CJ

@chostett

People often ask me what it’s like to work as a designer in Japan.

I will tell you a story.

I was in a conference room with my client, and we were having a discussion about technical feasibility.

4/18/2021, 7:57:42 AM

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CJ

@chostett

Because this was an ongoing discussion, and because the discussion had been happening in both EN/JP, there were pieces of information that hadn’t been made entirely clear on both sides.

As the team is having this discussion, things get a little heated.

4/18/2021, 7:57:42 AM

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CJ

@chostett

We’re talking about possible solutions to the feasibility problem and I’m explaining the rationale behind the design so we’re all on the same page.

I pause, and bite into a sweet.

Suddenly, my entire body convulses, and I cough.

4/18/2021, 7:57:42 AM

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CJ

@chostett

Wasabi shoots up my nose and into my pain receptors and while my brain is screaming with every ounce of its being to spit the sweet out, my sense is clamping my mouth shut, saying, “you’re in the middle of a meeting!”

I look at the team.

We all start laughing.

4/18/2021, 7:57:43 AM

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CJ

@chostett

The sweet that had been passed out earlier in the meeting was one of those “roulette” sweets, where all of them were filled with strawberries, but only one was filled with wasabi. It’s a thing here.

Guess who got the wasabi one?

4/18/2021, 7:57:43 AM

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