“Atomic Bomb” Visit to Hiroshima

Today was our final exam, which meant our time in Japan was over. I was disappointed that the visit to Hiroshima got removed from the program so I took the option of taking my final at an earlier time so that I could join the some of my classmates on a 2-hour journey to Hiroshima from JCMU.
I was very excited that I had the opportunity to visit a historical sight in our World History. I learned a lot about the A-bomb attack on Japan when I was in Middle school and I never would have thought I would be standing on the land where it happened. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity on my last day in this great country.
It was a long bullet train ride to Hiroshima but it was all worth it once we got there. The Hiroshima Carps is the baseball team that resides there and I bought a baseball cap as a souvenir to remember my visit. The A-bomb dome is a historical landmark that we got a chance to view. It is the last remaining building that survived the attack and has been preserved over the years as a reminder of what happened. The central sight where the bomb was initially dropped has been turned in to a park and used to symbol peace. We got a chance to walk around the museum and view the story’s leading up to the attack and the devastating results that changed the culture of the Japanese. There were videos of the attack and items that were found on the land after the bomb on display at the museum. Some of the pictures of the people were hard to view and I couldn’t believe that our country was responsible for this devastating attack. We will forever be labeled as the fist to use nuclear weapons and I don’t think that is a good title to have. The museum also explained the process of rebuilding Hiroshima and the effects that the radiation from the nuclear bomb had on the people. These affects killed instantly and some had long term affects that killed down the line of life.
This was a great experience that I will never forget, and I will always cherish the memories I have developed during my time here in Japan.

The trip is beginning to get down to the last finals days and our last scheduled city to visit was Kyoto. This city had a lot to offer, not as busy and big as Tokyo but it gave me the same type of vibe as we traveled around. Our day in Kyoto was a scheduled day for shopping and sightseeing. Kyoto had a great shopping district that had a lot to offer. Many designer stores such as Bape, Gucci, and many different special clothing boutiques. I also had the chance to shop for last minute souvenir gifts for my family. The shopping district in Kyoto reminded me of an outdoor shopping mall. We all were given a bus pass once we arrived to Kyoto and the pass was valid for a day. We spent majority of the day shopping and once we were done it was our mission to get back to JCMU without Dr. Ross. Once we caught the bus back to the station it was smooth sailing from that point on because that was the biggest challenge, catching the bus in Kyoto. We also had the opportunity to visit a historic Japanese Castle located in Kyoto. I was a great sight to see and learn the structure of Japanese buildings in earlier times. Kyoto is a well-designed city and is a great contribution to Japan’s economy.

“ Don’t forget to Study while abroad” !!--preparing for final

Our arrival to JCMU also meant the week we will be taking our final exam for the two courses MKT 310 and SCM 303. So that meant lectures, study, and recap what we learned during our time in Tokyo. I had been having so much fun in Japan; the final exam began to slip my mind. Dr. Ross began to kick us into overdrive so that we can finish off the week strong. Each class was given a 3-hour lecture about the specific topics that will be covered on the exam and how to go about studying these materials. It was like the first day of school again for most of us in the group. We had been tired from the intensity of the program so far and a lecture did not seem so appealing. I didn’t know if I could keep attention on the material but I actually participated and got a better understanding of the supply chain operation. At the end of the lecture period we were given a homework assignment and with it only being Monday and the assignment due on Thursday I thought the group was going to procrastinate but we all linked up later that night and we completed the work as a group. I felt relieved as we completed the assignment because now I just had to focus on reviewing material. After I remembered to study while abroad my week began to become more organized and focus.

