Sushi With Ed

Wednesday, January 14

Ed is one of the folks that work here in Japan and he is our main contact for our work. We have been spending all of our time with Ed getting things organized and supporting his efforts with Lean Six Sigma. Wednesday is Day 2 for our training and effort and so we spent the day working with the Army team here to sort out command priorities and identify potential projects. The Commanding General joined us in the morning to highlight his attitude and wishes for Lean Six Sigma and it was quite a positive event.

After work, Ed took us to a favorite Sushi place somewhere in town. We jumped in his car (which I really liked) and he drove (on the left hand side of the road) around narrow streets through traffic that turned this way and that. After dodging countless pedestrians, we arrived at a Sushi place that looked positively franchised! There was a sushi train but Ed ordered for me off the ala carte menu. I had mostly tuna with some eel and some other stuff that I couldn’t pronounce and can’t remember. He was gentle with me so the food was quite good.

The sushi is delivered to your table on colored plates. The plates determine how much you are charged. When you are done, you take the plates up to the cashier and they total up your bill! We talked for a long time. Seems like that’s a normal thing. It’s easy to do because the restaurants are all fairly quiet – except for the shouting of “Welcome, come in and eat!” in Japanese every time someone comes in the door. That is one aspect of people here that seems pervasive – everyone is welcoming, friendly and SMILING!

Tomorrow is another day of meetings so we retired early. My contribution as a training leader is far less important today and tomorrow, so I am focusing on support and strategy. So far, Ed is very happy that I came!