Thin slice of the world

In Narita Airport, I ran into a friend of my father's. This is not so remarkable by itself, but it is part of a larger pattern. It has gotten to be that nearly every trip to Asia, I run into someone I know at an airport, often from my own field but not always. I'll spot a client or a friend I know from conferences, for instance. That's because traveling around Asia is like a sport for technology analysts.

It's a good reminder that the slice of the world I interact with is limited, even when I am across the ocean from home. I see my equivalents in foreign countries. But these countries have entire other realms within them, just like the US does. Goodness knows, few parts of America resemble Silicon Valley. I make a pretty big effort to venture outside the business realm when I am abroad, but who knows how deep I get.

The world is truly vast place.