New Employee Training at Tokyo Tower

I conducted a training session for the new employees of Tokyo Tower.

The participants were divided into three classes, with each group attending a one-hour session.

That meant three hours of seiza for the instructor alone. By the end, I could almost hear my legs voicing their complaints—but I endured it!

The main focus of the training was proper etiquette in a traditional Japanese tatami room.

This is a curriculum particularly suited to our company, which has many employees of foreign nationalities. But even among Japanese employees, it is increasingly common to find people who have never lived in a tatami environment. Some have even grown up in families where their grandparents live in apartments, so they may have had virtually no experience of a traditional Japanese-style room.

Many also seem never to have had the opportunity to learn traditional etiquette through their school education.

Following the instructional materials of the Urasenke tradition of the Way of Tea, the employees practiced the proper way to enter a tatami room, walk, sit, and bow.

At the end, I served everyone a bowl of matcha—and, while I was at it, slipped in a little recruitment drive for our tea ceremony club.

Now, I wonder how many of them will become future members of the tea club…?