It’s been almost a month since we wrapped up WIT Japan and well, I feel ready now to share a little Japanese story.

See, I now realize that when it comes to doing business in Japan, once you fit all the boxes – and you get past the starting gate – and that can take seven years or more – then precision kicks in to deliver a totally awesome experience.

Take my visa application as an example. Because I didn’t fit into the typical profile – ie I am not a salaried employee of a corporation – and I am classified as self-employed, I had to produce my company financials and my personal income tax statements before they’d process my application.

But once I produced all that – ticked the boxes – it worked like clockwork and I got my visa in 36 hours, faster than usual, I was told.

Take my check-in at the Hotel Nikko for example. I arrived at the unearthly hour of 6am, desperate for a rest. But because my arrival did not fit into the box – check-in time is 3pm – I got the official treatment. And the staff, while polite, would not budge from that rule.

But once I made a call to the right person and they realized we were holding our conference in their hotel – box ticked – then the treatment changed from officially formal to unofficially personal.

I was given a holding room to rest. At 3pm, when I checked in formally, I was taken to the executive lounge of the Presidential Suite which they had reserved as the WIT Tomodachi (Friendship) Lounge for the two days.

I was given a WIT name badge, the lanyard was the same purple WIT colour, and a customized brochure with the WIT logo was given to all our delegates staying at the hotel.

The night before the conference, we went to check the ballroom and an army of workers was hard at work setting up the venue. It was the most amazing transformation of a ballroom I’ve ever seen.

Full story:

www.webintravel.com/blog/a-small-insight-into-how-things-work-in-japan_3228