ETP 26 の終わり- ETP 26 Completed

It’s over! We have finished the Executive Training Program 26 with a truly splendid graduation ceremony, in Japanese “sotsugyoshiki” 卒業式. It was at the same time the farewell to all those great people who made this program become reality, including the Waseda staff and the students themselves. We became a family during the past twelve months and from now on our adventures in Paris, Milan, London and Tokyo are shared memories of an extraordinary part of our life. 

We made it!

Preparations for the ceremony

After the end of the internships by October 30th we had to pass a final written exam in Japanese including an  interview, furthermore to deliver our business plans and finally to make a full fledged business presentation in Japanese. I am afraid my presentation was really bad – but for a good reason. When we did the presentation, I had already passed two weeks of a very special kind of fasting. I call it Samurai Diet because it has not so much to do with religious fasting. Instead it is completely centered on losing the maximum weight in a minimum time. I lost 15 kilogram in 3 weeks. It’s easy! You don’t eat anything at all and you run at least 10-15 km per day. OK, it’s true, it is not easy at all and I would not be able to do it if I hadn’t done this several times before. I have developed this method six years ago because I wanted to lose 10 kg in two weeks and it worked better than expected. The trouble is that your brain activity is rather low during this period and your whole metabolism slows down – except during the periods of training, running and exercises. You are especially ill prepared for situations of stress requiring high brain performance. But this was the only drawback, everything else worked perfectly and I had a great time in November. By the way, I think it is an excellent deal to get away with three weeks of tough fasting in order to lose the weight accumulated in three years of unlimited culinary pleasures and alcoholic self-indulgence.

With the two Juliens and Fabienne in my new shape
and in suit that I could not wear for two years

With my French “Busenfreund” (bosom buddy, old crony) Julien

Letizia (Italy), Rafal (Poland), Eric (France),
Reginald (Germany) and Georgi (Bulgaria)

For me, this evening was extremely moving and sometimes I could hardly breathe. This was partly caused by an extraordinary event. The keynote speaker Kunitake Ando, former CEO of Sony Corp. and founder of the joint-venture Sony Ericsson, one of the most impressive personalities in Japanese business and industry, mentioned my name during his speech and declared himself in public to be my business mentor and to have identified business opportunities for Audiantis within Sony. This is extremely unusual in a Japanese context. Moreover, I really admire this man and I felt so honored to be mentioned by him. To be honest, I thought my heart is going to stand still when I heard his speech. Right after that exciting moment there was another surprise. My Audiantis business plan won the prize for the best business plan. And all of my guests who became good friends to each other shared these moments with me.

Ando-san, former CEO of Sony Corp.

A last take with JJ Ikegami-sensei from Waseda,
the fabulous mastermind of ETP

With the Biohouse core team:
Tanaka-san, Mako-san and Noriyuki-san

Final farewell toast of the ETP students 

I had also some unforgettable culinary farewells from Japan. First there was the “tuna head dinner” with my parents in law and the staff of their musical instruments shop. They were kind enough to pass on my dish the “easy-to-eat” parts of it – which were delicious! – while I was marveling at the young people who devoured with pleasure the fatty and unquestionably slimy parts around and beneath the eyes of the poor fish. It is indeed a very rare delicacy that only few restaurants know how to prepare. Even my parents in law did not eat this before. 

Tuna head meal

And more of tuna head eating 

Another farewell was again Konno-san’s fine art of cooking. He spoiled us with an incredibly juicy Shabushabu, a very suitable dish for this late autumn season. It’s so nice that my stay ended in the same fashion it started in March. This time we had some VIP guests. 

Dom Perignon and some of his Italian friends, i Signori Barolo e Brunello

Delicious Shabushabu at Konno-san’s place

The day of departure, November 21st, was an incredibly bright and sunny day that reminded me of the latitude of Tokyo. It’s as much in the south as Lebanon and Morocco. You don’t feel this during the summer because there is too much humidity and smog. Autumn is the most beautiful season in Tokyo.

Relaxed departure, one hour sun bathing at Narita airport
and almost sun burned

Now back in Berlin I will change my profession. I am an author and publisher from now on. The publishing house Perlen Verlag http://www.perlenverlag.de was started in 2003 and it is time to become serious about it. My new book that will be published in December is about German politics, more precisely why Germany needs a new constitution if Germans don’t want their state to degenerate into a bizarre form of dictatorship: http://www.ende-der-bundesrepublik.de (only German, sorry)

The day after jet lagged in Berlin
at the first lecture of my new book   
in an enchanted old theatre