Our first company visit on Wednesday was to State Street Bank, based out of Boston. Here are Sarah and I sitting on a rather unusual bench in front of a waterfall by the building where the company's offices are. The process to get up to the offices was unique for me in that we had to get a special card that needed to be read by a security gate to get in and out of certain floors. This is probably standard procedure for many high profile buildings around the world, but I had never experienced it.
Just a picture of the structure outside of State Street's building that I liked.
State Street is not a typical bank like you would normally think of. They are actually a custodial bank, meaning deal directly with other institutions and prime brokers, and their biggest business is in securities finance, lending securities for others to short sell. I won't get into the gory details here though. After the presentation I was able to talk to the gentleman in charge of the Tokyo branch of securities finance and we discussed women in the workplace. He mentioned that they do indeed have women on management track jobs and that some women look for foreign companies to work for because they are more progressive in this area. Another interesting insight. The other new cultural aspect I learned about here was the concept of elevator and seating hierarchy. In an elevator, the most junior person stands near the buttons so that they can run the elevator, and the most senior person stands near the middle (I believe). In a business meeting the most senior person sits farthest from the door and the most junior closest.
On our way to Itochu we stopped in Ioyama and the Harajuku area, which is a wealthy residential and high-fashion shopping area of Japan. Along with your typical high-fashion stores such as Louis Vuitton and Guicchi, there was also a street where the teenage school children hang out and shop. It is like an alley-way and the stores are full of eccentric and off-the-wall fashions. We were told that many fashion designers come to this street to take pictures of what Japanese school girls are wearing for ideas. This was one of the girls on the street. Though not as extreme as some, I still thought her outfit was interesting.
It is difficult to explain what Itochu does because they are involved in so many industries. The two gentlemen who presented to us were both in the tuna industry however, so that is what we learned about. Japan has strict rules on fishing for tuna that is used for sashimi, but not for tuna used in tuna fish cans, because apparently there is so much of that kind in the sea.
Nine of our group went to Disney in the evening. I spent my time at Disney running around with Tom, trying to hit as many attractions as possible. I was amazed at how similar the park is to Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Many of the rides like Star Tours and Pirates of the Caribbean were almost exactly the same, with the exception of dubbing in Japanese. Luckily Tom didn't mind my spouting off random Disney trivia all evening and translating the story-lines of many of the rides since I've been on the english versions so many times. There were also a few rides we don't have in the US, and a few that were closed, but we had a great time anyway.
Instead of "Spectromagic", Tokyo Disney has the "Tokyo Disney Electrical Parade" which I actually think is much better. They even had Elliot from Pete's Dragon! (Which is based in Maine for those who don't know)
Most will recognize this castle since it looks to be an exact replica of the one in Florida. I just thought this was a pretty picture. Tom and I also enjoyed delicious burgers at the Tomorrowland Terrace; very similar to the Starlight Cafe in Disneyworld but I think it only had burgers and fries.
Here is a pictures of Main Street in Tokyo Disneyland. You'll notice it covered. I've heard that's because of the rainy season in Tokyo. Another difference is that it has side streets that actually lead out into the park, unlike in the Magic Kingdom. Very cool. The shops sell different souvenirs as well, such as cell phone danglies (very popular here since it is the only thing identifying all the similar-looking cell phones in Japan), chop sticks, and fans. I couldn't resist picking up a small Wall-E poster in Japanese. :)
Leaving the park. Got onto a packed train and made our way home on our last night in Tokyo. A great way to end this leg of the tour.
Our first company visit on Wednesday was to State Street Bank, based out of Boston. Here are Sarah and I sitting on a rather unusual bench in front of a waterfall by the building where the company's offices are. The process to get up to the offices was unique for me in that we had to get a special card that needed to be read by a security gate to get in and out of certain floors. This is probably standard procedure for many high profile buildings around the world, but I had never experienced it.
Just a picture of the structure outside of State Street's building that I liked.
State Street is not a typical bank like you would normally think of. They are actually a custodial bank, meaning deal directly with other institutions and prime brokers, and their biggest business is in securities finance, lending securities for others to short sell. I won't get into the gory details here though. After the presentation I was able to talk to the gentleman in charge of the Tokyo branch of securities finance and we discussed women in the workplace. He mentioned that they do indeed have women on management track jobs and that some women look for foreign companies to work for because they are more progressive in this area. Another interesting insight. The other new cultural aspect I learned about here was the concept of elevator and seating hierarchy. In an elevator, the most junior person stands near the buttons so that they can run the elevator, and the most senior person stands near the middle (I believe). In a business meeting the most senior person sits farthest from the door and the most junior closest.
On our way to Itochu we stopped in Ioyama and the Harajuku area, which is a wealthy residential and high-fashion shopping area of Japan. Along with your typical high-fashion stores such as Louis Vuitton and Guicchi, there was also a street where the teenage school children hang out and shop. It is like an alley-way and the stores are full of eccentric and off-the-wall fashions. We were told that many fashion designers come to this street to take pictures of what Japanese school girls are wearing for ideas. This was one of the girls on the street. Though not as extreme as some, I still thought her outfit was interesting.
It is difficult to explain what Itochu does because they are involved in so many industries. The two gentlemen who presented to us were both in the tuna industry however, so that is what we learned about. Japan has strict rules on fishing for tuna that is used for sashimi, but not for tuna used in tuna fish cans, because apparently there is so much of that kind in the sea.
Nine of our group went to Disney in the evening. I spent my time at Disney running around with Tom, trying to hit as many attractions as possible. I was amazed at how similar the park is to Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Many of the rides like Star Tours and Pirates of the Caribbean were almost exactly the same, with the exception of dubbing in Japanese. Luckily Tom didn't mind my spouting off random Disney trivia all evening and translating the story-lines of many of the rides since I've been on the english versions so many times. There were also a few rides we don't have in the US, and a few that were closed, but we had a great time anyway.
Instead of "Spectromagic", Tokyo Disney has the "Tokyo Disney Electrical Parade" which I actually think is much better. They even had Elliot from Pete's Dragon! (Which is based in Maine for those who don't know)
Most will recognize this castle since it looks to be an exact replica of the one in Florida. I just thought this was a pretty picture. Tom and I also enjoyed delicious burgers at the Tomorrowland Terrace; very similar to the Starlight Cafe in Disneyworld but I think it only had burgers and fries.
Here is a pictures of Main Street in Tokyo Disneyland. You'll notice it covered. I've heard that's because of the rainy season in Tokyo. Another difference is that it has side streets that actually lead out into the park, unlike in the Magic Kingdom. Very cool. The shops sell different souvenirs as well, such as cell phone danglies (very popular here since it is the only thing identifying all the similar-looking cell phones in Japan), chop sticks, and fans. I couldn't resist picking up a small Wall-E poster in Japanese. :)
Leaving the park. Got onto a packed train and made our way home on our last night in Tokyo. A great way to end this leg of the tour.
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