Working with Japanese tips

[UtwigMU]

So now that my Japanese is at conversational level I got myself a gig. Next week Japanese business woman dealing in wine imports is coming here and she has asked me to be her driver/interpreter (her English is reasonable) around Slovenia, Italy, Austria and Croatia. I took a week off from work. She is very down to business, has schedule planned in advance and sends me 3-4 emails per day, mostly in Japanese, starting from 6am her time. I'm getting paid but I'm mainly doing this to improve language and to have business contacts in Japan. I hope everything goes well.

If you have any tips please share them. I still remember how Sasq used to bow on the phone.

[KRSESQ]

Always be polite to everyone. Whatever you do, whatever she does, whatever happens, don't lose your cool. The more unflappable you appear, the better. And remember the Boy Scout motto: be prepared. You better believe she'll occasionally hit you with curveball changes in her itinerary. The faster you can shift gears the better.

And no matter where you go, act like you've been there before.

Works with everyone, not just Japanese.

(You're going to learn a lot about diplomacy on this gig!)

(And make sure your cell phone is fully charged at all times!)

[UtwigMU]

So far so good on day one. Picked her at the airport 1.5h away, checked her in hotel, helped her change money at the bank, walked around, we went for dinner where we shared food. Was a bit nervous but kept my cool, I think we're getting along well, she is nice to me. It's nice to see an old school woman who waits for me to open doors for her. She speaks less English than I thought and fortunately my Japanese is getting along better than I thought but still I was tired after speaking non-stop for 5-6h. She does throw curveballs as now she has an idea to go see some place 600km away in northern Italy near Switzerland.

She brought me a calligraphy pen from Japan which I really liked.

I do have the I've been there before aura as usually when I'm abroad people think I'm local or in the know and ask me for directions or if I can rent them apartments or start speaking in local language.

[UtwigMU]

We've finished the crazy 3000km 5 countries in a week road trip. It was harder than I thought, there were many curveballs but I handled all of them like a pro. For example: First she invited herself to stay in my flat. Or find lodging for tonight in 15 minutes before departure to the morning meeting on Italian hotel wi-fi, in the middle of nowhere Austrian village that has separate rooms, is cheap, nice and you can come in the middle of the night. Or when "lets just return there to buy some biscuits" turns into 5h international socializing. Had not only my phone charged the whole time but also two powerbanks for her iPhone. She's old enough to be my mother, looks 20 years younger her age and sometimes starts her day by opening a bottle of wine for breakfast. We were on friendly professional terms (reffered to each other by san). We were both happy in the end (once when introducing me she said "He's a superman." and it was very interesting experience. We spoke Japanese 80% of the time.

[VJ]

Sounds interesting...


And now to relax: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4XNqrqxrU

[KRSESQ]

edit Details, man! Did she stay at your flat?

[UtwigMU]

Yes she did for three nights and we shared AirBNB in Austria but that was because I thought it was a 2-room apartment from the pictures. The teachers from Japanese school advised me to put her in hotel. I put her in hotel the first night but in the evening she messaged me if she can stay with me if it's not bothering me. We have written online only for a few months and never spoken on video or phone before the meeting.

Nothing happened as she has already made herself too much at home - there was no interest expressed from either side. I was a bit like the hand of king. The king shits and the hand wipes. Had something had happened she would have grown completely over my head and as I said she is old enough to be my mother (3 years younger than my actual mother), about as old as some of my fellow MURCers here. She doesn't look her real age though, she looks nice.

Why my flat: It was free (she could use some of the allowance for shopping probably), room was bigger (I'm renting 2-bedroom apartment - I let her use the larger one) than hotel room, I have better wifi (100/10 optics with corporate grade router shared with only me), she could cook or help with cooking and had input on food, I have many things which lower midrange hotel doesn't, like chopsticks, scotch tape, wine glasses, sparkling wine, I make awesome Italian cappuccino... On her 3d day she wanted us to depart at 6am so we had to get up at 5am. It was quicker and more certain if we stayed together. WRT to staying she was very nice, always helped with cooking and cleaning, cleaned after herself, always asked before occupying the bathroom for lengthy periods. Towards the end she has already started to provide input on how my living room should be arranged. It was very interesting to do things at home in Japanese.