Author: sin0928yano@gmail.com

Today, I went to some event with bunch of my friends. That event was discussion sex assault what is called the raping. It was tough to listen. It is difficult to say something here. It is too serious to state my opinion. Whether or not this is good, I will try to write something what I thought. Unfortunately, English is not my native language. I feel frustrated to write my feeling using foreign language.

Firstly, I am so surprised to hear statistics for the raping in the U.S. and university in the U.S. I do not remember the numbers, but there are quite a few cases here. At this event, there are the case that male student raped female student, female raped by male friend, raped by boyfriend, by relatives, and so many. I can not imagine, why are there so many cases. Sometimes they drunk too much, sometimes that happened in hopeless situations.

I could not listen all speaker’s talk but these speaker talked about their experience when they faced with raping and also after the incident. It was tough to listen. Speakers were students in University of Virginia and it’s alumni. Talking their experience in public must be tough for them. Also it must be very very tinny effect but that may help the process of healing. Sharing their story should give them something. And almost all speaker express their deepest gratitude for dear supporters, like closest friends, family, boy friend.

Why so many the cases here in the U.S.? Because of different culture? race? self discipline?  We recently hear the news about the raping in India. In Indian case, the part of the reason are that the penalty is not strict for rapers and also it is difficult for women to win a lawsuit. Hopeless. I do not have vocabulary to express this hopelessness.

Has similar case happened in Japan or other Asia? I did not think so but, that is because only I do not know? I remember there are some events like this event also in Japan, I did not have a chance to attend.

Also I admire the student in the U.S. I believe this event was held by students. The discussion might be too serious to handle, but I have never seen Japanese university student  hold this kind of event in Japan. I believe this is cultural and educational difference. Japanese student rarely act as a leader at these kind of event. Student in the U.S. take actions more spontaneously than Japanese student. I believe.

What should I learn from this event? This event surely left me something. But I need time what it is. Thank you for reading. Maybe I will write something about this subject later. It is too hard to digest today.

 

It is sunny today. It seems the summer has come. Students in University of Virginia seem enjoy this weather. Their clothes have changed so dramatically, from winter clothes to summer ones. Also we can see flower on trees, that makes me happy. Time to plan for summer break, I do not have any break though, imagination is free.

But I am studying in my office. I am studying crystal structure of material by using newly developed analysis method. This analysis uses the data which have been thrown away by scientist as a background. We may get some new information form this background, however , conversely, it is difficult to separate signal from background. It takes time. If we measure 2 – 3 day by using reactor or accelerator, we spend 3 – 6 months to analysis.

But as for me, learning this new method will be one of my strength as a physicist in the future, so far only a few people are working on, and also I have never heard that someone is working on this analysis method in Japan, that may be good for me. I would like to finish several papers using this method. That is my first goal in the U.S.

Today I discussed student about class of university in the U.S. American student can ask anything during the lecture but Japanese student rarely ask question during class. But, conversely, Japanese students ask questions virtually anytime after class, but professor in the U.S. is different, they have office hour for student. That is interesting.

I have been reading “Fifty shades of Gray”. I have just started reading. Someone says that this book like a pornography for girls. Haha. I asked my American friends why this books became the best seller of last year. He said that it is because American likes reading stories which they can not do. It that correct?

Today, we finished paper, we are going to submit. Publishing paper is not so easy. There are many version of manuscript. This paper is going to submit one of most important journal. The number of paper is limited, so we need to write to attract readers in limited pages. That is tough. Also this experiment result is very important for physics community, we believe, we paid much attention how show data more attractive. I hope this paper will be published soon. I am going to write next one within 3 month. Yes, I can do it.

Today was one of my friend’s birthday. I could not do nothing for him. At least, I could tell him happy birthday in person. What a lovely day.

 

Music sales : I read the news online and magazine. Today, I read the article from Yahoo.co.jp, that article said, the music sales in Japan was $4.3 billion which is world most. The sales in the U.S. was the most. The sales in the U.S. was $4.1 billion, according to this article. It was surprising. I did not know recent music scene. Also I was suspicious which artist earn so much money. The structure of market is different. The music CD and data in the U.S. are sold online, that are relatively inexpensive, less profitable. But, CDs are sold well in Japan compare to the U.S. The CD sales in Japan also decreasing though.

I have never been to New York though, but like New York, A lot of young musicians in Tokyo are struggling to be known. They are trying to be special. But being special is difficult. Playing instruments very well is not enough, they have to create something worth listening. The agent who is working for music company always is looking for new talents. Everyone can not be professional musician, but I am sure so quite a few young talents are in Tokyo.

