Let's Get Brainwashed.

This is it. I've packed my backs, I tried to find the Muji store, and never did, I tried to find Do&Be, and none of the stores I visited had it, and I tried to subway when it was at capacity! So now I am leaving for the airport. At the end of these brainwashing trips, I always think about how I can live my life differently and not have to partake in these activities. Maybe this time something will happen. I had fun here, but am really looking forward to some Mexican food tonight and some video installation art. And I miss my kittun. And my guy. And my friends. So see you all soon!

Labels: japan, on the brink of insanity

On my way downstairs, the elevator stopped on another floor. When the door opened, there was an older Japanese woman. She looked so bewildered to see me in the elevator! Like I scared her or something. And then....

her pearl necklace broke and all these white beads fell down her shirt and spilled out from the bottom.

Another woman came running up from down the hallway and started to help pick them up. I didn't know what to do. Should I help? The other woman, who was younger and knew some English, said, "Please go on."

So I did.

Labels: elevator, pearls

I'm a little sad at the moment, for many reasons. The world is in an economic crisis and we are here in Japan toasting and cheering for each other on the 40th floor of a building overlooking the city. Everyone who attended the class got an award, but not me since I am not a manager nor was I a student. The trip is over. Everyone was happy and everyone said goodbye. Everyone said to everyone, "Keep in touch," but I know that is not true. I realize more and more how I am parading around in this false pretense on the Company's behalf - they send me to training, pay for this extravagant week, and I feel even further from my dreams. And it's Friday night in Nagoya, and I have no interest in going outside to explore the nightlife alone.

Tomorrow I leave.

Labels: farewell, japan, world-class traveling

This last day was not as exhausting as it could have been. I think the groups I worked with got a lot of work done yesterday, so today they were better prepared. I got to sit at the panel of judges table and listen to each presentation. We were given color copies of the reports. This is special because no one gets color copies here except the top managers. I felt special.

I was happy to see that the groups I helped out listened to my recommendations, and at the break, some of them mentioned a word of thanks to me. After all of the presentations, we went down the row of judges with a microphone and each of us said some words. I was nervous and not sure what to say, but somehow I managed, although I ended it a little abruptly ("....uh, Thank you." Sit down.).

Now I am changing my shirt and heading back to the tower for the farewell party. It's on the 40th floor. I will NOT have any sake. I am going to avoid that as much as possible. And no hot sushi.

Labels: judge, training, world-class traveling

Everyone had hangovers this morning. And the Japanese acknowledged it. We had 3 speakers in the morning, and they all asked if we enjoyed the dinner, and were our hangovers going away. It was nice, I thought, to have the presentations in the morning because the lights were off, so it was dark, and I could just sit there and relax, and wait for the pain to go away. We had lunch at a Korean bbq restaurant, and I felt much better after lunch. I wasn't served beef, so instead they gave me scallops, squid ringlets, and a giant prawn. I was scared of the prawn. I didn't eat it. I gave it to someone else. He cooked it on the fire, and green ooze boiled out of the head. We were all grossed out.

The whole afternoon was spent coaching people on their projects. They didn't like what I had to say, because the changes I suggested meant they had to redo significant portions of their project, and who wants to do that? Also, the language barrier once again was taxing on my brain. Listening to people explain things over and over because of confusion in terminology or what section we should be is exhausting. Some groups were having serious debates that had nothing to do with the presentation they were supposed to be working on.

I got stuck with a group I didn't want to help. They wanted to put all these charts and graphs they had made into their presentation and I said none of those were needed. BUT WE SPENT ALL THIS TIME MAKING THEM. I said that's fine, it's part of your research, but you only need to put in a chart that actually says something. So I told them to make a new one, and I sketched out what it should show, and they all stared at me. WE THINK THESE ONES ARE IMPORTANT TO SHOW. THEY NEED TO KNOW WE CONSIDERED THIS. (They have to present a project where they improved something in their office using the method we taught them.) I didn't feel like arguing any more. So tomorrow, I hope the panel of Japanese executives quiz them: Why did you put this chart here? It says nothing, except that you wasted time! You fail. Goodbye.

I went to dinner with the other teachers. They think that I'm single. They never asked me, they just said, "You know, when you are young and single like yourself, that's the best time to get an international assignment with the Company. It's much easier, and you get it out of the way in your career earlier."

Labels: career, training, world-class traveling

I don't have much time, but yesterday was a long day. I was really exhausted helping everyone out on their projects. I had to sit with each person and review their project summary reports and explain why most of it was wrong. It's okay that it's wrong, they are just learning. But with the language barrier for some, I had to get really creative and think of different ways to explain the same thing. So a lot of mental energy just tired me out.

Plus, I am tired of the whole crowd herding that happens. They meet us at the hotel, and we are all herded to the office. Then we are all herded to lunch. Then back to the office. And then to dinner. So I am constantly around people for over 12 hours.

So. Last night. Sheesh. We had a regional dinner, which means all the people in the class and all the Japanese folks who work for the Company got together and got drunk. Our hosts really like to drink. We had to take shots of sake. Then they served us beer. And wine. And more sake. And more sake. It was hot sake too. You had to gulp it while the girls would chant "Icky icky icky!" (I think it was Ichi, but it sounded like Icky to me.) Then someone handed me a piece of sushi. It had so much wasabi my nose almost burned off. They laughed when I grabbed the pitcher of tea and poured it down my throat. One of the girls then escorted me to the bathroom. I didn't ask for that - she just did it.

Oh. I ate octopus. It was not bad.

I was able to leave as the party started to get out of control. I am so glad I left. I could not have handled any more.

I felt horrible this morning, but hey! Vomiting helps. Now I feel much better.

Labels: drunk, food, training

roo muxh.

i wil say morow to morrow.

Labels: drunk

I stayed up past 10pm!
I stayed up past 10pm!
I should wake up like a normal Nagoyan tomorrow!
The golden dolphins call me to my dreams.


Hey - I really hope that Murakami is awarded the Nobel Prize this year. They announce the Prize for literature on Thursday. I want to see people celebrating in the streets. (Probably won't happen, but maybe I could start a movement here. I know the Golden Dolphins would be up for it.)

Labels: golden dolphin, japan, jet lag, nobel prize

Okay, so my toilet seat is heated. And it's actually too warm. At least I think so. Also, these controls are on it, so I decided to try the Bidet option.

I couldn't figure out how to turn it off! It just kept going and going. I kept pushing buttons and nothing would happen. It turns out that the Stop button in the upper left of this control panel is what turns it off.

Now I know. And so do you.

Labels: japan

Labels: tour

We got to tour a car-making plant. There were lots of little details that were interesting, and I hope I can remember most of them now. (We had a *really* long day and I am so tired. Remember that I've been up since 4am.)

First off, some of the things that our escort says to us comes off blunt, but I think it's just a translation issue. When we arrived at the plant, apparently we were early, because she said, "The tour starts at 9:30. It is now 9:00. So stay on the bus until 9:30." Then, the UK guy asked about a cigarette break. She said no one could go outside. But then she talked to the bus driver, and he pulled out of the plant, and drove across the street. Then we were free!

In the plant, we walked on this walkway above the entire place, so we could see all the busy people running around and all the machines. The first part of the walkway had these garden lattice walls with fake ivy on them. It was rather odd. Then, I kept hearing music play. I heard Itsy Bitsy Spider and Fur Elise. Apparently, when there is a problem on the line, someone will pull a rope and the whole production line stops. Music plays as an alarm for the supervisor to come and fix the problem. I guess it's better than some annoying bell alarm sound.

We got to see engines put inside car bodies, windshields suctioned up by a machine and carried away, and lots of other noisy stuff.

Then we left and went to a small museum. I was so excited because there was going to be a performance by robots that play musical instruments - trumpets and trombones, I think. I REALLY WANTED TO SEE THIS. I always hope for 1 moment during a trip that really marks the whole trip for me. This was supposed to be it, I told myself. Unfortunately, we had a group photo scheduled at the same time. I tried to run away from this, but couldn't. After the photo, I went to the theater where the robots were, but a guard said I could not enter during a performance. At least that is what I think he said. He spoke in Japanese, but pointed to a sign saying this in English.



Then we drove back to a restaurant for lunch. They don't serve very much food at lunch. I had two little sushi-size pieces of fish, some rice, several pieces of lettuce, and some ice cream and a little cube of cake. The other American here seemed upset, because he said he was still hungry. I feel bad for him - he doesn't eat red meat, and I don't eat red meat or poultry, so for ease I guess the organizers have us both eat the same meals. So that means he only gets fish. He said yesterday he really wanted chicken. The way he said it, I felt guilty, like it was my fault that they misunderstood his diet preferences. Sorry!

Then we went to another museum, and saw more stuff. I got to see a loom make thread. It was so awesome. I cannot believe all the work that went into making thread back in 1900. AMAZING!

