Tokyo, Japan
In Tokyo, I was Bill Murray.
Not literally, of course, but I felt like how Bill’s character appeared to feel in the movie ‘Lost in Translation’ - culturally apart, not able to find a way in. Michael and I even stayed in the hotel that the movie was set in, the Park Hyatt in the Shinjuku district of the city. At night, the view from the hotel bar on the 52nd floor was extraordinary (the bar is called the New York Bar, which seemed apt, as that was where we had just come from). Looking out and down, there were uncountable numbers of soft, red lights flashing on the tops of the buildings. The experience of simply sitting and looking out at them was a feeling of peace.
Over a beer in the bar, Michael and I talked about Japan’s numbers and what to do with them. In truth, Michael talked and I listened. I was getting lost in more than just the Japanese culture. His approach, which he had hinted at already, was that as the investors we would ask the new...