I call this sort of trip "the Asia sweep." I hit Taiwan, Japan, and Korea (all the major areas for my market research) in a week and a half. The result is cultural dizziness, since each country is so different. They go by in a blur, then suddenly you're back in the US, and that too seems like a foreign country.
Are We Tired Yet? The flight to Taipei was a lovely 14 hours, and I stayed awake for all but about an hour of it. Gotta arrive tired. The guy next me did the reverse, only staying awake for about an hour. What a nut-- he'll have terrible jet lag. One darkly amusing thing was that when we were landing, the pilot said, "I am required to announce that the Taiwanese government has banned the transport of drugs, ammunition, and firearms. This is an offense punishable by capital punishment." Urk.
I swear my bag was the last one unloaded, so it took a while to get out of the airport. I was staying in Hsinchu, about an hour away, and the hotel had sent a car and told me to look for the driver holding a sign with my name. I knew I had found the right one when I saw "Mr. K. Allen." Yep, we're in Asia.
At the hotel, I was ready for bed. Are we tired yet? YES.
Getting on Track. In the morning, I couldn't get the Internet connection to go through. That was strange because I've never had trouble with my company's global Internet system before. I suspect the hotel's phone or IT system was at fault. One thing that's interesting about Asia is that you think of it as really high tech-- and it is, but only in some ways. In other ways, they haven't quite gotten on track yet. The Internet is one of them. You should never assume that Asian workers have easy Internet access at the office. Stunningly, we recently came across a Japanese tech company that still makes its employees share computers, and they don't have proper Internet access from their desks. And it was a major electronics company that you have heard of!
Anyway, Asia may have blanket coverage and 90% color screen penetration in the cell phone market, but computing is a different story. Hopefully I'll have a good connection when I get to Japan in a couple days. (Oh no! No email for two days! Can I survive?)
The next step in getting myself on track was breakfast. This hotel has a really nice breakfast buffet with a very complete assortment of foods from around the world. As I've noted before, breakfast is the meal where people really want their native fare. I always go for the cereal. As much as I like sushi, smoked salmon, pickled vegetables, miso soup, and steamed pork buns, I don't really like them at 7 am. I had to smile, though-- one of the choices was labeled "Honey Nit Cereal." Who could resist that?
The day was filled with meeting companies who are trying to get on track in this sluggish economy. I do research in emerging display technologies, and this is a tough time to try to ramp up a new industry. Consequently, it's easy to get totally different stories from different companies. One guy claimed that a certain display configuration was the only one that could ever work for a certain application, while the next guy said that the first guy's choice was the one doomed to failure. We'll find out in the marketplace, but it's my job to make some intelligent statements about the future of this technology. Not an easy task.
One company we visited smelled of incense in the lobby. I noticed it came from a shrine over in the corner and asked my guide what it was. He said most Taiwanese manufacturing companies have such a shrine, but it was unusual to see it in a public place. Apparently it is a shrine to a god who will bring money and stability to the company, protecting it from nature and the harsh realities of global competition. Intriguing.
For dinner, we went to a Shanghainese restaurant in Hsinchu, the Garden.V (I have no idea how to pronounce that). The architecture and décor were beautiful. We ate beef and mussel stew (spelled "muscle" on the menu), shrimp with asparagus, roasted chicken, and a whole steamed fish with mustard greens. The fish was called "yellow croaker," I kid you not. Apparently it comes from the China Sea around the mouth of the Yellow River. It was good-- just a mild white fish like rock cod. I love those whole steamed fish. For dessert, an assortment of fruit on ice, some of which I couldn't recognize. The strangest one had pale green skin and a white interior, and was crunchy and almost dry.
On the way back to the hotel, I spotted an interesting thing-- The Overseas Chinese Bank. I suppose it is a place to exchange yuan, which aren't generally available at banks and other money-dealing locations outside of China. There are plenty of Chinese in Taiwan, of course.
Year-End Parties. The next day was also a day of meetings, but more importantly, it turned out to be a day of year-end parties. This is a big tradition in Taiwanese companies, somewhat akin to the Holiday Bash at an American company. It is nearly the end of the Chinese year, so it is a time of company togetherness and festivity.
The first one was lunch. My company contracts with a Taiwanese company for research and sales representation, and this was the year-end party of our contractors. So my two guides were there, along with about 15 other employees, contractors, and key clients of this company. We had lunch at a really nice Taiwanese restaurant in a fabulous garden setting.
I can't even name all the dishes, but there were about 14 of them in succession, including oysters on the half-shell with garlic and glass noodles, shrimp with pea pods, some kind of beef ribs, jellyfish salad, chicken soup that included a whole roasted chicken floating in the pot, fruit, and an interesting dessert sort of like cheesecake but not as sweet (as if it had yogurt rather than sweet cream cheese). Mostly the talk was business (and in Chinese), and the feeling was clearly one of affirming business relationships. This is vitally important in Asia, and should not be underestimated.
Attending the second party was a surprise. We had a very late meeting with a client in a city about an hour's drive away, and he invited us to stay for dinner at his company party before heading back. We couldn't refuse. And it was a totally different scene!
This company has 2,000 employees in Taiwan and another 7,000 at their plant in China. Nearly all 2,000 were at this event, packed around tables in groups of about 10, in front of an enormous stage like at a rock concert. It was at an outdoor pavilion sort of thing, and luckily the weather was beautiful-- clear and about 60 degrees at night.
It was like another planet. The chairman got up and gave some rousing speech about taking the company to new heights. An ice sculpture of a giant "10 oku" was wheeled out (I don't know what to call "oku" in Mandarin-- it is the character for 10^8, called "oku" in Japanese), and 10 oku is supposed to represent the target monthly revenue in NT dollars for 2003 (about $30 million).
Then some awards were presented to key clients, many of whom were Japanese. Some comedy came from the guy from Sony Chemical attempting to read a short speech in Mandarin. He knew he was terrible, and was enjoying his attempt to struggle through it. I couldn't help thinking that you would never have seen that 20 or even 10 years ago when Japan would barely give Taiwan the time of day. And now they can drink and laugh together. I bet you still wouldn't see a Japanese laughingly attempting to speak Korean.
Then came awards for employees who had served 10 years with the company. There were perhaps 20-25 of them, and they each ascended the stage (to the background music of "The Saints Go Marching In") to receive a plaque and gift and have their picture taken with the Chairman. Yow. Then the division managers and vice presidents came to the stage and all drank a toast to the glorious future of the company.
At last, the food was brought on in great waves from a frenetic staff hired from a local restaurant and catering service. I swear the boys waiting tables were about 12. I also noticed that several of them-- as well as a significant number of the company employees-- were Filipino, Vietnamese, or Indian. Taiwan really is more diverse than Japan, especially in the tech sector (just like in the US). The food was great, although some was a little challenging for a stupid Westerner like me. What am I supposed to do with a whole, unshelled shrimp that includes big eye stalks and legs? It seemed to be OK to crack it open with your fingers and suck out the meat. Some of the dishes we had were like the ones at lunch.
During the meal, entertainment was provided by company employees in the form of a talent show that featured singers and dance routines. At some point, the best one was voted on and those performers received a prize.
Then came the big prizes. It is traditional for large companies to give away really nice prizes for employees through a lottery drawing at the year-end party. For a huge company like UMC, the top prize might be a Mercedes (I'm not kidding). For this company, it was a top-end PC and flat-panel monitor. Not bad. And they gave away several! The winners came to the stage to the theme music of "Star Wars." Everyone laughed when the President of the company won one of the PCs. I couldn't quite follow everything that happened, but it seemed like a real company bonding experience.
It's hard to describe exactly, but the feeling at this party was not like the feeling at an American company party, even though both are about bonding (and getting drunk). Obviously there is less employer-employee loyalty in the US than in Asia, but even that doesn't capture it, because this party was not like, say, an IBM company party of 40 years ago. Perhaps the closest analogy would be school spirit.
However, I have to be careful not to lump all of Asia together. Taiwan is the most Americanized the Asian countries I have visited. The party was loud and festive, and included employees at all levels mingling with managers and executives. This would not happen in the quite the same way in Japan! Japan's company parties probably do resemble those of IBM 40 years ago in the age of corporate loyalty.
