Top Tour Tokyo 2019 by Christine Buguina
The Top Tokyo Tour 2019 is a 5-day incentive trip for the top performers in the PersolKelly family and partner companies. Participants include delegates from PersolKelly’s branches in Asia (except Japan) and ANZ.
Day 1
July 21 was the day I arrived at the Narita airport in Japan. I was not a big fan of traveling — I’ve never gone outside the Philippines. It was my first time traveling abroad, alone. I was more nervous than excited. The confidence I felt while waiting for my flight in NAIA was left behind in the terminal. The flight to Narita took around 5 hours — where each passing hour increased my anxiety of arriving in a place that I’ve only seen in photos and movies.
Cloudy skies greeted me at the airport, which seemed to be in tune with my nervousness in this new place. Having zero proficiency in Nihongo, I was hanging onto the hope that airport staff could speak English well. Fortunately, most do. They were also helpful in directing me to the bus that took me directly to my hotel, Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku.
The atmosphere in Keio Plaza was lively. There were plenty of foreigners like me. That greatly helped ease some of my nervousness. PersolKelly had a booth set up in the lobby ready to assist Top Tour delegates. The person manning the booth handed me my key card and a welcome gift that was given to all Top Tour delegates — a bento box, which I first thought was a pencil case due to its size!
After resting for a while in my assigned room, it was then time to assemble in the lobby and go to the welcome dinner in Kani Douraku Shinjuku Honten. Although it was a long walk from our hotel, I didn’t mind because I got to see the streets of Shinjuku bustling with life.
True to its name, kani, the welcome dinner was all crab: raw crab, steamed crab, fried crab, crab tempura, crab hotpot, crab congee, etc. You name it, they have the crab version of it. It’s safe to say that I’ve had my year’s worth of crab that night. The Top Tour certificates were awarded during the dinner by PersolKelly CEO Takayuki Yamazaki, CFO Shinya Shimakawa, and COO Francis Koh.
It was already late when the group decided to return to the hotel. The city lights were all the more captivating, teasing us on what’s yet to come the following day.
Day 2
My second day in Japan was a mix of business and pleasure. Our first activity for the day was Taiko drumming lessons. It was exhausting but still a lot of fun. The instructor was funny and he was able to energize the group. At the end of the session, he performed one of his original pieces for us.
The next activity was the Persol office tours. We visited the Persol Facility Management office and Persol Holdings building, both in Aoyama. The interiors of both offices were modern and minimalist. There were spaces for both working and relaxing, and the employees were very friendly despite our group being a little bit rowdy.
The last activity on the second day was a visit to the Asakusa Temple. I think aside from the grandeur of the temple, what also caught my attention were the stores selling a variety of goods from little trinkets to food items.
Day 3
On our third day in Tokyo, we attended the Persol Holdings Town Hall in Makuhari Messe. It was actually a two-day event, but Top Tour delegates were only invited to attend the first day. There were a total of 6,000 employees from all over the world, from Asia to Europe, that flew to Japan just for this event. The program was all in Japanese, but lucky for me (and fellow foreigners), a live translation to English was available. All Top Tour delegates were given a radio receiver where one can hear someone interpreting from Japanese to English in real time.
Part of the Town Hall was presenting action projects from various teams/departments for causes they support. The audience then voted on paper which project touched them the most. What surprised me was how the organizing committee was able to tally all the votes in less than an hour!
This event made me feel that no matter how big our cultural differences were, there was still a common ground — humor. We laughed at the same things during the Town Hall.
Day 4
Our itinerary on the fourth day was purely leisure. We visited the Kotoku-in Temple in Kamakura and the Enoshima Shrine. The Kotoku-in Temple houses the “Great Buddha,” a bronze Buddha statue that is more than 11 meters tall. We also had the chance to do some window shopping in Kamakura. Needless to say, we walked a lot in Kamakura that day.
Getting to the top of Enoshima Shrine takes around 20 minutes by stairs according to our tour guide. Lucky for us, we just took three escalators to get to the top. Within Enoshima Shrine are three other goddess shrines that you will still be able to visit even if you ride the escalator going up. The overall atmosphere of the place was very sacred. I thought all visitors were unconsciously speaking in low voices. The only loud noise I heard came from the crows waiting to steal people’s food. Aside from the shrines, I also got to see a very nice view of the ocean from the top of Enoshima Shrine.
Day 5
July 25 marked the end of the Top Tour. It was time for farewells and promises to visit each other’s countries and collecting mobile numbers and instant messaging accounts. The time to challenge each other that we’ll meet again in next year’s Top Tour. It was the time to reflect on what happened in the past 4 days.
Top Tour allowed me to go beyond my boundaries. Things I thought I didn’t like, I’m starting to like now. What I thought was going to be a scary experience turned out to be fun and fulfilling. I was able to interact with multiple nationalities and experience multiple cultures. I especially appreciated my new friends from Indonesia who practically adopted me into their team because I was the only delegate from the Philippines. Overall, this experience was an eye-opener for me. Now, I’m more ready to try new experiences outside my comfort zone.
Please visit and join the John Clements Talent Community.
About the author:
Christine studied Interdisciplinary Business Studies at De La Salle University, and Human Resource Management at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde.
