Friday, December 25, 1987

IBM Trip to Fujisawa, Japan, December 1987

The week before Thanksgiving 1987, IBM asked me to go to Fujisawa, Japan, to help them set up IDSS (Integrated Development Support System). Gary Doerge went with me. We flew Northwest Airlines from Minneapolis to Tokyo, leaving Saturday, December 5, at 6:35 a.m., and arriving at Narita Airport the next day. IBMers in Japan work very late—often until 9:00 or 10:00 pm. They arrive at work at precisely the same time every morning (likely because the subways are so punctual in Tokyo?). We returned to Minnesota on Saturday, December 19.

On Saturday, December 12, Gary and I met Minoru Kamada (whom I first met in Wakayama in late 1970). In Tokyo, we visited the Ginza, the Akihabara electronics district, and Shibuya-ku. At the end of the day we took the Shinkansen back to Fujisawa.

My good friend Minoru Kamada (left) and me, in Tokyo, December 12, 1987