Get the facts!

Salmonella infection and Bathroom

2009-11-30T19:50:00.002-05:00

I took a day off today because I have a stomachache since last night. I felt a little scared when I felt a stomachache since I continue to eat raw eggs in NYC. Though a salmonella infection is an exceptional thing, I cannot exclude the possibility of it.

If I try to go to the work, I can. But the inconvenience of finding a bathroom in NYC prevents me from going out. When I went to the Franklin station's bathroom (3 train), I couldn't put up with the dirtiness of the subway public bathroom. I felt the same way when I when to the bathroom next to the Statue of Liberty and a Halloween's temporary bathroom. Though I like almost all things in the U.S., I detest three things, the uncleanliness, the foods, and not observing punctuality.

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American Museum of Natural History

2009-11-30T19:36:00.004-05:00

I went to American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) last Sunday. The museum is one of the famous tourist spots in NYC. There were many people, especially parents and their children there.

The planetarium is excellent, powerful, and dynamic! I highly recommend it to people who visit the museum. It looks like a genuine starlit sky. The sky is filled with stars. It's hard to see stars in NYC at night, so I yearn to look at stars.

Another special exhibition is fossils of dinosaurs. You can see famous fossils there. I finally saw Tyrannosaurus rex! Now, I understand why dinosaurs are so popular; I think their huge size attract many people. There are also other famous fossils for example Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Pteranodon, but I couldn't find Velociraptor which is not big but quick and cunning. There are a lot of attractive exhibitions in the museum, you can't enjoy them in only a day! I think I will definitely visit there again.

PS
The official Guide is very expensive, it costs $15, but it is thin. If you compare the AMNH guide and The MET, you will be disappointed with it.

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Statue of Liberty

2009-11-30T15:48:00.003-05:00

Though I've lived in NYC for 4 months, I hadn’t been there yet. So I decided to go to the Statue of Liberty on November 5th. I tried to buy a crown ticket which will allow me climb to the crown, but the crown tickets were sold out.

Even though I couldn't go inside the Statue, in other words I only walked around the Statue, I was satisfied with this sightseeing. The Statue of Liberty isn't as small as I had thought when I saw it from Manhattan. My impression turned out to be wrong. I have visited one of the iconic places of New York City.

I went there with a Swiss lady. We spoke in English. I found that it's difficult for non-native English speakers to speak informally. We've studied English in schools where teachers usually only teach formal English. Our English is intermediate, but sometimes we can't use simple English because of this reason.

After the visit to the statue, we went to the Immigration museum on Ellis Island. We learned about immigrant history there. I learned that the US is made up of immigrants. All Americans except Native American were originally immigrants.

PS
I found that the audio tour isn't appropriate for tourists in a group because people can't communicate while they are listening to the audio guide.

A Soul Food

2009-11-12T22:25:00.001-05:00

I ate a soul food tonight. It tastes good, but it's very different from my country's cuisine. I think Japanese people need to get used to it.

chocolate pretzels

2009-11-12T22:23:00.001-05:00

I love chocolate pretzels. It's salty like a pretzel, and yet it's covered in chocolate. These are rarely found in Japan. So I must eat them now.

Halloween in the U.S.

2009-11-08T20:32:00.000-05:00

There were many people who dressed up for Halloween. I could see funny looking people on the street. I was surprised at the bloody people and skeletons walking the streets. What I was surprised at was that even grown-ups disguised themselves as Halloween characters.

I really love American's way of thinking; even grown-up Americans can enjoy the festival. This kind of thing is rarely found in Japan. I hope that the same way of thinking would spread to Japan.

Times Square at midnight

2009-11-08T20:24:00.000-05:00

I went to Times Square at midnight on the 25th of October. There were many tourists even at midnight, and they were buying many souvenirs. Though many Japanese people believe that to go out at night in the U.S. is more dangerous than in Japan, Times Square isn't a very dangerous place. I saw that there were two policemen standing around so I felt very safe.

One of my favorite sci-fi novels is “Flowers for Algernon”. Two of the novel's characters, Charley and Alice, went to the movies at a Times Square theater. I went to the same place where they went and enjoyed experiencing the atmosphere of the place. I was really satisfied with this experience.

Rich Dad, Rich Mom

2009-11-08T20:09:00.000-05:00

I have met 2 impressive people in NY in the respect of financial literacy. They are making their assets work well. They aren't millionaires, but they seem wealthier than normal people.

The rich dad is retired and now lives off the money he has made from his investments. He has his own Real Estate company. When I read his company's websites, I was really surprised. He could buy a luxury car because of his investment. The rich mom has a big house in NYC. She is lending her house rooms to international students who come to NYC. As you know, NYC always attracts a lot of foreign people, tourists, students, immigrants, workers, and so on. They will rent the rooms, and I'm guessing that she doesn't need to work due to the rent.

These kind of lifestyles aren't so common in Japan. Japanese people usually only deposit their money to banks. That is, they work very hard and don't even bother with investments or playing in the Stock Market. Even most Japanese people don't invest their money. I wish Japanese people would go outside of their comfort zones and learn to acquire at least some financial literacy. “Working hard” is not the only solution to achieve happiness. I think it would be very beneficial if Japanese people learned this kind of lifestyle from American people.

The difference between immigrants who can speak English and those who can not

2009-10-30T16:11:00.001-04:00

I saw many immigrants in NYC through my internship. Some immigrants can speak English well, others can’t speak it well; some can’t speak even basic English even though they have lived here for a long time. I am going to write my theory about this difference.

It’s not easy and it takes a long time to learn a foreign language. People should be patient as possible as they can to study it; people always have to make mistakes while learning a language. The study sometimes makes people ashamed of their mistakes. In addition to this difficulty, immigrants live harshly; it’s difficult for them to have time to study English.

I know that almost all immigrants aren’t rich. However, some immigrants try to learn English. They spare no effort to educate themselves. Once people decide to study English, they can find some good opportunities in NYC. There are free English classes and chances of language exchange. Textbooks are not cheap, but not expensive. My guess is that immigrants, who have continued to study English and know the importance of learning, can speak English.

A review of “Lost in Translation”

2009-10-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

My host family father lent me a movie, “Lost in Translation”. This movie is about two American people visiting Japan and they experienced culture shock.
In the movie, they looked confused; the characters couldn’t speak any Japanese; they couldn’t understand what Japanese people talked about; they couldn’t do what they can do easily in the US. The characters spent a lot of money to stay in Japan, but couldn’t enjoy their stay because they lack the knowledge of Japan.
I could understand what they felt because I had experienced same things in the US. When I came here, everything seemed different and difficult to do. I thought it’s a good to understand culture shock which people experience when they visit unknown countries.

PS
This movie interprets Japanese well. I saw many misinterpretation of Japan in the US. I saw a movie in the past. This movie’s actor is a Korean or Chinese and he acted Japanese, so it was quite odd for me.

Vendy Awards

2009-10-16T18:51:00.003-04:00

There was a street vendor festival on September 26th. This eventwas a competition of street food vendors in New York City. I took partin this event as a volunteer; I was able to eat delicious street vendor’sfood there.

Street vendors’ food prices are very reasonable, which is why I alwaysgo to vendor stands to have lunch. Many Americans also eat streetvendors’ food. This event, the Vendy Awards, is a festival for thesevendors.
I thought that the participants were very different from most vendors;they looked rich and educated. They could pay 80 dollars for the entry fee.On one hand, most vendors are mainly immigrants, poor, and can't speakgood English.The founder of this event, Sean Basinski, aimed to linkvendors, who lived harshly, with New York citizens. “Vendy Award is oneway to do that to put vendors in the limelight for one day and it'salso just a lot of fun.” He said.

All tickets were sold out. SVP could raise money through the festival.This year’s Vendy Awards was a success.

Japanese Food in NY

2009-10-16T18:50:00.001-04:00

I ate Ramen for lunch today. I spent 7 dollars for it. The ramen turnedout to be instant noodles; I was very disappointed with it.

Japanese food is very expensive in NY. Moreover, it's difficult tofind authentic ones. Most Japanese food have been cooked using Americancuisine.

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Bronx Zoo

2009-10-05T21:00:00.003-04:00

I'm interested in Zoos, especially the breeding methods used there. I've read some books about zoos. Most Japanese zoos have copied the ideas of the US zoos. I wanted to go to Bronx zoo when I
lived in Japan. I recently went on the 20th, and had a valuable experience there.

