OK Where was I?

OK I have a huge back log of Japan experiences so I guess I'll continue where I left off. OK This is still Feb of 2011!

After my Last travel post We were in Shimane. I went to the Izumo Shrine. Izumo Taisha is known for En Musubi. This was probably Mom's subtle way of saying hurry up and start a family I guess. After Shimane, we headed toward Tokyo by traveling over the mountain range back to Okayama. From there we took the bullet train to Shizuoka to stay at a hotel right at the foothills of MT Fuji. unfortunately at that point the Weather did not cooperate at all and we had a layer of fog that hung over the area. The Ryokan it self was ok but it definetly felt a little like a business hotel. It was called Tokinosumika.. There was a little christmas light show display going on so I was able to get some cool pictures of that! So all was not lost.

The next day We headed to Izu Peninsula.Izu is known for its hot springs and per sq Km there are more Hostprings than any where in Japan I hear. We headed to Akazawa Onsen!  This destination was my pick and I heard from a friend that it was super nice. Boy was it ever! check out the Website for yourself! The Hotel is owned by the Cosmetics company DHC. The View from the hotspring was wide open view of the bay! Nice!

Below is a pic from the Hotel room but the View from the Hotspring was similar but higher. If you ever go here I would not limit yourself to the Bath's in the Ryokan. Definetly go next door to the Higaeri Hotspring. (Higaeri means go home by sundown. Its for just visiting the hotspring.) There is a secret passage between the two building so you can go over with out even getting cold! The dinner, breakfast, and the Tai style massage after a hot soak was excellent!


Next up! Kusatsu Onsen! So Next trip was up past Tokyo in to the mountains towards Nagano! Kusatsu Is known for the most amount of Hot spring water flowing out per minute. It is a huge amount! Something like 2K litters per minute. So much so that In the center of town in the freezing cold It feels a little warm with all the steam. You can put your hands in the water and it is very hot.

The Place definetly has a small town Onsen village feel to it and there are multaple mini hostprings there. So much so that some times I wasn't sure if it was a hotspring or a large public bathroom. See picture. Yes that is a hotspring. Its tiny! My apartment may be bigger than that! The town was very Cozy but there are a lot of tourists here. We stayed in a big hotel near by but if you really want to get the full flavor of Kusatsu I would pick the smaller Ryokan or minshuku near the center of town. Oh one last thing Taxi's are expensive up here in winter time. 2 mile trip was $20! I couldn't believe how quickly the meter was ticking! Well at night it was approaching 0 Deg C so it was money well spent but not cheap by no means!

Ok final leg we headed back to Tokyo and stayed the night in Yokohama before my flight back home the next day.  Unfortunately here too the weather did not play nice but it Oh well can't win them all! I did npot have any Chinese food but I did go to a nice Kaiseki dinner in the hotel. Pics of some of the dishes are below! that was good!

Overall I must say this was a very fun trip we covered a lot of ground thanks to the JR rail Pass! Just for comparison my parents did not use the JR rail pass but they did have a senor club discount (which is about 40% off regular price) And their total bill per person was 70,000 YEN. In comparison the amount  I paid for this rail pass was 36,800 Yen. Basically if you ride the Bullet train more than one round trip you already paid for it. So if your going to Japan I highly suggest you get it! It is THE BEST deal around! Also If you do get it you must get it before you go to JAPAN! you cannot buy it while you are there! 

Anyway That pretty much wraps up my trip from February 2011.

I have a few more trips that I made over there last year so stay tuned!

Sorry have not had a update in a while...

Hi All Sorry I have not updated this blog in a while. My current job has kept me very busy.
Last year I spent about half my time in Japan. We have a Japanese customer that I have been working with very closely so that has been taking up all my time. Its definitely an experience working with this customer.

