(*The blog is based on the personal opinion and experience of one of the members participating in the training trip in Japan)

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What makes a quality training trip but still brings a lot of interesting experiences??? Follow me on the 4-day long journey, coming to the land of cherry blossoms – Japan to find the answer.

After a 6-hour long flight, we arrived at Narita International Airport early in the morning. Immigration check-in was very quick with enthusiastic support from international volunteers. The weather at that time was very cold - about 1 °C, thanks to the well-preparation in advance, our group quickly adapted to the weather there.

This trip was a combination of training and visiting some famous places in Tokyo, trying some Japanese foods, and also having time for us to freely explore other places at night in Tokyo.

Our training and cultural exchange program was co-organized by ISB Corporation and IVC. In this training session, we were divided into small groups, including IVC members and Japanese members from ISB and other subsidiaries in the corporation. We had time to discuss some topics, such as cultural characteristics, trendy technologies because almost members in group are mainly software engineers. In addition, we also shared with the group about the individual achievements and also the difficult points in the work that everyone had encountered. The training took place very happily and joyfully, everyone was always willing to share, although there were still language barriers. This training session made us understand more about personality, characteristic of the Japanese working and living style. These points really help us a lot in the working with Japanese and easier to understand the customer's expectation in the future.

After interesting training hours, it was time for us to visit some famous places in Tokyo.

Japan is a country that is famous for having many temples and shrines, so through our trip, we had the opportunity to visit two famous places in Tokyo, Asakusa Kannon Temple and Meiji Jingu Shrine. At Asakusa Kannon, we could see the Japanese culture of the Edo period. There is a large 5-storey temple with a small street that sells a lot of souvenirs and typical Japanese cuisine. Besides, walking around the small street, we could also see tourists coming there in traditional Japanese custom - Kimono, with eye-catching colors. In front of such a beautiful scene, our team has recorded moments together here just via a mobile phone.

Contrary to the somewhat bustling atmosphere at Asakusa Kannon Temple, the Meiji Shrine is quieter. This is a sacred temple in Japan and is quite respected by the people, where the Emperor and the royal family are worshiped. Surrounding the temple is a primeval forest with neatly trimmed rows of tall green trees, a very peaceful scene, and fresh air with a quiet but dignified beauty. When visiting the Meiji Shrine, you can buy wooden prayer cards sold at the entrance to write down your wishes and leave them at the shrine, asking for blessings. Or you can also visit to buy lucky charms about health, career, or love that are sold a lot here as a souvenir, wishing for peace.

The time we came Japan was the time when plum blossoms were in full bloom. The pure white plum blossom, blooming brightly in a corner of the park in the early morning, was really a beautiful scene to record the moments when our team was here.

Tokyo is known as the most crowded city with the fastest pace of life in the world, we also had the opportunity to visit the Shibuya intersection, an intersection where millions of people walk every day.

However, Tokyo at night is quite quiet, the shops here close quite early, around 10 pm, many shops close. After a few minutes of walking to explore Tokyo at night in cold weather, enjoying a bowl of hot ramen was one of the ideal things to consider. 

I was really happy to be one of the members participating in this training trip in Japan. The trip really brought me a lot of new experiences, it helped me feel more motivated to work hard and contribute to the sustainable development of the Company. Hope to see you in Japan one day soon.