This article reflects information as of 2019. For the latest details, please contact us.
Written by: Qian Yunwen, tentus inc.
"Now that we've got a Shanghai native on the team, let's make this year's company trip Shanghai!" — tentus President Koizumi
That one remark meant that our Shanghai-native staffer, just four months after coming to Japan, unexpectedly ended up going home. (haha) And so, as we head into 2020, I'd like to split this trip into the following parts and introduce them one by one.
- Lodging Edition
- Food Edition
- Activities Edition
Click here to read the Lodging Edition · Click here to read the Food Edition
＼Thank you all for sticking with us to the very end／ Now, off to the finale — the Activities Edition — we GO!
Even though it was only three nights and four days, since we were in Shanghai everyone got to enjoy exactly what they wanted to their heart's content! I'd like to introduce it as follows!
- The time we did a dawn run in the park still not sober, and the Japanese expats turned out to be dead serious
- The time someone went to Disneyland and came home having photographed a stranger's auntie
- The time someone went all the way to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall only to find it closed for three weeks
- The time someone had the Shaoxing wine they bought in Shaoxing confiscated at the airport
- The time someone did nothing but drink tea at a friend's house
- The time someone did nothing but drink beer with pickles at the hotel from morning
- The time we visited a Japanese company
This is the dawn run. Around midnight the previous night, these two clearly had too much to drink. Thank you, kind Chinese friend we met at the bar! Because of that, the two who'd planned to run 16 km suddenly cut it down to 6 km!
The booze hadn't worn off, but at least they properly changed into their running shoes!
They look like they're suffering and having fun at the same time!
Sure enough, the expats' faces really do look like those of pro marathon runners!
And then it's all undone by carbs and beer for breakfast! Looks great though!
- The time someone went to Disneyland and came home having photographed a stranger's auntie
This is about Ashida, who'd murmured that he wanted to see a romantic night view in Shanghai. Despite it being his first time abroad, he apparently took the train to Disneyland all by himself. He didn't actually go inside Disneyland, but seems to have enjoyed himself out in Disneytown. Here are the photos he took.
The Kingdom of Dreams — Disney. (sob)
- The time someone went all the way to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall only to find it closed for three weeks
Below is my conversation with Shionome, who'd just come back from Nanjing. "How was Nanjing?" "Oh, don't even ask — I got there and it was closed for three weeks." "Huh? You looked up the bullet train so carefully, and yet you didn't check the opening hours?!" "Ahh…" And so he apparently just did some ordinary sightseeing in Nanjing. Well, some days are like that!
- The time someone had the Shaoxing wine they bought in Shaoxing confiscated at the airport
Shaoxing-wine ice cream and Shaoxing-wine pudding — looks tasty!
You can tell from the photos — Nakayama seems to have really enjoyed Shaoxing. He bought Shaoxing wine as a souvenir too, and when he got to the airport and tried to walk through customs with it in his carry-on…
Hold on! Liquids can't be brought into the cabin! (This is an image from a Google search.)
He knew that, but had thoroughly forgotten. And so the customs officers confiscated the whole lot! Well, some days are like that!
- The time someone did nothing but drink tea at a friend's house
It was an endless loop of drinking tea, eating, drinking, and eating all day long. Chinese people often drink tea and chat at home! Shanghai has all sorts of teahouses too, so if you're interested, do look them up!
Petting a kitty while, once again, that endless loop of drinking and eating! Nice! Company trips!
- The time someone did nothing but drink beer with pickles at the hotel from morning
Now there's a photo that tells a story.
"Koizumi, what did you do during the day?" "I drank five cans of beer." "You ate all the pickles too?!" "Yep, and the zongzi!"
It's practically an incident…
- The time we visited a Japanese company
Everyone went their separate ways and enjoyed all sorts of things, making all kinds of memories! But since this was a staff training trip, not just a company trip, we all went — to seize new business opportunities — to a Japanese company called balconia Inc., which does Chinese-market marketing support and product development from bases in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong!
The place was a stylish shared office, kind of like a WeWork. Apparently it was originally a futon factory that had been renovated into a shared office.
Mr. Kuboyama taught us about marketing in China.
A lot of it was second nature to our Shanghai-born staffer, but for people from overseas it seems much of it was surprising or brand new. It was a great learning experience! Thank you very much!
＼And with that, we'll wrap up the Activities Edition!／
Over these three nights and four days on our overseas staff training trip, Shanghai felt both close and somehow far away. What's really interesting is that although everyone at tentus has their own distinct personality, they're all the same in one way: they work hard when it's time to work, and play hard when it's time to play!
There's still so much I couldn't fit in — like the two hours spent buying souvenirs at the supermarket… Please keep following the tentus note and enjoy what's to come!
＼Thank you for staying with us to the very end!／