16 meters of snow and meanwhile in Finland

I had the magnificent opportunity to visit Hokkaido, the most northern large island of Japan. Hokkaido is really a winter wonderland, it snows 16 to 30 meters during winter. So if you're looking for fresh snow, Hokkaido is the place to go. When seeing the 3 meters high walls of snow just beside roads makes me think that problems in Helsinki with occasional snow showers are insignificant.

I have once before visited Japan, but the culture surprised again. Some of the experiences are good to know, when cooperating with Japanese people. For example, when givingĀ  your business card, remember to give it with both hands. You should also use both hands, when receiving a business card. Japanese being extremely polite and kind people, you should definitely return the favor! Many of the most memorable moments from my trip always included local people being very nice and helpful even though we often didn't haveĀ  any common language.

During my trip I also experienced my first earthquake, 6.4 in Richter scale. The center of quake was at the depth of 120 kilometers and some hundreds kilometers away. Luckily it didn't cause any major damage. To be honest, I actually didn't feel anything, but people ran into the room asking "did you feel that?". Earthquakes have their own use in inverse
mathematics, since they can be used in ground tomography when reconstructing the internal structure of Earth. The different layers of Earth have their own effect on the shock waves and when these waves are recorded all over the globe these recordings can be used to receive information from these layers.

Japan is totally different world for a northern European, but definitely worth experiencing; the sheer number of people is stunning, food is great and there seems to be a surprise around every corner. Returning back is difficult, the 7 hour time difference will take a while.

Meanwhile in Finland our new website got up and running, I think they look great! I hope you enjoy reading this blog and all new material what you find here. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions!

Yours

Max Salmi
Vice President, Technology
Eigenor Corp.