Japan Part 2 : Work Hard, Play Hard and Again, Sightseeing!

Continuing from previous day, the workshop start on the next morning, the second day. The workshop place took only 5 minutes walking from our hotel, very convenient. Firstly we are greeted by the whole AJE 2012 committee and were given a clear introduction about the whole program. After that, we are divided based on our company application into separate rooms, where we were given a more specific introduction about the tasks from our company, which is MUJI in my case.

Before that, we were separated into 3 different groups contains of people from different regions and we have to work together to finish our grand tasks: to make business proposal for Muji’s flagship store in our chosen country. Here, I met Lim from China and Milan from HK, Hoang from Vietnam, Hensley from Sg, and the ultimate man, Hiroki, from Japan as my teammates. The surprising thing is, at first I thought that Hiroki was a permanent employee working for MUJI already, however in the end I found that he is just one of the contestant for MUJI. WTF blame his look. He is nowhere near 22, it’s like he’s 26 and up already. *no offense*

However, the program was very fun! For the grand tasks, On the first day, we got the privilege to hear the presentation from MUJI Yurakucho flagship store’s Manager. And then we were brought directly to MUJI Yurakucho to sight-see and observe! MUJI Yurakucho is veeeeery different from MUJI in Indonesia I'm surprised. It was so big and crowded! I wish in Indonesia, MUJI is as grande as that ~

Here is our photo in front of MUJI Yurakucho store:

Taking photos inside MUJI, unfortunately this is the only photo I can take, its an edible MUJI Town miniature exhibition. SO fuckin cute and tempting to be grabbed and eaten..

After observing MUJI Yurakucho ad asked the manager several questions we’d like to ask, the observation session ended and we went back to the Hotel. And then, our journey of sighseeing Tokyo begin again! However on the second day we only managed to go to 2 places, Shibuya and Ebisu, but still it is so damn fun.

Shibuya, is one kind of a place that is very crowded even in the night. It was known for its youngster hangout place, scramble road, and shopping district. If you go to Japan, I think Shibuya is a place yo must visit. The district is very distinct than the other, everybody is very stylish, the buildings and roads are very bright from all the billboards and neons, and music everywhere. I noticed that in every roadlight attached one speaker that continuously playing music so you can hear music even outside the building.

Here is some photos:

The famous dog, Hachiko Statue in Shibuya,

Scrambled road, where tons of people crossing the road once the green light is on for crossing road. What a sight! I wanted to take photos in the middle of the road though but was very afraid to be crashed by lots of people haha.

Shibuya shops and roads:

Emiri took us to take a purikura toon (means photobox)! Really, purikura in Japan was so unique. There are several effects that we can choose: eye enlarging, leg lenghtening, skin smoothing and so on. We took the eye effect one. Notice our eyes (even all the male eyes) were getting very ginormous, somehow cute, somehow scary:

After sightseeing for a while in Shibuya, we went to our next and last place of the day, Ebisu, which is famous for its beer, even though we didnt went for any beer though. Arriving there, the most funny line Lim said was “Hell no. I’m getting jealous by all the couple here this place is so fuckin for dating huh”. Hahaha. Yes, Ebisu is soo beautiful at night. SO much lighting from the Christmast tree and roadlights and so on no wonder it is the perfect place to have a date. Haha.

Here are some photos:

Roads full of lights, somehow feels like in Orchard Road Singapore at night:

And this is the Baccardi Eternal lights at the end of the road, made from hundreds of Baccardi glass bottle and the writing stone described that the light is going to be forever on until January 2013 (forever on huh..).

After taking several photos and chatting, we went back to the hotel and preparing our self for tomorrow workshop session. Will be missing Ebisu very much..

On the next day which is the 3rd day, we continue our workshop session to complete our task for business proposal. After getting the broader image of a flagship store and some knowledge about retail store from the manager, the rest is up to us to make our business proposal as good and as fast as possible.

Actually, on the 3rd day, the session is all about discussion and another interview to the external relation manager of MUJI, where we can get another info about proposing store outside Japan (our task is to choose a country which suitable for building a new flagship store and explain why including the income proforma and business design). The whole day is about discussion.

Actually, on this day, I’m getting a little bit stressed here. For some reason, I can’t get along with my friends here on the discussion. I blame it for my English speaking skill actually. Sometimes it is kinda hard to express something in English and when I do that, my words aren't convincing enough. I know that my friends English speaking level must be far above me, they are very used to speak English, on the other hand I don't  so I kinda can’t catch up with their discussion and debates so I decided to work on my own tasks which already divided on the beginning of the discussion.

Furthermore, I thought that in my team, everyone striving to dominate! WTF. Debates going on and on and were having a hard time even to agree on some point of discussion. Everyone having their own opinion and strive to defend it. Since it is not going so well with me getting over debates, I agree whatever they agreed on and working my own part as best as I could and swear that I’m gonna polish my speaking skill better and better.

Finally the 3rd day session ended and yes I am very fucking tired from all the pressure and cant wait to have another Tokyo sightseeing session. However, knowing that tomorrow is our final day for presenting our ideas, several of us didn't want to go out that night and choose to work on the tasks but hell, I need a refreshment. Lucky me, Hiroki really wanted to go too. So we decided to finish our task as soon as possible and went out.

Finally, 4 of us, me, Dendi (outsider from Idemitsu, haha), Lim, and Hiroki went out that night. However, we decided to go somewhere near the hotel because it is already a bit late. So, we went to Odaiba City that night.

Arrived on Odaiba City, we were so excited seeing the Liberty Statue and Rainbow bridge. So, we’re taking photos as much as possible although most of the photos went blur because it was dark and windy. Oh, fuckin very windy and cold WTF we are taking photos and freezing at the same time!!

Here are some lousy result:

3 of them were so fucking happy leh..

However don't mind the result, mind the moments!

Finish taking photos, we get in to the Odaiba City Mall. Although most of the shops already closed, I’ve found something unexpected here! One Piece New Movie Promotional Site here. Taking photo is a must:

See the ship there? Actually moments after I took off from that place, some smoke shots were getting out from the Thousand Sunny bazooka there, and I missed that moment!! So fuckin pissed off.

After walking some more inside the mall, we found an indoor theme park here, called as Joypolis. Seeing the brochure, we, no, me, Dendi and Hiroki impulsively really wanted to go in but Lim decided to go back to Hotel. After paying for about 2000yen per person, we can play all the facilities there as much as we want, and really, we HAVE NO REGRET because at first I though that 2000yen per person is a bit expensive but its all worth it in the end.

The theme park was so FUCKIN FUCKIN FUN. We have no idea that an indoor theme park can be built in that place and they had lots of fucking exciting machine there, such as mini extreme roller coaster, virtual skate game, rolling racing game and so on. After getting on several games Dendi got very dizzy and we said that it is the same as the effect of alcohol hahaha. Too bad we didn't take any photo of the place simply because we forgot and enjoy the excitement very much.

After we cant take any of the dizziness anymore, we went back to the hotel and somewhat (me and Hiroki) feeling insecure about or task, so after we arrived at the hotel, we decided to search for Milan and the other to discuss and finish our task together and prepare for the best for tomorrow.

However, still, lets call it a night, to remember J

Next Post! About the final presentation day and another 1 full day of sightseeing!