I really love Jack Krown / Frog's Glen Japanese anecdotes. So well written and they remind me of my own two very happy years in Japan. In this one, I could smell the smoke of the cooking as I read.
In 1987 I was 24 and living in Tokyo. As a woman I had fewer of the kind of experience you described but I definitely remember the Shimbashi maze of tiny eateries. I always loved the camaraderie of a huge amount of people crammed into an impossibly small space.
Wait...that is illegal in the U.S!....fantastic piece...felt it like I was there...must be a great memory. Although it was mentioned on another piece, this time I googled UFO noodles. "Blotto"?...45 years in the US (NYC) and don't remember hearing the term...I admit I have been blotto for a good % of those years.
Re. making it to the board; similar, but different:
When I arrived in Japan I lived in a sharehouse with a guy doing the same minimum wage job as me -- but he was a genius entrepreneur, and within a couple months had developed a piece of software that our company starting selling and (they) rapidly made hundreds of thousands of US dollars on.
So the guy had the big meeting with the honchos (and buchos) where he was welcomed as only the third full-time foreign employee the company had ever hired...except afterwards, they told him it was actually a job interview and they weren't going to offer him a job -- they wanted him to carry on as minimum wage part-timer.
He left, obviously (as did I), and has gone on to make multimillions elsewhere. (The software he developed is still on sale, and has easily grossed 7 figures).
Sounds like where my in laws lived. They’ve only recently sold the land for a 15 floor McMansion building. All around used to be the Kawasaki soap land area and it’s all being squeezed out and cleaned up.
When I stayed I used to get woken up at 4:30 by the mass clicking of high heels and shrieks of Tagalog heading for the first train. Opposite my late mother-in-law’s Snack Bar (松風) was a Filipina staffed establishment where the girls leant out of the windows the chat to passing potential trade.
I really love Jack Krown / Frog's Glen Japanese anecdotes. So well written and they remind me of my own two very happy years in Japan. In this one, I could smell the smoke of the cooking as I read.
Thank you so much for this!! I am flattered.
Great experience! Robatta-yaki is one of my favorites, too. I hope that you proved your old boss wrong by making it to the board somewhere!
Not in a Japanese company…. :)
Got it! I have a similar background.
In 1987 I was 24 and living in Tokyo. As a woman I had fewer of the kind of experience you described but I definitely remember the Shimbashi maze of tiny eateries. I always loved the camaraderie of a huge amount of people crammed into an impossibly small space.
We likely crossed paths…and stared warily at each other. “Oh. A gaijin.” ;)
Wait...that is illegal in the U.S!....fantastic piece...felt it like I was there...must be a great memory. Although it was mentioned on another piece, this time I googled UFO noodles. "Blotto"?...45 years in the US (NYC) and don't remember hearing the term...I admit I have been blotto for a good % of those years.
Great story! I guess that area hasn't changed much.
This was one heckuva delicious piece!!
Your long-long question followed by your boss’ sudden “What?” made me laugh out loud.
You can imagine. Nine Scotches, both guys slurring and sweaty. Two native languages.
Yeah. “What?” Is the result.
😂
PS, I'm linking to this article in my next newsletter!
Ooooo!!!! Thank you so much!
Re. making it to the board; similar, but different:
When I arrived in Japan I lived in a sharehouse with a guy doing the same minimum wage job as me -- but he was a genius entrepreneur, and within a couple months had developed a piece of software that our company starting selling and (they) rapidly made hundreds of thousands of US dollars on.
So the guy had the big meeting with the honchos (and buchos) where he was welcomed as only the third full-time foreign employee the company had ever hired...except afterwards, they told him it was actually a job interview and they weren't going to offer him a job -- they wanted him to carry on as minimum wage part-timer.
He left, obviously (as did I), and has gone on to make multimillions elsewhere. (The software he developed is still on sale, and has easily grossed 7 figures).
This is just so classic. The dreamworld of corporate Japan.
What a great story!!!!!!
So hard to be “in. “ what a fabulous trip down memory lane.
Arrived in 1998 and never saw anything of this.
Ah. You missed the earthquake and fire un-safe, yet clean shantytowns. We now have glass and steel towers filled with chain restaurants.
Sounds like where my in laws lived. They’ve only recently sold the land for a 15 floor McMansion building. All around used to be the Kawasaki soap land area and it’s all being squeezed out and cleaned up.
I miss the skankiness.
When I stayed I used to get woken up at 4:30 by the mass clicking of high heels and shrieks of Tagalog heading for the first train. Opposite my late mother-in-law’s Snack Bar (松風) was a Filipina staffed establishment where the girls leant out of the windows the chat to passing potential trade.
Now that I like.