Top Secret Project

I have been working on a variety of different communications projects for the Japan IT organisation.. but by far the most interesting one on my plate is my 'top secret project'. I call it this because I've been doing my best to keep it underwraps, it's slightly absurd. Allow me to backtrack a bit.

In the Philadelphia office, people interpret the work-life balance my company promotes by working from home and by taking advantage of flex hours and working on a timetable where they can arrive earlier or leave earlier during the day to spend more time with their families. In Japan, there are flex hours and people do take advantage of them as well, but there isn't working from home.

I imagine the objective in other local offices of my IT organization are similar to what I've encountered being in the U.S. and in Japan. As long as you get your job done, and manage your responsiblities, the company will work with you and you can utilize your flex hours. However, in Japan I have witnessed and continue to be shocked by the sheer number of people in the office at any time. Early morning, late in the evenings I see people typing away at their computers and reviewing documents, working hours here are a bit longer then in the U.S. You have to work at least 7 hours minimum in the U.S. (I would work 7:30am-3:30pm with 1 hour for lunch), while in the Tokyo office most work from 9am to 5:45pm (again 1 hour for lunch). With flex hours for example, I can come in at 8am and leave at 4:45pm.. core hours are 10am to 3pm. If I work overtime, it accumulates so that I can arrive by 10am and leave at 3pm if I choose.

What has continually shocked me is when I happen to find myself working late on a Friday, it will be 6:30pm and the majority of people will still be working around me. It's curious. In addition, as living in Tokyo is so expensive most Japanese don't do it and so they often have commutes that can take up to 2 hours. This is totally normal!

Having witnessed the incredible working hours and drive of my colleagues around me.. made me realize something. They need to have a little more balance in the office. I am from the school of thought that it's not healthy to immerse yourself so deeply in your work that it consumes most of your energy, your time, and your life (apparently a hallmark of my generation). Unfortunately, this is the nature of the world. In order to succeed, you must sacrifice and compromise your personal time, your family and your life at times to meet your professional responsibilities and to succeed.

Still, I never quite let go of personal perspective on life.. and this comes through in my work. As I have recently demonstrated with my 'top secret project'. From the first month I have been in the office, I've been telling my neighbor in the seat next to me that we need to have some life in the office. And how great would it be if we could adopt an animal to live right between us?

She laughed and played along, saying we could name our pet Pochi. Since then, from time to time I would mention our dog Pochi and it was always something to make us smile in the middle of a busy workday. Well recently, my imagination breathed new life into this concept.
Oracle Japan Hires Dog

In conversation with my neighbor as we laughed about Pochi one day, Tomoko mentioned that Oracle (another company) had a dog. She sent me the link for the story, and to my surprise, it was the Japanese office of the company. Well well well....... seeing the possibility that one Japanese company could accept the idea of having a dog in the office to boost morale and employee productivity, why can't my Japanese office as well?

I brought up the idea to Tomoko to my left, and Tomoko behind me. They are my friends, we have been working together on planning some IT Training Sessions for our Japanese users, so I have felt comfortable talking to them about the strange things that pop into my head. They both laughed (naturally) and then agreed, if Oracle Japan could find a business reason for a dog, why not our office?
I shared how one of my U.S. roommates had worked in a company that allowed people to bring their dogs with a 3 strikes policy. If they fight, can't control their bowels, or disrupt the work place 3 times, they aren't allowed again. I used this example to illustrate that it can be done, that some places are okay with allowing a dog in the workplace to soothe and interact with employees.

At this point, with both Tomokos' support, I tried to pawn off the actual suggesting of the office dog to one of them to ask our department manager. I feared that asking for a dog would undermine my credibility, because as it is now I'm afraid of not being seen as a capable member of the team due to my constant laughter and energy in the office. Why would I think they look at me like that, you ask? Well, early this week I finally admitted how eerily alike my personality is with Mayumi-san's 7 year old son. Then a discussion began among a few colleagues to whether I am a 7-year old or 5-year old in personality. It ended up agreed upon that I am 9. Haha, it was all in good fun.. but you see my point.

