When I first learned that my Saitama internship placement was Bushu Gas, I had no idea what to expect. Although I had previously traveled to Japan, and had studied Japanese for many years, I had no experience with Japanese companies, let alone gas companies in any country. Knowing little to nothing about the gas industry, I imagined that my six-week internship would consist of digging holes and laying pipes in the road, becoming a meter reader, or preparing customers’ bills all day. In reality, my internship at Bushu Gas was an extremely valuable experience that allowed me to learn about natural gas, gas companies, and Japanese companies in general. 

I arrived at Narita International Airport outside Tokyo on June 19. I was met by Ms. Toyoda of the Saitama Prefecture Industry and Labor Policy Division. The other interns and I spent the first night at the Urawa Royal Pines Hotel, in Saitama City. We spent the next day at the Prefectural Government office learning about our internships and Saitama Prefecture. At the welcoming party in the evening, I met Mr. Nakajima of Bushu Gas, who told me a little about the company and what I would be doing in my internship. His comments and descriptions made me excited about starting soon.

I started my internship on June 23. First, I was given a tour of the Bushu Gas head offices, and learned a little about the company and natural gas. Bushu Gas is a utility company in Kawagoe, Saitama. It supplies natural gas to Kawagoe, Tokorozawa, and the surrounding areas. Natural gas has many applications, and Bushu Gas has around 180,000 industrial, residential, and commercial customers. Compared to coal and kerosene, the traditional fuels of Japanese industry, natural gas produces less sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide during combustion. These substances are all harmful to the environment, and as a result, natural gas is sold as clean energy.

I spent every day of my internship with a different group within Bushu Gas. After spending the morning learning about the group’s functions from employees in the office, I spent the afternoon job shadowing in the field. In my six weeks, I was able to learn about most of the company, from sales and safety to billing and general affairs. 

With the customer service group, I went to Bushu Gas’ showroom in Tokorozawa. There, I learned about the gas appliances used in Japanese homes, including stovetops and water heaters. I was surprised by the differences I noticed. Japanese water heaters, unlike those in the United States, are compact, can heat water within seconds, and can provide a virtually unlimited amount of hot water. I also participated in a cooking demonstration that compared gas and electric induction stovetops. After learning the ins and outs of the appliances, I assisted in making omelets, vegetable stir fry, and grilled chicken. I was surprised to discover that the food cooked with the gas appliances actually tasted better! Bushu Gas conducts these demonstrations at its headquarters as well as neighborhood service stations, and customers are invited to participate, as I did, at no charge.

With the maintenance group, I helped perform maintenance on gas heat pumps. Gas heat pumps are similar to electric air conditioners except that instead of an electric motor, a natural gas engine powers the compressor. Like any engine, these need periodic maintenance. I assisted in changing spark plugs and air filters.

The housing group works closely with developers and construction companies to provide gas service for new single-family homes. I was surprised when I learned about the ways the group communicates with local contractors and the city water utility. By working with other companies, water and gas construction can be completed at the same time, minimizing costs, road closures, and service disruptions. This level of common sense is not something I’ve experienced in the United States, and from what I have been told, is also uncommon in Japan. 

With the pipeline group, I learned that Bushu Gas is gradually replacing most of its old iron pipes with a newer polyethylene pipe. Iron pipes decay within a few dozen years even in ideal circumstances, causing periodic gas leaks. Iron pipes are also brittle, and in earthquake-prone Japan, can create problems during emergencies. The new polyethylene pipes are lighter and more flexible, making them both easier to work with and more safe. I was impressed by construction in Yorii, Saitama, where Bushu Gas is extending its pipeline over 15 miles for a new Honda factory. 

I also had learning experiences outside the company. I spent one day in Tokyo, touring the Tokyo Gas Showroom, Gas Science Museum, and Japanese House of Representatives. 

In Japan, there is an expression “gou ni ireba, gou ni shitagae” that roughly means “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Following that advice, I experienced Japanese culture along with my four host families. I slept on a thin futon rolled out on top of tatami mats, bathed in ofuro, and ate rice every day. I experienced city and country life, single-family homes and the Bushu Gas company dormitory. My hosts were always friendly and welcoming, making me feel very much at home. They also took me on a number of excursions, including Tsukiji and Shibuya in Tokyo, Nikko, the Ikaho Hot Springs, and even the fifth station of Mt. Fuji. I especially loved the delicious food I was able to eat every day. I taught some of my host families how to make pizza from scratch, and was excited to learn how to make some Japanese dishes as well.

At Bushu Gas, I noticed many differences between business culture in Japan and the United States. When I first started my internship, I was surprised to see everyone in the office wearing a company uniform. I too wore the uniform daily. While I found it strange at first, I got accustomed quickly. By the end of my internship, I actually became quite attached to the uniform – it made me feel like part of the Bushu Gas family. Every morning, the company song is played throughout the office, and employees do radio taiso, a type of group calisthenics. Afterward, all the workers in each room gather to recite the company motto. Each of these activities helps to strengthen company unity and camaraderie, things I have sometimes found lacking in previous job experiences.

Personnel affairs are also different in Japan and the United States. Generally, Japanese people work at one company for their entire career. This stability helps employees to get to know each other very well. In the United States, it is not uncommon for people to change companies throughout their careers, creating fluidity in personnel, and a lack of stability. Office layouts are also different; while cubicles and private offices are the norm in the United States, Japanese offices consist of a pool of desks within larger rooms. Even high-level managers share space with new workers. Even though having one’s own private space has its advantages, I think the Japanese arrangement promotes collaboration among employees.

While most of the United Sates commutes to work by car, I experienced commuting to Bushu Gas by car, train, bicycle, bus, and foot. Bushu Gas provides ample bicycle parking and many employees commute by train – the company headquarters is within a short walk from three different train stations. In a time when environmental concerns are becoming more and more relevant to daily life, it is refreshing to see a company that embraces and encourages mass and alternative transit options. 

