Memoirs of Exchange Japan 2007

Memoirs of Exchange Japan 2007© Exchange Japan 2007Student Association at Stockholm School of Economicswww.exchangejapan.se

EditorSaana Azzam

Layout & DesignAlexander Sandström

AuthorsSaana AzzamMichaela BruneheimArielle EhnevidKristina FiliptchukEmy HolstensonGustav LandströmAlexander SandströmMartin SommerVictor Söderberg

PhotographyExchange Japan 2007

PrintJustNu

Since 1997 the students from Stockholm School of Economics and The Royal Institute of Technology have co-operated to obtain good relations between Swedish and Japanese students and companies. The work is project-based and leads to an exchange with students from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. Both project groups arrange and plan a line of activi-ties in each country paving the way for an increased and a more established contact between Sweden and Japan.

Exchange Japan 2007 had the ambition to offer Jap-anese students the opportunity to come in contact with Swedish firms just as well as the Swedish stu-dents were given the same prospect. Thus, the main vision of this project is to establish a network for these students and expose them to maximum num-ber of opportunities that will allow them to become integrated on the respective markets.

Parallel to the main mission we aspire to give the participating students a chance to increase each oth-ers’ understanding and give an insight to both coun-tries’ cultures and traditions. Through this process we seek to increase the interest of both countries’ and their existing markets. Also, with this Project Maga-zine, we hope to summarise the path that Exchange Japan embarked upon. We hope you have a pleasant read — Enjoy!

List of contents06 Project Members

08 Procedures and Etiquette in Japan

10 The Japanese Visit to Sweden

12 A Showcase of Japanese Culture

14 Travelling to Japan

16 Sweden Day

18 Our Visit to Alfa Laval

20 Closing Words

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Being project leader, Gustav was working hard mak-ing sure everything went according to the plans. But he also had time for some culture. Given his genuine interest in history it was no surprise that he really ap-preciated our visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, a memo-rial of the atomic bombing attack during World War

II. He also enjoyed Osaka Castle with its historical artefacts.

You have to love the prices in Japan, at least Arielle did. She was shopping like there was no tomorrow. It goes without saying that her interest in fashion and design made her a frequent customer at some of Tokyo’s fanciest depart-ment stores in ar-eas like Harajuku, O m o t e s a n d ō , Shinjuku and Shibuya, but you could also spot her walking up and down the less well known streets of Tokyo looking for some real shopping pearls.

Kristina’s favourite part of Tokyo became Roppongi Hills, which is fa-mous for its cafés, bars and restaurants. But the place that made the biggest im-pression was the New York Bar in Shinju-ku, known from the film “Lost in Trans-lation”. Spending an

evening at this sky bar situated on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel is by far the best way to over-look Tokyo by night.

When you visit the home of Karaoke, you realise that some have a talent for entertain-ing. The star of the group was Martin with his favourite hit “Abba Medley” that during the trip became his speciality. He was also very proud of his bargain, an authen-tic samurai sword. Despite rigid custom rules he managed to bring it back to Stockholm.

A blue eyed man with a pure heart is how every Japanese girl would describe a perfect boyfriend. Having all those qualifications Alexander had his hands full being the fa-vourite among the girls. The most memorable thing, how-ever, was the visit to Muji’s flagship-store in Yūrakuchō where he stacked up on loads of essential goods.

Project Members

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Being a treasurer in a bu-reaucratic country like Japan is associated with spending a lot of time at banks trying to make with-drawals or solving other financial problems. How-ever, Emy’s busy schedule allowed her to relax from time to time. The best part of the trip was the sumo wrestling tournament, where she even bought a picture of this year’s cham-pion as a memory to bring back home.

Since this was not the first time Michaela visited Japan, she taught the rest of the group a lot about Japan and its tradi-tions. She also had answers to important questions like where to find the most de-licious Ton Katsu. Michaela especially

enjoyed her visit to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

For someone like Victor, who has had a passion for sneakers since his early teens, visiting Ja-pan was like ending up in “sneaker heaven”. Japan had everything he could ever ask for, huge and trendy stores packed with rare mod-els at an affordable price and small vintage stores with old classics. The real highlight was nevertheless the baseball game at Hi-roshima Stadium. Yakyu, as they say in Japanese,

happens to be the most popular sport in Japan these days.

