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The purpose of my life.

I don’t think I can express my feeling precisely. But, I would say something.

When I was Ph.D. student, I was always worrying about my future. As I wrote here before, Japan is one of the hardest countries to get Science Ph.D. in the world. Japanese Companies need fresh undergraduate student and train by themselves. Academic positions are not many. I borrowed scholarships and payed life expense and tuition. I didn’t have any confidence at all. I drank too much sometimes. I read a lot of book, Philosophy, classics, self-help and so on.  I was trying to find answer what is purpose of my life. Finally, I could get Ph.D. thanks to a lot of Scientist.  And, I realized.

My purpose in my life is “Improving my character”.  That’s all.

The point is contribution. Contribution to society, physics, partner, family whatever, I do every my action to improve my character.

This thought may be similar with Buddhism, but clearly different from Christianity.  It seems to be easy at first, because of its simplicity, but it is hard. Because sometimes, it is hard to tell which is correct way to improve my character.

Because I am Japanese, I think Japan is the greatest country. But there are also tons of problems. Japan is the greatest because my ancestors were great. We should keep our standard, which is not easy. The reason why I came the U.S. is building my career and widening the way of my thinking in different culture. You can recognize the distance between you and object because you have two eyes.

I have not decided yet whether or not I will be back to Japan, but I am always thinking about Japan, how to contribute to Japan, how to contribute to the world as a Japanese. I can explain you about Japan. I am looking forward seeing you Japan. And I can’t wait to see you in the U.S.

Thanks,

Japanese Lecture 4 : Using Noun and Pronoun in sentence.

Japanese, like English, has the concepts of subject, of sentence, direct object, and indirect object, but it expresses these concepts in a different manner.In English, we show the relationships between the words of a sentence mostly word order, such as,

The policeman chased the burglar.

The burglar chased the policeman.

These sentence is totally different. However, in Japanese, the sentence function of noun and pronoun is shown by additional words that are placed immediately after the noun and pronoun. These words are called particle or prepositions.  The word order is also important (I will discuss this later) though, basically the sentence make sense to me.

Taro gave hanako the flower.

太郎は花子に花をあげた。taro ha hanako ni hana o ageta.

花子に太郎は花をあげた。hanako ni taro ha hana o ageta.

花を太郎は花子にあげた。hana o taro ha hanako ni ageta.

The first one is perfect, but I understand 2nd, 3rd one.These particle or preposition never vary, always remains the same.
Let’s practice using examples, these three most important particle or preposition, ga, wa, o.

1. ga が 

ga usually indicates the grammatical subject of sentence or clause in which it appears

頭が痛みます。 atama ga itami masu. : I have a headache.
山崎さんが来ます。Yamazaki san ga ki masu. : Mr. Yamazaki comes.
 

2. wa は

wa indicates that the material that it immediately follows is to be set apart from grammatical basis of the Japanese sentence. A rough English translation that will fit in the most situation is ‘as for’

今日は海が大変きれいです。kyou wa umi ga kirei desu.: Today the see is very beautiful.
僕は明日音楽会に行きます。boku ha ashita ongakukai ni iki masu.

: As for me, tomorrow I shall go to concert.

Also you may have observed, wa is often indicate material that is subject of English translation. You may be puzzled about when you should use wa. Actually, this involve a very subtle distinction in Japanese thought. Let me tell you later.

3. o を

o indicates that preceding word is the direct object of the verb.

お土産を買いました。 Omiyage o kai masita. : I  bought some souvenir.

神戸を発ちました。Kobe o tachi masita. ; We left Kobe.

It is very important that you understand how these proposition are used, since they are cement that bond together the part of Japanese sentence. They cannot be omitted in a grammatically correct sentence. You must indicate the subject of a clause, either ga or wa, and you must indicate the direct object, if there is one, by o. But as I said you before, you don’t need to worry about the word order firslty. I think Japanese understand what you want to say. The other examples are ne and ka, These are used for express questions. I may discuss later.

Japanese Lecture 3 : Noun, Personal Pronoun.

1. Noun.

Japanese nouns has only one form, which is not change to indicate number, gender, or the role that the noun plays within the sentence. The same form is used under all circumstances.

猫 neko = a cat, the cat, the cats, cats

電車 densha = a train, the train, the trains, trains.

傘 kasa = an umbrella, the umbrella, the umbrellas, umbrellas.

This will probably seem very imprecise for English speaker, and you may wonder how we are going to express our thought. We can used as we do with English words as sheep, fish, quail, or deer. In most cases, the number of things that we are talking about will be clear from context. Where it is necessary to be specific, we can always use numbers or words indicating quantity.

たくさんの自動車 takusan no jido-sha : many automobiles.

2. Personal Pronoun.

In modern colloquial Japanese the personal pronouns are usually omitted if the meaning of the sentence is clear without them.