I also found refreshing Bushu Gas’ ideas of corporate responsibility. As a provider of a gas, the company takes safety seriously. Employees are reachable by phone around the clock, and quickly respond to emergencies. All employees, even office workers, are trained to mobilize in case of emergency. The company regularly sponsors fundraising concerts and cultural events, and provides a community space for art shows. Even in my short time at Bushu Gas, I’ve seen how important it considers its relationship with the community and the world at large. 

While I don’t know exactly what my future holds, I know I will benefit from what I’ve learned in my internship at Bushu Gas. After studying Japanese since elementary school, I would like to use my Japanese language skills in my career. I am not yet proficient in business-level language, however. After graduating from college in May next year, I would like to spend one or two years in Japan, working and studying Japanese. Ideally, I would like to find a career that would allow me to live in the United States but have frequent interactions with Japan and Japanese companies. 

Even after spending six weeks speaking immersing myself in a Japanese business environment, it is difficult for me to communicate the immense amount I’ve learned about Bushu Gas, Japanese business culture, natural gas, and Saitama Prefecture. I am truly grateful for Bushu Gas and Saitama Prefecture for allowing me to have these real-world experiences. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Bushu Gas’ Chairman, President, my host families, and everybody in the company for helping make this an educational and meaningful experience. 

武州ガス株式会社で研修生になると聞いた時は、「どのようなインタンシップでしょうか」と考えても、ぜんぜん分かりませんでした。日本で観光した経験はありましたが、日本で会社の体験はありませんでした。それに、アメリカでもガス会社の事はあまり知らず、ガス会社の仕事はガス管を掘って天然ガスを販売する事だけだと思いました。研修では、「道路に穴を掘ったり、ハローメイトになったり、書類を送ったりするのか」と心配しました。実際は、武州ガスで６週間の研修で、毎日ガス会社や日本の会社を勉強して、本当に良かったと思いました。

6月19日の午後、成田空港に着きました。埼玉県庁の産業労働政策課の豊田さんに案内され、浦和ロイアル・パインズホテルに行きました。20日に埼玉県庁で研修や埼玉県の説明を聞いて、夕方は歓迎会で武州ガスの中島マネジャーに会いました。研修の予定や武州ガスの説明を聞いて、面白いと思って、研修が始まるのが楽しみになりました。

研修は６月23日に始まりました。最初に、武州ガスの案内をもらって、会社や天然ガスの説明を聞きました。武州ガスは川越市にある都市ガス会社です。川越市、所沢市などに天然ガスを供給しています。天然ガスはいろいろな使い方がありますが、武州ガスのお客様は、家庭、工場、店舗などです。天然ガスは、環境に悪い硫黄酸化物（ＳＯx）、窒素酸化物（ＮＯx）、二酸化炭素（ＣＯ2）の発生量が少ないので、石炭や石油よりクリーン・エネルギーです。

毎日、武州ガスの一つのグループで研修しました。午前に、グループの事務所に行って、担当者からグループの仕事の説明を受けました。午後は現場に行って、グループの仕事を見学したり、実際に行ったりしました。6週間で、だいたいすべてのグループを回って、武州ガスの仕事が分かるようになりました。

サービスグループでは、所沢のショールームを見に行って、日本の家でどんなガス器具を使っているかを勉強しました。コンロや給湯器などを見て、アメリカのより便利だと思いました。アメリカの給湯器は大きくて、お湯を作るのはすごく時間がかかります。また、電磁調理器とガスコンロの比較実演を体験して、鳥肉を焼いたり、オムレツを作ったりしました。ガスのコンロで作る食事は電磁調理器のより本当においしくてびっくりしました。比較実演は武州ガスの本社やサービス店で毎日していますが、お客様は無料で体験できます。

メンテナンスグループでは、ガス器具のメンテナンスをしました。「GHP」はガスで空調を行う機械です。GHPはガスエンジンを使っていて、車のようにメンテナンスをしなくてはいけいので、GHPのフィルターと点火プラグを替える事を体験しました。

ハウジンググループでは、新しい家を建てる時に武州ガスのガスを使って

頂けるようにお客様に営業します。また、道路の下にガス管を埋設しますが、道路に穴を掘る時、コストを下げるためや工事の無駄を無くすために水道と同時に工事を行うように手配します。アメリカでこのような関心は低いと思います。

導管グループでは、ポリエチレンのガス管の勉強をしました。PE管は曲がりやすいので地震の時でも安全です。それに、PE管は鉄のガス管より軽くて繋げることが簡単です。古い管を替える時、PE管を使っています。現場では、埼玉県の寄居町に行き、Hondaが建てている工場に向けて延長しているガス管の工事を見に行きました。

会社以外にも、東京へ研修にいきました。東京では、東京ガスのショールーム、ガスの科学館、また国会議事堂を見学しました。

アメリカで、「When in Rome, do as the Romans do」という表現がありますが、「郷に入れば郷に従え」という意味です。その言葉通りに、四件のホストファミリーと一緒に日本の生活をしました。日本伝統の畳の上にお布団を敷いて寝たし、お風呂にも入ったし、毎日お米のご飯を食べました。ホストファミリーの皆は、本当に優しく、歓迎してくれました。市内や田舎の生活を体験して、一戸建ても武州ガスの社宅も体験しました。ホストファミリーと一緒に、富士山の五合目、東京の渋谷や築地、日光、伊香保温泉に行きました。毎日、おいしい食事を食べて、本当に楽しかったです。ホストファミリーにはピザを生地から作ってあげましたし、日本食の作り方もちょっと教えてもらいました。