After spending many nights sleeping Japa-nese style, i.e. on the floor on a tatami mat, Saana really ap-preciated her visit to a capsule hotel. The mattresses there were, unambiguous-ly, much thicker but the “rooms” were still not holding European standards. She also enjoyed relaxing at onsen, Japa-nese in- or outdoor ponds with naturally hot water from geothermal heated springs.

One of David’s highlights during this trip was his encounter with Wagyu, also known as Kobe beef,

which is an experience rather than a simple course. The meat comes from cows that are not only geneti-cally predisposed, but they are also fed a special diet to improve the tenderness beyond your imagina-tion.

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It is easy to identify similarities between Swedish and Japanese people. However, many small things, hab-its, thoughts and procedures can seem strange for a foreigner that visits Japan for the first time. Some of the experiences are fascinating, others are funny and a few might even seem uncanny. We would like to share a number of things that we came across in the every day- and working life in Japan that might be of interest before heading for this ever so fascinating country.

When walking around in Tokyo or any other big city prepare to get your own personal collection of trash building up during the day. You have to look really hard to find a trash bin, and if you do, it is probably only meant for cans and bottles. What is even more fascinating though, is that you have to look even harder to find any rubbish on the streets; they are ab-solutely clean. The absence of trash bins can in part be explained by the subway gas attack in 1995 (after that most of the trash bins were removed), but how an entire society can agree on not throwing trash on the ground remains a mystery.

In terms of mentality Japanese people also put a great emphasis on planning and minimising risk. This in turn means that running a project can sometimes seem very time consuming, the same is true for nego-tiations of any kind. Everything needs to be calculat-ed and planned in addition to that, it is essential that everyone gets to express his or her opinion before taking a decision. A key to progress is to identify all uncertainties and be able to present a solution that seems safe and plausible. The great amount of plan-ning and the constant striving towards perfection is visible everywhere. Almost everything runs smooth-ly for example, a McDonalds hamburger is always perfectly made and you can set your watch after the Shinkansen express trains. Japan is probably world champion in terms of quality and perfection!

Furthermore, the Japanese value humbleness and harmony. When catching a cold you would never

dream of staying home from work, instead you put on a face mask. Those masks can be worn anywhere, any time and seem to be a perfectly normal acces-sory. In this way you don’t run the risk of contami-nating your colleagues and friends - a very illustrative example of Japanese humbleness rather than a way of protecting yourself from air pollution, which the less informed foreigner might think at first.

In Japan, a business card is not just a piece of paper with your name on it, but something that has to be handed over in a very ritual way. When exchanging cards, grasp your own card with both hands and hold it in front of you. Wait until your counterpart is in the same position and then try to exchange cards at exactly the same time. Then it is of great importance that you study the card for a while, before putting it aside and showing the person how thankful you are. You could end the session with a Japanese bow, which is something that can be useful in a number of situations. Keep your back straight, your arms along your sides and lean 30 degrees forwards in a quite determined way and then slowly rise again. This pro-cedure can be repeated a number of times and the one who gets the final bow is the most polite.

When entering a Japanese home you always have to take off your shoes. You might think that it is the most natural thing for a Swede, but the Japanese has taken it one step further. It is always obvious where the magical no-shoes-allowed-border goes, often

Procedures and Etiquette in Japan

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there is an elevation and a different kind of floor. Even if you have forgotten your keys and the train for the journey of your life leaves in three minutes you ought to take off your shoes before going back in to the room. Also, there is a variety of slippers for all kinds of rooms, and to make it even harder, wherever there is a tatami mat it is considered very impolite to wear any slippers at all. Another rule of thumb is that rubber slippers in general are for the toilet.

In most cultures eating is associated with numerous rules and procedures — Japan is no exception. What is different though is they sometime contrast with customs that we are used to in Europe. Whist eating soup you are, contrary to what one might be used to, supposed to make a slurping sound. Not doing so is considered utterly impolite. Sticking your chopsticks into the rice is an act reserved for funerals and hence much incongruous at the dinners table.

If you want to read more about what it is like to live and work in Japan we strongly recommend Göran Edman’s book “Ärligt talat herr utlännig” in which he in an amusing way shares his experiences from 25 exciting years in the Land of the Rising Sun.

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On February 14th, ten Japanese students stepped off a SAS plane and arrived at Arlanda airport. They were unaware of what to expect, who they were going to live with and even wondering if that infamous biting cold is going to be bearable. This was the beginning of a journey of a lifetime and more importantly the beginning of many new great business acquaintances and true friendships.

