In true Japanese business style, it was a pleasure to meet up with the social media consultant, Neal Schaffer, in Tokyo’s Ebisu Garden Palace, on Friday night.

(Photo source: windmillnetworking.com)

Neal was on a short business trip to Japan and managed to fit in an end-of-week, informal gathering before flying back to L.A. a few hours later.

Busy man!

Without social media, and specifically LinkedIn and Twitter, I doubt our paths would have crossed. Such is the power of the medium to connect!

Our small group had a very international mix with Japanese, Italian, American, Taiwanese, Australian, American and British participants. (Thanks to Jason and Daniele for arranging the event and choosing a great Italian pasta restaurant. Nice way to start the weekend.)

In between bits and bites, I did manage to have a chat with Neal about:

• the current profileration of so-called ‘social media gurus’.
• differences between Twitter usage in Japan and US.
• Meeting your content marketing and content curation goals for using LinkedIn and Twitter.

This exchange was a minor miracle in itself because while talking to Jason and I in English, Neal was also conversing in Japanese and Cantonese (I think) with the other guests.

This guy’s definitely not lost in translation!
I look forward to learning more about social media strategies from Neal in 2011 and beyond.

- Mark ‘business card naked’ McClure

Author: Mark McClure - A freelance b2b case study and white paper writer to the computer networking industry. Based in Tokyo, Japan. Mark McClure Google + Profile About Mark