Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
Jet lag is not fun – but sometimes it is worth it. Such was the case for my trip to Sea Japan 2008 in Tokyo last week. I had not been to Japan for over 30 years (since a college engineering cadet internship on the container vessel “American Lancer”), so I was really seeing Tokyo for the first time. My visit was fabulous, and I have Ichiro Ueno (our new representative for HydroComp software in Japan) to thank for this. He took the time and effort to make sure that my stay was comfortable, enjoyable, and profitable.
Aside from a number of meetings with Ueno-san regarding HydroComp’s presence in Japan, I also had the great pleasure of meeting with our new Korean representative at the show. Alan Kwon, of UIT Solutions, very generously made the flight from Seoul to Tokyo to meet with me. Alan and I also had the pleasure of completing our first mutual sale in Korea to STX Shipbuilding during my trip.
Sea Japan itself was not quite what I had expected. (Ah, the old “expectation” problem again…) It was rather small, as compared to METS, WorkBoat, or IBEX, for example. You could easily visit every stand in one day. I was surprised that there were not more suppliers exhibiting, given the market size of Japanese shipbuilding. Yet it was also subdued in tone, very professional and consistent – nothing wrong with that. And it was also subdued in color. Friends and family know that I like to wear greens and browns, nothing flashy, just nice earth tones. Well, even with modest earth tones I must say that I did feel a bit like an island of color in a sea of blacks and greys. Again, nothing wrong with that…
The best part of my time in Japan was the people. In particular, I must say hello to Fumiyoshi Kato and Hisashi Matsumoto, who represent the ShipConstructor software in Japan. ShipConstructor CEO, and old friend, Rolf Oetter was very gracious to allow me to use their booth as my “home base” for the show. We talked about family, work, and model glider flying. (Rolf is an internationally ranked pilot!) Visiting with customers and clients allowed me to discuss new technologies and differences in design and manufacturing.
Let me close by saying how I am always amazed the similarities in core aspects of the maritime business – regardless of location or culture. Strip away the trappings of protocol and fashion, and we are all pretty much the same. Sayonara!
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