The Japanese students from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo came to Sweden to come in contact with the Swedish business-life and culture. Their agenda was fully scheduled with activities starting from early in the morning and sometimes ending late at night. Upon their arrival there was no time to sleep through their jet lag. Their spirits were up and they were ready

to absorb as much knowledge and information as was possible during their two-week stay. The first days we got to know each other and the city of Stockholm. A full day visit to the government buildings at Helge-andsholmen and a city tour was much appreciated. We started already from this point onwards to notice the similarities and differences between the two cul-tures. One Japanese student was surprised that the walking pace of Swedes was much slower than in Japan. This was a habit that the Japanese were very happy to adapt on their vacation in Sweden. As the days were passing by, they continued to learn more about Sweden and we took them to a much appreci-ated presentation at AMS and even had a spin by the Nobel Museum. But not only were they interested in our political structure and culture but our planning

The Japanese Visit to Sweden

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enabled them to enjoy the Swedish cuisine. One of our product sponsors, Pontus By the Sea, invited our Japanese guests to enjoy not only a grand ambience but also an exquisite dinner.

The days went by and almost half way through we noticed that what our guests needed was a relaxing break. A day trip in the winter to Stockholm’s ar-chipelago was perfect. A long cold walk proved to be one of the greatest eye-openers for the Japanese. The beautiful nature was a view they will never for-get. Then, just as they thought that they had expe-rienced our extreme weather we took them out for quite a surprise. The event for the night was a typical Swedish sauna session and a midnight swim. The ten Swedish members felt the pressure of living up to our Viking reputation and actually made the swim in the freezing cold and this inspired our frightened Japanese guests to take that step too.

Now they were refreshed and fit for discoveries. A visit at Carnegie and a lecture by OMX introduced them to the finance market and then a visit to KTH,

Konstfack and Eriksson show them the other aspects of the professions existing in Sweden. All this hard work lead up to a main event with our guests, The Annual Party at Stockholm School of Economics. For many of our young hardworking visitors, it was their first time out at such a social event and their cameras were on fire. They interacted with the stu-dents from SSE and provided us with an unforget-table traditional Japanese performance.

The Japanese students found the true meaning of international understanding and cross-cultural com-munication. The bridge that was built between Swe-den and Japan during this project is one that ensures us that we will definitely see our Japanese guests as either our visitors again or hopefully as our col-leagues.

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It all started a few weeks before Christmas. We con-tacted companies and organisations that might be interested in participating, arranged food and put together a schedule for the event. Sometime in mid–January we had arranged most things, although there were still some things to be seen to.

As time went by, the missing pieces started falling into place and soon enough it was time for the big night. We had earlier on decided that we wanted Nippon Day to be an event at a later hour and out-side school and this decision led the way in both the activities that were chosen and the shaping of the night.

So in details, what made the night a success was a mixture of things. Firstly, we were fortunate enough to get the Volvo Showroom as our setting. This was a big thing, not only is the showroom modernly de-signed but is also has an incredible location, in the centre of Stockholm. Secondly we were happy to have Blue Dragon, a Swedish food company, serving our guests delicious Japanese food. Sushi, Tempura, Sashimi and other traditional dishes together with Asahi beer were on the menu. The food was top notch and even our Japanese visitors were impressed.

During the evening the visitors had the chance to listen Göran Edman from Gardelius speaking about how to make business in Japan. The presentation was both informative (believe me, every word Mr. Ed-

man said about the people in Japan was confirmed once we got there) and entertaining. Following Mr. Edmans presentation our Japanese friends took the stage and lectured about life for young people in Ja-pan.

Apart from speeches and lectures we also had a hand-ful of smaller activities which the visitors could take part of while talking to the companies and mingling. These activities were calligraphy, ikebana, origami, a bonsai exhibition and the popular sake tasting.

Earlier on the same day OMX held an informative lecture at Stockholm School of Economics. The sub-ject was changes in the financial market in East Asia and the causes of these changes. It was definitely an interesting and popular presentation and based on the number of students attending, the student thought so too.

To conclude we put a lot of time and effort into mak-ing Nippon Day a memorable event. The goal was to give Swedish students an insight into Japanese culture, traditions and business life — given the re-sponse from the participants we can proudly say we succeeded.

