カナダ旅行反省会 - 海外出張・旅行の参考までに。

本年7月6日から7月19日の間、個人旅行でカナダに行ってきました。

日本の水際対策が緩和されていない時期であったため、カナダへの入国手続きの準備、帰国時の現地でのPCR検査の予約・実施など、事前の調査・準備に時間を要しました。また、現地でこちらのリクエスト通りにPCR検査が実施され、日本政府指定の書類で陰性証明書が発行されるか、人手不足の空港でちゃんと荷物が届くか、などの心配事やストレスの多い旅でした。

コロナ絡みを除いても、今後の旅行に向けて考慮しなければならない点がいくつかありましたので整理しておきます。

１．物価
米国・カナダは、日本よりも給与が高い分、物価も高い。それに加えて円安・・・・・・

まず、食事。
最近TVでも報じられているようにラーメンの値段が日本の3倍。ラーメンでなくともファスト・フードも15ドル/食くらいと思った方がよい。
対策：①地元のスーパーで食材を買い、ホテルで調理。②ホテルの朝食をがっちり食べて、昼・夜はファストフードで軽めに。③日本から即席ラーメンなどを持参。
これらを今回の旅行で実践。ちょっと味気ない旅に・・・・・・





次にホテル。
いわゆるビジネスホテルクラスで、日本の2倍（150ドル～）の価格。バンクーバーなどの観光地は、3万円/泊以上。安いホテルは治安の悪い地区か、不衛生などの問題あり。
対策：レンタカーを利用する場合は、郊外のフリーウェイ沿いにあるホテルを利用。
これも今回の旅行で実践。ホテルの場所の治安は事前に確認した。

レンタカーは、高いと思わなかったが、ガソリンはかなり割高。
いままでガソリン買いを気にしたことはなかったが、今回はさすがに気になり、できるだけバス・電車も利用。



２．安全
アメリカではなくカナダに行った理由の一つは、アジア人に対するバッシングがカナダの方が少ないこと。猟銃はあるにしても、アメリカのように犯罪に銃が使われることは少ない。
ただ、カルガリーやバンクーバーのダウンタウンは、想定よりもホームレスや少し朦朧としている人が多く、夜間の移動は注意が必要。
対策：訪問先、宿泊先周辺の治安情報を事前にチェック。

会社がすべて負担してくれる場合はいいが、私のような個人旅行、あるいは私の会社のように貧乏な会社の場合、工夫が必要。

でも、くれぐれも安全には配慮を。

＜カナダ最後の食事は、JAPADOG。言っておくけど「まいう～」な訳ではない。節約・・・・＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-c): いろいろチャレンジすれば運はむいてくる！！

ようやく最近になってマスコミが、日本と海外との賃金格差の問題を取り上げるようになり、一昨日も「日本人の出稼ぎ」のニュースが放送されていた。海外でたくさん稼いで、円安の日本へ送金。日本で働くよりも貯金ができる。

でも、問題は、逆に日本に出稼ぎに来なくなること。

例えば、フィリピンの人々。もともと英語が堪能なので英語で仕事ができ賃金の高いカナダやイギリスに行ってしまう。しかもドル高で本国への送金金額も増える。実際、もうこの現象は起きている。日本の介護、看護、ITの現場は、今以上に人手不足になる。・・・・・・・

ボヤキはこのくらいにして、Ron-sanのライフストーリーに戻ります。

収入を増やすべく、工場勤めを始めるRon-san。ここから思わぬ展開が。

As I was only getting income from that part-time work and the Army Reserves, my bank account was steadily going down, and I needed more income, so I took a factory job over in San Francisco working in a putty and caulking compound manufacturer, called Goss & Goss. There were only four employees, an 80-year-old lady who owned the company and did the accounting, a general manager and two factory workers, of which I was one.

The other factory worker, Olin Cossairt, was in his early 60’s and about to retire. We were together during the work day, and he was a father figure to me. I’d been in contact with him ever since that time, and he even attended my wedding in Sacramento many years later.

I enjoyed working in that factory, as my mind was free to study right on the job while I produced the products in the factory.

Life at that time was going to my factory work, studying Japanese in the evenings at least twice a week, going to Japanese movies in Japan Town and going to my reserve meetings.

Then, one day the boss came to me and said I was laid off! I know the company was not that healthy, and the competition was far superior in just about every way possible. It was simply living on old customers the original founder, Mr. Goss had built up over the years before he died. At the time, being laid off was painful, but it turned out to be extremely good for me. I was out of a job and living on unemployment insurance and a little Army Reserve money.