Anyway, it was a privilege to be invited to that event, and I enjoyed it.
To the Frozen Northlands, Ho! Then I was off to Japan, where it is actually winter. The temperature wasn't too bad in Tokyo (around 40 F), but I will be spending a couple days in the mountains where it will be snowy and far colder, plus Korea is colder than Japan. Oh well, the world is not California.
One funny thing was that much of the time on the plane was spent making announcements. The flight I was on was a Cathay Pacific flight that had come from Hong Kong to Taipei, and was going on to Tokyo. That means they had to announce in Cantonese (for HK), Mandarin (for Taiwan), and Japanese, but in addition, international flights almost always have English announcements. So everything had to be said four times. Whew!
My hotel (the Cerulean Tower-- isn't that a great name?) was in Shibuya, which seemed like a nice area. Yes, the Internet connection worked! (Of course I checked right away). Then I got an odd phone call from the front desk because they were confused about whether my name was "Kim" or "Kimberly." They thought those were two different people and didn't know which one I was. I don't know where they got Kim-- I never use that in Asia for exactly the reason that nicknames are not understood. (Also, in Korea, it sounds like a last name). Anyway, just a little reminder that things that seem obvious to us may not be to others.
The porter who carried my bag to my room (a requirement in Asia) was sure to point out that tonight was a full moon. Can you even imagine that in the US?
The next day, I was free! This was my 6th time in Japan and my 5th in the Tokyo area, but I have had relatively little time to explore the vastness of the city. I decided to head to a place called Omotesando, sometimes called the "young people's Ginza." It's mostly shopping, with a variety of interesting stores catering to the young, fashionable crowd, which does not include me. Still, it was fun to look around. I also happened upon the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Grounds, where a match was going to be played later. Fans were arriving, and one of the teams was warming up in a practice area outside the stadium. I watched a bit. Don't ask me anything about the rugby leagues in Japan, because I have no clue.
I found a few interesting items in a fancy food store, including wasabi in a squeeze bottle. No kidding, it looked like mustard. That seems more convenient than mixing it from powder, so I bought some to give it a try. I'll find out if it's any good... [Note added later: I didn't really like it. The flavor seemed watered down.]
Anticipating cold weather in Yamagata, where I was going the next day, I stopped by the Tokyu Department Store and picked up a pair of gloves. (Stupid me, I thought about bringing some, and somehow didn't pack them at the last minute). Nice ones-- cashmere (on sale, of course, the only way to buy cashmere). Some of the clothes there were pretty nice! I often have trouble finding clothes that fit in the US, and got to thinking that Japanese clothes would probably be better. Large American men can never find anything that fits (so if you're coming here for an extended stay, bring lots of clothes!), but I often find that American clothes are proportioned too large. However, I wasn't going to buy anything at those prices.
Next I went to Yoyogi Park, the biggest park in Tokyo. But don't go thinking it's like Central Park-- mostly it is a forest with gravel paths. In it is the Meiji Jingu Shrine, which was dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. This is quite an impressive shrine, very large with many gates and courtyards. Outside is a fountain equipped with wooden ladles. You dip the ladle and rinse your hands so you'll be clean when you go in. Before the main shrine, people throw coins into a vat and clasp their hands in a short, silent prayer.
I needed to slow down at this point, so after resting a bit at the temple, I headed back.
Meeting Hell. Ugh, we had to take the 6:20 am train up to Yamagata, and it was frippin' cold. As usual, I learned the most outside of the meetings. We had a little extra time, so we stopped by a shrine in Yonezawa (called Uesugi). There is the statue of the man who pulled Yonezawa out of its financial doldrums. Apparently the city used to be poor, but this guy came and said something like, "Anything can be done if you try. If you haven't done it yet, it's because you haven't applied yourself." (This was quoted on the statue-- I think I understood it correctly). It sounds a little harsh to me, but apparently he succeeded.