ご機嫌（きげん）いかがですか? gokigen ikaga desuka : How are you?

元気です。genki desu : I am fine.

When it is necessary to express a pronouns, either for emphasis or clearness, use these words,

私 watashi : I, me   私たち watashi-tachi : we, us

あなた anata : you (single)  あなたたち : anata-tachi : you (plural)

彼 kare : he, him    彼ら karera : they, them

彼女 kanojyo : she, her    彼女たち kanojyo-tachi : they, them

In addition to these normal-polite forms, Japanese is very rich in other words that convey great variety of shades of familiarity, or politeness, and formality. Most of these form are beyond the scope of manual.

For example,  I = 僕 boku 私 watash 俺 ore 自分 jibun 拙者 seltusha 私め watakushi-me 我輩 wagahai 小生 shousei  朕 tin.

Like noun, pronouns do not change their forms according to their use in sentence.

私の watashi no : my   私たちの watashi-tachi no : our

あなたの anata no : your (single)  あなたたちの : anata-tachi no : your (plural)

彼の kare no : his    彼らの karera no : their

彼女の kanojyo no : her    彼女たちの kanojyo-tachi  no : their

The impersonal pronoun ‘it’, in such expression as, “It is raining”, “It’s Sunday” is not translated into Japanese.

Music.

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 came up with firstly.

1. Japanese female vocalist, artist

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

Today, I recommend you “Taiyou no Kakera” You can watch on Youtube.

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.

3. American (classic) rock or music

Deep purple, Eric Clapton, Eagles, Maroon5(?), Dream theater, Rage against the machine, Earth wind & fire.

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 very best tune I have listened, also I have played most times. “Smoky” You can also watch on Youtube.

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

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!! This post written in haste, sorry.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

I will be on business trip from Feb 22 to Mar 2. I am at Oak Ridge national laboratory (ORNL) to do neutron scattering experiment at SNS which is the world strongest neutron source.

http://www.ornl.gov/

We are going to measure 11 samples for 8 day. This is really tough.  I hope we can get good results. I have been to ORNL more than 5 times, however every time I learned something. Actually here is historical place for those who study magnetism using neutron scattering. Here ORNL was the place where first neutron experiment was performed.

In May 1944, physicist Ernest O. Wollan sent this letter to Richard L. Doan, director of research at Clinton Laboratories (later named Oak Ridge National Laboratory). While work on the Manhattan Project was still in full swing (and led to the classification of this letter as “secret”), he proposed an experiment on the world’s first continuously operating nuclear reactor, the X-10 pile at Clinton Laboratories. Wollan was among the first to recognize the scientific potential of high-intensity neutron sources.

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/january-2013/neutron-scattering

To study magnetism, we use neutrons. Because neutron has spin and there is interaction between neutron spin and spin in material, so that neutron scattering has been great tool to study magnetism.

The experiment was scheduled from tomorrow. Fortunately, we could start experiment today, because there was extra time today. My boss asked instrument scientist to come to help us. He came lab to help us starting experiment, even today is Friday night. We are very happy, we appreciated it.

First sample contained Ir element, what is called 5d transition metal. However, this element absorb neutron, this is not good for neutron scattering experiment, but only SNS can do this. I am really excited!!

We drove here from Virginia to Oakridge, it took 6 hours. So I am so tired today!! And also experiment has just begun. We already set up temperature scan finish tomorrow noon. I hope we could get good results. See you then.

Beyond Counting Sheep.

Math is the hot new bedtime reading.

This is from article, ’’Beyoud Counting Sheep’’ Time / The Culture / Education

Laura Bilideau Overdeck, a Princeton trained astrophysicist. She is founder of the nonprofit Bedtime Math, and she wanted kids to fall in love with numbers. As a part of that mission she wants to change the way parents put their kids to bed.

The core of Bed time Math is simple. You will ask children to solve the problem on bed, which is from a free diary problem, geared to one of three level of math problem. The subjects tend to be ones that especially appeal to children.

1. Weeones – prekindergarten

2. Little kids – kindergarten and second grade or so

3. Big kids – second grade and up

For example (from text)

1. Weeones- Alaska was the 49th state to join the U.S. How many states has already joined?

2. Little kids – Of the 20 tallest mountains in the U.S., 17 are in Alaska. How many of them aren’t’ in Alaska? BONUS: There are 200,000 moose are 900,000 caribou in Alaska. How many more caribou than moose are there?

3. Big kids – Alaska covers 660,000 square miles If Alaska cut itself in half, how much bigger than Texa’s 268,000 square miles would each half be?

Bedtime Math is part of project that a lot of people are working on, which is aiming at cultural shift that will get kids coming into school already comfortable with math.

I believe that Bedtime reading is also important. But keep in mind, research shows that early math skills are better predictor of academic success than reading ability. Why don’t you using math problem, instead of just counting Sheep?