My study : By the way, my first paper in the U.S. has almost done. We are going to next paper. This next paper is study of orbital ordering. Orbital Ordering has been studied for long time, like 20 years? Physicists have accumulated so many studies, so I need to read a paper a lot. It is O.K. to read a lot of paper, but the problem is I have to confirm our analysis result is consistent with all of them. We need to study very carefully. I would like to finish this paper at least before summer end.

ESL : Today, I went to go ESL class, we are going to write final paper of this semester. I am going to write about multiferroics which is interplay between the magnetism and ferroelectricity in the material. I need to explain using simple term but I do not want to describe the phenomena wrongly. It is difficult, but it will be good practice understanding English. I am going to summarize the theoretical paper. I am going to claim the paper because the paper gave good suggestion to the experiment. 

Today was hot, everyone change clothes. I like the hot weather, also everyone seems to enjoy sunshine and hot weather.  I am tired little today, I am going to go bed earlier. See you then.

I am practicing English by using this blog. Sometimes what I had written was not clear, and also may have had a lot of grammatical mistakes. Thank you very much for reading. I have written for 2 monthes, about 60 posts on this blog so far. Only 60 post. Give me at least 1 years to be better writer. like 300 post? I will be going to write more, like 500 words a day more, and then, I will try to write 500 words for improving my writing skill. The number of words is not important but someday in the future, I believe the quantity turns into the quality.

Writing is hard. But I will keep writing. Also, I am going to write something worth reading.

Thanks to writing every day, I started to feel like writing the longer post, story, or essay. Lets say 5000 words or so is the next goal. I will write these essays every month. I am wandering several native speaker (or sometimes non-native speaker is better to check grammar. ) can help me improving these manuscripts for me. These essay should be what I am strongly interested in, I have several things I wanted to write. For the first of them, I will write summary about ‘Grouped’ and their references. This book is my best read last year. (Physics is another story though.) I want to understand more about this topic. So I will chose ‘Grouped and its reference’ which is about the recent development on social behavior of human beings. This is my old post.

http://shinichiroyano.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/book-review-4-grouped/

Today, I finished submitting the papers about job today. Japan and the U.S. has a treaty about tax. I am exempted to pay my income tax for 2 fiscal years. But anyway I had to submit some papers for taxes and income. I spend only 1 years, so that I could use some software to fill out the information about my situation. The software was helpful, and procedure was very easy, however, still there were several confusing which made me annoying. I am happy to have finished submitting. It was a great opportunity to think about my income and tax.

I started listening ‘Kafka on the shore’ by Haruki Murakami in English. This book is story about 15 years old boy who ran way from his home and retired old man who can talk with cats. These man’s stories are separated but closely connected. I am enjoying listening.

I hope that this week is going to go well. I started running in the morning again. I need to get my strength back. I like Spring. I feel like doing something new.

Today, I teach my Japanese friend how to drive and how to pass the driving on road test. As you know, there is the course everyone should drive on road test. If we know the course and what you will be asked, we can prepare more about driving test. I am never used to take any exam,  so I wanted to help him.

To tell the truth, I actually failed driving test 3 times. Haha. After having failed 3 times, the officer at DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) said that I had to go back to school to practice driving again. I do not remember how long I did practice at school to graduate that school though, I practice driving with instructor after 5 a.m. I spent money and time though. It was O.K. for me because instructor gave me a lot of tips on driving. After the practice on road I took the exam again, I could pass the exams. That’s why, I know a lot about driving test. Maybe, this helps him passing the exam on road driving.

After that, we talk a lot about our research. He asked my about quantum physics. I told him what I know. Discussion in Japanese is definitely fun. I spend lovely Sunny today.

His study is about person who has memory before he was born.  Some British man has a memory that he had lived in Japan. It is kind of weird. And Science can never support the idea. But there exist the children who have memory before he was born. And sometimes, it is true. I can not believe it, but if there is something, that study must be fun. His story was very interesting. I would like to discuss later again.

I am watching “Heros” which is TV program by using DVD complete pack. Heros is like story about people who has special ability to do something usual person can not do, like telepathy,  flying, healing body from any of injuries. If you had sometime chance to have special ability that person do not have, what will you get? And why? This TV program is totally fiction though, it is fun think about ability I might get. But only I can come up with the ability, it seems I am going to use these for bad things.

I spend lovely weekend. Thank you everyone. It’s time to go back to work. Monday is coming, I  would love to study.

 I like Spring. Japanese fiscal year usually starts April. The cherry blossom always reminds me new year is coming, meeting new people, studying new subject, learning something new. Everything is fresh. The weather also becomes warmer, tells me the end of winter. Let’s do something new. Yes.

