Month: March 2013

3.11.2011 The Great East Japan Earthquake.

Today is very very important day for Japanese.

2 years ago, the huge earthquake hit Japan. The magnitude was M9.0, which is the largest in recorded history of Japan. The following big shaking, terrible Tsunami had swallowed the East Japan. The reactor in Fukushima became out of control. 18549 people died or disappeared (2013/3/11).

Today, all Japanese did pray for victims. (We have the difference in time though.)

This earthquake had predicted actually. The measures of the highest possible level had been taken against Tsunami, the near shore breakwater was largest one in the history, and the reactor also had the backup system. However, the magnitude of Tsunami was far more terrible than we had expected.

When earthquake came, I was in Tukuba. I was a Ph.D student who was working for development the spectrometer at J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex), J-PARC had been hit hard. I thought how it was difficult to build this large facility again. At that time, I had to admit the power far beyond that the human beings have.

But at the same time, I realized what Japanese had done.

2 years past, J-PARC is now operating at almost same level. This is surprising. As for economy, the closing price of the Nikkei Stock Average on Mar. 11.2013 reached 1.2 times levels not seen since before the Great East Japan Earthquake. We have still a lot of problems though, now we are almost back to the normal state.

Here, what I concerned the most is, Japanese takes care only of ourselves. We tend to shut our eyes from the problem the world is facing. We don’t have any excuse for not fighting together against the problem what the world have faced anymore.

The crises have existed in Japan so that we can improve ourselves. And we will never never forget the kindness from people all over the world.

As a Japanese, I am always concerning about Japan, thinking of how to contribute to Japan, thinking of how to contribute to the world as a Japanese. We Japanese have responsibility for the future of Asia and the world.

And to Japanese, let’s discuss what we can do for the world now. We should be ready for making the world a better place.

Music 2.

I believe I love music. Since I am busy, I have taken only a fraction of the time with guitar and music. But I would love to play and listen music again. So, I decided to write little about music.

I am a not good player though, I used to think how I can play the guitar better. And I wanted people to be good player, which makes me frustrate so much. But playing instruments well should not be first priority. In Japanese, music is 音楽. 音 means sounds, 楽 means enjoy.  And I always thought, since I am not good at playing, so I have no right to say something about music. That must be wrong. I can understand now. Tell me your music life when we meet also.

I will write music I like. Here are my favorite musicians I revised from the previous post.

1. Japanese female vocalist, artist

Mika Nakashima, YUKI, Kana Uemura, bird, orange pekoe, dorlis, Klambon(I don’t know English name), Shina Ringo, Perfume, Tokyo Jihen.

2. Japanese male vocalist, pianist, band.

KUMAMI, Hirotaka Mori, Kazumasa Oda, Blanky Jet city, hide, Scoobie Do, Theater Brook, Suga Shikao, Motohiro Hata, HIrotaka Mori, Fumido, Porn graphity, Eikichi Yazawa, Tokyo Ska paradise Orchestra, Cool Drive makers, Fumido.

Today, I will recommend Motohiro Hata ’Uroko (squama)’ 　I envy his transparent voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p89gUf8rxF8

Today, I also will recommend Eikichi Yazawa ’Tomaranai ha-ha (We cant stop)’ 　He is pioneer of rock music scene in Japan. He may be around 60 years old. I am happy to hear his strong voice. His play reminds me that we can play music as long as our life would last.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR75XkHN3_s

3. American (classic) rock or music

Deep purple, Eric Clapton, Eagles, Maroon5, Dream theater, Rage against the machine, Earth wind & fire, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Limp Bizkit, Lenny Kravitz, Jamiroquai.

4. Jazz, fusion bossa nova

Larry Carlton, Risa Ono.

5. Japanese DJ,

FREE TEMPO, Ryohei, DJ Kawasaki.

6. My ideal player is Char, Masayoshi Takanaka, Tomo Fujita. 

This is from Masayoshi Takanak. “shake it”. I like his touch.

I will write review for each musician here later. And I will rewrite this post again. And I want to broaden my perspective based on this list. Tell me your favorite musician also!!

Adult adoption in Japan.

This is from the Economict article : Keeping it in the family.

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21567419-family-firms-adopt-unusual-approach-remain-competitive-keeping-it-family

I didn’t know this fact. That’s why I believe that reading the Economist is important for me. I thought the adoption in Japan is rare. But this article says the adoption is common in Japan. Why? The family firms adopt to remain company. But is adoption good for running companies?

ANDREW CARNEGIE, a 19th-century tycoon, famously said that inherited wealth “deadens talents and energies”—

For me, this is understandable, usually family control company is not good.As the proverb in Japan says, 1st generation owner establish the company, works hard to stabilize the company. When 2nd generation owner inherit the company, he works well because he knows the hardship 1st genaration owner goes through. But 3rd generation owner doesn’t know their hardship and tends to bring his an idealized theory into the company, and crushes the company.