One of my interests is “Enrichment”. I noticed some “Environmental Enrichment” there. The Bronx zoo is huge. The facilities try to keep a comfortable environment for the animals. Some animals here seem to live more comfortably than the ones in Japan. Another interesting note is that Bronx zoo has an emphasis on educating people. There are strong messages for visitors. You can learn about animal extinction because of environmental destruction.

Zoos used to be a show tent, and animals had to live in cages. It's completely different from present zoos. Zoos have progressed in this respect. I'd like to introduce my favorite message, learned from the Bronx zoo.

“In the end,
we will conserve only what we love,
we will love only what we understand,
we will understand only what we are taught
-Baba Dioum”

Link
Behavioral_enrichment

EVANGELION: 1.0 You are (not) alone.

2009-10-05T20:58:00.001-04:00

I went to a movie with my host family's daughter on the 19th, and saw “EVANGELION: 1.0 You are (not) alone.” The movie is a Japanese film, yet voice actors were American. We saw the movie in English.

Their acting was good. My host family's daughter usually doesn't like American voice actors, but she liked this movie's acting. I thought that American actors seem older than Japanese actors. The reason is American voices aren't as high as Japanese ones, so it seems more mature.

The movie's translation was interesting; it was interpreted for the American audience. As you know, Japanese culture is completely different from U.S. culture; it was amusing for me. Even though I already watched this movie in Japan, it was really interesting because of the American actors and the translation.

Rice in a Japanese cuisine

2009-09-27T20:18:00.005-04:00

There is no rice cooker in my host family’s home. I hadn’t eaten boiled rice in a Japanese cuisine there. I’ve always had to eat rice in other cuisines.

I like Chinese fried rice (chaofan 炒飯) and long-grained indica rice. Though I always go to Chinatown's restaurant and eat street vendor's platters with indica rice as a lunch, I sometimes miss Japanese rice (short-grained japonica rice), so I tried to cook a rice without a rice cooker.

Although I thought it was difficult to cook with a pot, it was quite easy. Moreover, I can cook fast and better than using a rice cooker. Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I'm satisfied with the result; I can cook Japanese rice now.

I ate dinner with my host family's daughter. She cooked other dishes. It was really good.

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9/11's Eighth Memorial

2009-09-12T21:47:00.002-04:00

Today was a rainy and windy day. It was very cold like when winter begins. The temperature styed low after Labor Day, which usually marks the end of Summer.

I went to Ground Zero after work today despite the coldness (in spite of the coldness). Today is the 8th memorial day of 9/11. I was a college student when 9/11 happened.

There were some people who prayed, and there were some flowers offered to the victims at Ground Zero. It has been 8 years, yet there were no buildings; only construction cranes stood there.

My workplace is very close to the area. One of my co-workers lost two friends. It was then I realizedthat 9/11 really happened here.

Japanese people who study Non-science fields.

2009-09-12T21:25:00.000-04:00

Some Japanese people want to work in the US, yet it is difficult for Japanese who don't study science or engineering fields, to work in the US.

Non-science Japanese people usually work in Financial, trading, or manufacturer companies in the US which have a tie to Japanese business. It is quite rare that Japanese people who work in sales, accounting, or public relations in the US. While non native English, including Japanese, speaker can find some jobs easier in engineering or programming who are not proficient in English.

In my case, I studied Business Administration for my undergraduate, which was a non-science field. If I worked in Japan, I could earn higher salary than in the US because I am proficient in Japanese. My English is intermediate level and there is a low demand for Japanese in the US.

Internships versus Language schools

2009-09-07T11:01:00.001-04:00

If you already know the basics of English, I recommend you go with an internship to study English instead of language schools.
There are few Americans in language schools, the only ones being teachers and clerks. The majority are non-Native English speakers. The reason I chose an internship to study English is because I thought that I couldn't talk a lot with American people in the US. I found this to be true.

Another reason is that you don't have to speak English a lot in classed; what you need to do is to concentrate on listening to the teacher's lecture. Of course, it's necessary things to read and listen to English, but only these passive studies aren't enough to learn English. You also have to speak and write a lot English.

You can't learn natural English only through language schools. I speak with a lot of American people daily, listening to their daily conversations. This kind of natural English sometimes includes dirty words which aren't taught in school. If I only studied in school, it would be difficult to learn these kind of dirty, but natural English.

On the one hand, a school is safe place for you. The staff usually don't get angry with you, and blame you for something, so you don't need to be serious. On the other hand, if you choose an internship, you have to talk with people who aren't nice to you. Now I have to talk with people who are in a bad mood; it's completely different from schools.

In Regards to Language Exchanges

2009-09-06T17:35:00.001-04:00

I've been practicing English with language exchanges for 2 months in NYC, I now have three partners who are reliable.

One partner is studying Japanese to travel to Japan in this month; He'll stop studying Japanese soon. I would like to have three partners whom I can see regularly, thus I'm looking for a new partner.

It's difficult for me to find reliable partners for language exchange. I usually look for partners with websites. Using these websites, I can find candidates easily. But I found that sometimes, these kind of relationships suddenly finish.

Some people stop sending e-mails without saying a word, others change the date to a day before twice. These kind of things seems insincere. I couldn't continue to do language exchange with these passionless people.

You can find a lot of candidates, but they aren't always the ideal ones for you; patience is a key to finding a good partner.

Environment changes people

2009-09-05T22:56:00.001-04:00

When I lived in Japan, I was only interested in things which are related to Japan. Even when I study English, I didn't like to see American movies and listen to music in the US, I preferred Japan video and music. I had studied English for practical reasons, and I had never felt too close to the US. The United States only had existed in my knowledge, not in my experience.

But since I came here, I'm surrounded by American people, always hearing NY1 (24 Hour Local News about NYC) in my room, reading Time magazine periodically, and now I feel a sense of closeness to the US. I'm interested in the US culture, politics, and economy. Taylor Swift is now one of my favorites, and I heard the name of “Ted Kennedy” every thirty minutes last week in my room.

I think the environment changed me.

Link
YouTube - Taylor Swift - Love Story:

the Lower House election in Japan

2009-09-05T22:25:00.004-04:00

There was the lower house election in Japan on the August 30th. The ruling party, Liberal Democratic Party which has been a ruling party more than 50 years suffered a crushing defeat. An opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan will be a ruling party in September due to the result of election. This is an extraordinary event in Japanese politics.

This doesn't mean that Japanese people aren't agree with the Democratic Party's policies, they just disgusted with the Liberal Democratic Party, which cause people to vote to the Democratic Party.

A two-party system has started to work, but it is in its infancy.

LINK
Japan opposition takes on economy after landslide

PS
I bought Wall Street Journal which has big articles about this election.

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Every company has same goals.

2009-09-05T22:05:00.000-04:00

Every company has common goal, “to increase profit and to decrease cost.”.

I am now doing easy clerical works. These works are necessary, but doesn't pay a lot. These works should be finished as fast as possible. There is not a good manual in the company, so one of the goals is to make a good manual, which will increase productivity.

Another goal is to increase profit. Most employee usually do only their daily work. If people want a company to become bigger and more profitable, higher reward generating projects has to be taken. I'm now interning at a Non-Profit-Organization, but the goal is common. We need new works which will make money continually.

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Internship at a glance

2009-09-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

I'm interning at a US company, and am now doing easy clerical works. Through working these kind of odd-jobs, I'm getting used to the company.

I found that sometimes, easy work becomes difficult. For instance, It's difficult for me rent spaces for meetings in Jackson Heights, since I don't know what kind of institutions are good in this case. Doing this kind of thing was a piece of cake in Japan.

There are things in the company that I've noticed, like harder work that I'd like to do, but because of my limited knowledge of the U.S. and English compared to Japanese, I know I have to be patient until I improve and can contribute more to my company.

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English on the phone

2009-08-29T12:28:00.000-04:00

Speaking in English on the phone is most difficult for me, because the other person's voice sometimes cut off, so I have to interpret sounds I'm unable to hear. Though it's something I can do in Japanese easily, I struggle to do it in English.

I think there are two reasons for this. The first reason is that I've only listened to clear English which used in text book, so I'm not used to listening to obscure English. The other reason is that my vocabulary is still limited, so I can't guess at what they're saying.

