An image shattered.

A few adjectives come to mind when picturing a Japanese business man: formal, stoic, serious almost to the point of being dour, and attentive to hierarchy, tradition and rules. So when our hosts filed of of the bus to greet us, I was, simply put, intimidated. Each one in perfectly pressed suits, starched white collars and freshly shined shoes, as if ready to go to the office and direct the affairs of multi-national conglomerations. Meanwhile, here we are dressed in our polo shirts and casual American grins. Although they greeted us with warm smiles and firm handshakes, I wondered if that was just a momentary lapse in their usual state of formality, and if my bow was low enough to be in accordance with their expectations.

We all piled into the back of the bus where the 11 of us sat facing one another around a small table. The ritual trading of meishi (business cards) began. If you don't know, trading business cards here is a serious affair. Each card is given and received with two hands, a bow, and a reverential 'please humbly accept this' and 'thank you, very much.' Each card is studied and placed carefully into a card holder (which we spent an hour shopping for in Tokyo the day before). Naturally, people in seniority initiate the engagement. After 45 minutes the ritual began to wind down and , I thought "okay, so now what are we going to do for the next 5 hours to Niigata, stare at each other and see who can look the most serious for longest?"

And then our hosts bust out with two six packs of Asahi and two karaoke microphones!! Woah, talk about shattering an image - completely! Their ties came off and they sang their hearts out for hours on end - we all did. And they laughed and congratulated all of our Nihon-go successes and foibles. And, well, the rest of the story you know from Dave's and Claudia's posts. But I can tell you that of on this cold and rainy October day in Niigata, I feel nothing but absolute glee at how a group of serious career men gave up an entire Saturday to sit on a bus with a five young American strangers to sing karaoke. I think it's going to be a good month.