The Nightmare Transit and Arrival in Boston at Dawn
My second business trip to the United States was disastrous from the start. Our arrival in Los Angeles was delayed by three hours, causing us to miss our connecting flight. As a result, we had to take a series of late-night red-eye flights — Atlanta, Minneapolis, and finally Boston — and after a grueling 22-hour journey, we arrived at Logan Airport at dawn. By the time we reached our hotel in Lexington, about an hour from the airport, the sun had fully risen.
“Early American” Impressions in Lexington
Lexington is known as the birthplace of the American Revolutionary War, and the town exuded the charm of a small, rustic village. The place we stayed at was more like a small inn than a hotel, filled with the warm scent of wood. It felt quintessentially “Early American.” The lobby was no larger than the entrance hall of a large house. As I waited on the sofa, a large man walked in from outside, poured himself a cup of coffee from the communal machine into his own mug, and walked back out. Old American paintings and black-and-white photos adorned the wooden walls. I caught myself smiling at the scene.
“Made in USA” and Memories of My Childhood
I was born in Tokyo in 1951, six years after the end of World War II. One of my childhood memories was seeing the U.S. military housing area known as “Washington Heights” from the train window between Shibuya and Harajuku stations on the Yamanote Line. Before Yoyogi Park existed, the area — now home to the National Stadium — was a vast field of grass dotted with white houses exclusively for American officers, resembling a scene straight out of Beverly Hills. Omotesando was still a gravel road back then, with a department store for officers’ families located there — today’s Kiddy Land. The first hot dog I ever ate was at a small American-style bar tucked away in the corner of a supermarket on the first floor of the Coop Olympia building along Omotesando. And during my student days, one of my most cherished reads was a special issue titled “Made in USA,” published by the Yomiuri Shimbun.
“The Real America” Evoked by a Familiar Scent
It was that very scent in the lobby of the small Lexington inn that brought back memories of the “real America” I had admired throughout my youth.
Hisashi Iwase
Life Science Innovation Advisor at the Japan Analytical Instruments Manufacturers’ Association (JAIMA), and President & CEO of BioDiscovery, Inc.
Born in Tokyo in 1951. Graduated from the Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Nihon University. Mr. Iwase has led management and marketing in analytical and bioscience instrumentation at Merck Japan, Nihon Waters, Nihon Millipore, Nihon PerSeptive, Applied Biosystems, Varian Technologies, and Agilent Technologies. He founded BioDiscovery Inc. in 2001 and has served as JAIMA’s Life Science Innovation Advisor since 2013.
