FindJPN blog

Using FindJPN on a Business Trip

Since FindJPN’s launch in August, most of our customers have been in numbers of one or two. But on May 19th, we had five customers use our service – showcasing yet another way FindJPN can be implemented.

Five men on a short business stay in Japan used our service. Three were from Sweden, one from India, and another from China. Out of the 100 or so activities we have listed on our site, they chose to take a Calligraphy lesson. The teacher is famous not only for her skills in Shodo, but for her beauty and charm. The men didn’t just choose this activity just because the teacher’s cute though.

All five customers wanted to try something traditional, and calligraphy was the best suited they thought; it was all their first time doing “Shodo” too. The five customers are mechanics who fly from country to country – a job that requires finesse and patience; “Shodo” is the same as well. The practice requires a person to take special care in every single brush stroke. The angle in which the brush touches the paper or the amount of pressure applied to the brush are all very important when doing “Shodo”. The five decided to write their wife’s name in Chinese characters, so they took extra care.

The whole lesson took about an hour. Upon completion, each customer finished writing on a colored paper that they each took back. Seemingly pleased by what they accomplished, they went back on their way to another busy week of machinery maintenance - in, next, India.

But before leaving, one of the five – a kind inquiring man from India – asked me:
“How come the Japanese take Calligraphy lessons, when they can already write Kanji?”

At first I was stumped by the question, but I finally mustered up an answer long after the India man went home. The Japanese take Calligraphy lessons because it’s an art that has no answers and no end.

This experience really showed how FindJPN entertains not just individuals but groups.