　武州ガスで研修して、日本とアメリカのビジネスや文化の違いがよく見えました。研修を始めたとき、社員の制服を見てびっくりしました。アメリカでは、事務所で制服を着る必要がある会社は少ないからです。最初は違和感がありましたが、私も毎日着て、武州ガスの皆と一体感を感じて、どんどん慣れてきました。毎朝、仕事が始まる前、会社の社歌を聞いて、事務所の皆とラジオ体操をします。そして、部屋の皆を集めて、社是を読みます。これも団結を作るいい行いだと思います。アメリカの会社は日本より団結が少ないと思います。

　日本の人事もアメリカと違います。日本では、一般的に一生に一つの会社で働いていますので、社員は皆仲がよくなります。アメリカでは、会社や仕事は何回も替える事ができるから、いつも雰囲気が違います。それに、日本の事務所で、事務員の机は同じ部屋の中で、集まったように仕事をします。いつでも、皆が見えて、協力しやすいです。アメリカでは、パーティションを使っているので、協力しずらいと思います。

日本の通勤はアメリカと違います。武州ガスは、自転車、電車、バス、車、歩いて行ったこともありました。アメリカでは、車で通勤することが多いと思いますが、武州ガスで少ないのを見て、びっくりしました。環境問題は大切だと思いますが、いつもエコを考えながら仕事をしていることを見て、すごいなと思いました。

それに、日本の会社はアメリカの会社より責任を大切にしています。武州ガスは、ライフラインに関係する仕事をしていて、いつでも安全を考えていますので、お客様は安心すると思います。毎日の24時間、お客様は電話をかけたら、コンピュータでだけはなくて、社員と話すこともできます。アメリカでは、小さい会社でも、コンピュータの方が多いと思います。アメリカでは、「Corporate Responsibility」という表現をいつも聞いていますが、武州ガスはいつも責任を考えて仕事をしていると思いました。とてもすばらしいことと思います。

将来は、詳しく分からないけど、武州ガスで学んだことは生かしたいです。小学校から日本語を勉強していますが、仕事で日本語を使わなくてはもったいないと思います。でも、日本語を仕事で使うには、もう少し勉強が必要です。だから、来年の5月に大学を卒業して、１、２年間日本で働きながら日本語を仕事で使えるようになる勉強をしたいと思っています。アメリカに家族が住んでいるし、アメリカは大好きなので、アメリカで日本と関係がある仕事をしたいと思います。研修で、日本の会社の文化を習ったことで、日本でも、アメリカでも、日本と関係がある仕事をする時は、毎日武州ガスで学んだことを生かせると思います。

毎日、研修で日本の会社の生活、天然ガス、埼玉県を勉強して本当に面白かったです。今回、経験したことは、学校では勉強できないと思いますが、武州ガスで研修したことはとても良かったです。武州ガスの会長、社長、ホストファミリーの皆さん、また武州ガスの皆さんありがとうございました。

But truly, the best parts of the evening were the warmth I felt from everyone there, the people in the office I spent the most time in. I wish I had had time to get to know them all better (and I said this during my little speech). In Japan, company parties are opened and closed with impromptu speeches. I was completely touched by the speech my first host father (second-highest ranking company member at the party, and yes, this actually matters in ways I still don’t understand) gave to close the party. Among other things, he said that I was among the top three interns Bushu Gas has ever had, and that while he doesn’t have children, if he did, he would love to have a child like me. Something like that, I think, truly has meaning, whatever the culture. Wow.

Tomorrow, I have to finish my two-page Japanese report about my internship, which will take most of the morning. In the afternoon, I’m going to the Kawagoe police station, for reasons I’m not completely sure of yet. This weekend will be great — I’m going to a famous onsen (hot springs) with the Chairman of the company and his wife. 

I have another couple posts I’d like to make before I go, so check back soon! Hope you’re great. Send me an email! I probably won’t respond until I’m back in the USA, but I’d love to hear from you.

There’s also a mysterious message in my Apple System Profiler:

Power adapter can not charge battery: Yes

So, unless something mysteriously fixes itself in the next couple weeks (and, from what I read online, that something is the “DC-in board”), I’ll be without my own computer. I have internet access at my company, but only for a few minutes each day. This may mean I won’t have much time to update this blog or send e-mails. Apologies in advance.

What’s new otherwise? Today I’m switching host families again, moving to my final host family: the home of the company president (and his father, the very powerful company chairman). I have a feeling it will be totally interesting, though I hear I’ll probably need to wake up at 5-5:30 every morning.

Tomorrow, I go with the other students from Ohio and our organizer in the Prefectural government on an overnight trip to the western part of the prefecture, Chichibu. It should be interesting. Saturday is the annual summer festival in Kawagoe, and I’ll be going with Bushu Gas, one of the festival’s sponsors. I’ll be dressed up in a company happi, and help carry a heavy wooden shrine with all the other workers. It should be a lot of fun!

Friday, July 4 marked the end of my second week at Bushu Gas. This day was a little different, because rather than go to the company, I met up with the other Ohio interns for some activities sponsored by the Saitama government. It was a little frustrating at first, because my supervisors/caretakers at the company didn’t even think about letting me take the train to Omiya by myself, despite my assertions that I’ve taken the train plenty of times before. But if it makes them feel good, it’s fine with me.

Our first stop was the Saitama Young Career Center, a prefecture-sponsored career search and counseling center. Finding a job is very different in Japan than it is in the US. Traditionally, workers in Japan work at the same company for their entire professional lives, so the job search is a pretty important process. College student spend the end of their junior and much of their senior year (in Japan, the year runs from April to March) going through the process. There are rigid deadlines, remarkably consistent from company to company, and the entire process rests on introductions to companies, often through college or government career centers. In addition to applications and interviews, extensive tests are common. The tests are not necessarily content-based; i.e. applicants to a gas company aren’t expected to have gas experience or knowledge – the tests are thought to evaluate the candidate’s capacity as a lifelong worker.

