Shin-nyuu-shain! A new tribe, a new life, a new experience...

Everybody knows the feeling of literally falling asleep. You are lying in bed and on the edge of falling asleep, you dream you fall and you wake up while your body makes a little uncontrolled shock. This time, however, after the little shock, I look up and find myself in a kaigishitsu (a meeting room) surrounded by Japanese people. I go back to sit up straight and put on my “I-am-so-listening-to-your-presentation” – look, somehow this works. When you understand some 50 up to 60 percent (up from 40% this is kind of an achievement, at least I try to see the progress) of what somebody is talking about, I can tell you, it is extremely hard to stay awake. During the interview my group members are conducting, I try moving my feet under the table. I think if I keep on moving some part of my body it must help my eyes to stay open. It is ridiculous. I can now tell you from experience, it is not working.

I am participating in a training with the shin-nyuu-shain at my work. Shin-nyuu-shain, or shinjin literally “new employees entering” (the company) or new people, are just graduates starting all together at the 1st of April their new job, or for most them, their first job. They are 23 or 24 and entering their new tribe, their company, who they are most probably going to serve for their rest of their lives. It is their new family. They have to win the loyalty of their sempai. Sempai are those who started earlier then you in the company, and as you would understand, every year has a batch, you are stuck with your year for the rest of your employment. Employee batch 2008. That is were I am stuck with. For two weeks. In a training. I learn conducting interviews, I learn giving a presentation, I learn how to do marketing research. I am solving a case in a group of six. All in Japanese. The various trainings I sit through, not that I understand a whole lot, but I guess it is doable. The group work is killing. I have never in my life seen a group evolving the way I have seen this week, it is incredible. And I must admit, from a cultural perspective, it is probably one of the most interesting phenomenons I have ever seen in my life. I have solved quite some consulting cases in a group (during all the business courses I took in my last year of graduating) and it is the complete opposite from what I have been doing this week.

It basically becomes down to this. We have been having meetings. Now I know that Dutch people are fond of have meetings as well, but this is really nothing compared to that, this is meetings only (kaigi bakari)! The group discusses the time schedule of today (by the way quite awkward that I do see every day a schedule for the day, but never seen a schedule for the whole week until the deadline next Tuesday). The group discusses the story line. The group discusses all the material they found in the half an hour that we gave each other away from each other to collect evidence for our story. The group discusses the story line (again). The group has a meeting with their sempai. The group discusses the results of the conversation with their sempai. The group discusses the story line again. The end product of this group work, however, is a presentation for the sempai. Upcoming Tuesday. Weirdest thing being, I have not seen a single power point slide yet. Now I know that having a clear story line is very important, but it usually helps to make your slides to see if the story makes sense. I know this from experience. I have done this before. My group members do not know this. They don’t ask. My curiosity for what kind of presentation we are going to give our sempai upcoming Tuesday, was growing every day, by now every hour. During one of the interviews with the sempai I wake up of what was almost going to be an embarrassing moment of falling asleep. Do I really hear one of my group members asking how the company we are doing the project on is conceived in Europe? Hello!!! I am sitting here!!! I am Dutch! Holland? Ever heard of? It is in Europe? Hello! More shocking is the answer: “Honto-ni chigau”. Is our sempai telling us that Europe is really different? Hell-yeah it is, I am thinking. I almost fall off my chair when my group member leaves it with this answer and continues the interview on another track. I am left sitting there. Eyes wide open and awake. I want to go back to sleep.

Things only differ due to expectations. Upfront I felt I did not expect much. I felt open minded. Now I know I did expected that people from my generation, just graduated from university, would speak English. Shocking to tell; they don’t. At least not all of them, maybe 4 out of 40 people. And even they do not speak up, afraid to make mistakes. Writing is splendid however, no mistakes, having the ability to take the time makes emails perfect! Until now my reference point of a 23 year old Japanese has been a good friend of mine. He is extremely open-minded, eager to learn, interested in other cultures, and ask me all he can think of regarding Europe, and the countries and culture he feels I know more about then he does. I do the same to him. It is a great learning process we both enjoy to the utmost. I guess I now even more realized what an exception he is. He does want to learn from me, something I have not seen yet during this week. He speaks Japanese, English and Spanish with me. And although his language skills are not perfect, he is not afraid of making mistakes. He is not afraid of learning by doing, a concept I feel many have not even heard before. You learn by reading books. You learn by doing the same thing over and over again, not until you are confident enough, but until you know you can do it, 200 percent sure.

Having to go through something like this experience is sometimes killing. The most important thing, however, is to get on to that helicopter once in a while, you preferably take that ride every day. From a helicopter point of view, you see everything bright and clear. You know why you are doing this. Was it not me who screamed out loud to everybody, that I love culture shocks, that I love to learn from other countries, and that Japan for me is so great for that because the Japanese are so different? Yes that was me!!! And this is why I love what I am doing right now. At least I am trying. The weekend helps a lot with getting a little bit of distance from what you are doing. Thinking things over. Getting some extra sleep. I took two of the Korean employees from the training out into town. To the Sanja matsuri, one of the biggest traditional festivals in Japan. If I cannot go to Korea, let the Korea come to me. We laugh with each other about our experiences of this week. And I receive a chance from them to see things from a Korean perspective. Great! Yet another cultural experience to add…

Love,

Kirsten