“Rain Rain go away”- Our arrival to Japan Center For Michigan Universities (JCMU)

The rain put our tour of Mt. Koya on hold and eventually cancelled the next morning so after waking up at 5am we had a few hours to relax before we headed down the mountain and on to our next destination, JCMU. I knew this day would be another travel adventure day through Japan. I was very excited about going to JCMU because we would be staying in dorm rooms and we all would get bikes for the week!
It was a gloomy day and very raining which doesn’t make it easy or fun to travel from train to train. We did about half the traveling we did to get up Mt. Koya but it was still a long brutal day. As we arrived to JCMU we all got transported from the train station in about six different taxis and my luggage bag did not fit in the trunk so I had to ride with in my lap for a 5-minute ride from the train station to JCMU. Once we got there we met Iga, the hall director and she assigned all of us rooms. She said that one guy and one girl from our group would be rooming with a student who is already stationed at JCMU from another Michigan University. I knew with my luck that I would be the one to receive a unknown roommate and that’s exactly what happened to me. On my key envelope it stated that I would be rooming with someone unknown and to not touch any of his belongings because he would be gone for the week that I was there. I was ok that he was gone because that meant I had the room to myself with my own privacy. I’m ok with being by myself, it will give me a chance to relax and move at my own pace around the room.
JCMU seems great so far and I love the scenery of the city and Lake Biwa.

“Speeding Through Japan” –Travel day to Mt. Koya

Today begin early around 8am and there was a good reason for the early start to the day because our mission was to reach Mt. Koya located many miles away from Tokyo. The night before we were warned that today would be the day we wish we brought less luggage. I didn’t look too much into that statement but I definitely wished I had fewer luggage as our travel day begun.
The traveling began with a simple trip on the train like we had been doing all week. We took the city train to the Tokyo station where our daylong journey would begin on the bullet trains. I have read about how fast and nice these bullet trains were in a magazine a few years back so I was very excited about getting the chance to take a trip across Japan on their bullet line.
To get out of the city of Tokyo it took us around two hours on the bullet train where we transferred train line a few times once we reached the city of Osaka. As we traveled further away from the city, I notice the scenery and the culture of the Japanese began to seem a lot slower and conservative. We were traveling through the mountains and the structure of the homes began to change and the technology of each train station was a lot less than ones closer to the cities in Japan.
Once we arrived to Mt. Koya we had to ride up a cable car to get to the top of the mountain. The cable car was fun, it moved at a slow pace and felt like we were climbing up to a roller coaster. Once we got to the top we took a bus that dropped us off in front of the temple we would be staying the night in. I was very skeptical about staying in a temple when I found out it was included in the activities, but the temple was a highlight of my trip so far.
The design was like a hotel and was made for tourist of the mountain. It was very modern and relaxing after a long day of travel. We all embraced the culture of staying in the temple so we all participated in a traditional way of taking a bath (the Monk way) and wearing the robes that were provided in each room. The washroom had about six showerheads and a big heated tub. You are required to shower first rinsing all the soap then relax in the tub, it was one of the best baths I have ever took and will never forget. I had gotten some of the best sleep in the temple that night and in the morning we got to witness the monks doing their daily chants.
At the end of the day the long 10-hr day of traveling was worth the experience we received staying on Mt. Koya and in the temple.

“Night life” Final Chapter in Tokyo

Tokyo is a big city full of bright lights and most cities with these characteristics have a great nightlife to go along with them. Earlier in the week we had a chance to experience Tokyo at night. The “crew” as I call everyone on the program, decided to go out on a Monday night. The destination was a area called Roppongi located in Tokyo. This district was full of bars and various clubs. That night wasn’t such a good idea to go out for me because we had been awake since 4am doing company tours and shopping in Harajuku. So once we stepped out I instantly crashed and decided to head back to the room after we visited one bar along with three of my “crew” members. Once we left I knew I had to return to Roppongi before we left Tokyo on Saturday (5/22). The area was just exciting and I knew it would be great on a Friday night.
So the date was set and our last Friday in Tokyo we all wanted to hang out in Roppongi but somehow that changed and we ended up in another area called Shibuya. I didn’t want to be the “bad guy” and leave everyone for Roppongi so I followed along with the decision and figured we all would have a good time. I didn’t visit this area earlier in the week so I figured the experience there would be cool according to my other classmates. Our last night in Tokyo was not a successful fun night like I imagined, the clubs didn’t look fun, people didn’t start coming until 2am and we had to be up early in the morning to travel up Mt. Koya so 2am was way too long to wait to start partying and I didn’t want to take a cab back too late. I didn’t let the bad night change my attitude or put me in a bad mood because I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from enjoying every moment in Japan. I still had another great week left in this country so I just look forward to some new experiences in other parts of Japan. Tokyo is a beautiful city and I developed many other good memories throughout the week to fall back on.

