Welcome to Japan

MAY 10 TRIP TO TOKYO

The most meaningful experience today in Tokyo is the MSU Alumni Club Gathering dinner. It was great to meeting all Japanese Alumni that night, knowing that they were still remember and make contribution to the School after they had left the school. This was the first time I went to a new country meeting many people with successful business. It was interesting that I talked to the younger Higuchisan San that night but I did not notice that would meet him the next day. Also, I talked to girl from Taiwan. She graduated with art degree in MSU, and then went to Tokyo for master. I was good to hear some thoughts she had about the Japanese culture and American culture. She felt it culturally more difficult to fit in Japanese rule if you enter the workforce. Again, even though for Asian people, Japanese culture still was difficult to fit in.
After Alumni party, me and a small group of people went to Akihabara and a sky tower. I saw the nicest view of the tokyo city at night time. It was quiet, fascinating and bright. It was worth to come and see the beautiful evening at Tokyo.

Dr. Singer Sarah and our TA Jared

View of Tokyo at Night

MAY 11 ONE DAY TOUR AT TOKYO

Today was a little tired but I had a wonderful and meaningful day. In the morning, we went to Imperial Palace and Higashi Gyoen Gardens. The garden was created at the eastern part of the Imperial Palace grounds. It was famous at its Edo Castle and the garden flowers, bamboos and large amount of greens. I was impressed by the landscape design of this place. It provided a quiet and relaxing garden for elder people to rest and walk around. Doing some exercises or painting in this area. I felt that today, it was modernized that most natural areas were replaced by factories and buildings. People are cutting trees and greens to develop industry to make money. Japanese really did a great job brought the natural view into city so that people could still experience the beauty of nature. It reminds me the word "Anshinkan" which means building peace of mind that Japanese people focus on emotions and a spiritual connection as priority and pursue a high quality of life.

Then we went to 634 meters Tokyo Skytree Tower. It was surprising to see such a high tower like this, Last night, I saw the beautiful night view of Tokyo. The morning of Tokyo is also amazing. I strongly recommend to come to this tower to have a nice look at this prosperous city.

Elder people drawing in the park

At night, we went to the most exciting competition in Japan - The Sumo Tournament. This is not only a good show for all of me but also is also educationally give me a brief introduction of the history and knowledge of Sumo. Base on what we learn that Japan has strong focus on their Shinto belief. Since ancient time, they had the practice "Misogi" which mean to cleansed themselves by washing hands and taking a bath in the stream. The rite is being carried on and in this modern world, Japan still keep this tradition in the Sumo Sports. What we see is the salt purification that used to drive away evils and clean the air.

May 12 Biggest Fish Market in Asia.

Today, we went to the biggest Fish Market in Asia. We woke up at 4:30 AM, waiting for the start of the auction. Usually, the seafood auction starts at 5:00, and then for the vegetables, flowers and meat. The most impressive part was the tour of seeing people inspect the tuna prior to the auction. I discovered the process to prepare for the auction is very precious and strict. People usually inspect four to five times for each tuna. During the auction, buyer bid for the tuna they want, and have eye contact with the wholesalers and finish finish the process of biding. One thing that impressed me was labor intensive. It was surprising to see people are so busy at this early morning. Also, the quality of tuna is high, I've learned that Tuna was keeping in at least 16 Fahrenheit in the refrigerator. The last thing that impressed me were the a large amount of fishes every day. Usually, there are 2,000 trade to either locals or international of the tuna. Each tuna weight around 700 pound and sell $25 dollar per pound.

Day 13 Disney Tour

Today, the tour to Disney was very educational for me. In the morning, we heard the lecture from Mr. Paul who was the hear general manager of the company. He introduced to us the strategy they used to enter the Japanese market. The idea is localization. Three main parts they used to achieve the strategy of localization are segmentation, research and technology. Comparing to local Japanese companies, I thought that Disney is strong at targeting the group of people they wanted to sell the product. Young females are their target group so they design many merchandise products like dolls (Tsum Tsum) and jewelry. They also find out that female girls love hanging out with friends, shopping and eating. Thus, they built up many theme restaurants and theaters to satisfy the guest expectation. The Resort used the research they had to build up a very unique style of hotel which is the SeaHotel MiraCosta. This hotel locates at the theme park entrance, faces the harbor so people can sit in their room and watch the magical Disney sea shows.
After the lecture, I had the most fancy experience in Disney. I took roller coaster with friends, had some really delicious food. The show on harbor was amazing and really worth to take a trip to Japan to watch this show. This was so far the best Disney I have ever been. It was a world of fairy tale.