For lunch, we had really good soba. I learned that soba used to be the cheap alternative to rice, back when farmers never had rice. (Almost all of it was taken in taxes by the daimyou, the equivalent of the lord in a European medieval society. Peasants tasted rice about twice a year). Soba they had much more often as a staple food. But then someone discovered that soba is apparently very healthy, and now it is all the rage, and has gained a lot of status.
In other food experiences, we had a special kind of beer on the train on the way home-- Ginga Kogen beer. It is actually made by a process that preserves the live yeast, rather than killing it off. The result is a distinctive, almost sweet flavor to the beer. (But not genuinely sweet like those awful fruit beers-- bleah!). This stuff was great. I will look for it in the US, but was warned by my Japanese guide that they sell inferior stuff to foreign countries. Another intriguing property of this beer is that it apparently kills garlic breath. This was discovered by accident after its commercial introduction. We didn't get a chance to test this, however.
The next day we visited a factory in western Japan. That's right, Tokyo is in eastern Japan. So it involved a domestic plane flight, something akin to visiting LA for the day from San Francisco.
Flying on a domestic flight in a foreign country is sort of a trip. You don't need your passport, of course, but none of the announcements are in English. The neatest part was that there was a camera attached to the bottom of the plane, and for takeoff and landing, they would show the view from the camera. It points forward while you're close to the ground, and down when you get up higher.
The biggest challenge was actually getting through the meeting itself. It was in a tiny, dingy room, and the guy we talked to chain-smoked the whole time. I am very sensitive to smoke, and found myself getting a headache and getting nauseous. As a sidenote, the smoke is the biggest disadvantage of Asia. Everywhere-- Japan, Korea, Taiwan-- is filled with cigarettes like the US was about 25 years ago. I find it repulsive. Even the supposedly enlightened Europeans hang onto that awful habit. You can complain about some things in California, but the fact that it's almost smoke-free isn't one of them. If you smoke, quit, dammit. (OK, rant off).
The next day we had a final meeting, then I zipped off to Narita to fly to Korea. The best part was that the train I took had heated seats. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.
Culture Fatigue. I had forgotten just how different Taiwan, Japan, and Korea are. My brain was starting to get tired with all the cultural shifts. In Korea, I can't understand or read the language at all (just like Taiwan), but it is less American-friendly than Taiwan. Even though it was only a 2-hour flight to Seoul, I upgraded to business class so I'd get a better dinner. It was worth it-- one last taste of reasonably decent sushi.
I didn't get to my hotel until 10:30 pm, and then I learned that they only had smoking rooms available. Argh. But it's only for two nights, so I just went to bed. In the morning, the breakfast buffet had the usual impenetrable Asian selections (abalone porridge, anyone? It looked like oatmeal with fish floating in it. Or how about raw onions with some kind of pickled vegetable sauce?), as well as Western choices. My favorite was the sign that said, "Special this morning! Crap meat omelet."
Our first visit was to a large electronics company (there are only about 3 in Korea anyway, so I'm sure you've heard of it). Getting in was a real trip-- they are extremely security-conscious. I had to register the serial number of my computer and give them my passport number to get a guest badge. After I gave my talk, a security guard showed up to "lock" my computer. This turned out to mean talking it away for a few minutes, then returning it taped shut so I couldn't open it without breaking the seal. On the way out, I had to prove that the seal was still unbroken. This is just plain paranoid. And I especially didn't like the part about handing my computer to a guard. How do I know they didn't copy any files off my hard drive? (OK, maybe I'm now being paranoid. But really, I have a lot of stuff on my hard drive that is confidential).
For lunch we went to an amazing underground mall. This mall links the COEX Convention Center with a couple of the large hotels. I swear the thing is a mile square; it just went on and on. We ate at a place that served ginseng chicken soup. This is a big pot of soup with a cooked chicken floating in it (reminiscent of the soup I had in Taiwan). The chicken breaks apart as you eat it, revealing that it is stuffed with rice, a date, and ginseng (which I had never tasted). It was good. And of course it came with kim chee, that staple of Korean meals (I grow tired of it quickly, but the Koreans can't get enough).
We stopped off briefly at our Korean rep's office, which is something called an "office-tel." That is short for "office hotel," because each space has a small bathroom, kitchen sink, and mini-fridge. It could be used as an office, or as a studio apartment, and people choosing each option are mixed together along the hallways. Apparently they are very popular in Seoul.
