This is 3Bits & Change, Joseph's email about building a direct to consumer business. Today’s email was written to the top 50 songs in Japan list on Spotify.
Good day from Nara, Japan. It’s just before 7AM on Friday morning here.
After 16 hours of travel and one dateline jump I landed in Osaka via a 787 on a 40 min flight from Tokyo. What a fantastic airplane and in this case an even better view.
Check the stories on the Vivront instagram for more video of the journey. And, make your plans to hit the new Delta club at the East end of the MSP G concourse. It opened this week and it’s all shiny and super well done.
A tone of service, no. 1
It’s palpable, so far. There is a soft ringing sound [not really] of respect and service here. As I got off the plane the wheelchair agents gave subtle bows to everyone. As a member of the last 1/3 off that plane I can’t say they’d been bowing the whole time. However, in America that kind of action gets old and stops near the end.
The agents at the airline were beyond kind. A little bow. They take and replace your phone from your hand with two of theirs in a posture of honor.
Crisp and efficient, no. 2
I entered Terminal One in Hanada 33 minutes before the departure of a flight I merely hoped to get on. If I did it’d save me 2 hours of waiting and I’d make it to group dinner.
My ticket was issued 22 minutes before departure. There were people everywhere - shopping, eating, slowly walking in every direction. There were slippers in case you wanted to wear them through the metal detector.
I stood in line for 10 minutes at the gate before scanning a qr code to get on. Easy.
So many people, no. 3
125M people live in Japan. There are ~31k people per square mile in Osaka, according to Google. That’s 7 and 3/4 times more people than I’m used to in South West Minneapolis. And yet, it’s orderly. It feels real considered. No one seems to be in a rush.
Sum
So far so good. Dinner was full of good flavors. I was not much of a conversationalist. And today we’re going to hit some workshops!
Change
I’ll be living 14 hours in the future for a few days.
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