The Adventure Begins

On February 11, I left the U.S. on a one-way ticket to China. Projected return date...sometime in February 2012. Theresa was not with me, since she is planning to come over at the beginning of April. She had a few more things to finish....like her last day at work, our granddaughter Kali's 5th birthday party, and packing up the air shipment of stuff for the apartment.

But oddly enough, the year in Suzhou begins with a week in Kobe, Japan. Business again. Our Japanese affiliate home office is located in Kobe, and we have a manufacturing plant not too far outside the city.

Kobe is a beautiful city, nestled in between the sea and the mountains that rise up just a mile or so inland. They say it has 2 million people within it's borders; though where exactly those borders are is hard to tell. It seems to be one continuous metropolitan and industrial area for the 45 miles or so between Osaka and Kobe. From what people say, the megalopolis continues farther West and South all the way to Hiroshima.

Whenever in Japan, I'm always struck by two things. The first is how neat and clean the country is. Everything looks like a model on display at a museum. The oil refineries and ship yards that line the coast always seem to have a fresh coat of paint. No rust. No trash heaps. In comparison, the drive from Gary into Chicago look like a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie.

The second thing that strikes me is how UNBELIEVABLY EXPENSIVE everything is. I rarely capitalize for emphasis. In this case, the emphasis is warranted. I'd always heard that Japan was pricey compered to the US. And it's gotten worse as the yen and the dollar have been going in two different directions for the past few years.

The center of Kobe is like one, unbroken, interconnected shopping mall. I've never seen anything like it. It goes on-and-on-and-on at street level. And the it goes on for several floors above street level. And it seems to go on just as many floors below street level. You can have the exact address of a restaurant and still not find it because it's above or below. It's the most three-dimensional city I've ever been in.

Note that the picture above is from the apartment of friends Dana and Rochelle. They're on assignment in Kobe and living there with their three children. Should you wonder, the recent earthquake was barely felt and caused no harm in Kobe. All there are safe and well.