For dinner, we went to a place called Nanmiri-- the name refers to some kind of dragon creature. The restaurant resembled Yong Su San, where I went on my first trip to Korea, in that it served a dizzying array of small dishes. We had jellyfish salad, pumpkin soup, oysters, smoked salmon, grilled beef, mushroom and rice ball soup, vegetables with some kind of sour dressing, pork, fried rice/vegetable patties, and (of course) kim chee. For dessert, some kind of sweet filled rice cake and a cold "soup" that tasted like very light syrup infused with cinnamon. I was stuffed, but oh so happy.
At this point, I was missing home. And yet, it seemed like the time had passed quickly in the whirlwind of traveling through three very different countries. The next day was my last, and I was ready to go, even if I was reluctant to get on my 6th plane in 10 days.
But wait, there was one more company visit and one more business lunch. This company was just as paranoid as the first, requiring my serial number once again, and also requiring me to send my bag through one of those luggage X-ray machines. No kidding! The lobby looked like an airport security station. I thought I had seen enough of those on this trip.
Reverse Cultural Confusion. My last experience turned out to be one of the most amusing. They wanted to take me to an Italian restaurant for lunch. Sure, why not, I thought. I like Italian, and I know the Japanese do, so why not the Koreans too.
I've been to a Japanese restaurant in Taiwan and a Chinese restaurant in Japan, but the Italian restaurant in Korea takes the cake for weird ethnic combinations. The places were set with fork, knife, spoon, and chopsticks, as well as a Western napkin and an Eastern wet towel. We got a water glass that was continually refilled during the meal, something that is rarely seen in Asia, but was properly European.
Nonetheless, confusion reigned. I was the only one who knew which napkin and water glass were mine (left and right, respectively) at the square table; one Korean guy took the wrong napkin, which meant passing one across the table when we realized the error. Even though the main courses came with salad or soup, we all got a salad that seemed to be a standard item like the bread that comes before the meal. That meant that I and another guy got two salads. And another guy confused the waiter by ordering a different soup than the standard one. (No problem; I like salad. But clearly the whole concept of Western courses and of ordering ala carte versus getting set items was a little confused).
In addition, all the Koreans seemed unsure about whether to use their chopsticks or the fork. I went for the fork (duh, it's Italian food! And I use chopsticks at a Chinese restaurant even when I'm in the US. It's the food, not where you are on the globe or what utensils you usually eat with at home). I have to admit I enjoyed watching them trying to eat pasta with a fork. They didn't know the trick of twirling it around the tines, and thought it was very clever when I showed them. Now I know how silly Westerners look trying to eat in Asian restaurants.
And then there was the food itself. I can't say if the chef was actually Italian or not, but the food was certainly modified for the Korean palate. The salads had an Asian flavor, and the tomato sauce just wasn't right. It took me a while to figure it out exactly. Believe it or not, this tomato sauce did not have garlic or oregano it in! It seemed only to have onion and a tiny amount of basil. It also had way too much olive flavor, as if very strong olive oil had been used, and too much of it. I know American Italian isn't perfectly traditional either (or American Chinese or anything else), but this was outside of what I considered... fully edible.
(By the way, the last page of the menu was entitled "fusion pasta." The most intriguing item on it was "Pollack egg kimchi spaghetti," I kid you not. No way was I trying that).
So here's some advice for foreigners entertaining Americans in your home country: for goodness sake, please don't take us to Western restaurants (unless the American is dying for anything resembling home). You can't do proper Italian any more than the Americans can do proper sushi. This was an expensive restaurant. We could have had a better meal at a moderately-priced Korean restaurant.
And then I returned home, happy but exhausted. My flight was a continuation of one from Singapore, and was half-filled with Indians making the multi-day voyage across the globe to America. Many were decked out in traditional dress, and a few sported traditional head wraps. I felt a little concerned about whether they would have trouble getting through customs in the US because of current prejudices, but it seemed to go OK. Then we flitted off in different directions toward different adventures.
Copyright © Kim Allen 2003
