Work hard, play hard, under promise, over deliver and eat rice.

From conversations with other JSPS fellows, everyone’s working environment and hours are different. There is a perception that Japanese people work hard, long hours and in the corporate office complexes that would be cities of their own were they in another country, I am sure this is true. However working hard and long does not convey the actual truth of the Japanese working culture and perhaps as someone who is struggling with the most basic of situations due to a limited grasp of the language, there is much that I yet do not understand about working a job in Japan. Observations I have collected so far never the less I would like to share. During my home visit, the father of the family I stayed with mentioned, during a broken conversation about this very topic, that the MD of his company often uses a phrase which translates as “I employ ten thousand people which really means that I am responsible for one hundred thousand people and I see them all as part of our company's family”. Despite a little chuckle at the extrapolation of the numbers which do not convey the actual size of the average Japanese family, the phrase presents an interesting insight to thinking of your work colleagues as part of your family.

My experience at the Lab, is very much as if I were working with my immediate family. We eat together sometimes two or even three times a day. We socialize during the day discussing the latest Apple products, which Samurai/Anime films are good, playing with the office remote control helicopter and fiddling with the various electronic gadgets in the Lab under the premise of ‘research’. Sports are not a huge part of Lab life but we are each encouraged by Mitsugi Sensie to partake in sports and I certainly do not wish to disappoint him. We often discuss each other’s projects and are encouraged to help each other out. We have our own little self-run shop in the lab for snacks and coffee. Coffee breaks are a good time to have a chat, practice Japanese or for my fellow Lab members to practice English. So, yes, I spend long hours at the Lab, but Lab life includes components which would be outside of working life in the West. Concentrated working hours, I would say, are about the same. I have consigned myself to leaving the house at 8.45am and not getting back until 11pm but my day includes socialising, sports, general banter, getting fairly competent at being a remote control helicopter pilot, learning new concepts from my Lab mates everyday, practicing my Japanese, one on one teaching from Mitsugi Sensie and lovely food. It’s not a bad life. I guess once in a situation where I have my own little family, the time spent at the Lab would be a little too much for me personally and I would perhaps have to cut out the sports and socialising. But for a young, single chap, working life in our Lab is agreeable.

I spent a weekend in Tokyo with L.E. We saw a fair amount in our weekend, highlights being a Samurai Sword Museum and Shinjuku Park. Just for the experience; we stayed in an Internet Café on the Saturday night. How it works is one rents a booth for a given number of hours, it can be any time as they are open around the clock. The booth is just big enough to sleep flat out, has internet access and as many Anime comics as you could not read in one night. It is considered a very cheap, convenient place to get your head down for a few hours. So after a night out in Shinjuku, we checked in, settled in and then on Sunday morning we went back to my home district of Tsujido for Surf Lessons.

Armour at the Sword Smith Shop

A dude enjoying the blazing sun in Shinjuku Park

Master Sword Smith taking a trace of an old Katana

LE infront of the entrance to the Sword Museum

Shrine

Street Guitarist we got chatting to. She could play!

We were met by Shiori and Racoonie from the Lab and went to the surf shack where Shiori had booked the lessons for us. After getting into our gear and meeting our Instructor for the day, a Grandma who longboards but does not look a day over 30, we headed to the beach and into the Surf. We all caught a few waves, got hammered by all the other ones and took in more sea water than is healthy. Surfing in Japan; good times. We had lunch at a restaurant close by which was included in the Surf Lessons. We paid 5200 yen each (about £40) for surf boards, wet suits, three hours of instruction with a Grandma who shreds and a huge lunch. Lush. Tsujido beach is a proper little surf spot, with loads of independent surf stores, as well as known brand ones, a relaxed vibe and many coffee shops having live music long into the night.

That weekend, I received deeply cutting news as it circulated around my friends and the internet that Nelson Pratt, a GB snowboard Coach and the Coach for the Army Snowboard team had passed. It was hard to take that he had taken his own life. He was a true gentleman, an incredible snowboarder and one of the nicest chaps you could hope to meet. It often is the case when a young life passes, it is only natural that people say the nicest things and even exaggerate a little. In Nelly’s case, there is no need to exaggerate and the only way to describe him is using words reserved for the truly nice, humble and most gentlemanly of men. My experience under Nelly’s guidance was at every minute enjoyable. He had a way of inspiring, coaxing, if you will and through his energy and positivity, somehow made you into a better snowboarder. It never felt like training or coaching with Nelly. I shared a ride back to the UK from Austria in his legendary Land Rover; he drove all the way, would not accept any money for it or even a coffee for that matter, not once showed any signs of tiredness on the 18hr journey, had classic rock and roll blaring, cracked jokes, smiled all the way home and could not thank me enough for being a co-pilot. I was glad to have spent time, be taught by and simply get to know a true gent. Thanks for being you Nelly.

Riding in Peace. Nelson Pratt. 

As is clear, a lot of my time in Japan is taken up in the Lab but on the weekends I can explore a little more. I organised for Ben, Rebbecca, Dustin and I to stay in the lovely beach town of Shimoda in the Izu Peninsula. I wanted to originally stay with Yasu at his lodge there but he was fully booked that weekend. Never the less in true Yasu style, he still took us around and showed us some sweet spots. The weekend started with meeting Ben and Dustin at Tsujido station. We headed to Tsujido beach for lunch and a nice stroll in the sunshine. We had amazing food then set out on the seemingly straight forward but in the end a little tricky train journey to Shimoda. It was not clear to us that we had to change platforms for certain trains even on the same line. So what seemed pretty easy was in fact a little complicated. We were sitting at a station somewhere in the middle of the journey still on the train as everybody got off. Because we were just dudes on a dude cruise we didn't really pay much attention as we were under the impression that it was a straight shot from there and expecting another hour or so of chill time. Much to our surprise, we were asked to get off and onto another train. This happened a few times. Be careful, pay attention and really do try to learn some Japanese, I suppose! My general experience with the train system has been excellent; they are never late, comfortable, easy to navigate and tourist friendly so this journey was a little out of the norm.

Ben and Dustin getting to some epic food.

The Yasu mobile reaches 200,000km. What a trooper.

Ben's Panoramic of Shimoda

The chilled crew with a dude hanging 5

Yasu took us to candle lit caves by the beach, showed us the best places to eat, lent us a longboard for free, took us to a lovely mountain top view of the sea and took us to an abandoned theme park for a longboard skateboarding session. Cheers Yasu. As Yasu’s place was fully booked he got us into a “mom and pop” lodge with tatami mat rooms and its own huge sento bath.  Everyone had good times on a chilled, fun filled weekend.

Lush train ride home with epic views over the deep blue sea

The deep blue sea

Since the weekend in Izu, I have increasingly  been applying my efforts to my work and just doing chilled things with chilled people on the weekends. Not anything to write home about, just doing what the Japanese do as much as I can and getting down to working hard. There might be a few more blog entries depending on what I get up to. If I can get my project completed in time, I hope to travel to other places in Japan. I have a trip with my Lab mates booked and a weekend break to Kyoto, Japan’s traditional capital, on the cards too. Hope you have enjoyed reading so far. Until next time. Aahdsaaas.