Anyways, the ladies pointed out accurately that if someone was to ask for an office animal, it would have to be me. Tomoko #1 Told me that I'm the one that's always introducing the new and innovative ideas so it would make sense to come from me. Tomoko #2 said if she suggested it, our department manager wouldn't think she's serious.
Okay, okay.. I get it. It's on me to see if we can make this a reality.

It just so happened that at that moment, my manager asked me to help him with a bit of English translation on an Excel spreadsheet they were submitting to the Global IT team. I took this opportunity and bided my time.. When we got to the point in the conversation that we were just about done with the translation, and I saw an opening to ask, I went for it. From a hypothetical standpoint. I mentioned the Oracle dog to see what Kawai-san thought of it. He burst out in laughter, and spoke of it with great amusement. Hmm. I asked if we could have something like that, he laughed again.. and didn't think I was coming from a serious place, so I took that as attempt #1 and began plotting a new strategy.

I realized that in order to seriously propose this animal in the office I would have to come armed to the conversation. With any solid proposal you have to be ready to answer questions and address the other party's concerns. In this case, the concerns that I could project were.. Poop. And HR having a problem with it. And where the dog would sleep at night. And who would be responsible for the animal.
So. I sent an e-mail to HR.

'I have been thinking lately that what the 6th floor needs is a little life. We all work very hard on our computers all day, and something is missing from our interactions. In the U.S. my roommate works in a company that allows people to bring their dogs to work with a 3 strikes policy. If that dog gets into fights, or can’t control his bathroom urges 3 times, then he isn’t allowed to return. It had crossed my mind I would like to something like that here, but the magnitude of the concept was too much to imagine and I had forgotten the idea.
Until I saw this- http://weekly.ascii.jp/elem/000/000/026/26613/?inb=tw

Oracle has a dog named Candy. Having an office pet (if no one objects) boosts employee morale and productivity. It is a good idea I didn’t want to just suggest it without checking with you first. I know it sounds silly, an office mascot, living creature, but I would like you to consider the idea sincerely. Yes, imagining an animal at work makes me smile, but I think it’s got merit. The animal wouldn’t have to come every day, and I’ve spoken with an employee who is looking for a pet they would like to adopt so perhaps if this idea is okay she can be the true owner responsible for the pet afterhours.

So please ignore the absurdity of my suggestion, and please consider it for what it is. Thanks!'

The response was positive. My Japan HR contact was curious and interested and did not outright deny my idea. I found that to be a step in the right direction. She asked that I ask the department manager next.
'Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful idea with me. Personally, I love animals, especially dogs and I love your idea.

However, bringing dogs to work does not quite work in GSK-J environment… trust me, I wish it did. Also, commuting in Tokyo is not as easy when you have your pet with you, especially on a crowded train.

But I do like your point of view about needing a little life and trying to change things. I would strongly suggest that you talk to Kawai-san about how you feel about the situation and good idea may come up through some discussion. I am very interested in how this goes too!'

Hmm.. okay perhaps 'does not quite work' isn't completely promising, but it also isn't an outright no, so I brought the idea to my department manager.

With both Tomokos watching with a smile on their faces, I asked Kawai-san if he had a few minutes to talk to me. I sat down and dove into the proposal. 'So remember when we talked about Oracle Japan having a dog...?' When I got to the part about our office having our own little guy, he laughed (of course). The rest of the conversation, the smile danced on his face. He went through a series of expressions..looks that bespoke what was going on in his mind. I interpreted the looks as, seriously? Wow. Interesting. Hmm.

I asked him if he had a dog at home, trying to figure out if he is a dog lover. Finally he shared that his teenage daughters at home are trying to convince him to get a cat.. but he used to own a dog as a child so a cat just does not seem enticing. Bingo.

Kawai-san also didn't outright object to this. He just pointed out his concern for hygiene, but then after sharing my positive points he added one of his own. It could be a great way to help us to connect with different departments, and teams in our building. He followed with that this is an idea that I should speak with the head of IT about.