One mother who use Bedtime Math says when her child’s zest for Bedtime Math enables her to use it as a threat; “If you don’t brush your teeth now, no math tonight”

You can get the daily math problem by email!

Home

Practice writing topic for TOEFL 1. Ignite University.

1. People attend college or university for many different reasons (for example, new experiences, career preparation, increased knowledge.) Why do you think people attend college or university? Use specific reasons and example to support your answer. (30 min, 300 words.)

 People attend college or university to build friendships with classmate without any benefits, which helps people’s dream coming true. When we are college or university, of course we have to study hard though, we have plenty of time to share our thoughts. We can discuss our dream, future, what we learn freely. College or University has a lot of course, which means there are various kinds of idea, study, professor and student.

 For example, I am working for Univ. of Virginia as a physicist. I was invited student to attend some events which was titled as “Ignite Univ. of Virginia”. One student made presentation about how we can succeed. And student talked each other about their dream. I found the girl who wants to be cultural anthropologist and work in Japan because the relation between Japan and China is getting worse recently. I am an only Japanese there. But I was very happy to hear that. I had decided to teach Japanese to her.

My definition of young people is “Someone who believes he can do everything, but who don’t know what he can do.” In this definition everyone can be young. But talking their dream is important. If we express our dream, someone might show you the way. You have use all 20’s for pursuing your goal.

After graduation, sometimes it is difficult to talk our opinion freely. Because we have to make money for living, and work for company or institution, so that we tend to gather who has same culture. We sometimes are skeptical for colleague. 

 We might realize what we were heading was wrong or right later, but, whichever, still what we have done is invaluable. I believe we need 10 years devotion to get to dream. It is long way, but friends who we met in college or university always get our back, kept encouraging us to finish the goal. (42 min,318 words)

Types of prepositions.

For nonnative speaker, it is difficult to decide which position we should use on the writings.  Why don’t you review type of prepositions? List is from ‘’Eye on Editing 2’ written by Joyce S. Cain’

1. Prepositions of time.

month/year     in : She was born in May.

This university was established in 1993

day/date         on : We have class on Monday.

Why don’t you start field research on June 5?

Specific time    at : The class started at 9 a.m.

General time    in : We have meeting in the afternoon.

Approximate time    about : I will be at home about 5:30 p.m.

around : I will be there around 6:00 p.m.

between : I am coming at the Hall between 9 and 10 o’clock.

duration      for : I have lived here for six years.

through: I have thought of you often through the past years.

2. Prepositions of place

city/country     in : He lived in the U.S. for ten years.

street              on : He bought his house on the Wall street

address           at : He lives at University Heights.

motion              to : He went to National institute to do experiment.

toward : He walk toward me.

3. Prepositions of position

on : This book is on the desk.

in : The camera is in my bag.

at : Let’s meet at library.

beside : The dog is sitting beside its owner.

between : My office is between Smith’s and Jason’s.

4. Prepositions of reason

for : I do my job for living.

by : He was pleased by her kind words.

about : We are concerned about the news.

5. Preposition of manner

by : He can understand what she is saying by listening carefully.

at : He is good at playing the guitar.

with : They fisnished the test with ease.

6. Preposition of comparison

like : We are so close that he is like my brother.

as :  I play guitar only as amateus.

7.Preposition of possession

of : She is a good friend of mine.

These are basics proposition and examples. Let’s check these out!!

Movie Review 2 : Shutter Island

 Can you tell whether what you remember is true or not? Can you tell where what you believe is true or not. Can you tell whether you are in dream or in real?

U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio plays) was investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. He believed that the hospital had dreadful secrets. Teddy was also investigating Andrew Laeddis (Teddy believes he killed Teddy’s wife) who vanished from this hospital without trace.

Story started with his new partner Chuck on the ship which is going to go to the hospital. They started investigating at the hospital, but there is a lot of regulation and unreasonable things, even he is U.S. Marshal, they could access all information they want. The lead psychiatrist, Dr. John Cawley, refuses to hand over records of the hospital staff; murderess’s doctor, Dr. Sheehan, had left on vacation after murderess’s disappearance. They hide something from them? After few days’s investigating at the hospital, he started to believe that the hospital is for performing questionable experiments on its patients, and sends the incurable to the lighthouse to be lobotomized. He started behaving so insanely against doctors, staff, and patients. Finally he got to the lighthouse, but there is no clue of experiment on its patients. Two Dr. was there, they told him ‘You are Andrew Leaddis’.

 The truth is the following. Teddy is Andrew Laeddis. Sadly, his wife murdered their 3 children by making them drawn when he was out. He found the incident, he killed his wife. I could not accept his real world. So, he create imaginary person “U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels” and the imaginary story of Andrew Leaddis.

Finally, Dr. Cawley presumably takes this as a sign of regression and regretfully decides to have Laeddis lobotomized. Before he is taken away, