The skies are getting light over Tokyo already. It’s only 4:00 AM and traffic is picking up on the highways and bridges in the distance. And, from my 13th floor vantage point over an inlet that runs to the Tokyo Bay, it looks like its going to be overcast, drizzly day. Fine San Francisco weather, to be sure.
I’m out here in Japan for five nights starting a two-week trip through the Asia-Pacific rim. I’m delivering talks on VMware performance the the virtualization of Microsoft Exchange that are always well received. I give a version of the first talk every year at the annual sales kickoff and am almost immediately invited to bring that show on the road to sales teams worldwide. Visiting the APAC technical sales force is the first of what may be a much repeated presentation.
My trip also includes stops in Seoul, Hong Kong and Bangkok but I only have a couple of extra days in each of Tokyo and Bangkok to see the cities. Starting now, I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do in Tokyo for fun. A couple of colleagues have mentioned a fish market, where apparently bus-sized fish are auctioned off and nearby hole-in-the-wall sushi places will serve me a proper Japanese breakfast. For some reason, I find Japan a bit more intimidating than the previous Asian destinations and am a little concerned about being able to find and consume the right food. We’ll see how it goes.
Meanwhile, I’ve got to figure out a way to keep up my running in this claustrophobic city. I’m comfortably running five miles at a strenuous pace and am now supposed to be regulating my runs to include break neck two mile runs and slow eight mile runs. The idea of doing a slow, 1.5 or 2 hour run on a treadmill in this hotel is not encouraging. Luckily a colleague of mine–Tim Stephan–is an accomplished runner and will be out here tonight. Hopefully we’ll figure out a way to make this more interesting.
I’m off. I’ve got a pocket full of yen and an empty stomach. Let’s see how this goes.