Today, I went to Washington D.C., capital city in the U.S. with my friends. What a nice place!! I like staying at Washington D.C. We walked around the city and took duck tour which is tour on D.C. area by using amphibian. I had really good time with my friends. The weather was nice, not so cold. The sky was true blue. Wonderful day.

One thing I regretted is failing to take picture of departing airplane from Dulles international airport. These plane had a tremendous impact. I always wander why these large material can fly. To my knowledge, there is no proof why the plane is able to fly. Only what we know is we have results from experimental simulation. When I see the airplanes, I always remember the difference between Science and Engineering.

I think cherry blossoms are blooming everywhere in Japan, I miss them. When the flowers do come out, we enjoy having parties with companions under the trees. Since, almost same time the new fiscal year, we hold welcome party for new people. Usually party starts late afternoon, lasts until midnight. We drink, sing, talk, play under trees to know each other better. Japanese has kind of seniority system, so that finding and keeping nice place for the party we call it ‘Hanami’, is most important job for new recruits.

Washington D.C. reminds me Tokyo imperial palace. That place is very calm, peaceful, and solemn. We can see also cherry blossom, you can find the pictures by using google ‘皇居　桜’. There are also museum, theater, diet, and so on. I used to like walking around there. I remember when I went to museum to see Taro Okamoto collections. In his art works, he is famous for “The Tower of the Sun,” which was constructed to mark the opening of the 1970 Osaka Expo. But the most impressive monument I saw at that time was ‘Non’ monument.

He believed that denying is strong source of imagination. I strongly agree with him. Being denied is sometimes hard. But after being denied outside of us, we really start thinking the problems deeply.

I spent lovely day. Thank you for my friends, sharing great time with me!! I need to post pictures later on Facebook. Haha.

This week has been busy. I have finished working 5 p.m. today. I am at library now. I love library. I used to spend a lot of time in library. I feel like reading books with coffee today.

When I was in college, I like to study, Universities in Japan do not give home work so much. So that, after finish my home work, I could spend a lot of time to study my own interest. I am not smart, not smart enough to spend all the time for the most important subjects or problems. I like studying what I am interested, not what I am supposed to study.

Library in the University opens until midnight, some library opens 24 hours. This is not usual in Japan. Universities in the U.S. really focus on student life. I like it. Japanese people always says that Japanese university students do not study. But did they give enough chance to study? Also some people say compared to the student in the U.S., the students in Japan study much less. This might be true. But in my opinion, the only different is only the amount of homework. What are the students supposed to do? If Japanese student was given a lot of homework, they would study more. Conversely, Japanese student has more time to spend pursuing their own interest. That is not so bad.

Why does professor give students much less home work in Japan? I think, because Japanese professors are very busy, and there is few TA to support his work. I am just wandering.

One years past, after I got a Ph. D, so that I have been Scientist for 1 years. As a professional scientist, I need to improve my skills. I am working as a postdoc, so at least I have spend 8 am to 5 pm during week, especially for professor who hired me. But, in the long term, I need to find my own way of studying, need to spend studying based on my own interest. I need to invest time to find my strength as a scientist.

I was a hard worker, but how can we define the hard worker? If you do what you like, you can be hard worker. To work hard, first thing what we have to invest is health, mentally and bodily. If we are mentally unstable, we can not work hard, if we are not healthy, we can not work hard.

I was really tired these days. I am just cleaning up my head. Thank you for reading. I need to get my strength back, to write something worth reading.

Waging a new war : Japan has been suffering from deflation so long time. I would like to know why deflation happen in Japan? Because of falling the price of land, because of Chinese cheaper production?  I don’t know.

Let’s change topic.  What does happen when we are deflation. The deflation is raising the value of money. We need less money to buy goods and services. That sounds good. But since we would less pay to buy something, the companies will earn less profits and then companies will pay less money to their employee (like us), we will get less money in the future. So if we have money, deflation is good, but if we are going to earn money, deflation is not so good, if we have debt, inflation is not good, because we have to pay back the same amount of money even when payroll is decreasing.

How about inflation? Inflation is opposite. inflation is decreasing the value of money. We need more money to buy goods and services. That sounds bad. But since we would more pay to buy something, the companies will earn more profits and then companies will pay more money to their employee (like us), we will get more money in the future. So if we have money, inflation is not good, but if we are going to earn money, deflation is good, if we have debt, because we have to pay back the same amount of money even when payroll is increasing. So if we have money now, you had better spend money earlier, if we have debt, we had better pay later, which may be able to revitalize Japan.

The problem is ”will companies pay more during inflation?”

Asteroid mining : This is interesting. One of reason we have to study the space, is that gives us imagination. Mining Asteroid is promising source of valuable resources. The problem is we need to go to space (Haha!!) and also we need to research how to mine asteroid in space. Space technology is interesting, giving us challenging tasks to solve, which help improving technology. I would like to mention, the space is different atmosphere, I have been thinking for example, there is superconducting material that was discovered by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911. Since the material show the superconductivity in extremely low temperature, application on earth is difficult. But in the space, the situation is totally different, most of superconducting material shows superconductivity, we might think application more easily in the space.

America’s stock market : The Dow reaches a record high. I have been living in the U.S. I am surprised, how American company and stock market are strong. Japanese stock market is also going well, Nikkei average is around 13000 yen today (4/5).  

I am so tired this week, I need to get rest. We are going to D.C. this week with bunch of my friends. I am looking forward to seeing cherry blossom. I like Spring. the fiscal year starts April in Japan. So every April, I expect something new. Also we have drinking party under cherry blossom. I miss Japan.

Why is people sometimes lazy? The same person sometimes works harder. What makes us being lazy? One of reason is vagueness. We are lazy when we do not know what we should do or how we should do. How about you?

As for me, I am lazy when I am afraid of happening the things I do not want to happen. Something like, what if I spend several hours to analyze something, and get anything? I am afraid of getting anything, even when I spend several hours and effort. That sometime prevents me from taking actions.

When I am lazy, my mind is busy, looking for something to do. But it does not work. So many variable, uncertain prevent me from what I really should do, which makes me rush. But I can not do, and which makes me rush more.

I remember, I read someone says ‘Lazy person does not feel his laziness’ Lazy person do not think they are lazy. That is true. If you want to do what you really should do. Let’s say you are not lazy person. But there is still different from efficient.

Making mistake is bad? No. People sometimes do make mistake. But, If we do not change after making mistake, that should be not good. We have to analyze why we made mistakes. And do something to prevent further mistakes. I did terrible mistake today. This happen unexpectedly, but the problem was always there. I needed to change before the problem showed up.

I do make mistake, more than usual people do. When I made mistake I feel the guilty. I feel I am nothing. I can not contribute to the society. I am not I can not trust me. I turned 30 last year. I do not have time to make mistakes. It is not time to correct mistakes. I should work properly.

What I have done is done. It is time to stop worrying and do something. Write down what I made mistake, why I made mistake, and how I did (do or will) fix,  analyze the mistake is most important. I am going to take measure to prevent further mistakes. Sometime talking with someone who you can really rely on works well. I need to talk. We usually realize how small mistake can grow the disaster, and almost all mistake could avoid beforehand. Lets go to sleep earlier today, let’s challenge tomorrow again. Thank you for your attention.

I did not mention yesterday. I am also listening books. What I am listening is ‘Wisdom of Crowds’  written by James Surowiecki. Since I am listening this book, my understanding about this book is limited, however I would like to write that I have noticed. This book describes why the group made good decision, which may be better than it could have been made by any single member of the group. Yes the group may be smarter than the individual which is the smartest person in the room.

Why do Scientists do cooperative studies? Science should be competitive. I have several collaborators of my research also. I have not thought about that. But thanks to this book, I had a chance to think about. If you are interested, you had better read. I would review this book when I finish reading the book though.

I was strong believer of professionalism. But once started the Science, Nature is much more wider and deeper than Scientist can reach. I mainly use neutron for study of magnetism, but physicist has also other beam such as X-ray, electron beam, light and so on. We try to see physical phenomena via interaction between beam and physical phenomena. So, what we can see using only one beam is limited. Also we need time to master technique to use these experiment equipment and understand how to analyze  these data. It is almost impossible to master every experiments. So we work together. Also Physics is not only experiment, also needs theory. We can collaborate the other experimentalists and theorists.

On writing paper, also before publishing paper, we usually do peer review paper we are going to submit. That peer review is kind of collaboration, help improving paper. We give comment each other. Some critique as a proffesional, is very useful, sometime new ideas come. Also Science community system has review system, which also helps scientists doing better science.

When does the group make good decision? The keys are independent professional, discussion with free will. Everyone need to trust the other persons idea and discuss issue based on different point of view.

Thanks to internet and SNS, our thoughts can be easily distributed, beside that is good or not. Papers are published online. News are spreading via post somewhere on SNS. In 20th century, I think the professionalism was more important. They were working separately, even they have international conference. The discussions were rare. In 21st century, communication is getting more important.