But, only Japanese seems to be opposite to ANDREW CARNEGIE believed.

A forthcoming paper* in the Journal of Financial Economics finds not only that inherited family control is still common in Japanese business, but that family firms are “puzzlingly competitive”, outperforming otherwise similar professionally managed companies.

  • So. inherited family control is common in Japan.
  • And puzzlingly competitive.

Japan boasts some of the world’s oldest family-run businesses, and many family firms—Suzuki, Matsui Securities, Suntory—break the rule of steady dynastic decline. So how do Japanese firms do it? The answer, says the paper, is adoption.

  • Running the company, they use the adoption.

Last year more than 81,000 people were adopted in Japan, one of the highest rates in the world. But, amazingly, over 90% of those adopted were adults. The practice of adopting men in their 20s and 30s is used to rescue biologically ill-fated families and ensure a business heir, says Vikas Mehrotra, of the University of Alberta.

 This number is totally new to me, is much bigger than I expected. 

Frustratingly, the paper’s research stops in 2000. Mariko Fujiwara, a sociologist, says more Japanese parents are now willing to accept the end of the family line. But she adds that Japanese marriages will always have cultural and legal implications because the future of so many businesses depends on who takes them over.

Now I know a lot of companies are looking for their successor. They are relatively small, and now have a difficulty to find their successor. These company usually has high technology in certain sectors. But the problems are decreasing workers population, in the number of children, job mismatching with young people. We Japanese are going to loose diversity. We need to study and help important companies.

Practice writing topic for TOEFL 4. Learning from books.

It has been said, “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?

I believe that knowledge gained from book is more important. While we can experience the event without our will, we need will power to read and learn from books. By reading, we will experience again and again, and complete learning.

Recent the neuroscience study have shown the relation between memory and age. In part of this study, they proved that we don’t memorize precisely what we experienced. Memory does not need to be truth, because we memorize the events to reproduce or survive. The importance of truth is secondary. We memorize the events as patterns not as truth.

We cannot gain new knowledge from knowledge, just confirm what we experienced.  Even if you gain new knowledge from books, we need to confirm throughout experience. So, how can we learn? I believe that we experience something and learn by heart as pattern, and also we need to practice the pattern again and again to complete learning.

For example, if read the books describe heartbreak in the story. you can understand how character feel pain to get over it. But without our experience of heartbreak, this feeling is almost fake. Conversely, if we have experienced the same kind of heartbreak, the story from the book would impress you much harder.

By reading books, we can strengthen this pattern. By reading the same kind of story, you feel same feeling. You can develop your character If we read the same story, we feel much harder.

That’s why I believe reading books is more important than just experience the event. So why don’t we reading books to enhance the experience what we face in our life?

Practice writing topic for TOEFL 3. Cooking food?

Nowadays, food has become easier to prepare. Has this change improved the way people live? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. (300 words 30 min)

Yes. I believe that processed food help people improve their life. Life time is limited for everyone. If we want to live life with family, partner, hobby, whatever, we actually need time to spend. But thanks to easiness of prepare food, you can find the time to spend the other activities.

Thanks to resent studies of nutrition for food, there are a lot of processed foods and supplements, which help people live better. Supplements also help you being able to spare time for what we want. If you want to cook, to get the same level of nutrition from by food is so hard. We need time and work on cooking. By using processed foods and supplements, we can get good nutrition instantly. This helps people spend more time what we are really into. I can say this is improvement the way we live.

If we think cooking is fun, preparing food is fan, which are also good. For example, we can spend time with family when we are cooking. Especially for mother and daughter may enjoy shopping and making food.  In this advanced economic system, we can easily get various kinds of food. The preparing food became the option. People can chose whether or not they spend a lot of time to prepare. If you like to cook, go ahead, spend time on cooking. If we do not want to the cooking so much. we can buy food and spend the other activity .

I believe that food becoming easier to prepare changed the way people live better. We got the option to spend life time on the cooking or the activities you like. If we like cooking, we can do. If we do not like, we can find another activities what you are really into. Focus on what you would like to do.

The impact of China’s one-child policy.

This is from the Ecomonist article : Peak toil.

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21570750-first-two-articles-about-impact-chinas-one-child-policy-we-look-shrinking

Now, Japanese economy is suffering from the number of working-age population. That will happen in Korean and in the other Asian countries. But, because of its largeness, the problem of China is on different level. What will happen to China’s economy and World economy in the interim?

ON JANUARY 18th the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that the number of working-age Chinese shrank last year by a total of 3.45m. In the slow-moving world of demography, that is a big turning point.

