Thoughts about Japan: Part 2
I've been waiting to write about Japan again in my blog, knowing that I was going to visit again this spring. I have only been off the plane a few hours and decided to capture my thoughts before the jet lag really kicks in.
I visited our UniPress business partner in Japan, Macnica Networks, in Shin-Yokohama (30 minutes from Tokyo) and went to several meetings in Tokyo. I then attended the first Japanese User Conference for FootPrints in the Shinagawa Conference Center in suburban Tokyo.
I had a great trip. First, I got to see so many of the Macnica people who I had met before, as well as some new faces. I had technical meetings with Macnica’s FootPrints programmers and support people. We discussed some language issues with supporting Footprints in double-byte kanji, and also discussed the future direction of the FootPrints product line.
While in Japan I also met with various System Integrator partners of Macnica. These are large companies who sell products such as FootPrints, and include various services like customization, training, and integration with other applications. Often these System Integrator partners manufacture or distribute other product lines which can be used successfully with FootPrints.
In one case, I met with the division of a large partner who is the developer of the largest Network Management system used in Japan, and they are planning to integrate FootPrints with their tool; so their 10,000 customer sites can get the benefit of both products working together.
The User Conference was the high point of the trip. Macnica gathered 100 customers and prospects into the Shinagawa Conference Center. I spoke about using FootPrints for Compliance and Change Management. This is a big topic in Japan, as the government is planning a J-SOX compliance law for business, comparable to the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) law here in the US. People are very interested in how to use FootPrints to keep track of issues using approval processes, and of course, with an uneditable audit trail. I got a very nice reception at the event, and my sense is that the people were appreciative of learning how FootPrints can help them address compliance and change management initiatives.
Several customers gave talks as well. They talked about how FootPrints helps their companies and how useful it has been to them. Macnica also talked about novel uses of FootPrints, which is always interesting to me as I get to learn how people are configuring and customizing the system to address all types of activities and projects.
I was very happy during the cocktail party on Friday night when several current customers -- unsolicited -- got up to say how much FootPrints helps their companies.
You might wonder how I could understand anything. Yes, a majority of the conversations were in Japanese, and I only know about 50-75 words. Macnica provided me with a person who could do simultaneous translation. This not only helped me to understand the talks, but also helped me in one-on-one discussions with customers so they could communicate with me.
If you ever go to Japan, here is a useful tip: Business people have a formal way of exchanging business cards before doing anything else. They turn the card 180 degrees so the recipient can directly examine it as it is presented with both hands. They introduce themselves. "Hello, my name is Kawahara, glad to meet you," for instance.
You should do the same: "Hello, my name is Krieger (note the last name reference), glad to meet you." Even better, here is a useful Japanese phrase, it puts people at ease: "Hello my name is Krieger, 'hajimeymashtey.'" -- phonetically, that means 'nice to meet you' in Japanese.
Of course I had wonderful food in Japan. Whether it was sushi or tempura or a bento box (a box with various delicacies) or beef or shrimp, the food was wonderfully prepared and beautiful to look at and delicious.
My hosts at Macnica were so thoughtful, they even took me to the Sumo matches which were going on in Tokyo last week. What an experience! First, the color in the Sumo stadium was unbelievable. I've seen Sumo on TV, but actually being there was very different. The vivid colors stand out in the outfits that the referee wears; the outfits worn by the people who sweep the ring; the advertisements which people walk around the ring between matches; the banners and paintings of past champions on the walls. All of this was very colorful and interesting.
And the Sumo wrestlers themselves are giants. It's not only their girth, yes, they are large in the middle -- I resist calling them fat, because they are not. But they are also very tall. They tower over everyone else, and the foreigners who've reached the top of the Sumo ranks, including wrestlers from Mongolia and Eastern Europe are 6' 6" and taller, and weigh 350 pounds of muscle or more. What a sight.
All in all, I had a great time. I learned a lot, and hopefully gave some helpful tips and hints to my hosts and their customers and prospects. As always, I enjoyed the great hospitality of the Japanese people, and look forward to going back soon.
Sayonara,
Mark