I Think I'm Turning Japanese

I really think so

I haven’t been to Japan for many years, but in the 90’s I visited Japan many times. I managed the Systems Division for a company called Monaco Corporation when it was still a privately owned company. We distributed premium brands including Pioneer, Toshiba, TDK, and Casio.

I was headhunted by owner Nico Wamsteker and Managing Director, Nick van Dijk. I wasn’t looking, and I wasn’t interested in the job. I was working as PC POS Director for Advantage, helping our salespeople introduce PCs with cash drawers and inventory management as a replacement for cash registers. We were market leaders and to me, Casio was a cheap calculator manufacturer.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, they were numbers people, and after a couple of visits and meetings, they sat opposite me and asked me for a number. I asked what they meant and Nico said, how much money do you want. I still wasn’t convinced and so I said I’d want a good car in keeping with it being a premium brand and $100,000 a year, plus a percentage of EBITDA. I never thought they would go for it, I was being flippant. Nick shook my hand and said, “When can you start?”

I was blown away, but it turned out to be a great mutual decision and I spent 7 years there working with some amazing people, within the company and the dealers. I also made them a lot of profit.

My first trip was in 1990, I went to Tokyo with Lyn Warren my predecessor who set up his own dealership. His role was to introduce me to the Casio international marketing team in Shinjuku and the R&D team in Hamura.

There were many eye-openers for me. When we got on the plane in Auckland, it was basically us and a couple of dozen Japanese used car importers. They each grabbed a row in the middle of the 747 and pretended to be asleep, trying to claim the row so they would get a good sleep on the 11-hour flight.

We stayed at the Shinjuku Hilton as Nico was friends with the Manager, having travelled there dozens of times. It was a great hotel, with lots of mod cons, even an electric toilet with buttons to do all sorts of things.

We arrived on the weekend so that I could do the tourist thing, together with our host and Asia Pacific Manager Kimura San, visiting Tokyo Tower which was sort of a copy of the Eiffel Tower.

Then we went to the mandatory tea ceremony with a real Geisha. When they asked for a volunteer before I could say wtf, Lyn had pointed at me and I was asked to remove my shoes and join the Geisha at the front of the room. She didn’t speak English, so we had to communicate through an interpreter. So desu.

Thus started my love affair with Japan and the Japanese people.

Queue The Vapours.

It was a great introduction to the country topped off with great food and a long visit to Akihabara, the technology district where I bought all sorts of things from tech toys to silk ties.

I have lots of stories about my trips to Japan, which will come in the future. When I look back at roles I’ve had over the years, this would rank as one of the most enjoyable.