I had heard of tube hotels in Japan but had never seen one. Curious, I followed a sign and entered, asking the manager if I could see the accommodations. He didn’t catch my drift at first, but with enough pointing to my eyes and to the stairway, he agreed and led the way. On the […]
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This website is an extension of the book, Fastlane: My Japanese Roadster on the Information SuperHighway.
Local Friends
My train from Tokyo pulled into New Yokohama in the late afternoon. Exiting, I managed to find a bank of public phones and began an unsuccessful attempt to read the instructions. Using phones is a basic section of any travel guide. Still, I was confounded by the dialing sequence required. Repeatedly, the box would return […]
Honolulu Stop Over
In Honolulu, the bus attendant showed everyone the two finger salute for “Mahalo,” inviting us to relax and reminding us to tip – a good businessman, hitting them early before they were out of money or more savvy to panhandlers. I reached my hotel on the outskirts of the Waikiki run. I looked at the […]
Heading Home from Hokkaido
Fortunately this flight would take me to Narita directly; no stop at Haneda, the domestic airport near Tokyo. No need to figure out ground transport and luggage. Relaxing with this thought as the plane flew over Honshu, I reviewed my visit. I’d done a number of things right, not just in various conference rooms. I […]
Niseko
At noon the next day I caught my train to Niseko. It was a pretty ride through forests and along the coast, the track running only meters from the water. I gathered there was no problem with heavy winds sweeping the water onto icy rails. I decided to break the ice with my seat partner, […]
Sapporo
Having arranged for my favorite perch aloft, I looked out the airplane window to see the northern coastline of Honshu, Japan’s main island, as it curved to an end. Hokkaido surfaced only a few miles further on. I tried to locate cities and towns but my geographic knowledge was lacking. Soon we turned inland, landing […]
Confused in Tokyo
Emerging from CTC into the early afternoon sunlight, I decided to walk rather than enter the lunch competition. Sanity check 122: lunch mobs. I was amazed at how much productivity was lost by the mandate that lunch must be served and consumed in the hour between 12 and 1. Restaurants must be sized for a […]
Taxation Consideration
As I contemplated investment strategies for my own trading accounts, I considered taxation. If I bought and sold in the same year, any gains would be taxed at my ordinary income rate. My income as an Itochu Salaryman wasn’t much, but even with our housing interest deduction, I’d be paying in the high twenty percent […]
VC Batting Average
In late December, I called Dave Carlick and suggested a meeting over golf. I’d enjoyed our previous outings and wanted to hear of his experiences at Vantage Point. Apparently he’d hit enough payouts to promote himself to VC status. We met in Marin and began that “ball and stick” game that continued to perplex. “So […]
VC Rest Stop
I remembered a conversation with Cliff Higgerson, formerly in charge of research at Hambrecht & Quist, a San Francisco Investment Bank. He had lectured at Leo Helzel’s Entrepreneurship class at Berkeley. Cliff left H&Q to start his own firm, Communication Ventures. He had done well, largely due to a couple of good hits. Almost all […]