During lunch, I caught up with the other interns, which was really interesting. Everyone’s experiences have been pretty different. While I’m mostly job shadowing, one student had been selling lunches at the Saitama University co-op, another doing hardcore biology/pharmaceutical research, and the other producing straws and doctors’ masks on a factory floor.

After lunch, we went to the brand new Women’s Career Center, serving a function similar to the office in the morning, but for women of all ages. Many women in Japan stay home with their children, so there’s a big drop off in terms of women’s employment around age 30. The center aims to help women find first jobs, or get back to work.

Next was a tour of Saitama Shin-to-shin, a newly-developed area of the city. It was new and frankly not that interesting, though home to the John Lennon museum (what?) and Saitama Super Arena. Our tour guide was trying to practice his English, which was cute for about three minutes. We walked in circles, and it was hot. Oh well. Also, an NTT showroom that was like an advertisement for services none of us want or need.

Our final stop was interesting, a support center for start-up companies. It was pretty interesting to see how the government is really really trying to get people to start companies, and to help them with advise, business plans, seminars, etc. There were also a couple floors of hotel rooms converted into mini offices at low rent for people just starting out. I’ve thought about starting a business some day; this would be pretty useful. Anyway, it was an interesting, hot, and tiring day.

I was met at Kawagoe Station by Sekine-san, my host, who took me to a nearby isakaya (bar/restaurant/pub?) where his section was having a get together. It was a lot of fun to get to know some of the office workers a little better. They had me try a lot of different bar food and drinks, which is always fun. I got pretty relaxed, and had some good moments. Someone asked me “what’s your favorite part of Japan?” and I replied, “well, that’s hard. There’s a lot I like. But I’m going to have to go with the natural gas.” (Ironically, by far most of Japan’s natural gas is imported from overseas). Anyway, drank plenty, wasn’t nearly as drunk as most of the other people there, and had a pretty good time. Pretty packed day.

After sleeping in on Saturday, July 5 we ate breakfast next door (remember, my single male host in the company apartments doesn’t cook, so we did our meals next door, with an awesome couple). We headed in to Tokyo, led by Junko, the wife of the couple next door. She took us to Tsukiji, famous for the fish market. I didn’t get to see the famous tuna auctions (they happen really early in the morning, and I don’t think they’re actually open to the public anymore) but there is a great market area, full of all sorts of sea-based products. Markets are great, no matter where, and I had never really seen one like this in Japan before. Cool.

After eating lunch (I had some really tasty poached fish), we went to Shibuya, known as one of the hot spots for young people in Tokyo. It was definitely full of people, and lots of crazy, silly fashion. We walked around for a while, then wen to Tokyu Hands, probably the most fun department store in the world. I don’t even know how to begin to describe it, so I’ll just link you to Wikipedia. Later, we went to the Toden (Tokyo Denki = the huge Tokyo electric company) museum/showroom. It was partially research; Junko is one of the women who leads the gas vs. induction heating cooking demo at Bushu Gas. And, of course, Toden is all about IH cooking, and the aru-denka (all-electic home, another bane of gas companies worldwide).

We headed back (on the newest Tokyo subway line, from Shibuya direct to Kawagoe-shi), went shopping, and had yakiniku/okonomiyaki for dinner. Yum!

On Sunday, July 6, I went to Tokyo Disneyland.

If you know me, you may know that I don’t really care for Disney. I’ve never really gotten in to the movies, and, I don’t know, the whole thing is just too cutesy and commercial. But when, on Saturday, Sekine-san says to me, “how would you feel about going to Disneyland tomorrow, with a couple girls?” I of course say, “yeah, that would be awesome!”

And actually, it was a pretty good time. The night before, Sekine-san surprised me with a gift: a yukata to wear the next day. Apparently, it was some sort of theme event, where everyone was encouraged to wear a yukata. So, we did. It was very comfortable, and fun to dress up a little. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, there were tons of girls dressed up, but very few guys.

Disneyland is pretty much the same wherever and whenever you go, so I’ll spare you the details. I rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Jungle Cruise, the canoes, the “It’s a Small World” ride, and Space Mountain. I also got 10 out of ten shots at the Western shooting game, and got a badge. Neat. Anyway, it was a pretty fun day.

On Monday, July 7, I was with the safety group. I learned about a lot of preventative things the company does, including replacing old iron pipes (in the ground and in customer’s walls) with new polyethylene pipes (more on these later), and checking customers’ appliances every three years (required by law). I ended up talking to the manager of the section about completely unrelated things for about an hour, though. For example: the best place from which to view Mt. Fuji and what kind of ingredients make the best soba.

He asked what I usually do for lunch, and after explaining that I usually eat the bento provided by the company, he said “well, want to get soba today instead?” So after going with another worker to look at a recent gas pipe replacement, the three of us went to get udon (there wasn’t a good soba place nearby). It was great, but they ordered me a large and it was gigantic (a huge platter with 700g of udon). One of the other guys ate a full large, and some of my leftovers, crazy.

The afternoon was with the emergency response section, and after learning about how they solve these sorts of problems I went out to a work site for an hour or so to watch. Water had gotten into a gas pipe, so workers were dispatched to dig it up and find the problem. There was a lot of groundwater, and the whole thing was really interesting to watch.

The most interesting part of the day was later on, at my host department’s 歓送迎会 (Kan-so-ge-kai, a welcome and farewell party for employees). Two new workers joined the department a few days earlier, and another left. Also, me. And because my department is the 社長室 (literally, “President’s Room”), guess who came! Yes, the company President, and his father the Chairman.

