Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 2

The following day, a corporate conduct expert sat us down in a giant meeting room and talked to us about sexual harassment. It's not okay to make suggestive comments to your coworkers. It's not okay for the boss to grab his secretary's ass on his way to the bathroom. Despite its obviousness to most people who have been in the workforce in America for awhile, the Japanese contingency sat there with blank stares. (What do you mean, it's not okay? I spent decades being loyal to my company just so I could be a boss and do that one day.)

The seminar ended at five, and then we had a dinner to go to. I don't remember what we ate. I do remember walking in a couple minutes late and getting in trouble with the lady who headed the Washington, DC office. I was the newest and youngest Yamada employee at the meeting, and it was slightly embarrassing.

To redeem myself, I invited the lady to go bar-hopping with us after dinner. She was older, but whatever, she said yes. And then she said, invite Mr. Miyazaki! I looked across the room at the senior managing director of our parent company. I flinched at the idea, then looked at my co-workers grinning from ear to ear, and thought, why the hell not? So I went up to the guy—sixty-something years old, and the #2 guy at the company at the time—and said, "Mr. Miyazaki, we're going for a drink. Would you like to come with us?"

Miyazaki said, "Yes. I have a 17-year old girlfriend in Japan." I said, "Wow. That's cool."

Actually, it's not cool at all. I knew immediately that Miyazaki was one of those DOMs—dirty old men who frequented hostess clubs and cheated on their wives and probably did all kinds of other unethical shit I don't even want to know about. I could only hope that he would behave himself or go off on his own at some point in the evening.

To be continued...

(Read Miyazaki Rising: A Story of Power, Prison, and Sexual Harassment Part 1)