Soy Sauce “Monopoly”

We had the opportunity to visit Kikkoman the number one “soy sauce” manufacturer/producer. The plant tour was very entertaining and informative of their company and product. They have an organized path that they take visitors on that lets you get a good view of the making of soy sauce. Kikkoman has visitors coming to their plant all the time to view the unique operation so they have a museum set up. Kikkoman also has two plants located in the US, Wisconsin and California. The reasoning for these locations are because they are located close to the raw materials needed to produce soy sauce such as soybeans and wheat.
Soy sauce is one of my favorite seasonings to use when I’m eating Chinese meals because it adds a lot of flavor to the foods. Before this tour I did not realize how often it is used in our culture to add flavor to many other foods than fried rice. During the tour they explained the different taste that soy has to offer, bitter, savory, and salty. This allows the product to be used in many different ways all over the world. I noticed that a few women in my life use it when cooking sweets and other meals. I could never understand why and I thought it was disgusting even though you can’t taste the addition of the sauce. But now I now why, it enhances the flavor of most foods such as chicken, fish, rice, and even ice cream. At the end of the your we got the chance to eat a free ice cream cone with soy sauce which was actually very tasty to my surprise.
Kikkoman has a product that has a very long process to make, 6 months to be exact, and they do a very good job with managing the process and supplying the world with one of the greatest all-purpose seasonings.

“Can I have it my way”?!--- Eating in Tokyo

What am I going to eat while I’m in Tokyo, Japan? That was a question I was thinking before I got here. I don’t eat too much raw fish and I’m very selective when it comes to sushi and other meals. I knew they had some of our traditional fast food restaurants located in Tokyo but I wasn’t sure of how the quality of there food would be and was the preparation of the food the same as back in America. Some of the fast food/restaurant chains that found their way into the Japanese market are McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Denny’s, Outback, Subway, and Starbucks. I had the opportunity of eating at 3 of those six places.
KFC was the first up for the test on the first night of our arrival. It was very difficult communicating my order with the cashier so I used the method of pointing at the menu. Slapz was the first to order and receive his food and we he got it his three pieces of chicken I did not like the look of it. His leg piece still had the small foot at the end and we cut that off in America, and the coloring of the skin was little off. The menu was a watered down version of our traditional KFC menu with less selection and everything comes with fries. I eventually ordered and got over the look of the chicken because I was starving. My meal was a 3 piece and fries, and the taste was actually satisfying. The chicken was fresh and tasted the same, as it should which surprised me.
McDonalds is the most frequent seen and well-accepted fast food chain in Tokyo. They have the same menu as in America with a few exceptions of some different style burgers that satisfy the Japanese culture, such as teriyaki, pork, and some sort of crab/fish burger. I ate McDonalds at least once every day and sometimes twice including breakfast. Recipe and preparation was very similar to the U.S McDonalds because the taste of my favorite selections tasted the exact same. Everything is served a lot faster and fresher than some orders I have received back home. I was very satisfied with McDonalds all over Tokyo and the many times I ate there. I ate enough so when I get back to the States I will to break from eating there for a while.
Burger King was also very satisfying the one time I ate there. This chain does not have many locations through out Japan but our Hotel had one in the Mall connected to our hotel. The Whopper was prepared well and did not upset my stomach like the ones I receive back home. Subway also had many locations throughout Tokyo and the last night we discovered one in the Mall area. I was very hungry and a subway sandwich sounded very satisfying and that it was. They have some different selections that American subway’s but the freshness of their vegetables and bread was very present in the taste but a lot more expensive.
Those were my restaurant experiences in Tokyo Japan and I happy to say I was able to “have it my way”!!