I have to get used to English used on the phone, something they don't teach you in textbook.

The diversity and the homogeneity

2009-08-26T22:10:00.000-04:00

I'm now interning in a US company. There are a wide variety of people in the company. I used to work in a Japanese company where the culture was very consistent. Working in both companies, I can see that they're very different from each other.

Normal Japanese people with permanent jobs have to work long hours, so the company tend to hire only men who can work those hours, hesitating to hire women, thinking they can't work those hours. This tendency lead to the homogeneity in the office.

On the other hand, US companies allows their employees to work flexible, short hours, leading to a variety of people who can work there. They even have unisex rest rooms in the office, something I've never seen in Japan.

If the Japanese companies review their working condition, they can also have the diversity in companies. Now, the population of Japan is decreasing; Japanese companies can't continue with the same ideals. They have to make use of the people who have been ignored, women , unemployed youths, and immigrants.

Summer Streets 2009

2009-08-26T21:49:00.003-04:00

I joined NYC's Summer Streets 2009 on the 15th, cycled through Lafayette Street and Park Avenue, and from Canal Street to East 72nd Street.

Cars could not drive on the street during this event. The streets becamse exclusive pedestrians and bikes only. The participants were able to enjoy car-free streets in Manhattan. I've never joined this kind of event, so was very fun for me.

Through this event, NYC and the DOT (Department of Transportation) are trying to make people realize the benefits of cycling. A lot of people don't know what that bikes have the potential to make people healthier and, in the process, improve the city's environment.

I only joined for an hour on the 15th, and I'd lilke to experience this event even more, so I'll also join the Summer Streets the 22nd.

Volunteers game me pinwheel and a book about biking rules on the way. I'll read the book and learn the law of cycling in the US. The pinwheel is in in Totoro's head.

“Communication is important.”

2009-08-15T18:16:00.000-04:00

One of most impressive words which I've heard in NY, is “Communication is important.” These words are the word that I've never been heard in Japan. There is a proverb in Japanese, “Ishin-Denshin (the direct communication from mind to mind without words)”. This proverb means that Japanese can understand without using words. The Japanese seniors like this proverb, while the younger ones dislike it.

The reason is that if young people only followed the senior people's orders, they'll most likely fail. Times are changing quickly; conducts from the past are no longer accepted now in many situations, but a lot of people do not notice this change and force the younger Japanese to follow their own ways without explaining why, failing to communicate with the younger generation. The elderly have to notice that we are now live in different times.

On the other hand, my supervisor knows that everybody has their own opinion. He respect company's members. I'm impressed by his attitude which is hard to come by for older Japanese people.

Made in Japan in NY (or Designed in, and Assembled in Japan)

2009-08-12T21:55:00.003-04:00

I saw a lot of products which are related to Japan in NY. The main products are Automobiles, digital cameras, Manga, Video Games, and Japanese foods.

A lot of tourists are bringing Japanese manufactured digital cameras. Big book stores have the shelves exclusively for Manga.

On the other hand, Mobile phones are suffering crushing defeats. I haven't seen Japanese mobile phones in NY. The performance of mobile phones is quite good, but seems unsalable in NY.

***Refer to : The NY Times article***
Why Japan's Cellphone Haven't Gone Global – Worldnews.com
http://article.wn.com/view/2009/07/20/Why_Japans_Cellphones_Havent_Gone_Global/

Unexpected things are “Sudoku” and “Hello Kitty”. I thought unexpected things have became popular.

When I visited the Times Square, Korean manufacturers had their advertisement in the Times Square. I thought Korean manufacture were replacing Japanese manufactures. Korean mobile phones are popular in NY.

After coming here, I can think about things from a different point of view. When I was living in Japan, I was only thinking from a Japanese point of view.

Salad bowl

2009-07-30T09:09:00.000-04:00

Now I live in the northern part of Brooklyn where a lot of African Americans and Jewish people live. I found that people usually live in communities composed of the same ethnic group. When I took the subway (3 line), I sometimes found that there are only African Americans and Jewish people, and no Asian people on the train. I felt little uncomfortable there.

There is a Japanese community in NY Japanese people gather there, so you can buy Japanese language books and foods in NY. You can even eat Ramen there. To be honest, I felt pleasant when I visited the East Village where there are a lot of Japanese people and Japanese stores which were familiar to me. I can understand the reason why people live in their ethnic communities.

Salad bowl (cultural idea)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salad_bowl_(cultural_idea)

----quotation
In the salad bowl model, various American cultures are juxtaposed — like salad ingredients — but do not merge together into a single homogeneous culture. Each culture keeps its own distinct qualities.
----end

I think that the Salad bowl concept describe New York city situation well.

My first expression of foods in NY

2009-07-29T09:32:00.000-04:00

I have lost 7lb (about 3 kg ) since I came to NY. The reason for the loss is that I did not know what foods to eat. I'm not a picky eater, I am just trying to eat healthy foods. I still do not know what food is good to eat.

My first expression of foods in NY is that

(1)A lot of foods are bigger than in Japan
(2)seasoned with more salty and more sugar
(3)Contains more artificial coloring

(1)A lot of foods are bigger than Japan
When I visit grocery stores, some vegetable are bigger than in Japan. There are an astonishingly big eggplants, strawberries, and green peppers in stores.

The portions in fast food are also bigger than in Japan. I was surprised by the large size of juice bottle.

(2)seasoned with more salty and more sugar
I found that most Japanese foods are lightly seasoned. Most foods seasoning in the US which I have eaten are too strong for me. I should look for lightly seasoned foods in US.

(3)Contains more artificial coloring
I was astonished by a blue cake I saw. I have never seen a blue color cake in Japan. Not only the blue color cake, but also other foods seem more artificially colored.

Anyway, I have to adjust to the foods in the US.

Working hours

2009-07-28T09:04:00.000-04:00

Normal Japanese 30 years olds with permanent jobs work long hours. An astonishing 20% of the people work more than 60 hours a week. The lifetime employment contracts and the difficulty of changing jobs causes this problem.

The most surprising thing in the US is that people usually do not work long hours like the Japanese. My host family's father usually comes home at 6:30 PM. He is not an exception, other people also come home early.

On the other hand, most Japanese fathers can not have a dinner with their families on weekdays. I think that American people enjoy their lives, and Japanese people can not afford to enjoy their lives now. The Japanese are like “the Grey Gentlemen” in the novel of Momo written by Michael Ende.

We should change our working environment and eradicate the most shameful word, Karoshi (death from overwork) , and then we can afford to enjoy our lives, and humor.

The breakdown of bicycle

2009-07-27T22:11:00.001-04:00

When I was assembling my bike, Birdy, the chain got tangled. I managed to untangle the chain. After untangling the chain, the derailleur could not work well. The gears wouldn't change well.

I'll have to go to a bicycle store and have the derailleur repaired.

I noticed that the bike's chain was dirty, so I'll be buying the detergent and oil for the bike chains.

After coming home, I went to wash my hands. Despite that, my fingernail remains dirty.

090725

The “Name” problem

2009-07-24T08:02:00.003-04:00

Now I am remembering new words everyday. I found that a lot of things in the US are different from Japan. Especially proper names. I have to remember a lot of “names”.

Human name : It's difficult for me to remember and pronounce Western people's name.
names of food : Almost Every name is different in Japan.

e.g.1 “vanilla” is “banira” in Japanese. The words resemble each other, but the pronunciation is totally different.

e.g.2 When I am living in Japan, I sometimes visit Subway and Starbucks Coffee. The names of the items on these shop's are different from Japan's! So I have to lean them again.

These kinds of words are not taught in English classes in Japan. TOEFL and TOEIC classes do not teach them either.

I found that the English which is taught in Japan's educational system is not sufficient for the conditions of living in the US, but just part of the necessary conditions.

Observing the eclipse of the sun from Aku-seki island.

2009-07-24T07:43:00.000-04:00

There was a total eclipse of the sun the day before yesterday in Japan. Many Japanese traveled to the southern islands to observe this phenomenon, because it has been 46 years since the last eclipse of the sun.

Some Japanese paid about 3500 dollars a person, and traveled to Aku-seki island. They would have observed the eclipse there.

That day's scenes.
http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/dqnplus/imgs/b/9/b9094eb2.jpg
http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/dqnplus/imgs/3/8/3841c005.jpg

Aku-seki island received the direct hit of rainstorm! And a Tornado also hit!
I could have died when I saw these pictures.

