he asked something unfamiliar.

"Say that again?"

"Well, when you attend a conference, you've got to smile, be silent and sleep."

Gosh, I laughed aloud....yeah, I think the more technical the conference is, the more people tend to sleep. If the conference room is just too comfortably warm, sometimes it's so hard to stay awake.

But right...the Japanese, especially those living and working in Tokyo, tend to be so tired. Many take like 1.5 to 2 hours each way for commuting in incredibly crowded train. They do much overtime, tackle ever-getting more complicated tasks....and the list goes on and on.

So, boring conferences could be a life saver for them....??

Old Friend, New Idea

Earlier this month I saw an old friend of like 16 years. I met her when she was doing a part-time job at my workplace back then. Now, she is a Fuji-TV public relations representative, like fish in the water as we say in Japanese, meaning the job is perfect for her.

When we chatted about fashion, she said "I'm confident that you'll look great in an ETRO outfit."

So....as I'm a woman of action, I stormed its shop on the Namiki-dori Street in Ginza over the weekend. Then I just fell in love with this jacket! It's now in my closet and awaits the perfect moment.....:)

The Least Favorite Country

"How do you say the least favorite country in Japanese?"

Asked by a colleague, I paused, and pondered over how we say. But couldn't come up with the right words off hand.

He continued, "It's not that I hate it. I like it, but it's the least favorite."

Anyway, he was talking about France. To my surprise, he actually much prefers learning Japanese to French. Wow. Most Americans that I know complain about the Japanese language, saying it's too difficult.

Well, anyhow, his question is actually pretty profound. Do we have a concept of the "least favorite" in Japan in the first place....???

Ageless Beauty

I really think Charlotte Gainsbourg is so cute, pretty and yet approachable. It's unbelievable that she is already 35, given this picture! I secretly started to imitate her....

Popular Among Bosses' Spouces

"Hey, this is XX....how are you?"

I got a phone call from a slightly familiar voice, but couldn't hear her name clearly.

"Well, who's speaking please again?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm XX, wife of YYY."

Gosh, it was our big boss's wife. I remembered chatting with her at a party. Since I had no common interests or subjects with her, for the sake of avoiding uncomfortable silence, I gushed about a waiste machine called "Slendertone" which I started to use at that time. Actually it began to take effect after six weeks. When I talked to her, I promised to tell her if/how it would be effective in weeks....wow, she rememberd that!

"So, did it work? How was it??"

She sounded very friendly. Come to think of it, another boss's wife has been quite amicable to me, too. Well, so is another boss's husband. They all wave to me as they come across my office, often even coming on in and chatting for a while.

Well, that's because I look safe and innocent to them? Well, that's a good thing, isn't it...??

The Glass Skywalk

I'm always impressed by the French's unmatched fashion sense. This feeling was enhanced on the Thursday, February 8th night. I attended the ACCJ's tour to Saint-Gobain, a leading building glassmaking company headquartered in France. One participant, an executive of a Japanese architecture magazine, said "Saint-Gobain is absolutely the world's No.1 in the building glass industry." Founded in 1665, the company's work ranges from buildings of Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, to the "Glass Skywalk" of the Grand Canyon to be opened on March 28, 2007 (see pictures below.)

Big Party!

I was sooooo looking forward to the Wednesday, February 7th night! My ex-housemate Amanda and her whole large family came to Japan for her brother's wedding in Sapporo over the weekend, and stopped in Tokyo. Six of them -- Amanda, her sister Vicky, parents Dianne and Steve, aunt Tannis and her 91-year-old grandmother Wilma -- and her friend Hazuki and I met in a restaurant in Shinjuku. They all agreed Japanese food is very good...:)

Fun This Week

On the work front, it was a so exhausting week...but like Japanese words 忙中閑, meaning you actually have time even when you're busy, I could also have so much fun. On Sunday February 4, Laurie-san, a guest from the USA, my friend Charlotte and I went to the Disney Sea in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. It is the only Disney park with a theme of the sea. Look at the moon!!

Dinner With A Long-Time Mentor

I saw an ex-boss, a long-time mentor, and an alumnus Mr. Hashimoto, for the first time in the past.....15 or 16 years. Meanwhile, we stayed in touch through New Year cards, and he is actually a kind frequent visitor of this blog. Hashimoto-san will retire next month, so it was sort of an early "otsukare-sama" party, though it was totally on him...:)

In part because he was a Spanish major of our university, we went to a Spanish restaurant. It was so good, so was the conversation. I was particularly moved by the story that his wife miracrally recovered from a 1.5 years of unconciousness, now back to completely normal, by trying Eastern medicine such as kiko and hari. On the career wise, he has held senior management positions in the international business world, so it was so intriguing to listen to so colorful, juicy stories.

In fact, this morning I had totally lost motivation for work from a damn bullshit (sorry!) Tonight I genuinely felt the charm of working in the real world. Thank you so much, Hashimoto-san.