ATR CEO BBQ vs. IBL

So everything turned out fine on Friday. I found my license, rented a truck, and got the kotatsu home, despite torrential rains. I was a little bit nervous about driving on the left side, but the only really tricky bit was making sure I turned into the lane on the correct side of the divider. Oh, and squeezing around motorcyclists on the narrow roads. Yeah, all in all I probably only broke about 7 or 8 traffic laws in a 1-hour period. :P

This weekend I went to a party at the house of the president of ATR. It was interesting... I once went to a party at the spectacular home of one of the CEOs of Sapient, who owns an entire peninsula on the north shore, including several islands, many tiers of gardens and patios, an enormous mansion, and of course a dock where he keeps his jetskis and other watercraft. The house on its rocky promontory towers over the relatively modest mansions of several other CEO's of high-tech companies living across the bay, a bold statement of corporate success and financial power.

President Fugono, on the other hand, lives in the woods on a little hill near Nara. Actually his place is surrounded by other houses, but he and his brothers own a big (by Japanese standards - maybe 2-3 acres? Hard to tell how far the woods extended) chunk of undeveloped land right next to his house, and the trees kinda block out the neighbors. It really felt more like a relaxed barbecue party back in Jefferson than a corporate event in Japan, with muddy paths connecting clearings in the woods, people sitting on logs and chatting, and kids fishing in the pond for crayfish.

I thought it was really cool that the president of a high-tech robotics research company in Japan, who I assume has the means to support any lifestyle he likes, would choose to live in surroundings so similar to the way my parents and all their friends back home live. This guy even has his own little mini-backhoe - apparently he dug the pond himself and uses the backhoe to keep the trails clear.

So once again my life experiences come full-circle and I find that a journey of thousands of miles, across cultural, linguistic, and intellectual barriers, brings me home again. I guess the Institute for Better Living is on to something after all. :)