One may see the power of economy based on GDP. The shrinking of the working-age population will put downward pressure on GDP directly. Japanese is suffering from decreasing the number of working-age population, even though the growth rate of GDP per person has been the best in developed countries for recent 10 years. To keep the growth rate of GDP, the working-age population needs to work harder.

Once all its exceptions are taken into account, it permits about 1.47 children per woman. If the policy were relaxed dramatically, would China’s population explode again?  

Many Chinese women would not have a second child even if they were allowed to.

Once decreasing the population has started, it is difficult to come back. It is because that the population of women decrease and the more developed economy prevents the family from having 2nd child. Even the one-child policy in China would release, 2nd child costs too much for the middle-class family.

The shrinking of the working-age population will put downward pressure on the saving rate and upward pressure on wages, as coastal factories have already found. According to Mr Laurent, the number of 15- to 24-year-olds will shrink particularly quickly, dropping by 38m, or 21%, over the next ten years.

No country has never experienced this rapid shrinking of working-age population, which will put downward pressure on GDP in Chin directly. So China need to focus on GDP per person. As the Proverb goes “quality over quantity”.

As they age, migrants may no longer be suitable for factory jobs that require dextrous fingers, or for some construction work, which requires a strong back. But as Yao Yang of Peking University points out, these older workers could take over service jobs in supermarkets and health spas or as security guards which are now done by youngsters. That would free young people to man China’s assembly lines. 

The secret of China’s success lies not in the workers it adds, but in what new capital, technology and know-how adds to its workers.

Japanese Lecture 6 : Particles Equivalent to Preposition, Adverbs, Conjunctions Part 2 of 2.

 6. に ni

に ni can usually translated as ‘in’ or ‘to’, although it also has many idiomatic uses that may be translated by ‘at’ or ‘on’ by other English preposition.

(1) indicating time or location.

汽車は八時に出ます。 Kisha ha hachiji ni de masu. ; The train leaves at eight.

たくさんのお寺が京都にあります。 Takusan no otera ga Kyouto ni ari masu. ; There are many temples in Kyoto.

彼は土曜日に来ます。 Kare ha doyoubi ni ki masu. ; He arrives on Saturday.

(2) indicating an indirect object.

あなたは花子に手紙を送りましたか？ Anata ha Hanako ni tegami wo okuri mashita ka? ; Did you send a letter to Hanako?

(3) with verbs meaning ‘to become’ or ‘to seem’

子供は家内に似ています。 Kodomo ha kanai ni yoku nite imasu ; My child takes after my wife.

電車で病気になりました。 Densha de byoki ni nari mashita ; He became sick on the train.

7. へ e

へ e indicates motion and it equivalent ‘to’ English to or ‘into’.

僕はあす東京へ行きます。 Boku wa asu Tokyo ni iki masu.  I shall go to Tokyo tomorrow.

森へ行きましょう。 Mori e iki masho ; Let’s go into woods.

8. で de

で de gathers together several concepts that you are not associated in English

(1) it is usually translatable as ‘with’ or ‘by’

鉛筆で書きました。  ennpitu de kaki mashita. ; I wrote with a pencil.

(2) location, usually translated as ‘at’

大学で日本語を勉強しました。 daigaku de nihongo wo benkyou shima sita. ; I studied at Japanese language at the univesity.

(3) reason or cause, translated as ‘because of’

私は試験で忙しい。 watashi ha siken de isogasii ; I am busy because of examinations.

9. も mo

も mo. When used alone is equivalent to ‘also’ or ‘too’ or ‘even’.

私も行きます。 Watashi mo iki masu. ; I am going too!

When used with a positive verb, is equivalent to English ‘both’.

家内も子供も帰ります。 Kanai mo kodomo mo kaeri masu. ; Both my wife and child will come back.

When used with a negative verb, is equivalent to English ‘neither’.

家内も子供も帰りません。 Kanai mo kodomo mo kaeri masen. ; Neither my wife nor my child will return.

Japanese Lecture 5 : Particles Equivalent to Preposition, Adverbs, Conjunctions Part 1 of 2.

Besides the three basic particles of sentence strucutre (ga が wa は  wo を) and the two particles that indicate question (ka か and ne ね), Japanese has a very wide range of words that equivalent in function to the English preposition, adverb, and conjunctions. All of these particle placed after the word they modify. We shall discuss 9 particle here which are no の to と ya  や kara から made  まで ni  に e へde  で and mo も.

  1.  no の

 no の corresponds in many ways to the English preposition “of”. It can indicate

(1) possession, ownership, attribution.

これが僕のカメラです。 Kore ga boku no kamera desu. : This is my camera.

(2) material.

木の椅子です。 Ki no isu desu. : This chair is of wood.

(3) origin, time, place, apposition.

ここのはすべてフィルムでございます。Koko no ha subete fyirumu de gozaimasu. : As for what’s is here, they are all films.

