Introduction – Bill Belew
I came in on the tail end of the baby boom behind two older brothers and two older sisters, 3 of which were WWII babies. Meaning, I am old enough to have been around the block a few times, but young enough to have a few more trips left in me. My name is Bill Belew
I first went to Asia on Uncle Sam’s dime. After nearly 5 years in the Navy where I eventually served as an Intelligence Officer for a Destroyer Squadron ( I could tell you some secrets, but then I’d have to kill you) I settled in Japan and lived there for almost 20 years. While there I started a language school for Japanese www.svecs.com . It grew to five branches in Japan and one on the west coast of the US. More about all of that in subsequent posts.
I moved back to the states about 5 years ago and now live in the Bay Area of San Jose (Yes, I know the way.) I teach classes f2f for a vocational school and online for a national university.
My wife is from mainland China and holds an MBA from a California State University. We often discuss the differences in culture and business practices among China, the US and Japan. Sound interesting? It is to us. I will share some of those stories and our insights (or lack of) here in this blog. For my part, I will lean heavily into introducing Japan and her ways. If you want to do business with someone, you need to take time to know them….at least that is how it goes in Asia.
I have two boys. The older one, Benjamin, is an award winning professional classical pianist in Japan. The younger one, Micah, is a US National Swim Champion.
I used to run triathlons and ultramarathons. I could also be seen hanging off the side of a mountain…or making my way up it as a rock climber. Now I am on a marathon trip and I try to climb back into shape.
In my free time (what free time?) I write non-fiction short stories. You can see some of them at www.writingup.com/blog/wcbelew .
I look forward to telling you what I know about Asia – Japan, China and Far East Russia in particular. I welcome comments, suggestions and questions. If I don’t know, I will try to find out.
Bill
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19/04/2006
hahahaha
07/05/2006
Bill,
Thank you for your comment! I was in Wuhan a few months back…you can find a couple videos on my site about my trip. I think they are in the 80th post area…hmmmm…do a search on the site for China…I think that will get you to the China stuff…most of the other videos are about Japan and my life in Kyushu…I have lived there for about 8 years, I work in a Medical Lab and teach at Jr. High School. Thanks for dropping me a comment, looking forward to reading your blog! I try to post 3 to 4 videos a week! Since you lived in Japan for such a long time I am sure you can give me some pointers/advice/anything about life in general would be more than welcome!
Yoroshiku!
16/06/2006
You guys are the 12642 best, thanks so much for the help.
25/09/2006
Bill,
Appreciate your visit to “think:lab” recently…and your kind/upbeat words about some of the posts you’ve read through.
Took some time to visit your blogs in the Know More Media network; great voice you present — humorous, analytical, tangential at the right time, etc. Well worth the discovery!
I spent a summer teaching English outside of Tokyo years ago; a blink of an eye in comparison to your time there, but your bio brought back memories of that wild adventure!
Hope to cross blog-paths again one day soon.
Cheers, Christian
12/12/2006
Hi Bill,
Nice blog. I am a software engineer in China. It is so interesting to see how a foreigner thinks about China. I believe your blog is pretty helpful for people who is doing business in Asian countries. If need any contribution, I will be the volunteer.
Aaron Li
lichenlc@gmail.com
27/01/2007
Hey there. Thanks for stopping by and the comments over at Unemployed Writer. It led me to a good find in your site, lots of interesting information. As for me, I’m definitely interested in Japanese culture. Huge reader of their literature, and took a couple years of courses in college. And there is of course the requisite film and book collection (hence the top 10 list).
28/05/2007
Bill, congratulations for receiving Know More Media’s Incredible Author Award for Nov 2006. You definitely add a tremendous amount of value to this network, and I hope you’ll keep this up.
22/06/2007
This topics are very important to me because it is so misunderstood by a lot of people I talk to. Culture is a powerful force which affects the economic processes. As such a force, culture cannot be dismissed or taken lightly in its fundamental role in economic development. I’d like to know more about differences in culture and business practices among China, the US and Japan so I will be checking in here more often to see new articles.
22/03/2008
Hi Bill,
I have a newsblog about Asia, called Asia East. If you’d like to post something there about Asia, I can include a link back to your site. Thanks!
Daniel White, editor
Asia East,
Taipei, Taiwan
editor@asiaeast.org
http://www.asiaeast.org