After my experiences in Japan, I think Japan has a major challenge ahead if it wants to be competitive with the US. Here is what I think Japan has going for it:

1. Training level is very high for the average worker.  Even an job as a McDonald cashier is given 2 weeks of training before allowed to interface with customers. This is evident even to the average tourist that visits Japan. Service is great and standardized. 
2. Pay scale is flat. President of a company doesn't make more than 10x of the normal employee. IE in theory this should allow them to keep their expenses low.
3. Workforce that is very hard working and dedicated. I think this is a cultural thing and is implanted in pretty early.. if you work hard you will be successful is the message droned in from a young age.  

With these positive points I think Japan was able to get to #2 spot in the world economy during the 70s and 80s. Heck If anyone remembers Back to the Future part 2? Where Marty Mc fly gets fired from his Japanese boss? IE the US was going to get taken over by the Japanese.  That was the perception a decade ago but after working with them I see some major flaws.What do they have going against them you ask?

1. There are too many do nothing middle managers that love to start fires to justify their existence. (this is a byproduct of aging demographics and the obsession with process and quality)
2. Because the society values conformity unique ideas are not allowed to grow and yield fruit.
3. Companies over there are not designed to respond quickly

I know I'm painting a picture with very broad strokes here, but this is just my opinion after all. 

Prime example of the 3 factors above is SONY.

They OWNED the portable music player market for years. The were the standard of excellence for TV's and other electronic. The Sony Viao series was always using new tech and was the cutting edge of its days.

What happened?  

They had everything going for them in the 90's. In the 2000s they effectively lost the advantage. Apple came and took over the portable music market and computing. Why? Because they came in with fresh ideas and innovation. Mean while Sony tried to force the consumer to what SONY felt was the way the market should go. Ultimately SONY has forever lost that market because it could not get over its own rules and procedures. The very thing (highly refined process that increased quality of their products) is what killed and is still killing Japan. ( A prime example of this is the Japanese farmer making $100 strawberries.. yes you heard me right.. $100 for a single strawberry. I'm sure it is a good strawberry but there is a point of diminishing returns like most luxury goods)

The problem I see at my customer is the same. This obsession to get things perfect does not go well with being the 1st to market. You have to make a judgement call on issues and look to see how probable a problem may be and how to deal with it. This is especially true with new innovations. You cannot micromanage innovation because there are way too many unknowns but that is what they ask for. If you can micromanage innovations it means your not really innovating, rather it means your refining. I understand the customers urge to be included in the loops, but their input really does not help the situation at all. There are way too many times where they don't fully understand the problem and they go down the wrong path in a panic state. When they go down the wrong path that leads to more questions that the middle managers make, and so on and so forth.. in the mean time the real problem doesn't get solved but a lot of paper has been generated to pacify the middle managers. 

All this running around did it really solve the problem? NO it did not. 

I would say it probably distracted more than anything. I see this way to much at Japanese companies. The average worker in Japan is probably much higher caliber but they spin their wheels pacifying their bosses concerns. Now I understand that managing expectations is important as well but it would be interesting to see if some one has quantified how much of this goes on with in a Japanese company and how much this reporting is sapping the productivity of the company. Now I know this goes on in US companies as well but there is a key difference when the middle management layer gets too big then the company will start to down size and cut jobs. This makes the company concentrate on being productive and really get back to what is important. In Japan this does happen. 

Anyway at this rate Japan will probably not be able to compete with Korea and China. I think this is more of the cause of the economy lagging for the past decade more than anything else. The fast growth is now over and now they must innovate, but in order to innovate they may have to give up some values that they covet.

There maybe still some time to change, but like a lot of thing in Japan things are very resistant to change.

Sorry for the downer entry but I hope to have more positive things to blog about soon.   I got about 6 months  worth of experience to blog about so stay tuned. 

Kumamoto, Saga, and Shimane Prefecture!!

Ok I know its 6 months late.. but here is more info from my trip back in Jan 2011!

Kumamoto Castle! Did a quick day trip to Kumamoto from Fukuoka. It took an hour and 20 minutes from Hakata station. Unfortunately The new Kyushu bullet train was not scheduled to open til march so I could not take ti to kumamoto. Latest bullet train shaves time to like 35 minutes. Anyway Kumamoto castle was a short 20 minute walk from Kumamoto station.  You can take a road trolley but the walk was nice.