2. to と

to と can sometimes be translated as ‘with‘ and sometimes ‘and‘

近藤さんと忠臣蔵を見に行きました。kondo-san to Chushingura wo mi ni ikimashita. : I went with Mr. Kondo to see the Chushingra play.

砂糖と塩と米を買った。sato to shio to kome wo kaltuta. : I bought sugar and salt and rice.

3. ya や

ya や is usually equivalent to English ‘and‘. Like to, however, it can link only serious of nouns and pronouns.

タダオやキヨシやシゲルが神戸に行きました。 Tadao ya kiyoshi ya sigeru ga kobe ni iki mashita. : Tadao and Kiyoshi and Shigeru all went to Kobe.

4. kara から

kara から is similar to English preposition ‘from’ and indicate either space or time.

5. made まで

made までis similar to ‘until’ or ‘as far as’ or ‘up to’

ここから横浜までどれくらいですか? Koko kara Yokohama made dore kurai desu ka? : How far is it from here to Yokohama.

ここから Koko kara  : after this, from now on. それから Sore kara : after that, and then, next.

今日まで Kyo made : until today, up to today.  遅くまで Osoku made : until late.

We learned 5 of particles which are no の, to と, ya  や, kara から, and made  まで. For the later, ni  に e へde  で and mo も should be described in the next lecture.

10 tips for writing well.

Writing is process always. How to write well is never ending work. I found tips online.

7 Tips for Editing to Improve Usage

Addition to these, I would add three. I would love to keep learning how to write well.

1. Look up the definition of an unfamiliar word and make sure you understand the meaning. 

We should have responsibility for what we wrote. Why don’t we check words you are using in your writing?.

2. Use a thesaurus or a synonym finder for the precise meaning, taking care to notice the different connotations of similar words.

Thesaurus offer easy access to synonyms and antonyms. Thesaurus is good tool to expand the vocabulary. I always keep pocket thesaurus beside me.

3. Keep your writing clear and coherent, and avoid pretentious.

Write to communicate, not to impress. Sharpen what we want to describe and think about clearance and coherence.

4. Select the strongest nouns and verbs before you select adjectives and adverbs.

What is true message that we would like the reader to understand? We can simply say using only nouns and verbs, and then add adjectives and adverbs if we need.

5. Watch for careless redundancy.

Keep our writing simple. Fight against redundancy.

6. Read your draft aloud to help you refine grammar and usage. If something doesn’t sound right to you, it probably doesn’t read right to your audience, either.

We can find awkward words and sentences by reading aloud.

7. Ask someone else to read your writing and critique it.

We need peer review to improve writing.

8. Read books, become good reader.

No input, no output. We can learn a lot from other writers.

9. Rewrite and rewrite.

Writing is process, if we write something and leave it for a while and check it again. Keep thinking what is good English.

10. Do not be afraid of making mistake.

I used to be afraid of making mistakes grammatically. But good writing is not always needed to be grammatically correct. Keep writing.

The memory and sleep.

This is from Economist article : Memory, Remenber, remenber.

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21571121-new-understanding-emerging-memory-and-forgetfulness-remember-remember

The recent development of study of brain is fascinating. This article is about new understanding of memory and forgetfulness.

The memory is an evolved structure with a job to do. The job is to preserve its owner and help him or her reproduce. Perfection is not required, only adequacy.    

Selective forgetting of useless and selective remembering of useful, both are important. Much of this selecting takes place during sleep, there are two paper in ‘Nature Neuroscience’.

1. Robert Stickgold of Harvard University and Matthew Walker of University of California, Berkeley.

They proposed that the process of sleep acts as a form of triage, first choosing what to retain, and then selecting how it will be retained. And they founded sleep does help people discard information they have been told to forget. The more frequently someone experiences waves of brain activity known as sleep spindles, the more his brain scraps items that it is supposed to.Rather than forget passively, then, the brain seems to shed memories actively!! Sleep also helps guide memories intended to be retained down particular paths, which means remember as the patterns not the facts.

2. Bryce Mander and Matthew Walker of University of California, Berkeley.

They compared the process in the young and the old, further into the matter of forgetting.18 people in their teens and 20s, and 15 in their 60s and 70s, were taught nonsensical word pairs, tested on immediately, and then tested again after a night’s sleep. The oldsters scored worse than the youngsters in the immediate test, which is not surprise. What was notable was that, after the sleep, oldster’s brains seems to retain even less material than youngsters’. And those who retained the least had slept less deeply.

Points.

1. Our brain selects what information do we need, and then discard the rest during sleep.

2. Sleep helps us remember as the patterns, as oppose to the facts.

3. The older are worse at immediate memory test, in addition to this, the older are worse after night sleep.

4. Bad sleep helps poor memory.

It may be that the inability to form new memories is not a bug, but a feature. However I would say.

Live the present, study today, tomorrow is too late!!