Okay. So later that afternoon I had a meeting arranged with the head of Japan IT to talk about communications. He's a very interesting man, and I always enjoy speaking to him. A Frenchman in the middle of the Japanese office, he always maintains his sense of humor and talking to him is always educational and insightful to how the business and being foreign in this culture can be.. and funny. For example, knowing the Japanese tradition of gift-giving, on my 1st day in the office I arrived with Philadelphia pencils for all the staff, books in Japanese on Philadelphia for my section manager, department manager and head of IT. When I gave the gift to the head of IT, he said, 'A book in Japanese! Thank you. I can't read Japanese.' Together we laughed, so it wasn't a problem and later I imported the same book in French for him and retried the gift-giving with greater success.

When I met with him later we chatted a bit and caught up, then I told him it was time for a very serious proposal. I went for it with the leader of IT looking at me with a straight poker face. After I finished my pitch, he looked at me thoughtfully and after choosing his words he said. 'No, we should get a tiger.' My eyes widened. 'Huh? What? Why?' He looked at me solemnly, 'I was born in the year of the tiger.' I cocked my head to the side. 'Oh. I was born in the year of the cow.' He nodded and said, 'Well, not all of us can be lucky.'

We debated the topic a bit more, and he agreed there was merit but he had a few concerns, what happens if the dog bites an employee? What if other people in the building would like a dog, and they raise the issue to the president of Japan and he takes issue? Ultimately, we decided that the head of IT would talk it over with all of his IT Department Managers and then we would decide from there. If the idea gains momentum after this talk, then the next step is to talk it over with the head of Japan HR.

That's where I'm at now, and that's the top secret project.

Photo journal on Facebook

I haven't been writing as much for my blog as I'd like to be lately, but I have been posting numerous pictures to my Facebook. I've created albums with hundreds of pictures, as a photo journal. If you would like to see my pictures, go on Facebook.

Here is a video from the Hanakoganei omatsuri (fall festival) I had recently attended. The pictures that go with this video are on my profile. The quality isn't like the other ones because I took this with my digital camera rather than with my digital recorder.

Today's Lunch

I had delicious tempura at a small place in Yoyogi today.

The weather is perfect today, it's a crisp autumn day, the kind where you have difficulty motivating yourself to get back to work after breathing the fresh cool air outside. Indeed, after the lunch I wasn't prepared to return to work just yet, so I headed towards the Meiji Jingu, a few minutes away from work.
My grandmother told me once, a place like this gives you strength, and indeed after stepping foot inside I felt my stresses melt away. Nature restores your inner peace.

This is just a brief video I took while there to see if it's possible to capture the atmosphere. You don't even have to watch, just listen.

Sneaky Ninja Mosquitos

Tokyo is beautiful. What I have been lucky to have been enjoying the last couple of weeks since the end of the hottest Japanese summer on record has been the start of the cool, breezy and comfortable Autumn weather.

The temperatures have been hovering around the low 70's(Farenheit) and in the low 30's (Celsius) though they have been fluctuating to very unseasonably hot to kinda rainy and cold. Still the weather's been nice enough that I have still been sleeping with my balcony door cracked open for the nice cool night's breeze.

When in Philly something that I wished I could change about my beloved city were the nighttime bug sounds. The lack of bug sounds was something that I missed so much it felt as though it would drive me to near-madness, though before my move to Tokyo I had been in Philly for about seven years. To sleep with open windows with a breeze blowing in your window and the sound of crickets filling the darkness has always been a seasonal thing that I grew up with. These sounds were something that I would fall sleep to, relax to, and they'd ease me to the unburdened sleep of youth. In Philly I would be fine through winter and spring, but come summer.. subconsciously each year something was off. Yearning so much for the nighttime bug sounds I had grown up with, it reached the point that I was listening The Beatles' Abbey Road, the Sun King medley (mellow guitar and cricket sounds) on repeat before bed.

I love that at my place in Tokyo I finally have the best of both worlds. At night I fall asleep when my door is slightly ajar, listening to the sounds of the crickets chirping below and the cars racing along the roads in the distance. It's an entirely new melody to carry me off to sleep, and I like it. This combination of natural scenery and man-made has been unexpected for me. I have continually been surprised that the greenery around Tokyo is common, and often is grown in strategic places but in a beautiful, unrestrained manner that reflects sunshine back into the world. The daily peace of mind it gives me to pass by the trees, plants and flowers nourishes my soul, and leads me to believe that perhaps more cities should focus on balancing nature within their confines. Have more trees, more plants, more life in the world, it makes me feel more human, and on a sunny day less like a person that spends most of the week staring at a computer monitor. Who would've thought my move to Tokyo would allow me to live in one of the biggest cities in the world and feel like I am more in touch with nature?

Another aspect of nature-city balance of Tokyo that has consistently caught my notice, has been the ninja mosquitoes. I have labelled them as such for the following reasons. 1) They are so stealthy so much so that I have found about 9 bug bites since my arrival, but have yet to seen 1 mosquito. Anywhere. 2) This is the homeland of the Ninjas. These mosquitoes have obviously learned their crafty, quiet ways to ensure a flourishing existence. Though I don't mind mosquito bites so much, I just can't get past the fact that for the 9 bites they've given me I have yet to slap one of them down. I feel that this is another part of the balance between man and nature. You know, you win some you lose some, but for every few mosquitoes trying to draw my blood if I can slap one down, I feel satisfied. Stealthy ninja mosquitoes really are a small price to pay for the nature around me, so while I continue to enjoy the leaves changing with the Autumn weather, I will remain alert to skillful ninja insects.

Super Mario Love

It's been some time since I have last posted. Sorry about that, I have been pretty busy with work as the way that I have seen Japan IT often operate requires one person to be responsible for the work of an IT team. I have been working as the Japan IT communications team, and between the event planning, news writing, video editing, scheduling, coordinating, meetings, and such I have had to put my blog on the back burner.

Today I woke up inspired. I had a dream.. I wish I could say it were as magnanimous as something Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed up, but sadly, no. My dream was about the Super Mario Brothers 25th anniversary! Since I had noticed signs around Tokyo heralding the anniversary.. I have felt more than ever that it wasn't just sheer coincidence that I should be in Japan during this glorious occassion, but an aligning of the stars.. and destiny. After all, Mario turns 25 this year, and so am I. And here I am in Tokyo.. Mario's hometown. It doesn't get better than this.

My love affair with Mr. Mario + friends began when I was very young. Some of my earlier memories are of my brothers and mother working together to defeat Bowser and his minions.. and inevitably beating the game. We had Mario 1, 2, 3.. this happened game after game. I fondly remember playing with my little brother, and when the game wasn't starting up right, pulling the cartridge out of the console to blow and blow the dust out. I still think that part of the reason I am doomed to terrible eye sight and contact lenses is because of my thirst to win at Duck Hunt by getting up very close to the TV screen to shoot them down. Yes, I was coniving, I was a cheater, but I also won everytime, and that was satisfying. Playing Super Mario Brothers was something that my family was able to get together and enjoy hours doing. We even nicknamed a couple of our neighbors, Mario and Luigi because they resembled Mario and Luigi (I just recollected that, and seeing it in writing with everything else just made me laugh out loud!!) As I grew older, Mario has always been in the background, from the Virtual Boy game system, to the Game Cube, to the Wii.. Mr. Mario has often been the theme to many a family Christmas.

As I have grown up, little by little I realized how much Mario's theme song constantly tinkering in the background has affected my psyche. My personalized Google theme is of Mario and friends(I just thought it would be something I could often look at and never tire), my ringtone for a while was the Mario theme song(it's cute, and a song I could never tire of), and when my brothers and I unite for a few solid days of uninterrupted bonding around Christmas, Mario (and a sense of competition) is the glue that keeps us awake into the early hours just trying to get to the next level of the game.

So my Mario dream from last night wasn't too unusual. It was a strange dream that incorporated different elements from my waking life. I had visited a Japanese architectural museum this past weekend where I walked through a public bathhouse for the first time (these were common in the past, not anymore). So my dream was that there was a giant celebration for the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Brothers in a giant open public bathhouse. No one was taking a bath or anything, it was just a white, tiled, high-ceilinged venue that everyone gathered together in. The party consisted of games, drinks, people laughing and having fun. Haha, it's funny to describe something like this with others.. but this dream had reminded me that I must find out about the Mario 25th Anniversary!

I found this link today>> http://www.nintendo.co.jp/mario25th/index.html

So that is my first step. Though I doubt my dreams will come true in such a way, I look forward to finding out more about how I can celebrate Mario. He is just so darn cute. Love you Mario!