What is Kumamoto known for? Why Horse Sushi of course! Tried some and it was pretty good!

Also went to Saga prefecture to get some crab at Takezaki. There three ways you can get it there: Broiled, Baked, and Sushi! Personally I though it was pretty good crab but it wasn't worth the price in my opinion. The best part of the meal in my mind was when the Okami-san of the res truant took the left over parts and made miso soup out of it!  That was good!

Ok speaking of crab, more crab! :) Scrab is really good in the winter time so we went to Tamazukuri Onsen in Shimane prefecture. This was the place where we stayed and it was pretty good! The place is know fpr having the largest outdoor onsen in Japan. I'm not sure if the largest in Japan really is true or not but it was definitely big! had the place all to myself. Its a little embarrassing because people in the hotel can look down onto the hot spring from the room windows but there wasn't that many people staying at the place so it wasn't really an issue I guess.   Ok  back to crab! Had Crab the same way as above but this time I liked it a lot better. The meat was much more easier to get to in the "Echinzen " crabs.

Okinawa~~~! If only the weather cooperated some more..

OK so on to Okinawa!! 1st let me say its a beautiful place! 2nd Its not as warm as Hawaii! It was about Highs in the 60F's while I was there! Water temp was actually warmer than air temp! That being said if it were a bit warmer I think it would have been a nice place to go. Also I couldn't go diving because the waves were a tad rough... 3m waves :)  We stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel in Manza Beach ( the middle part of Okinawa). Its about a 45 minute drive from the Naha airport.

それでは沖縄へ！まず沖縄は綺麗な所ですね。それから沖縄はハワイほどあたたかっくなです。平均１５℃でした。水温のほうが暖かいのでちょつと海水浴に行くのにはさむすぎ！後ダイビングはいけませんでした。波が荒く３Ｍほどの波が押し寄せていてとてもじゃないけどいけない状態でした。泊まったところは万座ビーチＡＮＡインターコンチネンタルーホテルです。（沖縄の真中　あたり）那覇空港から車で４５分はなれた所にあります。

The hotel was renting out a bicycle but schedule wise it didn't work out. Would have been real nice to ride a bicycle around  there. Anyway more shots of the interior of the hotel its really nice. Its only missing one thing in my book... a hotspring! :) 

ホテルで自転車レンタルしてましたけど予定にうまく入らなかったから借りませんでした。そこらへんを自転車でうろうろしてたら面白かっただろうな。とにかくホテルの中もかなりよかったです。ただ一つ足りないのが温泉かな？　＾＿＾

Ok on to the food of Okinawa! Here is what I tried!

それでは沖縄の食べ物の感想！　沖縄で食べたのは。。

Okinawa soba  - Had some in the airport so it may not be too authentic but compared to normal ramen the soup is a lot less salty. I would say its closer to Hawaiian Saimin. I like tonkotsu trype ramen (Fairly salty flavor so it didn't agree with me as much) The hotsause/ vinigar they use was pretty good though!

沖縄そば　－　空港で食べましたが本場の沖縄そばかどうかは判らないのですがふつうのラーメンに比べるとあさっり系のスープで塩分控えめです。どちらかと言うとハワイのサイミンに似てますね。個人的にはとんこつ系が好きなのであまり味が合わなかったような。からし入り酢はおしかった。

Taco Rice - Tastes just like what you'd expect mexican taco ground beef over rice. Nothing special if your from the California.

タコ　ライス　－味は名前道理でタコとご飯です。Ｃａｌｉｆｏｒｎｉａからの人はあんまり新しい味とはいえないかな。

umi budou - Sea grapes! now this was novel! taste like little sea water filled caplets. goes very good with soy sauce and vinegar!

