6 Hours To Takeoff: My Last-Minute Mission To Japan

There was an important Japanese event that my company had carefully planned for months. However, 2 days before the event, our team of 10 people couldn’t make it to Japan due to some paperwork issues. In a moment of crisis, their only backup plan left was... me. As a Vietnamese-born Dane, I could get on a plane right away without a visa.

So at 5 PM, just as I was about to clock out and head home to my little princess, Mrs. Oanh (our CFO) patted me on the shoulder with a last-minute order, “David, you’re flying to Japan tonight!” And that’s how my “one-man show” began.

As the next dawn broke, I found myself landing in Tokyo. On the way to the hotel, a mix of excitement and apprehension churned inside me. I had just three days to shoulder the responsibility of “carrying the team.” None of it was familiar territory—there was filming to oversee, site inspections to conduct, partner meetings to navigate, and an entire event to pull together. On top of that, I hadn’t been involved in the project from the beginning, so I was literally starting from scratch.

But then I thought, if I’m here representing the company, I need to do it right. With this determination, I treated myself a steaming bowl of ramen from a vending machine, fueling up for the eventful days ahead.

My first business stop was FPT Japan. Here, I took the roles of producer, project manager, and even account lead to oversee the recording of a podcast episode.

Contrary to my initial worries, the first two days in Japan went surprisingly smoothly. My colleagues back home had already mapped out the tasks in detail and were on standby 24/7 to support me. My main gig was briefing the local filming crew, and lucky for me, they were all Vietnamese, so we could communicate easily and get things moving smoothly.

Thanks to the local team’s great support, those two days just zoomed by. Looking back, the biggest hiccup I had was totally unrelated to work—I ended up hopping on the wrong subway! (laughs)

The final day, and the big one at that, was all about pulling off the Vietcetera Goes Abroad event - the one that took our team back home months to conduct. By this point, I had already adapted to the work process, and everything ran like clockwork.

I was honestly blown away when the event hall packed out with 250 people, and more than 85% of them were Vietnamese. It was incredible to see so many folks from different industries and places, all making the trip—some driving for hours—just to be there.

When we all grouped up for a photo at the end, I was hit by this warm, fuzzy feeling of belonging. Meeting so many fellow Vietnamese abroad, hearing their kind words and encouragement, and receiving their support—it made all the effort and time spent on this trip completely worth it.

On the flight back, I found myself reflecting on how this business trip was nothing like what I’d expected—no crisis after another, no chaotic moments. It was all thanks to thorough planning, incredible support from our partners, and the help of fellow Vietnamese that we managed to accomplish so much in such a short time.

I returned home not just with my suitcase, but also with memories of a steaming bowl of ramen from a vending machine, hours of adventure in 7-Eleven, and the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a “one-man show.”