Well, what can I say about work? Epson is a company employing some 60,000 people (if I remember correctly), so I'm just going to go into a description of the guys I work with! The team size keeps on changing, as people come and go, but it usually i s around 10 people. Around 4 or 5 of them work in Hirooka (2 hrs away), so I only see them on business trips. The others are in the Hino lab; Hirabayashi-san, Hidaka-san, Gupta-san, Shravan-san (for 3 months), Girish-san (for about 6 months) and I.

Hirabayashi-san is my direct boss although Hidaka-san is the manager of the group. So in effect I have two bosses, which is actually cool. Hirabayashi-san is 33, about my height, and a cool guy (that must be his height). He studied in the S tates for a year in university, so he speaks very well in English. He likes the net, and computers (of course), and high-tech stuff. He's married with a daughter - she's cute. So far I've only seen pictures, but anyways. I get along with him very well , which is good because, well, he's my boss!

Hidaka-san is the manager. He's one funny guy - also 33, but much taller than me. But still, I remember him being amazed at my height (me?? Tall?? Oh, I *do* like this country). He speaks pretty good English, but he speaks Japanese to me now, which is cool. He has 3 daughters, whom I've met, and they are *very* talkative. Cute as buttons! He likes to laugh, and have a good time. It's fun to talk with him.

Gupta-san is only here for a year, like me. He actually works for Wipro Systems, which is an Indian company. He's from India, BTW, only 24 (oh, I think... I can't quite remember), so pretty young. He was vegetarian when I arrived, so he sof tened the blow for my arrival! But, in the past year he's become a meat-eater. He got here about 2 months before me, and he doesn't speak very much Japanese at all. He's a funny guy, and we get along well.

Shravan-san is also from Wipro Systems in India, and he was here for 2 or 3 months during the summer of '97. He's a funny guy, that Shravan-san! When he went back to India in September, he got promoted to the leader of the Banff project in I ndia, so we're still working with him, and he even came back for a business trip in December.

Girish-san is another guy from Wipro Systems in India. Wow, I can't even remember when he got here, but I think it was sometime in the fall, maybe October. He must be mid-20s, and he hangs out with Gupta-san a lot because they're apartments are right beside eachother. Nice guy.

Ichii-san is the latest addition to the team, she got here in early January. She's a 22 year-old Japanese girl from Kobe, and she's here to test our stuff. As far as I can tell, she's really nice!

Not Banff Team:

Tsurumi-san is funny. He was the first one to speak to me in Japanese, although he speaks English pretty well. He just doesn't like to use it! Anyways, he used to be the network administrator for our group, but in Oct/Nov/Dec he went on a b usiness trip to the States, and when he got back he was on a different team sitting in a different spot. He's only 26, I think, so he's really young. Likes to fish, and play pachinko. That's cool.

And well, Hirose-san is the runner! Need I say more? He's just plain cool.

And then there's Nakamura-san, who is the office coordinator -- kind of a higher-level secretary. I mean, yeah she's the one who answers the phone and handles money matters, but she also does some pretty complicated stuff, I think. Well she must be about 25 or 26, but I've been told that she's not married (which is odd for around here, I guess). She's one of the 3 women that work in our office, and she's really nice (that could be because she's the one who hands out all the candy!)! It's funny, she takes English lessons, and is supposedly very good but she's never once spoken to me in it. In a way, I appreciate that because she makes me practice my Japanese. Oh, she thinks I'm very tall! I tried to explain to her that in Canada I'm onl y average...

Miyasaka-san is the head boss of the Hino office, and he's soooo funny! He wanders around the office when he's in town (he is now also the head boss of the Ueda office as well, where Jason works)... just walks up and down the aisles. I don't know, maybe he's bored. Anyway, sometimes he comes and chats with me, and it's always fun.

Behera-san is another Indian guy from Wipro Systems - he was here for a few months during the summer '97. He was a Java expert (as Hirabayashi-san liked to call him) so I often bugged him for help with my crazy bugs. He's a really funny guy; likes to drink, smoke, and karaoke. That would be Behera-san's karaoke that I have on my webpage - go listen to it! Crazy stuff. Oh, he also has a webpage, but I'm not sure of its address right now but when I find it out, I'll be sure to put it up.

Muramoto-san, a.k.a. Mura-san, used to live right down the street from me, but he was transferred to the Suwa office in September. Anyway, he's a really great guy, we used to walk back from the station alot so I've done lotsa chatting with hi m.

Other guys I may mention are: Hiroshige-san, Mori-san, Wada-san...

And that's the description of the guys around work!