The party was held at the fancy Prince Hotel’s Chinese restaurant, and it was probably one of the most fascinating events I’ve ever attended. It was an embodiment of everything I’ve ever read about Japanese business parties, with the heavy drinking, pouring for each other, speeches, toasts, and so on. I didn’t really know what to do, and trusted people to tell me when to do what (they did). The chairman loves 日本酒 (=sake), so it was flowing freely. I got to know a few people from the office a little better, including the President, and that was really nice. I also learned about closing a party with a haishaku, a tradition I’m definitely bringing back to Oberlin.

One funny/akward thing about the evening was how the Chairman kept talking and talking (he was drunk) about how I used to have a beard. The picture I had originally sent to the program, and forwarded to the company was from a couple months ago, and I had a beard for most of last semester. Facial hair of any kind is a no-no at the company (it’s actually on the appearance checklist), and apparently they were worried I was some kind of hippy. Which, when it really comes down to it, might not be as far from the truth as I’ve led them to believe at this point. While it’s a little frustrating to have been so visibly prejudged, but I’m glad I’ve been able to do a good job in my role as an intern to make it something everyone can laugh about.

On Tuesday, July 8, I was with the Planning group in the morning, and the systems group in the afternoon. The planning group does a little of everything, from thinking about long-range pipeline development to internal and external PR. After listening to the section chief tell me about all the stuff they do, I was taken to the reporter room in City Hall to see if any reporters were there who might want to interview me (and get Bushu Gas in the paper). I talked to two, one from the Asahi Shinbun (one of the biggest in the country!) and later some sort of smaller business paper. The employee who drove me got upset when he realized the picture he gave one of the reporters had me cooking on an electric stove rather than a gas one, so we actually took some extra pictures to send once we got back to the company.

In the afternoon, I learned about the company’s IT infrastructure. There’s a lot, it’s 99% Windows (one Linux webserver), and it’s largely hosted off-site and BG Systems, a subsidiary IT company. I had to make a website introducing myself for the company intranet, and instead of using their silly WYSIWYG program I did it from scratch. Take a look.

After work, I went with Sekine-san and his neighbor Kei to an onsen (hot springs). It wasn’t a real onsen, but was more like a fancyish public bath. It was my first time naked in a room with a bunch of Japanese men, but I have to say that it was really great. First, you shower and wash completely, then there are a bunch of different pools, with different kinds of water, inside and outside. Totally relaxing, and it was really fun for the three of us to chat.

In the evening, I had Te-maki-Zushi (hand-rolled sushi) at the Miyahara’s (the neighbors) and it was a lot of fun. I had showed them The Japanese Tradition: Sushi, so we watched a whole bunch more Rahmens videos on YouTube. Highly recommended.

Wednesday, July 9 I was with the accounting/accounts receivable group. Because Bushu Gas is a gas company, it needs to be able to collect from its customers. Meter readers go out to all of the company’s 180,000 customers every month, the data is uploaded onto a computer, and everyone is billed. Most customers have arrangements with their banks to pay automatically (like web bill pay, pretty much), but there are some who pay in convenience stores or at the company. (Japan is still largely a cash-based economy, so people don’t use checks to pay bills in the same way that they do in the US.)

I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. The people in the department didn’t really know what to do with me. I sat in on a meeting of the meter readers, which was interesting. They were all women, who work part time. I still don’t understand why they’re called ハローマイト in Japanese. For dinner, I taught the gang how to make pizza, which was fun. It didn’t turn out quite as well as last time, but they seemed satisfied. Most Japanese homes don’t have full ovens, so we tried cooking a pizza in the small grill built in to the cooktop, and it turned out better than I expected.

On Thursday, July 10, our coordinators arranged for all the interns (including the two students going to Ohio from Japan) to meet Saitama’s governor, Mr. Ueda. I went by train with Nakajima-san (my manager) and the company president. The get-together what pretty much what one would expect. We sat waiting 20+ minutes for the governor to show up. He welcomes us. We introduce ourselves. He gives us each a gift. We take a group picture. Still, pretty awesome to meet a governor. I mean, I haven’t met Ted Kulongoski or Ted Strickland.

Afterwards, there was a lunch party with all the interns, a couple interns from previous years, and all the company representatives who attended. What they didn’t tell us was that we were each expected to talk for a few minutes (5-10) about what we’ve learned in our internships so far. It really stressed out the other interns, but I decided not to worry about it. And it turned out to be fun. I talked about how I had had a particular image of “gas company” in the US, and found that the image wasn’t totally correct. I talked about safety, and the new pipes Bushu Gas is putting in the ground, and about some of the outreach and sales stuff I’ve seen. I talked the longest, I think, and the President seemed pretty satisfied. So, that’s good!

I didn’t do much in the afternoon other than starting to finalize my week-long travel plans in August. We had a tasty, easy-on-the-stomach stew for dinner, though it was a bittersweet night – I was moving the next day. I learned about tejime something I saw for the first time at the party on Monday. I don’t know how to describe it other than a kind of hand-clapping thing Japanese people do during parties. Kind of a “Hip Hip Hurray” sort of thing. Anyway, it’s great and weird, and I’m totally bringing it back to Oberlin.

On Friday, July 11, I moved. After sleeping in a little and eating my last breakfast next door, Kei gave me a pretty funny gift. We relaxed until 9:30, when Tobisawa-san and Nakajima-san came to pick us up and bring us to work. I didn’t have any particular schedule for the day, so I mostly caught up on emails. I was taken to my next host family, the home of an executive at Sakado Gas (a smaller subsidiary gas utility in the city of Sakado), in the early afternoon.

It’s a totally different living situation, once again. The house is in the same city as Bushu Gas, but on the outskirts. It’s an old house, and actually quite large by Japanese standards. I’m sleeping in a Japanese-style room (with tatami mats and a futon) in one corner of the house. It’s wooden and creaky, which is not what I’m used to – so that’s kind of cool.

