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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Berliner who wrote (7399)	11/5/1998 4:26:00 PM
From: Z268	Respond to of 9980

Paul, You mean we could be back to plain old cable TV and copper phone lines, instead of Direct TV and Iridium phones <GG>? Best, Steve

To: Paul Berliner who wrote (7399)	11/5/1998 9:31:00 PM
From: Stitch	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9980

Paul, Many thanks for both recent article links. Though the space storm story is not pertinent to this forum I found it utterly fascinating. Even more so the story of EIE and LTCB of Japan. Factually I have had some experience with characters like those described in that account. One example was the occasion was about 8 years ago when I was with a group of businessmen in Tokyo that was paying homage to a local investment tycoon. I was the only Westerner. We consumed probably the most expensive dinner I have ever witnessed for a group of eight people. It looked like one of the lower echelon salary men from the host company was assigned to coordinate the evening. This fellow shadowed the primary guest like a lapdog. From the restaurant we made our way by foot to the next venue point, a posh and exclusive Karaoke bar in central Rappongi. The salary man walked ahead and actually stopped traffic for this fellow, making a big show of stepping bravely into traffic and bowing low each time the tycoon passed him. At the karaoke bar we were greeted by the "mama san" a lovely Japanese lady. From a shopping bag the salary man drew out a beautifully wrapped gift and presented it to her and explained it was from the tycoon. (It, of course, was not, but in actuality was sponsored by the host). She fawned over the tycoon who was led to a large private room with the rest of us following. There we were feted by a string of beautiful women from Hong Kong and Manila. Most spoke some Japanese and some English. These were very young and well educated ladies. Two of the most lovely sat on either side of the tycoon. The salary man ran around barking orders to the staff and arranging the room seating. Each of us were assigned a pretty lady to pour drinks and make conversation with us. After about an hour of this crap my friend (a Japanese national who was helping me supply the distributor who was the evening's host) excused ourselves, making excuses about my "bad" case of jet lag. He and I made our way to a local bar and sat and talked for some time, sharing several bottles of beer. In talking about what we witnessed I learned he was clearly disgusted. (by the way, now 10 years later, he and I are still close friends and business associates). We talked at length about the social customs of business in Japan and how they vary so much from the U.S. He explained that the excess we had witnessed that night had only fairly recently come in vogue in Tokyo and other large cities like Osaka. he also pointed out, somewhat defensively, that not all businessmen viewed this kind of behavior as acceptable. But he defended the notion of close relationships in business that included a form of friendship. I have since come to agree with his views, that a certain level of social common ground is appropriate and aids a solid business relationship, especially in Asia. My relationship with him is a good example. But like always, there will be abuses and excess. I have witnessed similar excess in the U.S. and still remember 3 & 4 martini lunches that stretched for 3 hours. I also remember when it was not unheard of for businessmen to engage in excessive behavior in other arenas of enticement as well. I think there has been a shift away from this behavior and expect it is happening in Japan as well as the excesses of the past become unraveled in the on-going process there. Thanks again for a fascinating read. I have passed the link on to my friend who will find it equally fascinating and abhorrent I am sure. By the way, he and I agreed that night in rainy Tokyo that we were not going to supply that particular distributor. It was a good decision. They went BK about 5 years ago. I have no idea whatever became of the investment guy. Best, Stitch

To: Paul Berliner who wrote (7399)	11/7/1998 3:06:00 AM
From: Michael Sphar	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9980

This year's Leonid storm is no so OT for Asia Forum. In fact, not mentioned in your article, is that the Stitch-Tate Longitude is considered by most cognizant astronomers to be optimal for viewing. Also, this time the moon will be new hence no moon dulling the effect of the (hoped for by viewers) storm. Whereas next year's viewing will time out with night in Europe but will be accompanied by a setting gibbous moon. In fact, earlier this year, I was doing a bit of research on this and had begun planning a trip to said Longitude for just this chance in a lifetime to see the storm in peak conditions. Anticipating my wife's skepticism over such a junket, I was indeed planning out a trip to the Gobi, figuring that Ulaam-Baatar or thereabouts would be a suitably cloudless environment and far enough from the glittering distractions of more southerly Bangkok's Patpong to satisfy the most stringent of requirements. For further reading on this fascinating (to me) subject, here is a great website I found: skypub.com The accompanying graphics are quite helpful and so are the other neighboring websites. Note: this is a 60 minute event window so don't be caught sleeping best viewing time is midnight till dawn. Not sure the exact time offset to Asia, but the best guess time I've seen is 1943 hours Universal Time for peak viewing. Stitch, Bernie what's your time offset to Greenwich, England ?