Japan is known to most Koreans as “a country that is near and at the same time far.” Albeit Japan is only a couple hours’ flight away from Korea, I never had the chance to visit Japan except for one short business trip in 2000. I didn’t have a chance to see much of Japan then; all you normally see during a business trip is the hotel where you’re staying, the office where you conduct your business, and airplanes (lots of them) at the airport. Thus Japan indeed had been a country near and far to me until I took 180 IBOs to Japan for our Leadership Tour 2008 from 30th March to 03rd April. This time I even brushed up on my Japanese language (though it was only “survival Japanese”).
Contrary to our expectation, the weather was not on our side when we arrived at Narita Airport on the 30th March. Because of the rain and heavy wind, the wind-chill in Tokyo was very low that day, making us almost shiver without a windbreaker. But even this bad weather couldn’t stop our IBOs who were eager to explore Japan as much as possible. After having managed to warm up their bodies with hot oden soup over lunch, they got impatient to “hit the road” again in the rain. Our first stop was the Toyota Automobile Showroom, located at Odaiba Island, where our IBOs made trial rides in various new models of Toyota cars. After having tried a “virtual drive” on the stage, I could overhear a few IBOs talking about “buying that baby soon” with their Sunrider money. 
People got soaked in the heavier rain during the walk back to the tour bus and their minds were already immersed in taking a hot spring bath. All of us changed into traditional Japanese bathrobes called Yukada (they had various colors and designs available for us to choose). To confess, I had a hard time breathing; I tied a Yukada belt too tight to hide my “potbelly” in front of our IBOs. Before reaching the bath, there was an area like a market place where many kiosks were arranged in rows and that were selling very tempting munchies and cute little souvenirs. Though dinner was expected right after our bath, many people had to wrestle with the temptation of those aromatic foods while moving into the bath.
As an old Korean saying goes, “People become great friends after taking a hot bath together naked,” because there’s nothing to ‘hide’ in that bath. Accordingly, I think I’ve created even stronger bonding with our male IBOs from this experience. It was so relaxing to soak our bodies in an open-air hot bath, and I almost fell asleep in the water but an IBO let me know that it was time to go. Before I move on to our dinner part, I must tell you about a “culture shock” that I experienced in the bath: The body-scrubbers and attendant in the men’s bath were women! Of course they were in work uniforms, but we were all naked. The other Korean male IBOs and I were busy trying to cover ourselves, but the workers simply acted calm in front of us so we realized it was no big deal. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”…Right?
The dinner was just spectacular! Dining tables were arranged in a huge room with Japanese Tatami floor. All 180 IBOs sat on the floor and were decked out in a dazzling display of colorful Yukada robes. And the dainty food was almost too beautiful to eat! Because New Year practically starts on 01st April in Japan for businesses and schools, they traditionally have a ceremony called Kakami-Hiraki literally meaning “breaking a wine pot” to open the New Year. I invited four of our most senior IBOs (two males and two females) to break the wine pot together and to propose a toast to “Sunrider Money” for everyone. After dinner, we arrived at the New Otani Hotel.
The Monday morning of 31st March was rainy and windy, even worse than the previous day, during the long drive to Yokohama. Fortunately though, the weather cleared up by the time we arrived in Yokohama, and bright sunshine welcomed us when we started a sightseeing tour of the city. The tour included beautiful Yamashita Park that stretched along the shoreline of Yokohama Harbor, bustling streets and shops in China Town, and the modern and clean Minato Mirai 21 area. Upon our return to Tokyo, we visited one of the symbols of Japan, the Imperial Palace. Though allowed to see only the outer wall and garden, we appreciated a tasteful garden that was classical and tranquil. The Palace definitely had something peculiar that appealed to our artistic sentiment even just from outside. Next stop was Ginja Street, one of the most popular streets for tourists because of the latest fashion, energetic young people, neon signs, restaurants, bars, and galleries. Our IBOs ventured into the busy streets of Ginja for a while to stroll around and to find good bargains.
Bright spring sunshine blessed us on 01st April, the day we were to climb Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain (3,776M) in Japan. Instead of saying “to climb Mt. Fuji,” I should say “to visit the mouth of Mt. Fuji,” which still allowed us to access and enjoy the splendor of the mountain, as tour guides had worried in previous days about the weather affecting accessibility. Japan is a polytheistic country believing that deities or divine spirits reside in all things in nature. And after experiencing this majestic place, we all surely believed that there must be a divine spirit in Mt. Fuji. The mountain was fully covered with snow and stood against an emerald-blue sky shrouded in mystical layers of clouds. The indescribable striking beauty of blue, brown, green, and white in harmony made us not only inspired with awe but also fascinated with the grandeur of Mt. Fuji. Leaving the holy mountain behind us, we went for a sightseeing trip of Hakone— riding an excursion boat in Ashi Lake (the lake was 723M above the sea level), which is located in the Owaqutani Valley, and another hot spring bath at Morinoyu Onsen (one for the road!).
After a thrilling tour program and fun activities for three days in Japan, there came the day for us to get even more excited, as we got the chance to learn from the ever-passionate Drs. Chen about how to succeed big and quickly with the Sunrider business opportunity! The seminar took place at the Toshi Center in Tokyo on 02nd April. During the seminar, Dr. Chen delivered an impassioned message to 180 Korean IBOs about how Sunrider offers the best business opportunities, which are even better than opportunities offered by conventional franchise businesses. Thus, in order to realize our dreams and achieve success, Dr. Chen stated that IBOs should focus on promoting Sunrider’s income potential, selling product, setting optimum goals, and building your organization through the Starter Pack. His powerful speech filled Korean IBOs with enthusiasm and motivation.
When Mrs. Chen took over the stage for the second session, I could see that some IBOs started to get nervous because they were aware that Mrs. Chen would ask them randomly about how to conduct New IBO Training and how to answer the FAQs. However, Mrs. Chen relieved the tension in the room with a joke, saying, “Nobody wants to make eye contact with me, but it’s fine because Steve gave me a name list of 180 people in this room.” Everybody laughed hard, and it was a very useful session for existing IBOs to learn how to train their downlines efficiently. It was a very fun and enjoyable session after all, because Mrs. Chen first picked one IBO from the name list to answer a question and then she went on from that IBO’s uplines by asking, “Who’s your upline?” rather than picking other people from the list. Korean IBOs were quite good in answering her questions but they also felt very grateful in learning more professional ways of handling such FAQs.
The finale of Sunrider Korea’s Leadership Meeting 2008 in Japan was the Gala Dinner held later that evening at the New Otani Hotel. It kicked off with a traditional Japanese taiko drum performance, and Drs. Chen and Sunny Beutler entered the room to the majestic beats of these drums and a standing ovation from the Koran IBOs. Then we all enjoyed a fantastic buffet dinner, followed by performances of different IBO groups. The performances included a Taekwondo martial arts dance featuring a breaking demonstration of thick pine boards (all performed by female IBOs—tough Korean women!), a very cute replica of “Tell-Me Dance” that has won sweeping popularity among Koreans, and a “Rap & Dance” that used the Starter Pack as the theme.
Contrary to our expectation, the weather was not on our side when we arrived at Narita Airport on the 30th March. Because of the rain and heavy wind, the wind-chill in Tokyo was very low that day, making us almost shiver without a windbreaker. But even this bad weather couldn’t stop our IBOs who were eager to explore Japan as much as possible. After having managed to warm up their bodies with hot oden soup over lunch, they got impatient to “hit the road” again in the rain. Our first stop was the Toyota Automobile Showroom, located at Odaiba Island, where our IBOs made trial rides in various new models of Toyota cars. After having tried a “virtual drive” on the stage, I could overhear a few IBOs talking about “buying that baby soon” with their Sunrider money. 
People got soaked in the heavier rain during the walk back to the tour bus and their minds were already immersed in taking a hot spring bath. All of us changed into traditional Japanese bathrobes called Yukada (they had various colors and designs available for us to choose). To confess, I had a hard time breathing; I tied a Yukada belt too tight to hide my “potbelly” in front of our IBOs. Before reaching the bath, there was an area like a market place where many kiosks were arranged in rows and that were selling very tempting munchies and cute little souvenirs. Though dinner was expected right after our bath, many people had to wrestle with the temptation of those aromatic foods while moving into the bath.
As an old Korean saying goes, “People become great friends after taking a hot bath together naked,” because there’s nothing to ‘hide’ in that bath. Accordingly, I think I’ve created even stronger bonding with our male IBOs from this experience. It was so relaxing to soak our bodies in an open-air hot bath, and I almost fell asleep in the water but an IBO let me know that it was time to go. Before I move on to our dinner part, I must tell you about a “culture shock” that I experienced in the bath: The body-scrubbers and attendant in the men’s bath were women! Of course they were in work uniforms, but we were all naked. The other Korean male IBOs and I were busy trying to cover ourselves, but the workers simply acted calm in front of us so we realized it was no big deal. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”…Right?The dinner was just spectacular! Dining tables were arranged in a huge room with Japanese Tatami floor. All 180 IBOs sat on the floor and were decked out in a dazzling display of colorful Yukada robes. And the dainty food was almost too beautiful to eat! Because New Year practically starts on 01st April in Japan for businesses and schools, they traditionally have a ceremony called Kakami-Hiraki literally meaning “breaking a wine pot” to open the New Year. I invited four of our most senior IBOs (two males and two females) to break the wine pot together and to propose a toast to “Sunrider Money” for everyone. After dinner, we arrived at the New Otani Hotel.