The family is also very different. There are two children, one married and moved out (with a cute two-year-old girl), and the other still living at home, but working. Also, the grandmother lives at home. The father isn’t home much at all during the week, getting home around 9:30 at night, going straight to bed, then leaving by 6:30 every morning. The mother is nice, but I don’t think she gets me, yet. We’ll see.

Anyway, I went out food shopping with the father, and we had some interesting chats. We ran into a friend of his from school, so we chatted for a while too. Surprisingly, a pretty normal day.

OK. More soon. Then I’ll write some real content.

When I last left you, I believe it was about a week ago. (I can’t check what I posted already because I don’t have internet access right now; more on this later.) Like last time, there really isn’t any way I can talk about things to the extent I’d really like to, so bear with me as I try to find a way to make this work. Let’s start with last Saturday.

One thing I keep struggling with is how to answer the following question: Where would you like to go in Japan? I’ve already had a lot of experiences, in a number of places, and I since I’ve never been a tourist in this country in the traditional sense, I’ve never even looked at a travel guidebook that might give me an idea of what kind of options I have. I usually just ask people for their recommendations (o-susume wa?) and that can often lead to interesting ideas.

And so, my host family decided to take me to Mount Fuji. Which I was totally excited about, since I love nature and pretty sights, even if they involve long car rides. And a long car ride it was. I woke up around six (so no sleeping in, even on Saturday!) and we left the house 6:30ish.

Driving in Japan is totally interesting, for a number of reasons. First, almost everyone has a built-in GPS navigation system. It’s almost a necessity in this country – the streets are tiny and follow no particular logic, and to make it even more difficult street names are few and far between. Second, almost everyone has a new car – every three years, the Japanese government requires all cars to undergo a sophisticated safety check that’s so expensive people usually just end up buying new cars to avoid the pain. Third, there aren’t many freeways, so most of the time you’re winding through tiny neighborhood and country roads that have probably been around since the Edo period. Following the directions of your speaking (and completely accurate) Car-Navi, of course.

So, we drove a few hours to Mt. Fuji. We went as far up as one can go by car, the point where a lot of people who climb the mountain start. Like a lot of my other experiences with Japanese tourist areas, there were tons of shops, restaurants, and photo-ops, but it was still pretty cool. We took some pictures, but unfortunately it was a little too foggy for great mountain views. Which was too bad, because we drove for some time. I did get some pictures, on the way down. I’ll post them, eventually.

On the way back, we stopped at a cave. I think I’ve always enjoyed caving, and this was no exception. This particular cave seems to have been used as a source of ice long ago, and it was definitely freezing inside. It was pretty small, though. Not hard to navigate, but nowhere near as interesting, as, let’s say, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.

Next, we grabbed a quick lunch and drove to Hakone, known as a gateway between Edo and Kyoto during the Edo period. It was a checkpoint for travelers, and home to some sort of garrison. A good deal of it was recreated, and there was a little museum, so that was kind of neat to check out. There was a great view of a lake from a little higher up, which was cool too.

After that, we headed back, and got dinner at a small soba shop in the neighborhood called Kamakura. Like everywhere else my host family has taken me, Kamakura was pretty great. I sampled a number of interesting appetizers, including one thing I had definitely never had before: a buckwheat dumpling, in the shape of a leaf, boiled in water. Hard to describe (and I wish I had had my camera to take a picture) but with a little shoyu, really, really good. The soba noodles I had were also excellent. The meal came with some sake, which despite some mediocre experiences in the US, I think I can now say I enjoy.

As a side note, the word “sake” in Japan simply means “alcohol.” What we call sake in the US is called nihon-shu (literally, alcohol of Japan) in Japan. And it’s sak-EH, not sak-E with a long E.

I didn’t do much on Sunday. After a long week, it was nice to have a break. I did teach my host mother how to make pizza from scratch, which was actually quite successful. For dinner, I tried Unagi (eel) for the first time, and it was…all right. While I actually liked the taste just fine, there was something sort of weird about eating fish with the skin still on and with tiny bones inside. It just didn’t feel right. But I’m sure that if I ate it a couple more times it wouldn’t be so weird anymore.

Back to work for the week. On Monday, I first went to a really interesting all-company meeting. A number of employees received awards and gifts, the company president made a speech (a long one, maybe a half hour, on all sorts of things: world politics, national safety week, the company’s financial status, etc.), and then I had to introduce myself. In Japanese. In front of 175+ company employees. With only a couple minutes’ notice.

I got a pretty big applause.

For the rest of the day, I was assigned to the division of the sales group that works with large companies. I learned that while the vast majority of Bushu Gas’ customers are consumers in homes, a surprisingly-high portion of gas revenues comes from factories. Indeed, the among company’s biggest customers are ones you’ve heard of, like Honda and Citizen (watches). I went with one of the workers (whose apartment I moved to on Thursday; see below) to visit two corporate customers, one a company (apparently now indirectly owned by Wal-Mart) that makes packaged food items for department and convenience stores, and a heavy industrial factory that has something to do with galvanizing huge steel objects. We had to inform them that their gas rates will be going up soon. Yikes! But interesting, for sure.

Monday night, my host mother taught me how to make oya-ko-don, one variety of donburi – a simple dish of meat over rice. “Oya-ko” is a clever joke: literally, it means “parent-child” but refers to a donburi with both chicken and egg on top. Easy to make, and tasty too. Coming soon to a kitchen near you?

