The First Week

May 8 – May 12, 2006

This week has been interesting. I guess it always is when things are new. I was given the Grand Tour on my first day and from the first day I never would’ve guessed what the week was going to bring. Going into the experience with mistaken notions of what to expect, I thought I would have plenty of time to do what I wanted and would have to go foraging for things to do. Everyone who could give me answers to my questions toward what to expect said something to that effect. To my surprise I was put into a schedule of practical experience in every department in the company. Even the employees I worked with this week said it was rare to see someone like me, a Japanese Major from BYU, in the machine shop, which is where I was the latter half of the week.
So I guess in a way, it wasn’t interesting because it’s 8 hours a day of making couplings… (A the connecter piece from a motors to a bar or other parts in a machine that need to move by means of a motor.) It was frustrating because no matter how good they are of fast you’re getting them finished, you always have the supervisor looking over your shoulder telling what you’re doing wrong. It’s like the inner circle of Dante’s Hell for 8 hours a day and I kept thinking that to the Japanese it’s normal and for an American it’s as I explained. And I got really mad on the last day, which taught me a great lesson…, that they don’t like having to deal with rigid conformity as much as I do. It’s kind of a long story which I recorded in my daily journal. Anyway, it just goes to show that perception affects experience, because once I understood that they are similar to me, I had a different attitude towards everything they were trying to accomplish. I finally understand 共同運命体制.