Perusal.

All of my email at work is, not surprisingly, in Japanese. This means I can hardly understand any of it so I have resorted to using Google Translate to quickly get a rough idea of what an email is about. If the topic appears important enough for a more careful translation, I'll start looking up individual words and picking apart the grammar into understandable chunks. Although the Japanese to English leaves much to be desired (it is in beta), what comes out is almost always amusing. Here is today's translation.

The web [kurieitazu] September edition of July 29th sale has reached. “The design part 62 which with main special edition style seat &JavaScript is expressed” “WEB chestnut thornback tar second life enrollment” giving brown machine side, the magazine rack it leaves upper. Perusal.

社長

On our second day of work, the company president treated Richard and I to lunch. Along with the President's secretary, the CTO, and one of the division managers, we headed up to the 25th floor of our neighboring building. Once inside the restaurant, the chef came to ask what he should prepare. Kimura-san, the president, asked the chef to make foods that foreigners could enjoy. We were not disappointed. The meal included some tempura, grilled eggplant, a few unidentified items, and the most delicious sashimi I have ever had in my life. The pieces were large and thick, a beautiful deep red color, and a taste that was simply too amazing to describe. This was definitely one of the best meals I've had in Japan, right up there with the Bing lunch and dinner. In addition to our amazing food, we chatted (mostly in Japanese) about our experiences in Kyoto and what we wanted to do in Tokyo. It was relaxed and pleasant; a nice way to meet the president. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work at KBMJ. Since it is such a small and young company, there are a lot of opportunities that wouldn't be available in other places — I don't think most people get to eat lunch with their company's president on the second day of work!

First Day at KBMJ

This will be my second time in Tokyo, the first coming at the beginning of Golden Week a couple of months ago. I still remember my first impressions of the city as the Shinkansen made its way into Tokyo. The gentle female voice announcing in proper British English that "very soon we will be making a brief stop in Shinagawa before arriving in Tokyo" stirred me from my sleep and as I awoke, I took a look outside the window. The Shinkansen had already slowed to snake its way through the giant glass and steel buildings, beautiful and impressive in the early afternoon sunlight. Little did I know that in a couple of months I would be working in one of those buildings! KBMJ, my company, has offices on the 14th and 16th floors of the Shidome Sumitomo Building (汐留住友ビル). After getting off the train in Shinagawa, correctly Transferring to the Yamanote Line, getting off on the wrong stop, getting back on the train to get off at the right stop, navigating nearly a mile of poorly marked underground pedestrian walkway, we made it back to the impressive building we passed on the Shinkansen. Mr. Moriwaki from the HR department met us and after taking care of some paperwork and a brief introduction, we were sent to find our apartments in nearby Akihabara.