A Showcase of Japanese Culture

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After travelling for 18 hours, the Swedish group was exhausted when arriving at the airport in Japan. However, there was no time to rest — it was eleven o’clock in the morning and our Japanese friends were eager to show us around and they started by serving us a typical Japanese dish, Okonomiyaki, for lunch. The atmosphere in Tokyo was breathtaking, there were people everywhere and the city pulse felt in-tense.

One request of the Swedish project group, before ar-riving in Tokyo, was to try the famous Kobe-beef — this was arranged for us in a way that we never could have imagined. Our Japanese hosts brought us to a skyscraper where we had Kobe-beef at a very famous restaurant. We ended up eating with the whole sky-line of Tokyo in front of our eyes. During our first week in Japan we were introduced to the skyline of Tokyo from many different viewpoints, we visited the Metropolitan Government Building and Tokyo Tower by night and were amazed by the wonderful view.

Our main mission in Tokyo was to arrange “Sweden Day” at the Swedish Embassy and to meet with the Swedish companies whom had helped us arrange this project. Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, who was one of the project sponsors, showed great generosity inviting us to their head office for a company presen-tation. Alfa Laval invited our two project-groups to their factory and head office to get a closer look at their business. This was highly appreciated by both Swedish and Japanese project members.

The schedule for our stay in Japan was planned in detail by the Japanese students; they wanted us to experience everything that Japan could offer. One of the things that really stood out during these weeks was seeing the Geishas in Kyoto. To find these magi-cal ladies we went to the famous Geisha district, where they could be seen walking about the streets. Everyone was very excited to take pictures of these icons and the history behind these women and the

tale told about them turn them into walking legends. This was one of the experiences that gave us insight in Japanese culture and history.

It is a known fact that Japanese people live in more compact accommodations than Swedes. Despite this, it never felt crowded during our stay in Japan. The Japanese project group did everything in their power to make us feel comfortable. They say that Japanese people are known for repaying generosity excessively. During our stay in Tokyo this saying proved to be true, this made the real purpose of the project clear. The devotion of all the members to use this oppor-tunity and create long-lasting relationships was ap-parent. Despite being placed on the other side of the world Japan has, for the whole group, come to feel like a familiar and friendly country. The world sud-denly feels like a much smaller place.

Travelling to Japan

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After several months of detailed planning and exten-sive contact between continents it was finally time to initiate Sweden Day on April 4th at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.

Sweden Day is a yearly event hosted in co-operation with Hitotsubashi University. Its main purpose is to promote Sweden and Swedish companies. It is also an opportunity for companies to establish a contact with their prospective employees and clients.

Sweden Day has always been a much appreciated event by both participating companies and guests. We were determined to make it even better this year. With that in mind we contacted several distinguished Swedish companies and requested their participation in this year’s project. The response we got was very positive. From our project sponsors we had Alfa La-val, SAS, OMX and Sandvik joining the fair. Sev-eral other companies attended and some like Sweden House and Foga Systems also held presentations.

Before the event started there was a long queue into the Swedish Embassy. Once everyone had entered the Swedish Ambassador in Tokyo, Mr. Stefan Noréen, held the opening speech. He pointed out the impor-tance of Sweden Day for promot-ing academic and business relations between Swe-den and Japan. Following his speech, the proj-ect leaders for Magnetism of Sweden (the Jap-anese group) and Exchange Japan held their wel-come speeches. From that point and onwards

people started to mingle, tasting Swedish snacks, playing hockey games and listening to the company presentations.

The interest in Sweden was very obvious as we talked to the participants. Many of our guests had travelled very far to take part in Sweden Day. Several visitors spoke Swedish fluently and had previously been to Sweden. They appreciated the opportunity to meet Swedish companies and again get in contact with our culture.

In the evening, the participants were served a mag-nificent Swedish style buffet. It included everything from traditionally made meatballs and smoked salm-on to Västerbottensost and gingerbread biscuits.

After months of planning, and after two inten-sive weeks of preparations in Tokyo, we were very pleased to see that our efforts were fruitful. Next year, Exchange Japan is celebrating its tenth anni-versary, which shows the popularity that the project has reached. It will most certainly be a very special Sweden Day 2008, it will be a celebration of the re-lationship between Swedish and Japanese industries during the past decade.

Sweden Day

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Alfa Laval is one of Exchange Japan’s main sponsors and while visiting Japan we were invited to tour the headquarters of Alfa Laval Japan. For those of you who don’t know much about Alfa Laval as a com-pany we will begin with a short introduction of it.

