
Whenever Michele and I meet new customers or partners, the talk, which starts technical, eventually converges to the following question:
Where are you from?
This is understandable, since HiBot is a Japanese company, selling components and robots (and ideas) made in Japan, but most of the people who deal with HiBot are dealing with two westerners. No matter how long Michele and I spend in Japan, no matter how well we learn to speak and write Japanese, our big noses will never let us pretend to be Japanese.
But neither do we want to be mistaken by Japanese. We believe that it is exactly this mixture of nationalities and technical fields that makes HiBot different from the other companies in this field.
Returning to the question, sometimes people try to guess where we are from, although most feel safer to simply ask. Those few brave who try to guess sometimes come up with some interesting nationalities for Michele:
-Russian
-German
-Equatorian (don’t ask me why!)
But very few people can guess correctly that Michele is from Italy. As for me, people who try to guess often think that I am:
-Italian
Which makes Michele slightly upset. But that’s life.
Once people learn that Michele is from Italy, they often reply with such comments:

Italy!
- I have been to Italy! To Rome and Milano, for 3 days.
- I went to Italy and ate very well. The pasta was excellent.
- I like Italian food and wine.
Until here, no harm done. But it happens quite often that when people learn that I am from Brazil, they reply with such enlightened and well-informed comments:

Brazil!
-Ah, I used to live and work in Brazil. I was based in Recife, but used to travel along the coast.
-You know, my wife was born in Brazil, in Minas Gerais. Her father was working there as manager of a Japanese factory.
- I used to work in Sao Paulo. I could speak Portuguese, but now I forgot almost everything. Have you been to Mato Grosso?
- Ah, Brazil! I have been there several times for work. I once went to Manaus, then another time to Belem, to Salvador and Sao Paulo.
I get impressed at how well these people know Brazil – most of them know Brazil even better than I do – and Michele, again, gets upset! But only slightly.