A Little Story Of Japan, A Moroccan And Tea
08 Jan 2008 09:38 AM / Filed in: Misc
In 1998, I went to work in Japan for a 6 months period. It was my first real job in the computer industry. A year earlier, I was fresh out of the Engineering School (Ecole Mohammedia d'Ingénieurs, Rabat, Morocco). I sent a truckload of resumes to the local companies and landed an interview at The Casablanca Stock Exchange's IT department. I arrived there pretty early and the receptionist made me sit in a corner. I can't remember exactly how long I waited. But I am sure it was more than 45 minutes. You can imagine my frustration and it only got worse after the manager I had the interview with came down and took me to his office. He asked questions that didn't really make sense while answering many phone calls and reading the newspaper! I felt humiliated. This was more than enough for me to start looking actively for a way to escape the Moroccan "professional" World.
Was it my ka or something else when my long-time friend Fayçal came back to Morocco that summer? He has just finished his Engineering studies in Lyon, France. And he told me about his plans to study business. He happened to have a spare subscription form set for I.A.E. Poitiers, France. The interesting thing about that school was their strong relationships with Asia and Japan specifically. My father was often talking about the Japanese intelligence, the Japanese innovations, the Japanese processes... He had great respect for these people while not meeting one in his whole life. It was the challenge I needed. I wanted to check for myself. Are they more intelligent than anybody else on this Planet? If so, are there any obvious factors to learn from?
Subscribe. Go to France. Pass exam. Come back to Morocco. Gather what's needed for the travel. Go back to France. Study. Land a traineeship at Towa Elex Co. LTD, Tokyo, Japan.
In April 1998, I took the plane to Tokyo. I won't delve into how much of a shock I had, mainly due to the cultural differences. It felt like landing in an Alien planet, full of borgs (joking here to illustrate the shock's force. Nothing to do with how I really do feel about the Japanese) with different customs, different public transportation system ... and different everything! Well, I'll stop short here before starting to write uncontrollably about how much of an experience it was.
But i'd like to tell you one thing. It's about Tea. The very first cup of Tea I was offered there, as a sign of hospitality (or so I guessed), was a green sort that tasted...terrible! I made myself drink it not to offend my host. While I was used to drink Tea on a regular basis, it was the Green Powder Chinese sort that you can find everywhere in Morocco, used as a basis for the sugar-heavy Mint Tea. The Japanese Tea I was offered had no sugar, felt salty and had that my-hair-stands-straight-on-my-head taste of Algae. My goodness! What did I do to deserve this?
Adapt. I strongly wanted to adapt to this weird environment. And if it takes drinking some badly tasting fluid they called tea, so be it! More cups of it when down my throat without causing nausea or sudden death. I adapted to it but without really enjoying it. My mind simply started ignoring its taste.
A few years later, back to France, I surprised myself when ordering some at Japanese restaurants in Paris. I surprised myself even more when I started really enjoying it (and yeah, I even stopped drinking Mint Tea with sugar, it's all natural sugar-free now). I adapted to it very well, as I did for a whole range of food and drinks. The algae taste is not a problem anymore, quite the contrary.
Oh! By the way while I am writing this post I am drinking a wonderful cup of Sencha Fukuyu, the Tea I used to hate ;-). Kanpai!
Was it my ka or something else when my long-time friend Fayçal came back to Morocco that summer? He has just finished his Engineering studies in Lyon, France. And he told me about his plans to study business. He happened to have a spare subscription form set for I.A.E. Poitiers, France. The interesting thing about that school was their strong relationships with Asia and Japan specifically. My father was often talking about the Japanese intelligence, the Japanese innovations, the Japanese processes... He had great respect for these people while not meeting one in his whole life. It was the challenge I needed. I wanted to check for myself. Are they more intelligent than anybody else on this Planet? If so, are there any obvious factors to learn from?
Subscribe. Go to France. Pass exam. Come back to Morocco. Gather what's needed for the travel. Go back to France. Study. Land a traineeship at Towa Elex Co. LTD, Tokyo, Japan.
In April 1998, I took the plane to Tokyo. I won't delve into how much of a shock I had, mainly due to the cultural differences. It felt like landing in an Alien planet, full of borgs (joking here to illustrate the shock's force. Nothing to do with how I really do feel about the Japanese) with different customs, different public transportation system ... and different everything! Well, I'll stop short here before starting to write uncontrollably about how much of an experience it was.
But i'd like to tell you one thing. It's about Tea. The very first cup of Tea I was offered there, as a sign of hospitality (or so I guessed), was a green sort that tasted...terrible! I made myself drink it not to offend my host. While I was used to drink Tea on a regular basis, it was the Green Powder Chinese sort that you can find everywhere in Morocco, used as a basis for the sugar-heavy Mint Tea. The Japanese Tea I was offered had no sugar, felt salty and had that my-hair-stands-straight-on-my-head taste of Algae. My goodness! What did I do to deserve this?
Adapt. I strongly wanted to adapt to this weird environment. And if it takes drinking some badly tasting fluid they called tea, so be it! More cups of it when down my throat without causing nausea or sudden death. I adapted to it but without really enjoying it. My mind simply started ignoring its taste.
A few years later, back to France, I surprised myself when ordering some at Japanese restaurants in Paris. I surprised myself even more when I started really enjoying it (and yeah, I even stopped drinking Mint Tea with sugar, it's all natural sugar-free now). I adapted to it very well, as I did for a whole range of food and drinks. The algae taste is not a problem anymore, quite the contrary.
Oh! By the way while I am writing this post I am drinking a wonderful cup of Sencha Fukuyu, the Tea I used to hate ;-). Kanpai!