In 1879 a Swede, Gustaf de Laval, demonstrated the first continuous separator. With the expertise in sep-aration as a mainstay he started his business in 1883. Until 1963 it was known as AB Separator, then the present name Alfa Laval was introduced.

Alfa Laval is now a global provider of specialised products and engineered solutions. They heat, cool, separate and transport products such as oil, water, chemicals, beverages, starch and pharmaceuticals for their customers. Today most of the products of Alfa Laval still have their origin from Gustav de Laval’s invention. Since then they have added heat transfer and fluid handling to their expertise in separation. Being an international company Alfa Laval has offic-es in countries all over the world, one of them being Japan. To learn more about Alfa Laval we spent an

Our Visit to Alfa Laval

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afternoon at their headquarters in Kohnan, outside Tokyo.

After a journey by train we arrived at the station in Kohnan. Here we were received by Mr Masashi Nohmoto, Human Resource Manager at Alfa Laval Japan. We were directed to a company shuttle bus that took us to the offices and factory. The decora-tion was quite Swedish and very minimalist, already a sensation of the cultures of Japan and Sweden inte-grated was growing.

The visit started with a short introduction of the fa-cilities by Mr Nohmoto. We were shown a map and got a brief explanation of Alfa Laval. He told us what each department did and where on the map it was situated. The short introduction was to be followed by a more thorough one by the CEO of Alfa La-val Japan, Anders Pentelius. With a smile he greet-ed the members of Exchange Japan in Swedish and the members of Magnetism of Sweden in Japanese. He then introduced us to the factory manager who had been assigned to guide us around in the factory buildings. Before the tour around the facilities start-ed we were each given an Alfa Laval cap. The factory manager showed us the different machines and tried to explain to us about the engineering aspects of the products.

When we had seen the entire facility we sat down in a conference room, had some snacks and Japanese ice tea while conversing with representatives from Alfa Laval Japan.

At the end of the day we were given a ride in the Alfa Laval bus back to the station. During this bus ride I thought about what we had experienced and one event in particular popped up in my mind. The event that had fixed particularly in my mind was when we found a picture beside the main machine in one of the factory buildings. The picture represented a Shinto ceremony that had taken place during the inauguration of that machine. I think that the pic-

ture, in a way, represents what Exchange Japan is all about. There we were, Swedish and Japanese students working together on a project, visiting an originally Swedish company that at that moment, in the eyes of the Swedes, could not have been more Japanese. It was like all the differences were united to create a place where the two cultures could meet.

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…Who have contributed to the success of Exchange Japan 2007! It is with great sadness that we, the project group of this years’ Exchange Japan, leave this project behind us and leave room for the new project managers of Exchange Japan 2008. A year has passed since this project formed and we could never have guessed how much this project would mean to us one year later. For one year this project has been our life, our concern, our joy and our teacher. Now it is time for us to say good bye, but before we do so we would like to thank every-one that has made all of this possible. First of all, we would like to thank all of our spon-sors, without you this project would not have been achievable. Your contributions to Exchange Japan 2007 have been the foundation on which we have built this project. Thanks to your contribution, this year’s Exchange Japan project can only be conclud-ed as a success. Both in terms of interest shown by students and companies in both Sweden and Japan but also in terms of experiences made by the project members. Among our sponsors, we would especially like to thank our two main sponsors, Alfa Laval and SAS. It has been a great pleasure co-operating with you and we are proud of having had the opportu-nity to represent you, both in Sweden and in Japan. We really hope that you feel that you have benefited and experienced as much as we feel that we have during the last nine months of working together. We would also like to express our gratitude to all the people and organisations that have contributed to the project throughout the year. MOS, our Japa-nese sister project, which we worked with in arrang-ing two unforgettable events in Tokyo and Stock-holm and that planned and arranged our visit in Japan. Carl-Axel Engdahl at KTH, whom has been a great source of inspiration and an excellent tutor during the year. The Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa foundation that next to our corporate sponsors has helped us in financing this project. Next year will be special since it’s the 10th anni-versary of Exchange Japan. It is our wish and our

belief that next year’s project will be bigger and bet-ter than ever. Even though we hand over to a new group of students we really hope that the relation-ships that Exchange Japan 2007 has built with you over the year does not end here. Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

The members of Exchange Japan 2007

Dear All of You…

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LiteAwAy

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BAKSIDA