They paid a lot of money, but they had to take refuge from there instead of observing the eclipse.
They should have bought a new television, and should have watched the eclipse at their home.

Is “being modest” a virtue?

2009-07-21T21:59:00.001-04:00

In Japan, we should be modest in public. Japanese regards “being modest” as a beautiful virtue, so we dislike people who are vain and take pride of themselves.

One famous example is that Japanese saying “It's a trivial present” when they give a “wonderful” present. This humble attitude is a virtue in Japan.

I found that I practice this attitude without realizing in the US. I noticed my “inappropriate” behavior when I was pointed singled out.

This is one culture shock which I experienced here, NY.

How do you produce your best work?

2009-07-21T21:47:00.001-04:00

As long as I practice the “Dale Carnegie” method, I can produce my best work. The “Dale Carnegie” method is written in the book of “How to stop worrying and start living”.

This problem solving method is made up of three steps.

1.Get the facts.
2.Analyze the facts.
3.Arrive at a decision, and then act on that decision.

We sometimes waste time in worrying about something which is unclear. The method says that we shouldn't worry about the unclear problem. Otherwise, we tend to waste our time and worry too much. First of all we should get the facts before we analyze the situation, then we can see what to do.

This method is common to Business Administration and military art. “Getting the facts” is the most important thing when you try to accomplish something.

I'll add one quotation from “How to stop worrying and start living” which is related to this theme.
“If a man will devote his time to securing facts in an impartial, objective way, his worries usually evaporate in the light of knowledge.”

The Prospect park and the Brooklyn bridge

2009-07-18T20:17:00.004-04:00

I cycled to the Prospect park and the Brooklyn bridge. I tried to become familiar with Brooklyn.

(1)The Prospect park
There are a lot of African Americans and Jewish people in northern part of Brooklyn, so there were a lot of African Americans in Prospect park. They exercise here.

This park's one round is about 3 miles (about 5 kilometer). It is good to cycle in Prospect park. I've decided to cycle here regularly.

(2)The Brooklyn bridge
I crossed the Manhattan bridge last week, so I cycled to the Brooklyn bridge today. The Brooklyn bridge has the sidewalk, so there were a lot of tourist. I could see Manhattan skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty from there.

I was spoken to two times by strangers while on my bike, because my bike seemed to rare in NY. The reason is that there are a lot of “BROMPTON”, but no ”Birdy” in NY.
( “BROMPTON” and “Birdy” are the brand of bicycle.)

My second impression of transportation circumstances for bikes in NY

2009-07-18T20:02:00.001-04:00

Through today's cycling, I found some discoveries.

(1)Bikes from Japan are different.
There is no Mama-chari in here. Mama-chari is a very popular bike in Japan. Mama-chari is safe and carries a large load, but it is too heavy to cycle fast. Mama-chari is suited for transportation circumstances in Japan. People usually ride sports bikes, road bikes, and cross bikes instead of Mama-chari.

(2)There are a lot of “one ways”
There are a lot of “one ways” in NY. I had to choose the appropriate roads to cycle safely. I don't know the reason. I guess that roads are suited for only cars, not bikes.

(3)Keys are more solid than the one's in Japan.
Bikers seem to be strongly afraid of bike theft. Keys are more solid than the ones in Japan. My key which I brought from Japan seems fragile when I compare them.

(4)I can cycle safely using bike paths (or bike lanes)
I chose the bike paths while on my bike today. I could cycle safely. It felt dangerous when I rode on normal roads last week. Today's cycling was pleasant.

The more I cycle in NY, the more I notice differences from Japan. I'll continue to investigate that.

There are a lot of street venders instead of vending machines on the street in the US.

2009-07-16T07:44:00.000-04:00

One of the most surprising things is street venders in the US. There are few street venders on the street in Japan, and a lot of vending machine on the street. Although New York city is a big city, It's hard to find vending machines. I find easily a lot of vending machine even in the countryside in Japan.

In Japan, there is a high population density, limited space, a preference for shopping on foot or by bicycle, and low rates of vandalism and petty crime, so I think there are a lot of vending machines from these reasons. When non-Japanese see vending machines on the street, they sometimes think that there are safes and money on the street. Almost all Japanese do not steal money from them.

There are more than 10,000 street venders in NY. Are they immigrants? I thought that their English is not good. I don't know about them. But I can guess that they have problems which is related to poverty.

I'll continue to investigate that.

Transportation circumstances for bikes in NY

2009-07-14T20:38:00.002-04:00

I am going to write about my first impression of transportation circumstances for bikes in NY.

First the rules of the road are completely opposite. You have to cycle on the right side of street which annoyed me. Drivers were much more dangerous than Japan. I lived in one of the most dangerous drive cities in Japan. But It's more dangerous here.

Bikes are not as popular as in they are in Japan. People usually use cars instead of bikes. I thought that this was the biggest difference. I saw less bikes on the street. There were a lot of parking violations of bikes on the street in Japan, on the other hand there were quite few in NY.

There were a lot of obstacles on the street which are not in Japan. There were a lot of bumps, holes in side ditches where bikes couldn't cycle fast. There were few toilets and few vending machines in NY. I have to adjust myself to it.

But there was a quite strong point in NY which didn't exist in Tokyo. There were Bike paths. If I make use of paths, I can avoid a lot of problems on the street. I know there are tens of thousands of bicycle commuters in Manhattan. They must usually make use of them. I cycled across the Manhattan Bridge, and the west side of Manhattan using bicycle lanes. These bike rides were some of the best cycling in my life.

Anyway, I'll continue to study the transportation circumstances for bikes in NY. I brought my bike from Japan to study it!

Moving books changed my life.

2009-07-13T19:59:00.001-04:00

If I had not read the detective story of “Sherlock Holmes” in my childhood, I might not be interested in reading. Holmes made me love to read books early in my life.

Then one sci-fi book got me interested in science in high school. Without this book, I would not read anythihng related to science. The book described the development of space in the earth orbit, and there were rockets, space stations, NASA, and Arian. Through this book, I became interested in space development, and science.

The third book is a book about history, a Japanese emigrant in the US in WW2. I could learn the forgotten history of an emigrant due to this book. If I had not read this book, I would not know the tragedy of “Manzanar”. Through this tragedy, I learned patriotism, and how important a nation is.
The 4th book is a book about accounting, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.”. I learned about accounting, so I could save my money. I saved a lot of money, so I could come here. Most people do not know the meaning of “Assets” and “Liabilities”, so they sometimes waste their money.

Finally looking back on moving books, I found that these four books are in association with either English or the US. I guess that I inevitably came here, to NY.

I hope I'll have a good time in NY.

2009-07-02T06:55:00.000-04:00

I am going to leave Japan on July 4th for an internship in the US.
I will work under a 24-week internship with a U.S. company.

I am going to live in BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. There are a lot of tourist spots. “Which place should I visit?” I am thinking every day.

I want to cycle on the famous streets in NYC, so I'll bring my bike to the US using an airplane. My folding bicycle will cross the Pacific Ocean. It cost me about $150 to bring it.

I will look for language exchange partners in NYC. There are a lot of Web sites about Language Exchange. I hope I can find a good partner.

Anyway, I hope I'll have a good time in NY.

Is cycling dangerous? & Making use of bikes.

2009-06-18T08:20:00.001-04:00

Bikes do not run faster than automobiles, so Bikes are safer than automobiles.

Automobiles are bigger, heavier, and faster than bikes. It is dangerous when a bike collides with a car. If there were few automobiles on the road, bikes would be much safer.

Some European countries forbid cars to enter the center of city in order to decrease traffic accidents. The Netherlands and Germany are famous for their bike policies which promote using a bike.

On the other hand, the Japanese government has not placed emphasis on using bikes.
Japanese transportation mainly consists of automobiles. Japan is a backward country in this respect.

The tumble

2009-06-18T08:10:00.000-04:00

I tumbled off bicycle yesterday when I was cycling in Yonezawa city. This tumble was the second tumble in my life after riding sports bikes. The first tumbled happened 3 years ago.

My bike's left handlebar bumped against a guard rail, and I was thrown out into the street. My right arm and my right shoulder came into contact with the street. These parts were scratched and were internally bleeding. The would was not serious since I was wearing a bike helmet and gloves.