We were stranded for a long time at this museum. Everyone was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel, but the bus was not there. Or something. I don't know. Again, our escort was blunt and said, "Please sit down. Do not leave the museum." It was aggravating because we could see our hotel tower in the distance. It would probably be a 20-30 minute walk. When the bus did actually show up, because of traffic it took 20 minutes to get to the hotel.

And now here I am. Drinking some green tea and downloading my photos to my computer.

Labels: history, japan, tour

Last night at the welcome party, K--, who is showing us around town, asked me what my career plans were. She asked if I had any interest in working out here. I said I don't know, to be polite. I told her about the other job I had applied for (three times in the last 2 years), and can't seem to get. It's strange how in some situations, knowing very little about you, they want to hire you, and in others, no matter what you do, they find something wrong with you (not enough experience, most likely). How can you get more experience without being given a chance?

Anyway, I don't think I could do it.

Labels: career

I couldn't help it. Last night I went to bed at 9pm. I could barely walk around, I was so tired. I wanted to wait until 10pm, but couldn't do it - I just fell asleep.

And now it is 4am. Blink blink. Someone just slid a newspaper under my door.

Labels: jet lag

I'm a little sad that now I will only be able to post at the end of the day a blog entry. Over the weekend, I was in and out of my hotel room, and able to post little snippets of stuff. I was "at work" from 9am until 7pm here today, and it was a long day. I was an assistant for about 30 minutes: I wrote down everyone's expectations for the class on the board. They have these dry erase boards here that have small printers connected to them. Apparently, whatever you write (or draw, heh heh) on the board can be printed on a piece of paper. Amazing! I didn't get to try it, though. So as we went around the room and people introduced themselves, they also had to mention their expectations for the class. So I wrote them down. It was a little difficult, because there are 30 people from about 25 different countries, so some of them do not have the best skills in English pronunciation, so I had to consolidate what they said into a short phrase on the board - right in front of everyone. They seemed to be very interested in my transcriptions, especially since I had a squeaky marker. It was very distracting, I thought.

The other slightly sad thing to me is that now I am separate from the students. Whereas in the past, I was one of them, today was the official demarcation of me from them. I sit in the back, at a table with the other teachers. I was introduced to the group today as an observer and assistant to the teachers. At lunch, though, I got to sit with them.

It is so interesting here. Hearing about other cultures, particularly their work habits, parts of their everyday schedule - I love it. We had an interesting lunch - it was a Chinese restaurant in the basement of the tower we have our class in. Then we went to a restaurant on the 1st floor after class for a welcome party. Again, I sat with the other instructors.

Tomorrow we go on 2 tours. That's the whole day! It should be interesting. I don't know if we can take pictures. Wednesday is when my assignment really begins. Today was just an overview of a bunch of stuff. Wednesday is the real deal.

Labels: brainwash, training

I discovered what the "Private" room across from my room is! It's actually a hallway. All of the service elevators open up into that hallway. No wonder there is so much commotion in there.

It was so odd while I was running yesterday that I saw a man opening up his shop who had 1 eye. Actually he had 2, but one of them it appeared that the eyelid was not detached from the rest of his skin. So there was a little hole cut in the eyelid for him to see through.

This story is so fascinating. At Nagoya Castle were two golden dolphins, one male, and one female. During World War II, the castle was bombed and burned down. The dolphins were badly damaged. When the castle was restored, new dolphins were placed on the roof of the castle. A worker on this project stole some of the golden scales from the original sculpture. They were eventually found and returned, and the guy was caught for his crime.

Isn't that great, though? I want to write a story about an albino alligator sculpture, and how someone steals the scales of white gold from it.

Labels: golden dolphin, nagoya castle

Oye. I am about to go to bed. I went to dinner with more people now - 1 German, 1 Polish man, 1 UK man, and the rest American. After dinner, and after 4 pitchers of beer, a small group of us went to the top floor of the hotel. We had vodka, water, beer, and whiskey. Amazing. I am so tired (and slightly...just slightly drunk). Talking with them...I am such a tiny tiny speck within the whole Company. Amazing.

Tomorrow we start class. The guys at the bar thought I was taking the class. I told them no, I am actually helping to teach the class. They immediately became distant with me. It was the end of such a brief affair. And I really liked the Polish guy.

Labels: brainwash, broken heart, teacher

Labels: doll

Labels: laundry

The door across from my hotel room is marked "Private" and is rather noisy. I think it's a hotel employee work room. Lots of people go in there, make noise like shuffling things, vacuuming, opening wine bottles, and then it is quiet. About every 10 minutes someone else seems to go in there.

Labels: secrets

A little jaunt for a coffee this evening really drove me crazy. The tower my hotel is in has everything - restaurants, grocery stores, high-end shopping malls, cheap shopping, dry cleaning, even a medical facility. So I went down to floor 13 for some coffee. This was the fucking noisiest Starbucks I have ever been to. There were about 200 young adults and they were so, so, so loud. And I mistakenly did not specify my order was "to go" so they put my cappuccino in a mug. So I had to stay there to drink it. Unbearable, it was.

A weird detail: the girl who made my cappuccino had a mole on her arm with really long hair growing out of it. It looked like a punctuation mark - there was so much hair growing out of it.

Labels: coffee, mole, social anxiety

I LOVE this sculpture.

My work shirts and blazer are all wrinkled, so I decided to have the hotel launder them. I just called and they sent up a young lady to pick up the clothes. I opened the door for her but she wouldn't come inside. It was awkward, I tried to throw open the door and ran back to get my clothes, and she seemed completely bewildered. When I ran back I guess she had propped the door open by the little lock, so it didn't close completely. Anyway, she has the clothes, she bowed, and now I am ready to run.

I feel much better. I just had a breakfast buffet. It was so strange and funny, though. Who would think to put pasta, french fries, scrambled eggs, and unskinned fish chunks together at a buffet? Yes, of course I had french fries with breakfast! Along with corn flakes, and a strange little omelet that was made for me. The omelet chef asked where I was from. When I said Los Angeles, he replied: "Oooo, very beautiful city. Lakers!" Then he apologized three times while placing the omelet on my buffet tray. I am glad that I was given breakfast vouchers, paid for by the Company. So now I will let my mishmash of food digest, then head off for a run. It's very overcast today.

One thing that is a little frustrating is all the bowing done by the hotel workers. Any time I walk past a worker, he or she will stop and turn to me and bow. And there are a lot of workers on the floor. I think from the buffet to the elevator I must have passed six people, all who stopped and bowed.

Labels: breakfast, Lakers, world-class traveling

I went to dinner with three people last night. I thought it would be just my local contact here, but it turns out 2 guys who were on my flight and train ride into the city are here for the same event as me. So we went to a Chinese restaurant in the basement floor of the hotel tower. I didn't eat very much - even their tofu dishes had meat in them. So, needless to say, I am a bit hungry right now. I somehow need to find some food to give me energy to run 10 miles! The group is meeting at noon to do some sightseeing and shopping. I think I will go along, but I also want the ability to go off on my own, and I am afraid if I commit to their travels, I will be stuck with them all the way through dinner time.

The woman, K--, bought dinner for us last night. She said we can each take turns. I don't like when that happens. That means I have to dine with them three more times. Nothing is wrong with them, but I just don't really connect with these strangers yet. They all seem to know the names of Japanese execs and stuff, and wanted to talk about who resigned, who died while in Thailand (apparently a guy died while golfing, and his death was ruled to overwork), why they are so slow to approve changes (lots of execs sport hang-overs every morning here)....that kind of fun stuff.

We talked a bit about the US economy, and I was pleasantly surprised that K-- knew about everything. It surprised me a little because I wasn't sure how just how big of news the bailout plan was to other countries. Well, sure enough, this morning on the front page of my complimentary copy of Japan Times, the headline is about the bailout plan. There's a picture of Pelosi, right above OJ Simpson. I glanced through the paper and much of it is US news. (This paper is in English, by the way).

I woke up at 1am, 2am, 4am, and now I am up for good at 5am. It's still dark. Nothing opens until later here. Some shops may be open at 8am, but the city won't really be moving until 10am or later.

I have been reading The Best American Short Stories 2008 - lots of good stuff. I am considering starting up another blog that reviews every story in that book.

So my training to be brainwashed paid off. I am now in Japan for a week to brainwash others. Yes - I am now a brainwasher. I will be working with about 30 executives from around the globe. Technically, I am just the teacher's assistant. I help with all the small group work, but he gets to teach the whole group. I have 30 papers to read already. They are summaries of projects done by the various students.

I am very happy to be in Japan. I came here two years ago for vacation - Tokyo and Kyoto. This time I am in Nagoya. It feels smaller, but it still has the glitzy shopping of Tokyo. I love my hotel room. It's so funny. I will post some pictures later. Tonight I have dinner with someone from my company. I am hoping to get some local insider info from her. Tomorrow morning I am running 10 miles. I have a half-marathon race the day after I get back to the US. Madness!

I saw a t-shirt that I have to buy - it said: DO NOT HARMONIZE MY SINGING!

Labels: brainwash, japan