Darren Huston

Hello from Trent," I say. It's late January and, talking to a Trent alum who's work-ing abroad, I figure I can jog a few memories and start a conversation by adding: "It's going to negative 16 degrees tonight. Do you recall those chilly walks across the wind-whipped Faryon Bridge?" Darren Huston '85 chuckles with instant recognition and replies, "It doesn't get that cold in Tokyo. It's five degrees celsius here." From his office in the heart of Tokyo on a Thursday morning, the president and CEO of Microsoft Japan is showing his Canadian roots. Darren Huston, the Trent grad with an honours B.A. in economics, isn't just comfortable talking about the weather; he's also about as gracious and self-effacing as an all-round Canadian guy can get. And, oddly enough, he uses similar terms to describe the new culture in which he finds himself immersed. "Japan is a wonderful place and almost Canadian in many respects," he says over the phone more than 10,000 kilometres and several time zones away. "Individuals in Japan are polite, understated, and self-critical. They see themselves as being in one boat more than in North American society. Everyone's lives here are very symbiotic. If anyone fails, it feels like they're failing family. As a foreigner, you can never really be a part of that."This might seem like pretty deep talk at 9 a.m. for the North American businessman guiding the destiny of Japan's number one brand and its 2500 employees. But there's an easy-going quality to conversation with Darren Huston.