Friday's forecast meeting went a little smoother, but that's hollow comfort because Thursday's was so distressing. I managed to insert my giant size 9 Yankee foot into my mouth by extolling the virtues of an IBM project office that's been doing great work in the Americas. But now I'm 95% sure it just doesn't exist in Asia. That probably means I've got to figure out how to start the program in Japan from nothing.
Somebody decided I should get a manager's desk along the edge of the cubicle area. I went from no walls to three walls, and I now face most of the mainframe software staff. My office assistant introduced herself, too, and....
Wait a minute! I have an office assistant? (An undetermined share of one, anyway.) A desk on the edge of the room where I look onto the mainframe software technical staff? Somebody's singing the theme song to TV's "The Jeffersons." Nah, there's no pressure — none at all.
Today I decided to walk all over the place, and I chose two neighborhoods: the area around Harajuku Station and my hotel's neighborhood. JapanGuide.com suggested my first target would be full of Japanese teenagers and interesting shops, and it was. I observed what looked like the shooting of a TV soap opera scene: the young actor walked out of a restaurant storefront with a menu placard, positioned it on a stand outside, admired his efforts briefly, then turned toward the camera and gazed skyward, pondering something. The director yelled the Japanese word for "Cut!" I assume, and two production assistants rushed toward the actor, one with a coat to prevent the actor from suffering a moment's extra cold air, and the other with a water spray bottle and a brush to adjust his hair. I couldn't really tell the difference between hair before and hair after, however.
I spent a lot of time in a discount book and music store browsing the sale items, but ultimately I decided I didn't need the 1997 Eagle Eye Cherry CD I discovered, even for 250 yen (assuming I could find one other CD to get the discount — that "Rico Suave" guy's CD could have worked in some alternate universe). I passed by a store called Condomania that sells you-know-what. Looks like Japanese teenagers have ready, nonjudgmental access to STD protection. Great idea.
My hotel is right next to a shrine. I simply couldn't figure it out, so there's not much I can say about it except that it was a beautiful and peaceful oasis. If anyone knows why roosters live at the shrine feel free to post a comment.
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