The Monday morning of 31st March was rainy and windy, even worse than the previous day, during the long drive to Yokohama. Fortunately though, the weather cleared up by the time we arrived in Yokohama, and bright sunshine welcomed us when we started a sightseeing tour of the city. The tour included beautiful Yamashita Park that stretched along the shoreline of Yokohama Harbor, bustling streets and shops in China Town, and the modern and clean Minato Mirai 21 area. Upon our return to Tokyo, we visited one of the symbols of Japan, the Imperial Palace. Though allowed to see only the outer wall and garden, we appreciated a tasteful garden that was classical and tranquil. The Palace definitely had something peculiar that appealed to our artistic sentiment even just from outside. Next stop was Ginja Street, one of the most popular streets for tourists because of the latest fashion, energetic young people, neon signs, restaurants, bars, and galleries. Our IBOs ventured into the busy streets of Ginja for a while to stroll around and to find good bargains.
Bright spring sunshine blessed us on 01st April, the day we were to climb Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain (3,776M) in Japan. Instead of saying “to climb Mt. Fuji,” I should say “to visit the mouth of Mt. Fuji,” which still allowed us to access and enjoy the splendor of the mountain, as tour guides had worried in previous days about the weather affecting accessibility. Japan is a polytheistic country believing that deities or divine spirits reside in all things in nature. And after experiencing this majestic place, we all surely believed that there must be a divine spirit in Mt. Fuji. The mountain was fully covered with snow and stood against an emerald-blue sky shrouded in mystical layers of clouds. The indescribable striking beauty of blue, brown, green, and white in harmony made us not only inspired with awe but also fascinated with the grandeur of Mt. Fuji. Leaving the holy mountain behind us, we went for a sightseeing trip of Hakone— riding an excursion boat in Ashi Lake (the lake was 723M above the sea level), which is located in the Owaqutani Valley, and another hot spring bath at Morinoyu Onsen (one for the road!).
After a thrilling tour program and fun activities for three days in Japan, there came the day for us to get even more excited, as we got the chance to learn from the ever-passionate Drs. Chen about how to succeed big and quickly with the Sunrider business opportunity! The seminar took place at the Toshi Center in Tokyo on 02nd April. During the seminar, Dr. Chen delivered an impassioned message to 180 Korean IBOs about how Sunrider offers the best business opportunities, which are even better than opportunities offered by conventional franchise businesses. Thus, in order to realize our dreams and achieve success, Dr. Chen stated that IBOs should focus on promoting Sunrider’s income potential, selling product, setting optimum goals, and building your organization through the Starter Pack. His powerful speech filled Korean IBOs with enthusiasm and motivation.
When Mrs. Chen took over the stage for the second session, I could see that some IBOs started to get nervous because they were aware that Mrs. Chen would ask them randomly about how to conduct New IBO Training and how to answer the FAQs. However, Mrs. Chen relieved the tension in the room with a joke, saying, “Nobody wants to make eye contact with me, but it’s fine because Steve gave me a name list of 180 people in this room.” Everybody laughed hard, and it was a very useful session for existing IBOs to learn how to train their downlines efficiently. It was a very fun and enjoyable session after all, because Mrs. Chen first picked one IBO from the name list to answer a question and then she went on from that IBO’s uplines by asking, “Who’s your upline?” rather than picking other people from the list. Korean IBOs were quite good in answering her questions but they also felt very grateful in learning more professional ways of handling such FAQs.
The finale of Sunrider Korea’s Leadership Meeting 2008 in Japan was the Gala Dinner held later that evening at the New Otani Hotel. It kicked off with a traditional Japanese taiko drum performance, and Drs. Chen and Sunny Beutler entered the room to the majestic beats of these drums and a standing ovation from the Koran IBOs. Then we all enjoyed a fantastic buffet dinner, followed by performances of different IBO groups. The performances included a Taekwondo martial arts dance featuring a breaking demonstration of thick pine boards (all performed by female IBOs—tough Korean women!), a very cute replica of “Tell-Me Dance” that has won sweeping popularity among Koreans, and a “Rap & Dance” that used the Starter Pack as the theme.
The highlight of the evening when Dr. Chen went on the stage to sing “Can’t help falling in love with you” while fixing his gaze on Mrs. Chen, sitting below the stage. With warm-hearted applause from the audience, Dr. Chen then invited Mrs. Chen and Sunny onto the stage for another song together, followed by karaoke songs by various leaders from the VIP table. During the karaoke, In-Ja Park did very comical performances in front of the singers, making us (and the Chens) shake our sides with laughter. The memorable night came to an end with Drs. Chen’s new product introduction and lucky draw. Various new products were introduced and given away (well before the official new product launching at the Grand Convention) to Korean IBOs. They looked forward to the launching of these new products and at the same time they were proud of Dr. Chen’s expertise and the way he continually develops such wonderful products for them.
As the saying goes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. And, Korean IBOs were given a chance to work hard and at the same time to have fun through this Leadership Tour and Seminar in Japan.
Steve Kim
Operations Manager
Sunrider Korea
