Sawadee Khrap!
(A polite greeting in Thailand used when meeting or parting. It can be used in the morning, afternoon, evening,….basically, anywhere and everywhere!! It means “Hello, nice to meet you! or simply “Hello” ”, “Good Morning”, “Good Evening”, “Bye”, “See you” and so on…its said with hands folded prayer style in front of you with a slight bow…like “Namaste” in India or Nepal (if you have been to that part of the world)….very good to hear and pleasant to see!
※ A word of caution….”Khrap” is used by men while it is “Khaa” for women!
So then, “Sawadee Khrap” everyone!! My name is Passang Yolmo from Tokyo Consulting Firm Co., Ltd (Thailand)….for the record, we support the Japanese Investment into Thailand through Consulting services MAINLY in the fields of accounts, taxation, recruitment, legal and real estate.
This is my first attempt at writing a blog, so pardon me if its not blog-ish!
Pardon me also for writing in English…
English has in our company become the main language of communication (especially through mails). It is amazing to see the improvement in English amongst my Japanese colleagues. This is very rare and unheard of in Japan and we at TCG are doing our bit (though it’s a small step but a BIG leap for us) towards globalization in Japan. English has not been very important till now in Japan but will surely be in the days to come……….I hope we can become the pioneers and that other Japanese companies will also follow in our footsteps and introduce English as a means of communication in the workplace.
Its been a little over a month that I have been in Bangkok and honestly, I couldn’t agree more with the “Amazing Thailand!” promotion! It is one of the best countries that I have ever been to….a VERY close second to Japan (although I am from India!!)…Thailand or rather Bangkok is indeed a mini-Japan!! There is Japanese presence everywhere from restaurants to malls and cars (obviously) to Karaoke!! Japan is the single biggest investor in Thailand and if you go by figures for last year, the investments from Japanese is 3 times than that of the second placed Europe! 2010 was one of the best years for the Thailand economy with the GDP reaching 8%!
Japan has directly contributed to the Thailand economy (there are apparently around 7,000 Japanese companies and 50,000 registered Japanese people in Thailand, although unofficially it is apparently around 150,000!) which I think is one of the reasons why Japan and the Japanese hold a special place in their hearts! (though, Thailand is generally a very friendly country)…This could also seen by the number of activities held in Bangkok to gather money to help Japan after the Tsunami, although Thailand itself is suffering due to the floods in the southern part! Taxi drivers, guards, restaurant owners, shop keepers etc. mistaking me for a Japanese ask about the Tsunami and whether my family is ok or not.. There is genuine concern in their eyes.
My slight resemblance to the Japanese people also serves as an advantage at times (when I have to resign myself to be a Japanese due to my futile efforts to explain that I’m from India!) One of the first instances was when searching for an apartment in Thailand. House owners here (particularly ours) are, as per the real estate company, apparently not to keen on renting their apartments to Indians (!). However, it was relatively easy for me due to the reason mentioned before and also due to the fact that it was a Japanese company (although the occupant is Indian!)…. Well it helped that our CEO was also present at the time……!!
………anyways, that was then!!
Today we met a new Japanese company soon to be established here. Although it was a Sunday today, they were kind enough to meet us. TCF’s international business expansion was indeed eye-brow raising for them and as is to most of the people. This company is an SME…exactly the kind of companies we are targeting! SMEs are forecasted to come in huge numbers to Thailand in the coming years…Thailand is also strategically placed to cover the other developing nations and hence is an important country for us…Kobayashi (my colleague here) and I need to work hard and get a chunk of the pie!
In the meantime, it is “Songkran” the Thai New Year the coming week, which is supposed to be the main festival in Thailand and I believe Thailand will almost be completely shut for a week! Need to see that for myself..
More update on that later…….
Summer has officially started and the days are getting hot and humid!
Until next time……..
Raatree Sawad!
(Good Night)