Tuesday, I was with the “Gas-kan” group, in charge of laying and replacing gas pipes under roads. I went to a couple different work sites, which were actually pretty interesting. The company is switching a lot of its infrastructure from old galvanized steel pipe to new polyethylene pipe. The new pipe has a lot of advantages, but mostly in terms of safety and convenience. They’re flexible, which is critical during earthquakes – common in Japan. Also, they’re pretty easy to work with: to connect pipes together, special couplers are used with built in electrical coils that actually melt the pipes together. Easy.

In the afternoon, I was taken to one the company’s largest projects, a huge new pipeline to a couple of new Honda factories. The pipes being laid are huge – over a foot across – and made of welded steel. Honda is one of Bushu Gas’ largest customers, and it’s pretty amazing to me that the company would spend so much money to extend a new line so far from its regular service area. Probably a good business investment, however.

I got to see the site where the factory is being built, and words literally can not describe what I saw. Billed as Honda’s most “eco-friendly” factory, an entire mountain was leveled to create space for the factory. This is considered environmentally conscious because status quo is completely displacing the soil. To see such a huge area, from above, totally flattened was completely stunning, and the fact that it was considered a good thing even more so. It’s not that this is a surprise: Japan’s topography is around 2/3 mountain, and at this stage in development there isn’t much other space to expand in. I just wish I had a camera with me that day. Here’s the one I do have.

On the way back, our last stop was interrupted by a phone call involving a work site being disrupted by some members of some sort of organized crime group (Ahem.). I never even thought about this, but of course this could be a problem. Anyway, I ended up sort of hitting a wall by the end of the day and got in a pretty bad mood, but it was about time for that, and I got through it. I made California rolls in the evening, and my host mother did not realize that they were actually invented in California. Go figure.

Wednesday, I was with the group that does work proposals and blueprints for mostly new building construction. I literally did nothing in the morning, and learned to do some CAD work in the afternoon. They were completely impressed by how fast I learned the CAD system, though I wasn’t doing any real work. It was a lot of fun, and I can see how useful it really is. For example, they have a software package that will calculate exactly what kind of gas pipe to use in any given part of a house, then label every section. It saves them a lot of time.

Thursday, I moved. So soon? Yes. In my six weeks in Saitama, I’m scheduled to stay in four different places. One one hand, it’s great that I get to meet so many people. On the other hand, it’s a lot of moving and living out of a suitcase, and it’s definitely stressful to shift gears so regularly.

Anyway, I had the morning off to pack, and it actually took much longer than I expected. It seemed like the host mother I had been staying with was sad to see me go – I think I provided her a lot of entertainment over the two weeks I was there. She even taught me a simple piano song (she’s a piano teacher) and was clearly touched that I learned it well and quickly. I spent the afternoon doing nothing in the office at work (a nice break). I moved to my next housing arrangement in the afternoon.

I say “housing arrangement” rather than “host family” for a reason: where I am right now is completely different than my previous set up. Instead of the home of a higher-up, I’m staying the company-owned apartment of a regular worker. According to a outdated copy of the book I’m reading, 15% of workers in Japan live in company-owned residences. Sekine-san is 29, the same age as Zach (my oldest brother), and lives by himself. He doesn’t have internet, so that’s one reason I have for not posting more.

I was at first a little concerned, because whenever I told someone in the company who I would be living with, there would be some degree of shock and laughter, but I think it’s mostly that there’s been an expectation that us Americans should be staying in places with space and [insert amenities here]. The first question people ask is often “does he cook?” and in fact, he doesn’t. So he arranged for us to do most of our meals next door, at the apartment of another Bushu Gas worker (and good friend), and his wife (who I had met during the gas vs. electric cooking demo).

I was a little nervous about living with someone younger, because it would be such a change, but it’s actually been great. While I can definitely make friends with people my parents’ age, I have definitely had a different relationship with Sekine-san and his neighbors. I’ve been able to ask questions about the company and Japanese Culture that I could never ask of a higher-up, and it’s been totally instructive. Also, I’ve been able to do a number of things I never would have done otherwise. And sure, the apartment is tiny, but I can deal.

Here’s the first example. Thursday, there was a dinner-and-drinking get-together with a number of the other people who live in the company-owned apartments (sha-taku). It was at a nearby restaurant/bar called “Saucier,” and it was my first time drinking in a group in Japan. Everyone was really nice and welcoming, in a different way than at work. People were definitely more relaxed, and of course the booze helps to make conversations flow more freely. The food was truly interesting: each dish the owner brought out was different. He said he was trained in French cuisine, but I’m not sure I could call any of the things he served French. From Japanese-style oden to pasta, it really ran the gamut. Meet and fish of all kinds, too. Actually, pretty tasty. Also, shochu is pretty good.

OK. Since it’s taken me this long to get this far, I’m going to stop here. A preview of next time: my first true Japanese business drinking experience, my first trip to a Japanese public bath, and yes, Tokyo Disneyland.

First, Friday.

After waking up at 5:30 from the jet lag, I got dressed and met the other two interns staying the hotel for breakfast around 8:15. It was pretty much the same exact breakfast I’ve had at every Japanese hotel I’ve ever stayed in, so that was nice.

Erika, the woman who organized the program from the Japanese side (and who picked us up at the airport) met us in the hotel, and it was a very short car ride to the Saitama prefectural government offices. Erika works in the Industry and Labor Policy Division, and I don’t really know anything about what she does. Something to do with policymaking, but that’s all I could get.

The first thing we did was introduce ourselves to the entire division, probably 40-50 people who stood and clapped after each of us spoke. Very intimidating. Then, we got to meet and drink tea with the director of the division (Erika’s boss’ boss). Fun! (Actually, it was pretty fun.)

I spent most of the rest of the day sitting in a conference room talking to various government employees and learning about Saitama. It was interesting to hear the kinds of things the government is proud of, but I can’t help but wonder about the things they didn’t tell us. The time was surprisingly unstructured (the orientation is usually only half the day, and it was changed only because of some scheduling problems), which was just as well because I was exhausted.