On one occasion going to Sacramento to attend my Army Reserve meetings, my mother introduced me to a man who just came back from Japan. He was on a 1-year English teaching assignment and was looking for a replacement, but the job would not be available for six months. That was perfect, as my 6-year term in Army Reserve was to end about at that time. So, there was my chance to get to Japan. I took the assignment and decided to devote all of my time to study Japanese while on unemployment insurance.

Being laid off was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I got full unemployment insurance and studied full time. As I was learning for personal growth only, I decided to go to the nearest University with a Japanese class and simply sit in the class.

Who says education is expensive! If you want the knowledge, and not the degree, it can be very close to free. In those days, the popular language was Chinese, as President Nixon just opened diplomatic relations with China (around 1976). The Chinese classes were packed while the Japanese classes couldn’t gather even 10 students. Even though I was not even enrolled in the school, the teachers allowed me to sit in the class, do the drills in class and use the language lab anytime I liked! It was all free, was a very productive time in my life and gave me what was to be one of the most powerful skills I have used throughout my career. When I hit Japan, I was off and running with skills to learn the Japanese language.

Those years were early in my development for my life’s purpose. They were small steps toward interacting within the international community.

チャレンジして自ら人生を切り開いていくことの重要性が分かりますね。

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話なども聴いてみたいですね。コロナも収束間近。是非、マスクなしで開催したいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



<ご興味のある地域を選んでいただた上で、出張報告をさせていただきます＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-b): 夢を忘れず、仕事・軍事訓練、そして・・・・・

今朝（2022年10月16日）の朝日新聞の一面、「台湾有事 直面する懸念　米国に見捨てられ　衝突に巻き込まれ」。とはいえ、まだ、日本人の多くは、それほど深刻ではありません。

ヨーロッパ旅行から帰った当時の米国は、ベトナム戦争の真っただ中。いつ戦争に駆り出されるか。日常的にそんな心配がある中、グローバルビジネスに関わる仕事に就きたいという夢を忘れず、Ron-sanの奮闘・努力は続きます。

After boot camp, I returned to my reserve unit as a company clerk, which angered the commander. So, I was assigned to drill sergeant school for two years. Believe it or not, by going through drill sergeant school and acting as a drill sergeant for about two and a half years, I learned how to teach. I didn’t like it, and I was not a very good drill sergeant, but I did learn some things, particularly how to stand up in front of a group and teach.

In those days, my life was managing the store at Woolworth’s and going to Army Reserve meetings. I noticed at that time I still had a great desire to get into international business in any way I could. I always found myself in the stock room reading the origins of the merchandise Woolworth’s was bringing in from Asia, particularly Japan, Korea and Hong Kong in those days. I was continuing to read business magazines and what the United States was importing and exporting worldwide. With the huge figures of products being imported from Japan, I decided to start studying Japanese. I was around 26 years old at that time（1974年）.

I signed up for an adult education Japanese class right in San Jose. That was an interesting experience, because here I was in a class mostly of third and fourth generation American Japanese who wanted to (or was pressured to by their direct parents) learn the language to be able to talk to relatives back in Japan. They all kind of wondered why I was putting myself through some much pain to learn that extremely difficult language. In those days, I too found the language extremely difficult. As I was not doing it for anyone except myself, I decided to flunk myself two times in the entry level Japanese classes. I finally got an understanding of the material after the third time around.

As Japanese is not an easy language, people really appreciated my effort, particularly the Japanese people who were poor English speakers. They regularly gave me encouragement while my own American friends and my own family thought I was crazy.

In order to visit my mother in Sacramento more regularly, I changed Army Reserve units to one in Sacramento. Then, I would go to Sacramento once a month to attend the weekend meetings.

With working at Woolworth’s 48 hours a week, going to the Army Reserves and taking Japanese classes, I found it all a bit much. As I paid off all the college debts I had built up when I was a student and was still single at the time, I decided to quit working for Woolworth’s and moved up to Oakland, California.

Sam Fisk, whom I lived with in the Roger Williams house in San Jose, was living in Oakland and going to school in San Francisco. His house there had a spare room I could rent. So, off I went to Oakland.

In Oakland, I set up Japanese language classes over in San Francisco and worked part-time for another person who lived in the house and had his own business selling computer data input services. Basically, it was asking companies if they needed help getting various data into their computers. He hired ladies to punch in the data and charged for the services he could sell. I did that direct selling for him too for a short time. I learned I enjoyed outside selling even though over a four-month period, I only brought in one account, Macy Department Store in San Francisco.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話なども聴いてみたいですね。コロナも収束間近。是非、マスクなしで開催したいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



<ご興味のある地域を選んでいただた上で、出張報告をさせていただきます＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-a): ヨーロッパ旅行から帰国して。グローバルビジネスを目指すが・・・・

ヨーロッパ旅行から帰国したRon-san、グローバルビジネスの職を探しますが、専門スキルの不足、経験不足を指摘されてしまいます・・・・・

Coming back from Europe I knew I wanted to get into the international business community in some capacity. I sent out resumes to every American multinational corporation I could think of, from international carriers to corporations with investments and partners worldwide.

