A Return To Shibuya
The sheer size and scope of Tokyo is really hard to fathom!
It seems like only yesterday—well, it was just about two months ago—that I was meeting with my old friend Takeshi Matsukata in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan, discussing potential business endeavors.
I had to check out a few shops, Shibuya is famous for its shopping after all.
While I highly enjoyed my stay at the Grand Cerulean Tokyu Tower last time, Takeshi recommended trying out a different hotel, The Shibuya Excel Hotel, which is a very close walking distance to the Shibuya Crossing, made famous in the Hollywood movie, Lost In Translation.
Shibuya Crossing—when the crossing light turns green, be prepared to enter a sea of people!
As always, we had to seek out a couple very good restaurants specializing in fine quality sashimi and sushi—I mean how could we not, we’re in Tokyo! After an incredibly tasty dinner, we ventured back into the evening madness and checked out the bright city lights of this Time Square-esque part of Japan.
A delightful assortment of melt-in-your-mouth sashimi
A Second Successful Meeting With RE/MAX Japan!
The next morning we headed out from the hotel to the RE/MAX Japan! corporate office to visit with our friends whom we met last time and had very fine meeting with. Again, we were greeted warmly by the staff, and I have to say, their office is just chalk full of smart and driven young professionals. This time around, we met exclusively with the CEO of RE/MAX Japan!, Aki Nakamiya, CTO, Jun Okawara, and GM of the Sales Division, Yoshi Yamazaki. These three have a powerful vision for taking their company forward—including some very ambitous goals set to be achieved by the time the Summer Olympics roll on through in 2020.
Enjoying our business lunch at RE/MAX Japan!
As we were all a little pressed for time, we decided to order in and make it a true power lunch meeting. In fact, our lunch meeting was so powerful that the whole building started shaking—we were experiencing one of Tokyo’s infamous earthquakes! As the only non-local, I was initially a bit startled, but was quickly comforted by the smiles of my associates around the table.
A Partnership Between RE/MAX Lifestyle and RE/MAX Japan!
Yoshi, Aki, myself, Takeshi, and Jun at the RE/MAX Japan! Corporate Headquarters
During our meeting we discussed a number of ways that we could work together and help each other grow our business globally. In the end, we agreed to work towards forming an exciting new partnership that would focus our collective efforts on three main markets: Japan, Hawaii (specifically Honolulu), and Thailand. I can’t begin to explain how amazing it was to establish this relationship, and I’m so eager to begin to work more with this group of people and grow this partnership worldwide. There is so much to look forward to in the near future, we all can’t wait to start!