Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

"What you guys are lacking is Gratitude," the sales manager lectured on, almost religiously, at the somber new grads keeping their eyes on the floor. "The company pays you and feeds you even though you have not made any sales...your revenue-generating elder colleagues are eating sandwiches at their desks while you guys are lounging around the cafeteria for like an hour every day!" The manager continued at a mild, calm pace, sinking the new grads further into a bit of mild depression ... Just another daily evening meeting here at Sales Development, the guys responsible for getting more shops to join the massive online shopping mall here at Rakuten. Never mind the fact that a promised one-hour lunch break is coded in company regulations...and also never mind the fact that the Dept is openly violating the company regulations by refusing to pay overtime and weekends (even though most Sales Development personnel work longer and harder than the vast majority of employees ...

So, as I was continuing my graduate school applications (seriously this time, for my career beyond Rakuten and Japan ), I was looking for a scanner around my neighborhood to turn some documents into PDF. Asking around no less than a dozen internet cafes ( they are supposed to be convenient , no?), convenience stores, photo shops, bookstores...basically anywhere that I can imagine having a scanner of some sort for business use. In the end, I had to give up and wait for discreetly using the one in my company.... I suppose this is another episode of convenient Japan being inconvenient . It is these times that I miss the underground economy in China where services and products of every sort can be found literally anywhere. But probably the key difference between the Chinese shop owners and the Japanese ones I visited today may be that the Chinese ones would do anything to come up something (whether be to buy a scanner, think of alternative ways of getting the PDF, introduce the nea...

"Wow, this Kakegawa Noodles is really good!" "Thanks..." "Kakegawa is famous for tea right?" "Yeah..." "So does Kakegawa Noodles somehow related to the tea?" "Nah, nothing special about these noodles..." "I really hope Kakegawa Noodles can become a national brand name like Hakodate or Sapporo Noodles!" "...." As the chef/owner fell silent, no more can be heard from the little eatery with seven counter-seats besides the slurping noises of the serious-looking couple attacking away at their noodle bowls with great concentration. Slowly, the awkward yet intentionally excited-looking smile on my face slowly gave away to blankness. Failure. No more can be said of the situation. The chef stoically started washing the dishes of previous customers as the strangely energetic pop songs exaggerated the lack of any feelings in the little room. It was cold-hard trade of cash-for-grub. No ambitions, no extra services...