Occupation:
Finance Manager
Time in Japan:
2 years
Where are you from?
Birmingham, England.
What do you do in Japan?
I work for BootsMC, which is a joint venture between Boots (the UK' number one health and
beauty retailer) and Mitsubishi Corporation. We offer a range of international and
national healthcare, personal care and beauty products. We have many products (including
Boots' own brands) that are unavailable elsewhere. We also have English-speaking
pharmacists in our stores and a dispensing pharmacy in our Ginza store (there will soon be
one in our Kichijoji store too). We have opened three shops in Tokyo in the last year,
Harajuku, Ginza and Kichijoji, and will be opening a branch in Mitsukoshi's Yokohama
department store in September.
Do you have a favorite restaurant and bar in Tokyo?
Any bar with a karaoke; alcohol improves my singing abilities (in my opinion, at least).
Alternatively, the Hub does a nice Caesar Salad. A good restaurant for taking kids is
Sizzler.
What's the weirdest thing you've seen or experienced in Japan?
The reaction to my three-year-old son, James. Apparently he is cho kawaii and
people often ask if they can take photos of him or with him. He has blue eyes and red
hair, which causes a stir. People like to touch his hair and ask if it's been dyed. He's
in for some culture shock when we return to the UK.
What do you miss most about the UK?
Long summer evenings (particularly when combined with a beer garden). At the moment, with
the European Championship, I'm also missing the football - watching matches at 4am is not
much fun.
What's the one thing you'd like to take back to your home country from Japan?
Inokashira Koen or a view of Fuji.
What will you miss most about Japan?
The lack of violence and crime. It's a great environment to raise young children in,
except for the lack of escalators at subways and train stations.
If you could change one thing about Japan what would it be?
I think that Japan itself is starting to change socially in a very fundamental way. Young
people nowadays don't seem to have the same set of values as their parents. There is a
move towards individualism and it will be interesting to see if Japan can embrace this
while maintaining the virtue of respecting the community; the UK seemed to lose this when
it went through the same process. Married to this is a business environment that's also
changing. Careers for life and jobs that wouldn't exist in the West seem to be
disappearing and this will no doubt also be unsettling for the population. The recipe for
a happy and successful life in Japan is to go with the flow, don't take things personally
and don't catch the Chuo line in the rush hour!
Occupation:
LIFE IN JAPAN: