Now I have been working for almost 1.5 weeks. An ordinary work day I wake up around 7 am to get ready to leave the apartment by 7:40 am. I walk along the Meguro-gawa (Meguro river) and then Meguro-dori (Meguro street) to Meguro-eki (Meguro station).
At the Meguro-eki I push along with all the other people on their way to somewhere. Probably to where they work, it is after all an ordinary work day. I pass the gates by using my Suica commuter pass card. A blue light and a sound makes it clear that I can pass.
Then I push myself into a train cart on the Yamanote-sen (Yamanote line). It is quite crowded but no people with white gloves to push people into the carts are necessary. Still, sometimes I have had to back-pushing into the cart.
The train starts rolling. It is smother than the subway in Stockholm. But it is anyway difficult to fall. I guess I could only fall if the whole train falls with me. Then we stopp briefly in Gotanda. Doors open. Some people get off. Some get on. The netto in the cart stay about the same. Then we smothly start rolling again. Next stop is Osaki. Same procedure. Some people get off and some get on. Some people even get off to let other people off and then get on again. No one in the cart is sitting. All seats are up during rush hours.
Next stop is Shinagawa. I am one of all the people to get off at this station. So I join the black snake of people out of the train. Up the stairs. Out of the gate. I use my Suica commuter pass card to get out of the gates. Again a blue light and a sound makes it clear I can pass.
The black snake of people continues in a wide hallway. I am one of them but maybe not as black as the other since I am more blond than the average Japanese. Someone at my office told me that in Shinjuku, one of the bigger train hubs just like Shinagawa, more than 4 million passes through every day. 4 million people is just a little bit less than half the Swedish population. Every day. Then you can imagine what kind of black snake I am part of.
Out of the station. Uff, it is hot in the sun. I start to sweat. Nice. Heck, everybody else is sweating so why not me. I continue to walk. No longer part of a big black snake. But a smaller one. People going in my direction. NTT has a building here. And just behind my office building Sony has a big building.
I cross a street and turn a corner. Then I enter through a glass cube to the building where Sony Ericsson has its main office in Tokyo. A guard sais “Ohayou-gozaimasu” (Good morning). I am not special. He does that to everyone entering. In the evening he sais “Arigatou-gozaimasu” (thank you). I feel special, though I am not.
I take the elevator to the 11th floor. Exit the elevator. And use my Sony Ericsson ID-card to enter to the open landscape that is my office. About 60 people (I guess) work here. I know just a few of them. Many are consultants. From India. But I can smell no curry today. I punch in by using my Sony Ericsson ID-card.
I sit at my desk and work hard. A lot of meetings. Already after less than two weeks of work here. At 5:30 I punch out. I worked 8 hours and 30 minutes. They guy that was here in the morning when I arrived is still here. He was here at 9 pm the other day too when a teleconference with Sweden and USA ended for me. The way back home is the same as the way here. Only doing the things in backwards order.
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