Global weather conditions 2

12 hours after leaving the sunshine at Narita, flying over snow covered Winsor Castle UK

Global weather conditions

I'm sitting at Narita airport looking at the blue sky and feeling the warmth of the sun, while reading the BBC web site information about the heavy snow conditions in London. The inbound Virgin flight is 2 hours late due to weather problems at Heathrow. It is hard to imagine such a contrast in weather conditions, i'm bracing myself for the winter chill of London!

Hakone

Just a 90 minute journey from Tokyo, and you feel like you entered another world ....

Japanese countryside

Japanese countryside

Tradition, history and beauty .....

Tokyo taxi bikes

One certain way to beat the traffic jams ...... the egg bike ! (I tried to avoid the obvious puns like 'whisk me over to the other side of Tokyo' and 'what happens if we get into a crash, do we get scrambled?' etc etc ....)

Stunning view from the plane

I took this picture on Sunday during the flight back to Japan. The reduction in size on the blog restricts appreciation of the view, but you can see snow covered mountains at the bottom, the curvature of the earth on the horizon and stars twinkling at the top. This kind of scene puts all the 'day to day' challenges of ones life into a different perspective.

Back in Japan to make a speech to Enterprise Ireland Trade Mission

I headed back to Japan on January 12th to deliver a speech and presentation to a group of companies attending a trade mission organized by Enterprise Ireland. The event was refreshingly well attended with almost 80 companies taking part overall, and 28 from the ICT sector. I delivered a speech on my experiences as a foreigner doing business in Japan, together with some 'tips and tricks', and also a section on the 'hot emerging' technology trends in Japan. I met some great people, and enjoyed a sociable evening or two during the week!

Heading back to UK ... at Narita Airport

It was an exhausting but very successful trip to Japan. We managed to pack so much into a relatively short time and I'm heading back to the UK feeling very optimistic, despite the current global economic downturn.

After check-in I had time to explore some more of the unusual and often futuristic services at Japanese airports; more evidence of the vending machine culture was presented by a bank of machines offering travellers last minute travel insurance (no humans required!), a chance to top up on Oxygen at the "OxyBar" (customers can sit inside and inhale flavoured oxygen through the nose or mouth) - incidentally the OxyBar is located right next door to the 'smokers room' .... a nice touch if you wish to dash from one to the other! There was also one last chance to top up your Edy wireless IC card (but I could not understand why you would want to do this just before you leave Japan!?!)

Meeting place for dogs

After a tough week chasing balls and eating biscuits Tokyo's dog population can smarten themselves up and head down to the 'Dog Meeting Park' at the weekend.

It is quite literally a dedicated park for dogs to meet each other and exchange barks, sniffs and licks.

The sign at the entrance made me smile ...... (I'm glad it said 'rabies' and not 'babies' !)

Yoyogi Park

I took some time out on Saturday to visit Yoyogi park. The park is stunningly beautiful in all seasons, but something special happens in winter - blue sky, crisp air, sunshine, autumn colours, happy people, exercise, hearty food all combine to create the atmosphere.

Within seconds of leaving the 'big city' you feel so close to nature, and some of the bizarre activities going on there make it feel like you have entered a different world. On Saturday morning there were a group of actors rehearsing (for something resembling the Rocky Horror Show) a team of High School cheer leaders practicing their routines, 3 guys playing Maurie 'didgeridoos', umpteen joggers, cyclists and skaters, a group of Punks (eating their healthy looking pack lunches) and a mob of slightly overage 'Rockers' who did a mime routine to 'Peggy Sue' by Buddie Holly.

Probably the only place in the world where you will see punks and rockers join forces to pick up litter and sweep up around them before they go home.

Murata

We took the chance to visit Murata while in the area. Another innovative and hugely successful Kyoto company.

Murata always have an open mind to consider outside technology, and we have enjoyed several successful engagements with them on behalf of our clients.

Getting down to business.... at Panasonic Semiconductor

We visited Panasonic Semiconductor and had a productive meeting. Like most companies in this current climate they are facing many challenges. Panasonic just posted their latest figures, and revenue is down 5% and profit down 25%, however they are still making 350 billion JPY pre tax profit (an enviable number most companies would be happy to report).

The biggest pressure is coming from the competitive price reductions in their digital TV business, great news for any consumers wishing to purchase a new TV for the upcoming Christmas season, but major financial pain for Panasonic.

In a recent survey of 'cash rich companies' published in Japan - Panasonic were listed in 7th place, (number 1 was Toyota), and they are taking advantage of the tough global conditions to invest some of that cash to build for the future (with acquisitions such as Sanyo). Oversea's technology companies wishing to sell technologies to Panasonic should not forget this opportunity.

Kyoto Station

Kyoto Station is one of Japan's largest and most impressive buildings, incorporating a shopping centre, hotel, movie theatre department store and offices, all housed under one 15 storey roof.

It was completed in 1997 and designed by Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara. From the outside it resembles a cruise liner docked in a port, and the inside is a futuristic design using steel and glass.

The station's completion paved the way for a series of new high rise modern buildings in Kyoto, culminating in the 20 floor Kyocera building (see earlier post this week). Some people criticise the building for triggering the breakdown in the traditional city-scape of Kyoto.

Another bright morning over Shinagawa

Up early again for the second visit to Kyoto this week. A new client arrived in Japan last night and we are going to visit customers in Osaka and Kyoto.

It feels so much better waking up early when there is blue sky and sunshine outside!

We will take the shinkansen again from Shinagawa station.

Visit to Canon Corporate HQ

We had a variety of meetings today in the Tokyo area, the high-light being a visit to Canon's Corporate HQ. We were invited to see the Canon museum tour, and felt so impressed with how rapidly that comapny has grown since it's foundation in 1937. We met with a group of Senior Managers from the R&D section, and before getting down to business they explained to us Canon's corporate philosophy of 'Kyosei', (meaning living and working together for the common good). We were delighted to hear Canon has a mission to 'unlock the potential of technology to provide innovative new products and services while, at the same time, speeding up the development of new business domains' ......... music to our ears as we proceeded to introduce some innovative UK technology companies to them.

Rush hour ar Shinagawa station

'Swimming against the tide' is an expression that comes to mind as we make our way against the flow of busy people coming out of Shinagawa station in the morning rush hour!

The best tempura in Tokyo?

It was pretty late by the time we got back to Tokyo, and we all had one thing on our minds .......... 'FOOD' ..... so we headed to a small restaurant I know that prepares the most delicious tempura known to mankind! We had a beer (for medicinal purposes only) and a small sake (everyone else in the restaurant was drinking it, so we thought it would be rude not to) ........ followed by an amazing supper.

The sun sets on another great day

We caught the early evening shinkansen back to Tokyo feeling tired and content with our day's work. As the nightlife of Kyoto started to get underway the sun was setting on the horizon.

Breathtaking view of Kyoto from top floor of Kyocera HQ

A great lunch and a great view; total contrast to the 'high rise' of Tokyo.