Day 3 - Networking, Communication and Electri-city

Konishiwa! Today is the third day of our visit and our group is getting more comfortable with navigating the city each day. Our day began with a company visit to the international consulting firm, Intralink. This was an extremely informative meeting that provided a balanced view on foreign corporate investment in Japan and is a privatized version of JETRO, the organization we visited the day before. It was good to hear a westerner's views on doing business in Japan in terms of differences of culture and competitiveness of markets. From Intralink's website, they "provide companies with a low risk, cost effective and practical means to target these markets, generate new and incremental revenues, and establish a permanent presence through a local subsidiary, acquisition or partnership."

Our next visit was to the international communications corporation Avaya. We were treated to another informative presentation on how the Asian markets differ from the rest of the world and what some of the challenges they face to try to meet the unique needs of the Japanese and Korean cultures.

Our final visit, before I get to the pictures ;), was to Docomo, the AT&T of Japan, where we treated to some of the latest in mobile technology devices and services as well as a futuristic interactive 3D show.

The majority of our day was spent in the Akihabara district, more commonly known as Electric City. This area has many shops and buildings dedicated to technology and gaming. For example, one building that we visited had SEVEN floors of arcades!





I love that you can buy drinks from the vending machines with your phone. Docomo has a partnership with McDonald's that will provide customers discounts if they use their phones to pay for their meal.


Anime and little comic characters were rampant as prizes for many of the arcade games.


I will admit, I tried to win one of these but they're nearly impossible to navigate. They limit the amount of movements you can take instead of giving you a time limit like back home.





There were many business people in this area shopping and this is a common view while crossing at the crosswalk. I shot this one from the hip.




This is without a doubt my favorite shot of the day. I love the way the reflection of the sun barely kisses the sides of the buildings. I also like the silhouette of the ... hey wait, are those people jaywalking?!? Oh, and if you look closely, there's a giant bear in the middle bridge.


MEGA MAC!!! 'Nuff said. No, I have not had one... yet.





Jeremy and Ian played Street Fighter II against each other and I will admit, the arcade was pretty awesome!


Here's one of the little animals I tried to win. :(


Akihabara was fun. Sayonara for tonight!

- Tony Llerena Photography

Stop reading! This section is for my family.

JE - IMALUVM. TTYL.
TJ - ILUVM2. BG4M.
NB - COOKIE!!
DEL - LGTBHWIGH. Oh, and ILY2.