MSU Alum Making “major moves” in Japan

Today we got to visit Kuehne + Nagel a French company whose Business model includes warehousing and shipping freight around the Globe. We had the pleasure of a presentation by Scott Smalley, the General Manager of contract logistics division of the company. What stood out to me was that he was a Michigan State University Alumni. He started out at Lansing Community College and did a work study program through LCC in Tokyo many years back. Then he transferred to MSU after two years at LCC, graduated and moved to Tokyo, Japan where he has established a great life. One of Kuehne + Nagel’s warehouses that they help manage is BMW Japan and we had the opportunity to witness there operation. There are a lot of MSU alum here in Tokyo doing great things and I think its very important that our University does more to recognize international alumni doing great things. We had the opportunity a few days ago to participate in the annual MSU alumni dinner in Tokyo, where we met several people doing business overseas in Japan. That gave me a great feeling to know how well represented and recognized our school is in these international job markets. If I ever decide to do business overseas now I have a network to look up and see if they have opportunities for me.

Early bird gets to “Sea” –“Food”—Visit to Tsukiji Wholesale seafood/tuna market

The learning objective of the first week here in Tokyo was to get a view of how certain businesses operate and their supply chain methods. Dr. Ross divided the class into teams and assigned us certain points to analyze when we visited these companies and my team’s focus points were physical distribution, how product is moved, and logistics and warehousing. Early Monday morning around 4am we were able to get a hands on experience with one of Tokyo’s most important business operations, the distribution of Fresh/Frozen Tuna and other fresh seafood.
Business begins early in this operation we were up moving around the city at the crack of dawn. Back home I fall asleep around 4am sometimes so it was culture shock for me to be up moving around the city that early. The usually busy streets of Tokyo were very calm at this time in the morning and it felt like we were the only group of people making move.
Tsukiji is a face paced 24 hours 7 day a week operation where seafood is auctioned, bought, and distributed all over Japan. Our class was given the opportunity to witness some of these auction operations. The most intriguing operation was the auctioning of Tuna. Each fish is auctioned off separately in this warehouse. Wholesalers spend a period of time to inspect the quality of each Tuna and that gives them a base of how much to pay or its value. The Tuna is divided into two categories Fresh and Frozen. Frozen is more of a commodity and purchased in large orders at a lower price. Fresh Tuna has a lower demand but is placed at a higher price. The auctioning is very intense and the auctioneer communicates with the bidders through hand signals and a loud projected voice. This facility also has a market that consist of around 700 individually owned booths that sale fresh seafood to customers coming through the market. Individual markets manage these booths. If a creature is in the sea its is caught and eaten in Japan. I seen everything from squid to eel provided at this market, which fits right into the diet of the Japanese culture. They want the freshest products when they eat so it only makes since to eat the most natural creatures the sea can provide. I personally could not adapt to the fresh taste of the foods over here or their choice of the creatures they choose to eat. Squid, snails, sea urchins, and raw varieties of fish are animals that I could not digest into my system, the smell and the taste mad my stomach turn every time but I eventually adjusted to it.

“Harajuku” makes you want to just “throw it all in the bag”!!

Shopping, High fashion, Bright lights, and busy streets is what makes up to be considered Tokyo’s famous shopping district. I love fashion and I enjoy shopping for new clothes, so my first question for Tokyo was, where is the best place to shop? The answer I received weeks before my arrival was Harajuku! I was instantly impressed with the selection and style of clothing store/shops this area had to offer. Name almost any high-end fashion brand in the U.S and they had it here. The sizes of the stores of some of these top brands were very impressive. I was excited to find one of the brands that I’m loyal to, Ralph Lauren Polo. The size of this store was massive. The first floor consisted of some of the most expensive men clothing that Ralph Lauren has to offer, with the second floor being women’s. The presence of the building stood out on the street because of the size and lighting. Another top brand located in this store was Nike, and they had a store designed like no other I have seen in the US. Bright colors, lights and shoes were located everywhere. I found it very unique that the top floor of the store was designated for customers to come in and design their own type of Nike shoe.
As we traveled further up the block I noticed the designer stores were more of the most expensive brands we find in our high-end malls in the US, designers such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Dior. The design of these stores were incredible and I couldn’t help but to stop into Gucci and Loui to see what type of products that had to offer different from the U.S. There wasn’t much difference but each store was larger that the ones I have seen with them having two floors allowed them to have many different designs of products to choose from.
Harajuku is an area designed for shopping, and it reminded me of a massive outdoor shopping mall. There are small alleys of specialty shops and boutiques where I found exclusive shoes and clothing that you cant find in the U.S. Before I arrived to Tokyo I thought I would discover a huge price diffrence in clothing compared to America. My reason for thinking that was because a lot of products are made here in this country that we receive in America. But that’s not that case, clothing and shoes are priced the same as in the States. The first day in Harajuku we didn’t have much time to explore and shop do to time constraints of the program but we gained knowledge of the railroad system later that night from our professors and by just studying the map for a few minutes. After we understood the system we traveled back to Harajuku the next day on our own and it was a successful trip there without getting lost.

