Introduction

My first real impressions of Japan were formed when I was in middle school and encountered a TV rerun of an old Hindi-language film titled “Love in Tokyo.” A movie about falling in love while roaming the streets of Tokyo naturally implanted in my young and impressionable mind vivid images of a country steeped in history and tradition where one can find the ultimate love and, in the process, find oneself.

Fast forward 20 years (and 55 years since the making of that 1966 movie) and here I am, a Hitotsubashi ICS MBA degree-holder two months into my career in Japan. I spent the last two years in pursuit of that goal of self-discovery and, in fact, the ICS environment has brought out qualities in me that I never knew I had.