Office Observations 5/13/2005
Michael made a comment in my last post about coffee machines in my last post.
And it made me realize that we don't have a coffee machine. We have what you might call a 'drink center'. It dispenses hot or cold green and oolong tea as well as hot or cold coffee. You can also have just cold or hot water.
It was interesting when a US rep was visiting earlier this week. We had a board meeting, and we were ordering drinks from downstairs. All the Japanese guys had coffee. She had water, like a true American.
At my office in Miyazaki, apparently the person who had my position two years before me was American, and she would bring an, according to them, 'huge' bottle of water to work every morning. They just couldn't believe she would drink just water.
And I bet that all of the Japanese men at the meeting chose coffee because they assumed that, she being American, she would of course choose coffee. Old stereotypes die hard, and the stereotype of the 21st century American , namely the increasing amount of vegetarians and the like but also the idea of what 'American Food' is. If you ask some or most Americans, the idea of contemporary American Food would be californian cuisine. Like Wolfgang Puck and other fusion food using fresh food in odd combinations.
Oh, and at the meeting with the US rep, I ordered a Yuzu drink as always. it has whole pieces of yuzu rind in it, and it's so good, I could probably drink a 'huge bottle' of it everyday.
And it made me realize that we don't have a coffee machine. We have what you might call a 'drink center'. It dispenses hot or cold green and oolong tea as well as hot or cold coffee. You can also have just cold or hot water.
It was interesting when a US rep was visiting earlier this week. We had a board meeting, and we were ordering drinks from downstairs. All the Japanese guys had coffee. She had water, like a true American.
At my office in Miyazaki, apparently the person who had my position two years before me was American, and she would bring an, according to them, 'huge' bottle of water to work every morning. They just couldn't believe she would drink just water.
And I bet that all of the Japanese men at the meeting chose coffee because they assumed that, she being American, she would of course choose coffee. Old stereotypes die hard, and the stereotype of the 21st century American , namely the increasing amount of vegetarians and the like but also the idea of what 'American Food' is. If you ask some or most Americans, the idea of contemporary American Food would be californian cuisine. Like Wolfgang Puck and other fusion food using fresh food in odd combinations.
Oh, and at the meeting with the US rep, I ordered a Yuzu drink as always. it has whole pieces of yuzu rind in it, and it's so good, I could probably drink a 'huge bottle' of it everyday.
posted by Travis @ 9:20 AM
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