I went to a surgery, and was examined. The doctor disinfected the wounds with alcohol. It was very painful. There was a possibility of broken bones, then the doctor took X-rays of my right arm and right shoulder. Fortunately, there was no broken bones, but there was still a possibility of a dislocation of my right shoulder. The doctor told me that I should visit the doctors office tomorrow.

It is rather ironic that I wrote about the advantages of cycling yesterday, but I injured myself while on a bike!

Advantages of bicycle commuting

2009-06-18T07:48:00.002-04:00

Bicycle commuting has become popular in Japan recently. I am going to write about the merits of bicycle commuting.

There are 3 advantages to bicycle commuting.

The advantage list.
1.Health advantages
2.Economic advantages
3.Quality-of-life advantages

1.Health advantages
The best thing about bicycle commuting is that you can exercise daily. Most people do not exercise daily after graduation. Many people get fat because they do not exercise.

Satoshi Hikita, a celebrity in Japan, was quoted as saying that bicycle commuting was attractive because one could lose weight. He lost 15 kg. Another celebrity named Haruka Takachiho lost 24kg, and I lost 15 kg in six months. These figures are so attractive that people get interested in bicycle commuting when they hear these stories.

2.Economic advantages
If you make use of bicycle in stead of a car or train, then you can save money.

Having car is particularly expensive. Bike commuters can save on gas, oil changes, brake repairs, tires, car washes, parking fees, and a gym membership.

3.Quality-of-life advantages
You notice the change in seasons clearly when you cycle. You become familiar with your town through cycling. I cycled 3,000 km in Nagoya city in a year. I know Nagoya city very well like the locals because of the cycling I had done while living there.

Bikes are the best measure for the environment, possible even more than walking because walking takes more energy than cycling.

Bikes are good for not only yourself but also earth.

Folding Bicycles

2009-06-16T07:44:00.001-04:00

The best thing about folding bicycles is that they can be broken down into a more compact size. You can fit the bikes into a car or train easily.

The bad thing about them are that they cannot cycle fast as well as Cross bikes or Road bikes. They are more expensive than Cross bikes as well. They usually cost more than 100,000 yen at a minimum.

I believe that my folding bike is well worth the cost and have traveled a lot with it.

The review of “A major poverty country; the United States (貧困大国アメリカ)”

2009-06-16T07:32:00.001-04:00

The paperback pocket edition, “A major poverty country: The United States(貧困大国アメリカ)” had received the 2009 paperback first prize in Japan.

The book included five big problems in the US.

The problems list
1.The obesity in poor people. Poor people can't buy healthy foods because of poverty. They have to eat junk foods which is high in calories, but isn't nutritional.

2.The privatization of State-Owned Firms. The result of the privatization led to the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, and the fall of educational quality.

3.People had to pay a lot money to get insurance, and many people went bankrupt because of the insurance fees.

4.Poor high school students choose the military option, in order to escape their poverty.

5.The working poor took part in the Iraq War as private citizens.

Through this book, you can learn the aspects of the US which are not usually broadcast on TV.

Japanese sometimes regards the US as a model of development. The Japanese government has tried to follow the U.S policy in many ways.

We have to know the present situation in the U.S. The privatization and free competition may not be the best solution.

Phonics

2009-06-12T08:31:00.000-04:00

I am learning Phonics. Phonics is the method which teaches how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters.

I had learned the phonetic symbol once before, but I could not pronounce them well because the phonetic symbols were not connected with words. Then I couldn't make use of the phonetic symbols.

It is too strange for Japanese to understand English pronunciation, because there are many unknown sounds in English like voiceless sounds (consonants) and unknown vowels.

Phonics can teach us how to pronounce English correctly, and give English learners confidence regarding of pronunciation. I think that this is the most useful effect aspect of Phonics.

Phonics is not well known in Japan. Japanese do not learn Phonics in both compulsory schools and high schools. I regret that Phonics is not taught in Japan.

***reference
Japanese Google search result
276,000hit, Hatsuon kigou発音記号 (phonetic symbol in Japanese)
85,000hit, fonikkusu フォニックス(Phonics in Japanese )
19,000hit, Phonics

Phonetic symbol is more popular than Phonics in Japan.

Cross bike (Hybrid bicycle)

2009-06-12T08:05:00.000-04:00

Cross bikes are suitable for bike beginners. They have the characteristics of road and mountain bikes.

A feature of cross bikes is that it is designed for general-purpose utility or commuter cycling on paved and unpaved roads, paths, and trails. You can cycle 15 to 30 k.p.h using a cross bike.

Cross bikes are inexpensive. You can buy a good cross bike if you have 50,000 yen(about 500 dollars). Road bikes are much more expensive than cross bikes. Road bikes usually cost more than 100,000 yen at a minimum.

You should buy a high quality bike after you have become familiar with cross bikes. You should know what you really prefer in bikes by that time.

My first bike was a Raleigh cross bike. Raleigh is a British bike. That bike got me into bikes.

The operation

2009-06-12T07:48:00.000-04:00

I had an operation last Monday to remove an Atherom from my neck. Atherom is something like a pimple. I had never been operated on before, so this operation was the first in my life.

The operation procedure was simple. The doctor used a local anesthesia, cut open the affected part, removed Atherom, and sewed the affected part back up. That's it. It took about 30 minutes to finish the operation.

The most painful procedure was the injection of anesthesia. The rest of the procedures did not hurt because of anesthesia.

Two doctors and two nurses performed the operation. It cost about 5,000 yen. I thought it was cheap. I saved 70% off the top because of the national insurance scheme.

The review of The Others

2009-06-09T06:22:00.000-04:00

I thought “The Others” was a good horror film. The story was set in 1945 after the WW2. The main characters lived in an old Western style house. The atmosphere was pretty weird! I loved it.

Nicole Mary Kidman played the leading part. Her acting was good, especially when she was annoyed and frighted. I have become a fan of her.

This movie was my favorite. “The Others” was the best movie that I have seen recently.

Notice!
If you have not seen this movie, do not continue to read this article which includes spoilers.

I deduced that the three servants were dead, and the family all was dead, and I thought at first that this story was the same as other major horror films.
However, I could not have predicted the last mystery; who opened doors, who played the piano, and opened the curtains. I thought other ghosts did that. It was apparently wrong.

Other living people who Nicole could not see did it! This movie was described from the viewpoint of dead people. I was surprised at this fact. I was misled. I was deeply impressed by this story. So the number of stars I give it is 5 based on the Amazon rating system.

PS
The English used in the movie was British English, wasn't it? Their pronunciation seemed different from the U.S. This old polite English seemed favorable to me, though.

Are Japanese websites disappointing?

2009-06-09T05:29:00.003-04:00

Mochio Umeda, a celebrity regarding internet culture published an article a few days ago which has been discussed in certain circles lately.

He said that Japanese culture was not as good as the U.S. He stated that few people preferred to talk about intellectual topics, but rather talked about trivial matters.
Many people rebuked the article. One opinion was that he did not know enough about Japanese sub-cultures which was major topic on Japanese websites, and did not know about the cellular phone web culture.

These fields were highly advanced. I also can rebut his opinion easily. A web-sharing site called nico-nico douga is better than Youtube. Japanese high school students can and do offer counter arguments from the view point of the cellular phone web culture.

I think it is true that intellectual fields are not as progressive when compared with the U.S, but other fields may be better.

The comic of politics primer, "Kunimitsu-no-matsuri"

2009-05-29T05:44:00.002-04:00

Most young people are indifferent to politics in Japan. Young people are getting more and more disillusioned with politics.

Why were they apolitical? The cartoonist, Yuma Ando, thought that there were many famous sports stars, so young people wanted to become like them. In contrast, there were few popular politicians in Japan, so young people did not develop an interest in politics.

From this point of view, the one political comic, "Kunimitsu-no-matsuri(クニミツの政)" started in order to make young people get interested in politics. This comic introduced the basic knowledge of politics. It was an easy enough book to read so that even a primary schoolchild could read it. Through this comic, one could gain an understanding of the political system, and the social system.

One of the heros of Kunimitsu Muto was modeled on Kakuei Tanaka. He was a famous and attractive politician in Japan in spite of his corruption. He did not have any education, but he was attractive and related well to his constituents.

