One of the key events I was in Japan for, was the Sportec exhibition. \u00a0The Sportainment Leisure team, comprising of Mark, Jack and Mikiko, were coming to Japan for their twice-a-year meeting with Konami, to co-incide with it. \u00a0Brett wasn’t wasting his money coming – Konami continue to take, take, take, but never pay, but the knowledge they want comes from Brett. \u00a0So he took a stand and said they can pay to have him come. \u00a0He was very busy back in Melbourne anyway, with events that were unfolding at Tullamarine, so it worked out best all round.<\/p>\n
Datascore had previously produced a glossy brochure for our product. \u00a0In the weeks leading up yo Sportec, Kaoru translated it to Japanese for us. \u00a0She wrote the replacement text on her computer, and we sent it to the publishers to put into the document. \u00a0It didn’t come out too well – formatting was shocking. \u00a0So I downloaded a trial version of Corel, and was able to tidy it up. Kaoru was also able to revise the wording in places. \u00a0We took the document to Kinkos and had it printed on glossy paper, so we had something to give people. \u00a0I can’t read the text at all, but it’s a very professional looking document, and was a good experience for Kaoru.<\/p>\n
Kaoru and I went to Shinagawa Prince on Sunday 18th November, where we met Mikiko, so we could do some work on Japanese translations in Datascore. \u00a0Mikiko reviewed the brochure, and we ended up spending more time chatting than working. \u00a0But we got through a bit, before Mikiko had to go to another meeting at 7.00. \u00a0Kaoru and I went to Tokyo tower, which we hadn’t been to before. \u00a0We had a fantastic view of the Shinagawa area from the top.<\/p>\n
Monday, Mikiko and I continued work on translations, and Kaoru left for work. \u00a0Jack and Mark arrived, but were tired so had a nap, before the 3 of them went to a meeting at Konami. \u00a0I didn’t bother wasting my time at it – I had a lot of Fitgenes work to do. \u00a0So I spent the afternoon on that, and caught up with the team for dinner, which was at Gonpacchi. \u00a0After dinner, Jack, Mark and I went for a massage. \u00a0It was great to lay down and relax, and it was a fairly hard massage. \u00a0I felt nice and loose afterwards, but next time, it’s not the sort of thing I want to do after a big meal and a few drinks.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, the guys had more meetings at Konami, and I spent the day working in the hotel. \u00a0Late afternoon, Jack and I had a chat to discuss the Fixi license agreement. \u00a0Then it was back to Gonpacchi for dinner. \u00a0Dai-san joined us for dinner tonight, to give the guys a chance to catch up om what he has been up to.<\/p>\n
After dinner, Mikiko, Mark, Jack and I went to Billboard – a stage in Roppongi area, and saw The Manhattans – a US band, which had nice, chill out music. \u00a0It was a very enjoyable night out. \u00a0Walking around Roppongi afterwards, Jack decided he needed a new suitcase. \u00a0So we went in to a “cheap” but good quality store. \u00a0I ended up buying a new one at the same time. It was about $250 but the same thing in Australia would cost a lot more.<\/p>\n
Wednesday morning, Kaoru came to the hotel and we had breakfast together. \u00a0I packed up (by pure luck, my old suitcase fit in my new one, so I only had the one bag to carry out) and checked out of the room, leaving my bag at reception. \u00a0We then met up with the others, and caught the train to Sportec.<\/p>\n
Sportec was held at “Big Site” – which was in a different area of Tokyo to where I had been before. \u00a0The exhibition centre was gigantic, and had several different exhibitions in it. \u00a0We met Dai-san there and he arranged our passes. \u00a0We had to give business cards to get in, so Kaoru got one from Mikiko and just gave them that.<\/p>\n
Because Kaoru didn’t have long, before she had to leave for work, she and I looked around on our own. \u00a0Saved us getting stopped while Mark talked to some exhibitors. \u00a0Inside I had a few hats on. \u00a0I was a stadium owner to one exhibitor, developer to another, business owner at a 3rd… And Kaoru was my translator at all of them. \u00a0So I managed to get a bit of information while I was there.<\/p>\n
I caught up with the guys after saying goodbye to Kaoru, and we walked around a bit more. \u00a0Mark and I had a go of an amazing game they had there. \u00a0Made up of 4 cameras and 4 projectors, it was basically air hockey, but you played it with your whole body. \u00a0Moving your arms and feet moved your “blocker”. \u00a0Then we had a game of “breakout”, or “arkenoid” (depending on your era). \u00a0It was quite enjoyable, and while not a serious sport, it certainly had us moving.<\/p>\n
I was going to leave the guys after we had lunch, as I had a 2 hour train trip home, and had to pick my suitcase up on the way. \u00a0But by the time Mark and I had finished discussing some aspects of the Fixi agreement, I decided to stay for their meeting with Wellbe (Dai-san, Ishihara-san and Otto-san). \u00a0After that we went in to the Sportec Private (invitation only) party with a few guys from a council stadium that Wellbe wanted us to talk to, so had a few beers in there and watched some Japanese cheerleaders try to work the crowd up, not having any idea what they were saying.<\/p>\n
The council guys had to leave – not sure what was going on there as we never really ended up talking to them. \u00a0So we went for dinner and met up with some other people. \u00a0This is where things turned interesting – some of them were involved in genetic research. \u00a0I was asked to give a demo of Fitgenes, which I had been talking to Mark and Jack about. \u00a0The guys there were very excited, especially when they saw reference to at least one Gene that looked familiar. They were interested in knowing more, but as I hadn’t spoken to the Fitgenes guys about this, I didn’t want to go too far. \u00a0However with some preparation before my next trip, there could be an interesting marry here.<\/p>\n
Eventually we left, and caught a taxi back to the hotel. \u00a0I said goodbye to the guys, picked up my suitcase(s) and caught the train home. \u00a0I arrived at Fujisawa station about 11.30, and Kaoru was waiting for me there. \u00a0So we went home via Mister Donut for \u00a5100 donuts. \u00a0It had been a long and enjoyable few days. \u00a0We didn’t know if there was anything positive from Datascore’s perspective, but possibly a new door has opened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the key events I was in Japan for, was the Sportec exhibition. \u00a0The Sportainment Leisure team, comprising of Mark, Jack and Mikiko, were coming to Japan for their twice-a-year meeting with Konami, to co-incide with it. \u00a0Brett wasn’t wasting his money coming – Konami continue to take, take, take, but never pay, but … Continue reading