Kim Jong Shin learned Japanese while hauling fish to market part time, stewing in hot springs and touring 350 historical sites in all 47 prefectures.
As part of an executive grooming program for South Korea's high-tech giant Samsung Group, Kim spent a year in 1992 soaking up Japan's history, culture and language on company money. He then returned in 1995 to head Samsung Japan Corp.'s new business development division.
Touring western Japan shot down Kim's preconceptions of all Japanese as modest and shy. He learned that people used different words for "sorry" and "thank you," that outside Tokyo, there was a very different Japan that could be loud, obnoxious or friendly.