After you read this comic, you may develop an interest in politics. This comic is not only practical but also amusing. I highly recommend it.

Guns

2009-05-27T08:57:00.001-04:00

I am reading the story of Samuel Colt who was the founder of Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now known as Colt's Manufacturing Company). I saw the movie, “Bowling for Columbine” last year. I am interested in why people need to have guns in the U.S.

The Japanese government forbids people to have guns in Japan. There are few exceptions like hunters, but most Japanese cannot have own guns. Many people support this policy.

Japan and the U.S are very different in this respect.

PS
By the way, I want to fire a gun once in my life.

"Lupus in Tabula" ("Werewolves at the Table" "Jin-Rou in Japanese")

2009-05-26T07:15:00.001-04:00

Over the weekend, I read "Lupus in Tabula" ("Werewolves at the Table" "人狼 Jin-Rou in Japanese") stories which are published on the Web.

Many people are tweeting about "Lupus in Tabula" in my twitter time line. I have become interested in the game.

"Lupus in Tabula" is the game whose participants try to cheat each other. The participants have to think logically. IT looks like one of methods which is used in solving mathematical questions.

"Lupus in Tabula" is like a mystery story. I like mystery stories because I have to use my brain.

***Related link
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10583.phtml

The review of The Sixth Sense

2009-05-26T07:10:00.002-04:00

When I watched the movie, I thought that a lot of things were different from Japan. First of all, the ghosts were different. Typical Japanese ghosts have no legs, and wear white clothing.
Their breakfast was also different. We don't usually eat cereals.
Their buildings were very different as well. How large the houses are! They really live in big houses. I imagined that there are many old traditional buildings, because the U.S. does not have earthquakes like Japan.

Of course there are common points. Ghosts exist because they strongly regret something. This is a common point. How strong people's emotions are, and they eagerly want someone to listen to their "unfortunate" situations. On this point, There is a universality.

I will reveal my real intention when I finished watching the movie. I realized what the ending was going to be when the movie was only half finished. The movie needed to be more tricky! There was no surprise. So the number of stars I give it is 3 or 4 based on the Amazon rating system.

Music balloon

2009-05-26T06:45:00.003-04:00

I bought a enjoyable and a useful tool. Better this way: "I bought a useful and enjoyable tool" The tool is “Music balloon”, .

If you use ordinary earphones, you cannot listen to other sounds. You may make your family angry because you can't hear what they say. But you can listen to both music and your family by using "Music Balloon".

In addition to usefulness, "Music Balloon" looks funny because it is chubby. This can give you a subject of conversation(like this journal)!

***Official web page (Exclusive Japanese)
http://www.idea-in.com/yuento/product/musicballoon/index.html

This red and round thing is “Music balloon”.

The Tale of Genji

2009-05-21T09:15:00.001-04:00

Recently I am reading “The Tale of Genji”.

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature from the early eleventh century. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, or the first psychological novel.

This novel's theme is love. People have had fun with this novel since about 1000 years ago. This novel is interesting for us as well.

This movie can help you understand the atmosphere of “The tale of Genji”

PS
I think the hero of a novel is a playboy and a worthless person.

Rest for a while in the shade of a tree

2009-05-21T05:14:00.002-04:00

It is hot today. When I was cycling, I was sweating. After cycling I rested for a while in the shade of a tree and wiped myself with a towel. Then I licked my arm, my arm tasted salty.

On a hot day, I feel it is pleasant to cycle when I enter under the shade of trees. A sunny place is too hot to feel pleasant. So I like the moment when I enter the shade.

I like to raise my heartbeat and to be sweaty. I really enjoy this. Most adults do not get exercise and forget this pleasure. I think it is wasteful not to exercise.

The most beautiful season

2009-05-20T05:17:00.001-04:00

I think it is the most beautiful season in the year. The Mountains and roads are covered with fresh green leaves. The rice fields have filled with water. Frogs croak.

May's climate is not hot and not cold, and the rainy season only starts in June. That is why I think that May is the most suitable month for cycling in Japan. So May is the best month for me.

What kind of beverages do you usually drink?

2009-05-19T03:50:00.000-04:00

I usually drink the following beverages, water, barley tea, Oolong tea, and soybean milk. I do not usually drink juice, soft drinks, or coffee.

Sake has a long history, like wine, and there are many books about sake. I am interested in sake, though I am intolerant of alcohol.

When I consider money and health, I should not drink alcohol. I should choose inexpensive and healthy beverages no matter how interested I am in sake...

Prompt and detailed reports through twitter

2009-05-18T08:10:00.000-04:00

I recently have learned a lot of new things due to twitter. The following things are what I have known through twitter.

***Poken
A business card gadget to exchange online social networking data.

***Android cellular phone
Android is a software platform for mobile devices developed by Google. The first Android cellular phone will be put on sale by a Japanese vendor, NTT docomo.

***Phonics
Phonics is a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language.

Twitter has become a useful service to find the latest news about technical things.

Miku Hatsune - why she is so popular

2009-05-17T07:50:00.007-04:00

(1)Miku Hatsune - She is a virtual singer with a computer-synthesized voice.
A virtual singer, Miku Hatsune, is highly popular amongst young people. There are more than 600 movies of her which have been viewed over 100,000 times on nico-nico-douga (a video sharing website). Her CDs have placed her in the ranks of popular music.

A major newspaper company introduced her last month because of her rise in popularity.

The movies are in Japanese with English subtitles.

I am going to write about why she is so popular in this journal.

(2)A video sharing website has made her very popular.
First of all, there is a video sharing website(nico-nico-douga) where musicians can publish their original songs. If you access nico-nico-douga you can listen to many songs for free.

Musicians can get feedback for their songs immediately on nico-nico-douga. If a song is great, then it could win the praise of many listeners. This praise makes musicians want to compose new songs, and it is easy and inexpensive to compose and publish their songs on nico-nico-douga with the Miku Hatsune software.

Through nico-nico-douga and Miku Hatsune, some musicians have turned professional.
One example is the artist group called “supercell”. This group composed one of the most popular songs, “Melt”. “Melt” has been viewed more than 4 million times. 56,000 copies of their music album were sold in the first week after publication. This means it ranks 4th among Japan's popular music rankings.

Miku's original "メルト" with English lyric REDONE

(3)Many people support Vocaloid (Vocaloid is Miku's software name).
There are many communities which support vocaloids on the Internet. Some communities like the vocaloids themselves. Other communities like the composers, songs, and videos related to vocaloids.

Vocaloids fans make various contributions. Some make videos for their favorite songs. Some sing their favorite songs and make comments of support on nico-nico-douga.

Vocalids fans like this culture and want to contribute to it using their own skills. Some people like me write about them in English to support vocaloids.

One good example is “bpm”. This superb video made the song more attractive. More people know about “bpm” due to this music video. This song is one of my favorites.

(4) There are more than 10,000 original songs by her.
There are more than 10,000 original songs by her on the Internet as of MAY 2009.
New songs have continued to appear everyday. More than 10 songs on weekdays and more than 20 songs on weekends. Every time you access nico-nico douga, you will certainly find some new songs. you would be hard pressed to listen to every song by her.

There are many songs and various songs on nico-nico-douga. You can listen to songs which are not usually broadcast on TV. When you access nico-nico douga, you can find your favorite song as well.

One example is ”Saihate” which is my favorite this year. This song's theme is “death, sorrow, and prayer”. “Saihate” has been viewed more than 1 million times.

Some communities have made music chart videos features Miku-Hatsune. Weekly popular charts which is the most popular video series have been published every Tuesday and are viewed average 50,000 times each.These kind of videos can help you find new songs.

(5)This cute robot makes the world amusing.
I have listened to her songs since the autumn of 2007. The first song which fascinated me is “Hazimete no oto”. I started to notice the potential of this software after listening to this song. Her voice sounds somewhat artificial, and worse than a human voice. I am convinced that this software may change the course of music history,though.

Japanese love robots more than other people from other countries. I think that very popular robots like Astro Boy, Doraemon, Gundam, and Evangelion attract Japanese strongly. In Japan A.I. research is at the cutting edge of robotics. Now she is the same as these popular robots. This cute robot makes the world amusing.

I hope you can find songs you love sung by her on the Internet!

“Hazimete no oto” has been viewed more than 1 million times. Here is the video with English subtitles.

