When I prepared myself in Germany to work at a Japanese company, I imagined that I would encounter a rather different working atmosphere than I was used to. But still – working as an IT engineer is mainly about working on a computer. And computers are globally quite the same. So I expected at least that my working environment would be kind of predictable and that the activities with my colleagues would exclusively take place in the shelter of the companies’ rooms. Of course it is mainly true during normal working hours. But somehow I didn’t anticipate the off-time activities.

So last Saturday some of the companies’ staff decided to take an ironing-board, to drive to Lake Hibara and to take some funny pictures while doing so called extreme-ironing. Lake Hibara is located near Mount Bandai and is frozen during the winter time. It is a popular ice-fishing site in this area. So you can find many tents on the ice in which people are enjoying cooking and eating freshest fish. Sounded quite relaxing to me. But on this day there was a heavy snow storm. So I felt like not being in Japan anymore but being on a expedition somewhere near the North Pole. One of those experiences I wasn’t expecting at all when thinking of a stay in Japan and which I surly will remember with a smile for a very long time. I am asking myself what kind of crazy activities are awaiting me still while working here at ‘Eyes, JAPAN’…

Frederik