海ぶどう　－これは面白い食材ですね。海水粒粒ですね。醤油としそ酢とあいます。

goya-chamburu - Goya stir fry! very good almost available every where you go. I like this dish! its very simple and good. If any of you had bitter melon its that with scrambled egg. you can definitely taste the Chinese influence on this dish.

ゴーヤ　チャンブル　－ゴーヤのバター炒めですね。これは美味しい！。簡単で美味しいですね！中華のビターメロンプラス卵閉じ見たいな味ですね。中国の影響がよくわかる一品ですね。

Not sure what the shell fish above was called but it was good whatever it was. We were walking around Makishi Market and we saw this shell fish asked about it and we just ended up buying it and eating it. As soon as you buy it they will cook it up and serve it to you so its very fresh! It was made into a sashimi and then stir fryed with butter. It went really well with this Okinawan Sochu.  Its like 30% alcohol but it goes down easier than say Korean Soju which is typically 20%. Good stuff cheap too like $10 for beer bottle sized bottle. 

　

名前のわからない貝類を食べました。牧志市場でうろうろしてて市場のねーさんに進められて買いました。その場で調理してくれて新鮮でした。これは日本では当たり前なのですがアメリカでは珍しいので個人的には好きです。半分は刺身で半分はバター炒めで本当においしかっちたです。上の写真の沖縄焼酎とよく合いました。アルコール度は３０％なのですけどスウーと飲めました。韓国の焼酎はアルコール度が２０％なのですがこれはそれよりも飲みやすいのでよかったです。後すごく安い！ビール瓶ぐらいの大きさで千円でした！

Speaking of Alcohol.. there was one sake I wanted to try but it was really expensive. See picture below for price.. 7.5L for 129675 Yen or $1500 for 7.5L... some how I think I'd have a hard time getting that through customs:) 

酒と言えば沖縄はハブ入り酒が有名ですよね。僕も飲んでみたいですけどこれほど高いとは！

７．５Ｌで１２万９千６７５円です！　ちょつとこれをもって税関通るのはむずかしかも　

＾＿＾

Anyway a little more on Okinawa next time!

後もちょつと沖縄の事を話したいけどまた今度！

A lot has changed in the last month or so...

A lot has changed in my life last few months. Where to begin... Lets see I've postponed my 1 lap around japan trip as of now. An opportunity popped up that I needed to take advantage of. Started my new job in the beginning of this month. hopefully this job will allow me to go to Japan. (Would have gone to Japan but Earthquake and Fukushima nuclear plant problems has put a damper on that)
この数ヶ月で私の人生色々変わりました。さあ何から話そうかな。今のところ日本自転車１周旅はちょつとお預けです。つい最近いい仕事のお話が来たので転職しました。今月から仕事始めました。この新しい仕事で日本に行く機会が増えると思うので楽しみです。（地震と福島原発のせいで四月の出張は取り消されたました）

Anyway I was in Japan Late Jan to mid Feb this year. I would like to share my experience of that trip. The basic trip itinerary went something like this:
と言うことで私は今年の１月下旬から２月中旬まで日本にいました。その旅のお話をしたいとおもいます。旅の順路は：

SFO->Fukuoka（福岡）->Tokyo（東京）
->Fukuoka(福岡)->Okinawa(沖縄）->Saga(佐賀）
->Kumamoto(熊本）->Yamaguchi(山口)->Totori（鳥取）
->Shizuoka（静岡）->Gunma（群馬）->Yokohama（横浜）->SFO


A lot of traveling in 3 weeks!  Ok so Fukuoka! My family is originally from Fukuoka so I spent most of my time at my parents place in Ito-shima. It was cold! This shot was taken at night from my parents balcony 30 sec exposure.. If you look to the left side of the picture it looks bright.. thats the light pollution from Fukuoka City. (3rd largest city in Japan)　とにかくかなりあっちこっち行きました。それではまずは福岡！私の家族は元々福岡出身なので福岡の糸島にいました。とにかく寒かったです！これは親の家のバルコニで撮った晴れた夜空です。シャッターは３０秒あけてとりました。写真の左は明るいのは福岡市からの光がもれてるからです。