I didn’t learn a whole lot more about the internship itself, except that my final host family is going to be the home of my company’s president (!!!), I get to meet the governor of Saitama (!) and the program is going to take us on an overnight trip to the western (pretty, mountainous) part of the prefecture, and we’re probably going to spend the night in a temple.

We had a pretty tasty sushi lunch, and were shown a Saitama tourism video in English. We ran some errands, and mostly to kill time were taken on a little walking tour of the city, including a kind of sad-looking shrine.

Dinner was, by far, the most interesting part of the day. It was the welcome party for the interns. In addition to the interns and government representatives, there were people from each of the companies and many of the host families came, too. I learned a lot more about Bushu Gas from the man coordinating my internship. Among other things, they ordered an English newspaper for me to read and printed me some business cards. He seemed really excited, and asked lots of questions. It was totally fascinating watching all the businessmen exchange meishi (business cards), because it’s something I’ve been reading about forever but never actually seen.

Dinner itself was also crazy,  because it was my first time at an Italian restaurant in Japan. Really, it was more of an Italian-style (if by “Italian” I mean “American Italian”) restaurant, with lots of crazy Japanese twists involving fish and seaweed. Definitely some flavor combinations I never would try myself, but actually quite good. Also, the name of the restaurant was Pasta!Pasta!Pasta!

After dinner, I was driven to my first host family’s house, a couple about my parents’ age. They live in a really fancy new house in Kawagoe, about an hour from Saitama City. They seemed friendly, I was sleepy.

The weekend.

The Yoshida family wakes up early, and since I’m here, so do I. Breakfast was a lazy 7:30, both days. Saturday, I played a kanji game on the DS Lite with Yoshida-san, and we had fun fooling around with the English game, too. He had to go to a memorial service of some sort, so I stayed around the house and had lunch with Noriko and her niece who came over for the day. June is leaving in a week or so for California, where she’ll be for two years.

Saturday afternoon, I got my first taste of Bushu Gas. The company was sponsoring a concert (annual?) by Obara Takashi, a relatively well-known pianist and host of an NHK radio show. He played a lot of flourishy arrangements of Japanese songs, and some European classical tunes I knew. Having spent the last three years at Oberlin, this was definitely a change. He got up and talked for about 5 minutes between each piece, which was sort of weird. The focus was definitely on him, not just on the music. Also, he played a piece he called “jazz” and it was most definitely not. And I don’t even know anything about jazz. I kept both of these facts to myself. After the concert, a few of Noriko’s friends came over, and I had a good time joking around with them.

My favorite part of the day was dinner. I was a little skeptical, because Yoshida-san said he had made reservations at the Prince Hotel Japanese restaurant, and my experiences in hotels have been pretty hit or miss. But I think I can safely say that this was the best Japanese meal I’ve ever had. It was a three-course meal, with lots of little items as part of each course. I took pictures of everything, so once I upload them I’ll write a little about each dish maybe. Also, I had the best sake I’ve ever had. I haven’t had much sake before, but this was smooth and delicious, even served cold. I’m not sure I can say that about the other sake I’ve tried. It was served cold, and was extremely smooth. Yum.

There’s not a whole lot more to say about Saturday. June decided to spend the night here. The Yoshidas made fun of me for not shaving for a day. (This is the first time in my life that I’ll actually have to shave every day of the week. Boo.) June was talking about Google at dinner and we discovered that Noriko hadn’t heard of the company at all. Or YouTube. So I showed them Sushi: The Japanese Tradition, and they loved it. It’s been an inside joke since.

Sunday was relatively low key. The Yoshidas took me and June to a number of museums and historical sites – the Kawagoe History museum, the art museum, an Edo-era building, an old kurazukuri-style (fire resistant wooden-frame buildings made with bamboo and mud) shop/museum, and the Kawagoe festival museum. The festival museum was actually totally awesome; there’s a huge festival every October, and tons of people come. There are 29 huge wooden floats, pulled through the town by human power, and they had a couple displayed. We stopped in the middle to eat lunch at a soba-ya right next to the house. The noodles were great – they were a green kind I had never had before. I got a stack of five small bowls of cold noodles, with another stack of five different toppings to eat the noodles with. Cute and delicious!

It was raining hard (it is tsuyu, after all), so we went back to the house. It was a lazy afternoon, but actually had a great time just chatting with June and Noriko. We dropped June off at the train station, then went out to eat to an okonomiyaki restaurant. I would love to devote an entire blog post to this meal too. For now, let’s just say that it was great, and that I love okonomiyaki. In the evening, I finally gave the Yoshidas their omiyage, and I was so glad I did. It was almost as if they seemed relieved. And I think the things I picked out to give were good. After some chatting about the Japanese Oregon travel brochure I brought, I tried my first umeshu. I’m not one for sweet drinks, but it was actually really tasty.

My next post will be about my first day at work. It’ll definitely be a good one.

It was a pretty easy flight, direct from Portland to Tokyo-Narita. I had no problems clearing immigration and customs, and was met by a representative of Saitama, as well as one of the other interns, at the airport. After waiting for the third intern to arrive, we drove for about an hour and a half to the Royal Pines Hotel in Saitama, where we stayed for the night. After checking in and a quick dinner, I crashed. Woke up before six this morning.

Today is orientation. And as far as I can tell, we’ll be brought to the Saitama prefectural government office, given a tour, introduced to all sorts of officials, then oriented for a few hours. We’ll be meeting representatives from our companies, too. There’s a welcome party in the evening which will probably involve lots of people, and lots of self-introductions. Yikes.

I move to my first host family’s place this evening, and start work after the weekend. I have no idea whether I’ll have regular internet access, or time to blog, for the next few weeks, but here’s hopin’.