I've been in Japan this week, attending a conference and meeting lots of potential partners and customers.  It's always quite a stressful time, because you work long hours, talk the same story over and over again, think a lot and have conversations with your colleagues about what we're meant to be doing.

Like with any new technology it seems, you have the people who've got direction, the people who were told to come to the meeting but really think the whole thing's a joke, the disillusioned engineers who have wasted many late nights on getting the early prototypes to work, the revolutionist free thinkers who always see blue skies, the kids who like to get together and geek out, the marketing schmoozers, and the bag fillers (people who just like to collect leaflets but never look at them ever again)

Trying to find my place and market position in that, I've actually found the easiest position is quiet integrity.  I'm trying to pitch us as the dark horse who's quietly getting on with the job and will deliver.  And we made some big steps this week in getting that done.  It still intimidates me that decisions I make will influence the overall success of our business and the stress and happiness of our employees (me included) over the next years, but I've found that this is the essence of being in a corporate and still making a positive impact in the world.

Tokyo is a quirky place.  It's a really polite society, very clean but the thing that struck me the most is that it's really well thought out on a human level.  The Japanese understand people well and how they think.  See, some designers try to make the product, be it a TV, a new gadget, a toilet seat or a traffic sign something that only the cool people get.  You might think a toilet seat is strange to include in this list, but you should check out my heated electronic toilet, with included deodourised and variable pressure water spray (I did try it and nearly fell off the seat in laughter!)

But things here are well thought out in a non-cool way, but in a very simple human way.  For example, they've installed what I assume are tiny little monsters in their escalators that growl or laugh at you when you go by.  I'm sure if I understood them, they might tell me to watch my step or something.  But it's an expression of public safety that also expresses the quirkiness of Japanese culture.  In fact, it feels a bit more like going on a fairground ride.  When a train arrives at a station, some cute jingle plays to joyfully announce that you arrived at your destination. 

In a nation where public control and order is needed because of the sheer volume of people that are around, it's handled with politeness and human expression, rather than cold "Do not leave your baggage unattended or it will be destroyed".

Despite being one of the most hard working nations, where politeness also falls into fear of failure, it also feels much lighter in many ways to western Europe.  There remains a decency and order about things which is understandable and human.  Beneath that, you see reported glimpses of sub-cultures which are perhaps more disturbing than anything found in western cultures.  But having said that, in general I think it's a pretty cool place.

And also, that kinda ties in with my thoughts about being a suit in a corporate.  We've lost the humanity of business somehow in western culture.  You have to get it, know the people, the trends, rather than just sit together and be human beings.  Writing it, it's actually quite a niave view and isn't reflective of actually what I mean.  It's like a big brush stroke, when the actual picture is much finer than that.  But it's something that I think I want to strive for and where I can make my biggest positive impact in this place.  About being a person, as well as being a marketing dude.

There's one guy here who I found really cool.  He turns up in old t-shirts, talks about mountain biking in San Francisco, his wife and kid, has tattoos including a big set of eyes on the back of his shaved head, and yet he's respected about what he writes, what he's achieved and it doesn't even enter the discussion about what people think of him.  You meet him for the first time and he's so out there, it's almost ok, you know?



I mean if I turned up in jeans and a t-shirt, I'd lack the rest of the bizarreness so I don't think it would work.  But it made me also question how I can just not care about the opinions of others.  Yeah, ok so the Sunday school answer is think about who Jesus wants you to be.  But there's a huge level of freedom in people to be who they want to be, you know?  Write poetry, build teahouses, make music, pray like you weren't afraid.  It really inspires me.

Anyway, I fly home tomorrow.  12hrs with no personal video...  Boo...

God bless x x x