My favorite comic is Huunji tachi 風雲児たち

2009-05-17T07:16:00.002-04:00

My favorite comic is Huunji tachi 風雲児たち (men who rise to greatness in turbulent times).

This comic has been around for 30 years. The comic's theme is “the Meiji Restoration (AD1853~1868)”. “the Meiji Restoration” is the time when Japanese radically changed their country system.

The story begins in AD1600, 250 years ago when the revolution start. Through this comic, you can understand the reason why the revolution happened and what people were thinking about in Edo period.

I am familiar with many historical people in Edo period due to this comic. Their ideology has had an impact on my thought.

Many Japanese have been affected by comics. Comics have the power to possibly change human life.

***Related link
Huunji tachi(Exclusive Japanese)
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A2%A8%E9%9B%B2%E5%85%90%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A1

Two good videos of Hatsune Miku “mikunologie” ”jelly bean”

2009-05-17T07:11:00.004-04:00

I am absorbed in listening to two songs of Miku Hatsune recently. You can have fun with both videos because they are funny, though both do not have English subtitles.

One video is “mikunologie”.
She is a high-performance robot, but is very heavy. She is disappointed that she cannot be held by a nice man.

The other video is “jelly bean”. Small Miku is mixed with jelly beans and is whirling about. She really likes jelly beans.

This movie's quality is not good. If possible, I recommend that you watch the original video on nico-nico douga.
【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】ジェリービーン【オリジナル曲】

A charismatic economist, Kazuyo Katsuma, advocates “Creating A Child-Friendly Society”

2009-05-17T06:43:00.004-04:00

The government reported that Japan's birth rate is declining for the 35th consecutive year. The results say that the graying of society and the fall in birthrate are accelerating. The Japanese rate of societal graying was worse than Italy and Germany.

Some people are trying to solve this problem. One of the representatives is a charismatic economist, Kazuyo Katsuma. She advocates “creating a child-friendly society”.

The movie, “Creating A Child-Friendly Society”
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/movie/feature73.html

*reference
Japan's child population sags to record low
http://www.zeenews.com/news529237.html

PS
I think one of the biggest problems which is related to this problem is working for long hours. I will write about this problem in the future.

The recent rise in obesity cases in Japan

2009-05-14T06:46:00.001-04:00

Though there are few obese people in Japan compared to other countries, obesity is increasing among Japanese men.

In Japan women are interested in their shape, while most men are not. This is why 30% of men in their thirties or older are fat.
Obesity is connected to health. The more medical expenses increases, the more people are interested in the obesity problem.

PS
I can not believe the picture's information! obesity 31% in the U.S!? When I watched American movies, I could not notice this symptom.

Why do you study Japanese?

2009-05-07T03:40:00.000-04:00

I have corrected many Japanese sentences on Lang-8. There are many people who study Japanese. I have become interested in the reason why non-Japanese people study Japanese.

Chinese and Japanese are widely spoken in Asia. So many countries teach Japanese as a foreign language.

South Korea is the most eager country to teach Japanese. There are about 900 thousand people who learn Japanese. Second is China, 390 thousand. Third is Australia, 380 thousand. The sum of people who learn Japanese outside of Japan is 2.4 million.

Japan's GDP is still second in the world economy. I think not only the economy but also Japan's “cool” culture makes people want to learn Japanese.　　

I would like to know the reason why do you study Japanese. Could you reply this question?

PS
I have received many responses on Lang-8

One mad project was started a week ago.

2009-05-06T08:33:00.002-04:00

One mad project was started a week ago.

The project involves translating a Japanese book into English within a week. The members of the project are volunteers and have worked for free.

It usually takes six months to a year to translate a Japanese book into English. Most people have regarded this project as madness. But they managed to finished this project in 5 days as of yesterday.

I watched a example of “the wisdom of crowds”. I am amazed at their madness now...

The translated book is “Watching shogi (Japanese chess) from Silicon Valley", written by Mochio Umeda. The English version will be published soon.

A marvelous movie, The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō.

2009-05-05T06:51:00.003-04:00

I found a marvelous movie, The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō.
A University student studying the fine arts created this movie.
I highly recommend this movie to you.

In the past, people travelled between Tokyo and Kyoto by walking on the Tōkaidō. There were 53 government post stations along the Tōkaidō. These post stations were called the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō (東海道五十三次 ,Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi)

Traveling on the Tōkaidō was popular amongst people in the Edo era. The pictures in the movie showcase this popularity.

The pictures featured in this movie are “Ukiyo-e”(a woodblock print). There are many people who like ukiyoe regardless of their citizenship. The most famous person who loves Ukiyo-e is Vincent van Gogh. You can find many elements of Ukiyo-e in his works.

Related Links.
Van Gogh - Portrait of Pere Tanguy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_Portrait_of_Pere_Tanguy_1887-8.JPG

Ukino-e
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e

Mahoroba green road cycling.

2009-05-02T20:03:00.005-04:00

It was a beautiful day, so I cycled on the Mahoroba green road.“Mahoroba” means an Arcadia.
There were more people than usual because of a long holiday week.

This is an artificial lake, Biruzawa lake. There were many anglers.

Carp streamers(Koi-nobori) were swimming in the sky.
Carp streamers are customs of the Boys’ Festival in Japan.

I visited a winery and ate soft ice cream which tastes like red wine.

Today's cycling was quite pleasant!
And I am going to a festival tomorrow.

***Cycling Record
I cycled 28 km.
I consumed about 1100kcal.

090502

A World Heritage site – Shirakawa-go

2009-04-28T08:17:00.006-04:00

I visited a World Heritage site, Shirakawa-go the same time last year.When I went to the place, there were a lot of tourists who were not only Japanese but also other foreigners

This was a most beautiful sight of Shirakawa-go. Traditional houses look like miniatures from this view point .

This was a traditional house which shined by the morning sun. Once upon a time people were doing silk farming in this house.

This was a traditional inn which I stayed at.

Recently Shirakawa-go has become popular among young Japanese because of a video game. If you know Japanese culture well, you can easily come up with this video game's name.

Playing with Kanji, Chinese characters

2009-04-28T08:06:00.003-04:00

Japanese people sometimes are playing with kanji, just like in this movie.
If you are studying Japanese language, I will recommend this funny movie.

There are a lot of original kanjis which do not exist in a dictionary. But we can understand their meanings because each part of kanji has each meaning.

The most interesting kanji is in the last part of the movie. Can you imagine how to describe “Gundam – a very famous robot- ” in kanji.

Pandemic, swine flu

2009-04-28T01:33:00.000-04:00

I learned English words regarding disease, pandemic, swine flu.

No infections have been reported in Japan now, and the Foreign Ministry has not banned trips to Mexico or issued travel warnings to people planning to visit the country. However, the ministry urges people to consider putting off going until the epidemic has finished.

Japan have started a long holiday week, Many Japanese travel abroad every year in this holiday week. But People start to consider putting off traveling abroad.

Pharmaceutical company's stock prices are rising, on the other hand company's traveling agents are decreasing because of swine flu.

I have started to follow a twitter account, CDC emergency.
http://twitter.com/CDCemergency

Most popular ramen shop in my town

2009-04-23T20:16:00.002-04:00

When I was viewing cherry blossoms, I found out which company contributed the biggest amount of money at the cherry blossoms festival.

The company was a Ramen shop, Ryuu-shan-hai. Ryuu-shan-hai made the biggest contribution.Ryuu-shan-hai is most popular ramen shop in my town and has many branches, and has become profitable now.

This Ramen tastes spicy and has a miso flavor.
miso; fermented soybean paste

Cherry blossom viewing

2009-04-23T10:57:00.005-04:00

I went to famous cherry blossom viewing sites over the previous weekend.

Eboshi mountain, which is regarded as one of the top 100 cherry blossom viewing sites.These cherry trees are a distant relative to the trees in Washington D.C. cherry trees.

Uesugi Shrine, Another cherry blossom viewing site.

This is a konnyaku dumpling which is my hometown's local specialty.
This is soy sauce flavoured.

* konnyaku ; a gelatinous food made from devil’s―tongue starch

One favorite song 'alive'

2009-04-17T09:11:00.003-04:00

I listen to one song over and over recently.

The song is in Japanese style. This song is calm and has an old Japanese atmosphere. I like this atmosphere.