Japan “Cribs”- Historic Farm/ distribution housing

The visit to the “Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum” gave us a historic view of each house and what goods/services each house provided to Japan in the early 1800s-1900s. Traditional Japanese architecture is well known around the world for its beauty and functionality. To conserve the valuable historic creations from the past, the city of Kawasaki began to relocate these historic houses from all over Japan to Minkaen in 1965.
The Museum gave us a view of 25 historical buildings and an explanation of how the houses were designed and built. There was also an illustration of the lifestyle of the people who lived in them. Many of the housing were used for distribution of goods whether it was fish, equipment, or services for the people. The Supply Chain aspect of each house was very unique and tailored to the design of the house. Some buildings had designated areas where particular functions of their business took place. Those areas were used for exchange of goods/services such as fish, equipment, natural resources that families needed, or products that were created inside of the house. I enjoyed exploring through each house and the set up of the museum made it an adventure for our group as we walked around to each site. We also had the opportunity to capture each moment on the trail with our cameras allowing me to give you a view of the unique design of each home

“I’m on top of the world” !!! 60 floors up

When I first arrived in Tokyo I was very excited about viewing the city, its structure of buildings, and the lighting at night. The first official meeting we had gave me a perfect view of the city.
We all gathered on the 60th floor of our hotel known as the “observation deck” where we were able to view the entire city from one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo. “This is the most massive and busiest cities I have ever witnessed” was my first thought and I instantly became intrigued by the facts about the structure of the city given to us by Dr. Londo. The city looks like about 5 of the major US cities all on one massive landmass, to paint a picture in your head.
Tokyo alone currently holds approximately 12 million citizens. With that many people wonder, “how do they fit that many people in one city?”, well its done in Tokyo and very efficient. There are hundreds of skyscrapers located all throughout the city, residential housing, and business operations. From the observation deck everything looked close together with not much space for travel. But the innovated people of Tokyo have developed a very effective transportation system. Expressways wrap all around and throughout area, but to save space the infrastructure of these roads are elevated above ground saving miles of space.
Another view of the city that stood out to us all was the abundant amount of railroads moving through the city. Tokyo has one of the busiest subway/train systems in the world. Subways are the main source of transportation for the common citizen. When you enter these train stations it is packed with people moving with a purpose, moving at a fast past, and usually moving around to handle business, whether its work, school, shopping, eating, or just out to have fun. I found it very innovated that majority of these train stations have shopping centers located throughout them. These shopping centers are owned by the railroad companies, bringing in millions of dollars to their corporation. It makes it very convenient for the Japanese citizen to have access to these goods (i.e. groceries, clothing, fresh foods) while they travel home from work.
Keeping their city clean is a major part of the culture here in Tokyo and other parts of Japan. In America we let are waste (trash) bury underground and let it deplete into the environment. Here in Tokyo they burn their trash because it is not much natural land spaces to just bury it underground. This method can become very expensive and dangerous to the air quality because the smoke is released from tall smoke stacks located throughout the city. Littering and spitting on the ground is frowned upon in this culture. I have a habit of spitting and littering back home in the states and when I did that here I got a few “dirty looks”. When u look around you see no trash on the grounds but you see a lot of recycle bins located on the streets and in every restaurant.