You can't see it in this pic but there is a little fishing village near by (around the green light in the picture) and they BBQ oysters every day! it smells so good! So we had to have some too!　この写真ではよく見えないのですけど近所に魚業場がありすき焼きのカキを焼いててすごくいい匂いがして！我慢ができず我々も食べました！

This was a little cute. Its a table top charcoal BBQ where we cooked up some oysters.It tasted so good with some good sake. So much good food down in Hakata! Can't be in Fukuopka with out eating Mentaiko!
これが使った卓上炭焼きです。アメリカではこの大きさの卓上炭焼き暖炉（？）は珍しいです。とにかく美味しいです。いい酒と食べるとさらにおいしいです！博多は美味しいもいっぱいあるばい！博多に来て明太子食べずにいられません！

Anyway thats all for today. More trip info to come later.. so much to cover!
まだ色々話したいのですけど　また跡で！  

A lot of Earthquake activity in Japan

My heart goes out to all those suffering in Japan right now. It is gut wrenching to watch the stuff going on over there. As you can see from the USGS Earthquake map not only has there been a magnitude 9.0 earthquake but there has been a bunch of magnitude 5+ aftershocks going on over in North East Japan for the past week.(all the Yellow boxes are 1 week old earth quakes. Blue boxes are earthquake from the day before and red are ones that happened with in a day. Size of the box tells how big it was)

If you can spare a few bucks please donate to what ever charity that can help.

I have donated to here : http://www.jcccnc.org/

Thanks All.

Small Seattle Trip: ちょつとした

I took a little Mini-vacation last weekend and went to Seattle, WA. I must say its a nice city. Tons and Tons of coffee shops! I can see why this was home base for Starbucks Coffee! Speaking of Seattle.. I didn't know that REI started up in this area. Their main store in Seattle is impressive! As you can see from the top picture They actually have a mini bike trail that goes around their store!  Also they have a hiking trail so that you can try out the boots! Pretty impressive!

ちょつとしたシアトルの旅に行ってきました。本当にいい町ですね！もうとにかくコーヒー喫茶店がいっぱい。シアトルがスターバックスの本拠地だと言うのがなっとくしました。ええっとシアトルと言えばＲＥＩの発生の地らしいです。シアトルの本店はすごいですね！上の写真を見ればわかるんですけどＲＥＩの本店の周りに自転車トレールがあるんです！後はハイカーが靴を試すためのコースも　あるんです！さすがすごいです！！

Other places I visited in Seattle... Museum of Flight! The main reason why I wanted to check this place out was the SR-71(or Lockheed A-12) !!! I absolutely Love this plane!! Even though this plane was built in   1960s its still one of the fastest planes even today( actual top speed is classified but its been known to go Mach 3.2+)! I guess I'm really proud of this plane because I work for Lockheed Martin.. But she really is a beautiful plane! A modern Marvel of Engineering & symbol of American Ingenuity! I'd go far as to say it should be classified as a national treasure!   IF you ever get a chance I highly recommend these books!Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed and Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Aeroplane Skunkworks details how she was built along with U2, F-117A and Sled Driver is more from the pilots point a view.(check out this awsome Gizmodo Article on Sled driver!)

ほかにシアトルで行った所は。。。ムージアム　オブ　フライト！なによりも目当てがＳＲ－７１（別名ロクヒード　Ａ－１２）とにかくこの機体が好きです！この飛行機は1960年代に作られたのにもかかわらず今でももっとも最速の飛行機のひとつです！（実際の最高速度は国家機密ですけどマッハ３．４以上行くそうです）なぜこれほどすきかと言いますと実は私もロクヒード社で働くからです！本当に綺麗な機体で工学の最高傑作とも言える機体です！この機体はもう国家家宝というべきだと思います。もし機会があれば
を読んでください！　あとＧｉｚｍｏｄｏで本当にＳＲ－７１面白い体験談記事があります！Ｇｉｚｍｏｄｏの記事はこちらで！


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