Before the move

In order to get ready for our move I went up to Shimo-bashi, to buy some odds and ends from a Briton trying to make it in the music business returning to London. A good reminder of graduate student days and how many young people live here. Shimo-bashi was on a local train out of Ikebukuro in the northwest of Tokyo, still on the JR. The apartment, up three flights of narrow stairs, was a small studio that would induce claustrophobia. Somewhat of a reminder of graduate student days and the concept of the individual investing in his professional tools (several thousand dollars of musical equipment were crammed into the room) instead of better living quarters now in hope of a large payoff later.

We signed the apartment lease at Ken Corporation. We were, alas (or fortunately), just regular customers, not members of Ken Platinum, an elite group paying no doubt equally elite prices, so we were ushered into a long room with twelve partitioned meeting areas – table and four chairs – for signing leases. The room remained me of a car dealership.

I picked up my business cards, so I am now truly official. We have to get cards for the family now. I have given the card to a few people and it is impressive to see how they react to the words “Tokodai” (Tokyo Institute of Technology).

Lisa, Caroline and I attended a talk hosted by the Harvard Club of Japan by Robert Dujarric, the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Japanese Studies at Temple University Japan. The venue was the 20th floor of a bank and the view, a wealthy city brimming with light, was spectacular. And a bit incongruous with the topic, ”Japan’s new isolation”. Or not really. One subtheme was that Japan had modernized so successfully and become so economically prosperous that there was not a pressing and obvious need to open itself to the outside world.

The evening was unusual by American standards. Instead of a reception, dinner, and talk, the order was reversed. We arrived a few minutes after the opening time of 6.30 to find a score of people seated quietly in rows of desks (which were a bit short for my legs). Very few people were talking to their neighbors – it felt a bit like the first day of class. By 6.50, the audience had swelled to 50-60, but the volume had not increased. After the talk, we moved to a small buffet and cash bar to mingle and discuss the talk. The concept of the post-talk reception makes sense, but next time we will eat beforehand.

The audience was 2/3 Western, 1/3 Japanese. Several were from the financial world and there was a slight air of uneasiness. One person was formerly from Lehman. At least one ASIJ parent had the same distinction.