My Father, having worked for Bank of America for many years, set up appointments for job interviews throughout the bank in San Francisco. In one of those interviews the interviewer was very mean to me. He kept repeating that I do not nearly have the background to qualify for the type of position I was looking for. He said I would at least need a masters’ degree, a second language or specialty in a given country or region to even be slightly considered. So, I had no hope at that time and would have to explore how to move forward. I went back to San Jose to my rooming house completely dejected.

After some deliberation, I decided to take the first management job I could find as business management was my major at San Jose State University, and for the time being I would have to give up on all the change of any career in international business.

In San Jose, F.W. Woolworth’s needed store managers, and I was employed as a store manager trainee.

I started out in the stock room checking in merchandise and putting them into stock or taking them to the showroom floor. I learned how to receive goods, compare them with purchase orders, and stock them in the most ideal location and how to monitor inventory control.

From there, I moved to the store sales floor. At that time, I was promoted to assistant store manager, and I managed half the store sales floor and another assistant manager had the other half. I learned on the sales floor how to keep the merchandise out on display and meet customers. For most of the time I was at FW Woolworth’s, I had to cover the entire showroom floor, as the assistant managers kept quitting.

Several things I learned at Woolworth’s. One is I that enjoyed working with the public and interacting with a lot of different people. I also learned I had a knack with managing people particularly women for some reason. I guess it was because I grew up with women, my mother and sister. The more I learned the better manager I became and the more respect I commanded in the store, in some cases more than the store manager himself.

During those years, I was still in the Army Reserves. Therefore, I was not only learning management skills at Woolworth’s, but I was also learning management and teaching skills in the Reserves as well. Right in boot camp I learned the management and motivational techniques of competition among groups and team pride. My company had three platoons with four squads each. One squad has made up of about seven people, and I was a squad leader.

I learned that a leader has to participate just as much as the rest of the quad. He cannot sit back and let everyone else do all the work, as respect will be lost. That is something that has held true in every company I managed in. Our squads would continually compete against each other in a wide range of very detailed activities and each platoon generated its own pride. With those techniques, we were all highly motivated even though none of us wanted to be there! About 90% of that company was reservist trying to stay out of the Vietnam War.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話なども聴いてみたいですね。コロナも収束間近。是非、マスクなしで開催したいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



<ご興味のある地域を選んでいただた上で、出張報告をさせていただきます＞

Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (3-ｌ) : 人生初めての長旅 - この旅行での気づき

ロンさんとの定例打合せ。蒲田の「おおた国際交流センター」での打ち合わせは早々に打ち切り、近所の中華料理店「金春（コンパル）」で呑み会。



ここは元祖羽根つき餃子の店。羽根つき餃子、蒸し餃子、豆苗炒め、それとエビマヨネーズにジャガイモを揚げたものをまぶしたもの（料理名は忘れた）を注文。
酒は紹興酒をホットで。Ron-sanはザラメを使用。私は、ダイエット中なので・・・・・・





Ron-sanとの付き合いも、なんだかんだで10年以上。どちらかが天国に行くまでの付き合いになりそう。

さて、Ron-sanのヨーロッパ旅行に戻りましょう。

From Belgium, I went to Holland for a day or two. Then, I took the train/ferry back to London. On the train, I met two South Africans who both smoked. In those days, I smoked too, and we bet that we would not smoke until we got to London. Well, I won and they lost. A month or so after that, I quit for good and have not smoked since.

Back in London, I saw Jimmy again and then went back to San Jose.

In this maiden trip, I learned my love of travel and fascination with different ways of living and thinking. It really opened my eyes as to the options we have available to us in life.

When thinking of different nations, I think of the Olympics and the different teams representing their countries. Those teams are competing. I thought to myself, what can be achieved if we work together instead of just competing? Is that concept possible, I thought back then. Yes, even then I think it was (and still is) possible. So, I looked at the multinational business community. The international business community which supplies goods and services worldwide was the way to go for me.

That trip convinced me that the international world was for me.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。コロナも収束間近。是非、マスクなしで開催したいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



<ご興味のある地域を選んでいただた上で、出張報告をさせていただきます＞