The singer's name is Miku Hatsune. She is not a human being, just a computer program. I will write about her in the near future.

090417

2009-04-17T08:55:00.004-04:00

I run Oitama cycling road 3 times a week , about 30 km at a time by bike.

The road is pretty beautiful, but few people know and make use of it.

It is not common for most Japanese people to go a long distance by bike.

Today I will publish some pictures of Oitama cycling road.

There is no who uses it except me.

Cherry blossoms have started to come into bloom.

These are traditional Japanese houses.

Many swans come flying.

090417

Hanami, cherry blossom viewing

2009-04-17T08:52:00.001-04:00

The cherry trees are about to be in full bloom this weekend. I am going to go cherry blossom viewing by bike.

My hometown is regarded as one of the top 100 cherry blossom viewing sites. There are about 1,000 cherry blossoms trees, and more than 25,000 people come to my town every April to enjoy flower viewing.

I’m looking forward to viewing cherry blossoms.

090415

Flowers for Algernon

2009-04-17T08:51:00.000-04:00

I am now reading a famous sci-fi book, Flowers for Algernon, in English.

I think this book is the most famous sci-fi book in Japan. And I love it.I have read this book about ten times. It is moving and makes me wonder what happiness is.

090415

(07)The study of mistakes

2009-04-15T08:03:00.001-04:00

Many Japanese dislike making mistakes. they say that mistakes are bad things, so they ignore mistakes, and do not learn from mistakes.

''He made a mistake because of his carelessness, and He was lazy or an idiot.'' this attitude has conceal many accidents happen. I can relate many famous examples, such as the Amagasaki rail crash, Tokaimura nuclear accident, and so on.

Some Japanese people started trying to change this thinking. they set up an academic conference research for the study of mistakes in 2002. In this conference people did research to prevent accidents. One researcher's opinion is interesting. I will introduce Kenji Hayao's opinion.

He said that there are three principles which people have to learn to prevent mistakes.

1.Everyone makes mistakes.
2.People often hide their mistake because they afraid to be criticized.
3.Do not criticise someone's mistake, we have to get the facts and know the causes of accidents. Then we will have mechanisms to prevent mistakes.

He said if we do not learn these principles, There will be another tragedy in the near future.

I think the biggest problem in organizations is that member of organizations do not tell the truth. In many organizations people do not tell the truth because the atmosphere of the organization causes people to be silent. This is an atmosphere of blaming people who make mistakes. Organization leaders firstly have to change the atmosphere to prevent accidents.

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(06)The time when the Japanese language will die.

2009-04-15T07:35:00.001-04:00

A few month ago, Two famous Japanese bloggers, Mochio Umeda and Dan Kogai introduced a book 'The time when the Japanese language will die. (Nihongo ga horobiru toki)'. The book was bookmarked extensively by over 1000 people. This book said which language Japanese people should choose when they talk and write about intellectual matters.

Now English is widely used in the field of science and business. The book said English will be used not only in these fields but also in other fields. One hypothesis is that in the near future intelligent Japanese people, they will choose to use English. The reason is that English is used in all over the world and the Japanese language is only used by 120 million people. If they use English, they can learn many things and communicate with many more than if they use Japaneses. English will become like Latin which was used by many people all over the world as a vehicle for learning.Japanese will also choose English as a universal language. If this tendency continues, Japanese people will not use the Japanese language. This is the main argument of this book.

I think Japanese people will choose English as a intellectual language. In former article I wrote that there are relatively few Japanese language audio books however there are many audio books in the English language, so I decided to start learning English. Similar situation will happen in many fields in the near future.

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(05)What motivates me to study English – Audiobooks

2009-03-04T03:36:00.003-05:00

A few years ago I had to work long hours, and I do not have time to read. This situation really annoyed me. So I started to look for new ways to gain knowledge. After a few months, I read an article which explained audio books. I was thrilled by the article. If I listened to audio books, I could change my commuting time into learning time, so I started buying some audio books.

At that time (2005) Japanese language audio books were quite rare and very expensive( more than \5000 for a 60 minute book). However English language audio books were less expensive, and there was a much bigger range. I realized that if I could understand English, I could access many of these works.

Even now there is not much change from the situation in 2005. Some companies produce Japanese language audio books, but there are relatively few Japanese audio books, as they are too new to be accepted by many Japanese people.

When I graduated from university I did not have to study English, because I did not use English at work. I stopped studying English. But I resumed studying English because I wanted to listen to many audio books. Audio books were the biggest reason why I started studying English again.

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(04)PDCA in learning foreign languages at language schools

2009-03-02T08:37:00.001-05:00

PDCA is an iterative four-step problem-solving process. This process is useful not only in business process improvement but also in learning foreign language. Because of this, you should follow this process while learning a foreign language at a language schools.

Because PDCA is an acronym, I will explain what each letter means. 'P' is 'preparation'. Before you go to the school, you have to study the school text as much as you can. And you should also 'plan' which topic you are going to make remarks about. If you do not bother to do these things, you may waste your money.D is 'do'. You actually have to make remarks about what you learned in preparation. If you practice the words you learned beforehand, you can much understand the words and use them well. And if you have questions, you should ask. Even if you do not have a major question, you should ask a trivial question. Your teacher may teach you something important which you did not notice.C is 'Check'. you should brush up on what you learned in school text and lessons. If you review your lesson, you can retain the knowledge longer. Many people do not carry out this part of the process because they regard review as messy things. But you must not forget to review.A is 'Action'. After the lesson, you should practice what you learned in lesson. Not using what you learned is wasteful.

At last, I add one important concept. Have a fun in learning foreign language. This concept acts like grease to your PDCA process.

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(03) How to set up a new project

2009-03-02T06:32:00.001-05:00

When you start a new project, there are two things you have to think about.

One thing is finding people who are eager to start a new project. It is easy to propose something new, while on the other hand, to realize something new is difficult and a lot of work. Because of this people usually only talk about something new, for example “If this idea realized, we would be happy. ”. but few people actually carry out their new idea. so if you start something new, firstly you have to be willing to carry out many hard jobs.

The other important point is having the wisdom to know the demand of a new project. If many people want something to happen or are truly eager(maybe without a thought), and new project correspond the demand, the project will succeed. One aspect to look at is whether your project is gathering people. If the project is attractive, it is easy to gather people. On the other hand, if there is no demand, people will not be interested, even the greatest idea could not succeed,

Finally, if you want to start a new project, first you should become a hard worker, and then you have to do the proper research to know whether a new project will be accepted or not.

20090226

(02)Don't forget the aim of discussion

2009-03-02T06:29:00.002-05:00

While having a discussion at the office or at home, you should not forget the aim of the discussion. In many cases people forget this aim, and they only focus on the winning which makes other person feel defeated. The person who was defeated in a discussion almost always become hostile to the winner of discussion and they will not cooperate with the winner. After the discussion we have to go back to work, so we should cooperate with the discussion's opponent, who is a team member at office or your family. To cooperate with the other members is the aim of discussion. So you should not attack the opponent.

And I propose some words of wisdom to remember the aim. They are "If You Want To Gather Honey, Don't Kick Over The Beehive" (If you want to persuade a person, you should not blame or attack a person.). This phrase was written in Dale Carnegie's masterpiece, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. So when you discuss someone, 'Don't criticize, complain, or condemn! (these words of wisdom also written in Carnegie's masterpiece.)

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(01) Science Fiction is useful to the advance of our sciences.

2009-03-02T06:25:00.001-05:00

Jules Verne, French author wrote 'The Earth to Moon' in 1865. When our ancestors read this book, they could imagine that we could go to the moon. In that time, to go to moon was an illusion. But after reading this book some people started trying to make rockets and spacecraft which could go to the moon. About 100 years passed, we could go to the moon. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 16, 1969. Verne's dream come true.

Japan also has some similar Science-Fiction stories which helped develop our technology. Japanese love robots more than other people. The reason why we Japanese love robots is that there are some major Sci-Fi characters that were created in Japan. I think Astro Boy, Doraemon, Gundam, these very popular robots attracted Japanese strongly. Because Japanese love robots and many Japanese major in Robotics. So in Japan there is research that's at the cutting edge of robotics. Machine tools(Factory Automation), nurse robots, entertainment robots(AIBO, ASIMO) are some examples.I think Science Fiction is useful to the advance of our sciences.

20090224