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Konichi Wa. I am back


AVB
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Hi all. 

I am back after taking some time out from PW and social media in general. I have also been busy with my new consulting business. Anyway I am typing this from Tokyo where work has taken me and were I will be spending a lot of time over the the next 12-18 months. Slightly more than upmarket than India (where you may recall I was living a few years ago) although the extra time difference is a pain. 

I noticed one the motoring section that somebody was asking about the Tesla. I'll reply to that.

I assume I haven't missed anything really interesting other than the normal PW bickering.

Cheers 

Andrew 

 

 

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Hiya

Good to know you have not forgotten The Brotherhood of PW! Hope it all goes well in Land of Rising Sun.

Whilst out there how about looking into the process and hoops to be jumped through et all to cull a proper Nippon Sika?

Pretty sure I wont be the only interested one...........

L

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1 hour ago, grrclark said:

Good to see you back and great that the consulting business has taken off for you, long may that last.  I confess to some envy at your spending time in Tokyo, it is a place i very much want to visit and soak in the different culture.

 +1.

A place I have always fancied going to although doubt I will.

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I know a few guys who have spent time in Japan by going training and competing over there at judo, not sure any of them have truly appreciated how lucky they've been getting sent over there, and your there at the right time to see the blossom trees, but probably not the right area?

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK  end of week two and what can I say so far:

1) Japan is far more foreigner (gaijin) friendly than it was when I was last here 10 years ago. A lot more is written in English or at least in latin script rather than just Kanji. English is more widely spoken particularly amongst the younger generation and you can normally make yourself understood to the average shop worker. With the Rugby World Cup here next year and the olympics the year after the government are really pushing making things easier for tourists.  

2) The Tokyo tube system has become easier to use. Every line (of which there are 13) has a letter and every station (285) a number so with the aid of phone apps you can easily navigate from Roppongi (H04 or E23) to Ginza (M16, H08 or G09).Finding the right exit from a station is the difficult part with some stations having 20 exits and the walk between them may be 1/2 a mile. 

3) Food has alway been brilliant and still is. Again as part of the foreigner friendliness many restaurants now have English menus. The variety of ready to eat food that is available to take away is incredible and not expensive (I would say cheaper than here).  

4) The roads are less congested. I don't know if cars are being priced out of central Tokyo but I haven't seen a traffic jam yet. A fair few people cycle, the majority on the pavements and believe it or not it seems to work. Cyclists happily weave in and out of pedestrians with no accidents. 

5) The Japanese obey rules very strictly. Everybody, and I mean everybody, waits at a pedestrian crossing until the light changes. regardless if it is midnight and no traffic around. People just wait. 

6) The Japanese attention to detail is becoming obsessive and imo stifling. You cannot make the tiniest of errors without being picked up on it. I am dealing with the Bank of Japan and everything has to be so perfect. You said you would call at 10:00 so God forbid if you call at 09:59 or 10:01. The cost of doing business is therefore extremely high and the reason that a lot of foreign organisations struggle. If you could do something with 10 people in the West takes 20 if not 30 people in Japan. Every time you see a job being done there will be three people doing it. But it will be done well.  

7) I have never seen so many policemen. Every street corner and not one of them but three of them (see above). 

8) You still get earth tremors. I had forgotten how weird they are when you first encounter one. A sense of drunkenness. Every office desk has underneath it a hard hat and an emergency box of supplies - dry food, water, torch, foil blanket etc. In the UK these would have been pinched and sold on e-bay within hours. But not here. 

9) More and more people wear face masks when out, and in the office. This isn't, as most people in the West believe, because they don't want to catch anything but because the individual has, for example, a cold and doesn't want to spread it. The compliance with doing everything that makes them a good citizen is strong (see above). 

That's it for now. 

  

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4 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

How's the pigeon shooting???

Shooting, of all forms, doesn’t appear to be popular at all in Japan and gun ownership seems to be more restrictive  and expensive than the U.K.  

Apparently deer and Woolf shooting takes place in some locations but I haven’t even seen a feral pigeon yet. 

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8 hours ago, AVB said:

Why?

the japs seem fine as people...........but the ultra way they manage their life and instill control...i would find very restrictive................i love early japanese ink wash drawiings...they say so much with so little with the minimum of fuss.......but i cannot equate how they control themselves now, as to the early art they produced.....but looking at japanese art now...i wouldnt give a fig for....i think the art has changed with the people.............

no, Japan not for me ....

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