Friday I only had one meeting scheduled late, so I decided to brave the very foggy and rainy day and venture forth to the Sankeien Garden. It was out of the way, but I read great things about it, so not caring about pictures not turning out OK or getting lost, or getting wet, I went anyway.
I can only assume that the place was mostly empty because of the suboptimal weather, but I was very very happy to walk around there almost by myself.
As so often happens when I experience something so sublime, I wish my loved ones were there to share it with me.
Someone said that when you can’t or don’t know how to share, you become an exhibitionist. Is that why I have a blog?
In any case, after seeing a little presentation about the safety and earthquake-resistant features of the world’s fastest elevator, built by Mitsubishi, I got to ride it, at 750 m/s, to the top on the 69th floor.
Before a very successful day at the trade show (few but extremely interesting meetings with the likes of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a very large Japanese company known for their electronics, and a BioTech fund from Silicon Valley), I went to the Red Brick Warehouse. I read online someone saying it was the cool alternative to a shopping center, and it was close by, so I decided to check it out for myself.
It was time to work. The trade show I was in Yokohama for, BioJapan, is not a big one, and dwarfs in comparison to the Bio show in the USA. But being so highly specialized means that there are less people attending that in other trade shows, and the people attending are all directly involved in life sciences, either as researchers or as companies commercializing life sciences research (or providing support and services).
The next day it was my (almost) free day. Absolutely necessary, specially for those who are not used to long flights and big time zone differences. Not my case, but I’m still glad I had that day off… specially in Japan!
So I got up early, dealt with my emails as quickly as I could, had tradicional Japanese breakfast, I met my friend and client Komaki-san, and after the meeting I left the hotel.
On Sunday October 11 I flew to Tokyo via Abu Dhabi to attend the BioJapan life sciences trade show, as part of a select group of 8 companies chosen by the Mayor of London’s office and the London Chamber of Commerce to represent the leading SMEs in the field of Healthcare and Life Sciences from London.
Since the departure of the London-Abu Dhabi was delayed, I did not have time to have a meeting or even explore the airport in Abu Dhabi.
After the visit to the British Museum & Fortnum & Mason, my in-laws treated us to dinner at The Terrace Grill restaurant at Le Meridien Piccadilly Hotel.
As was to be expected, it was delicious. A great way to end a great day.
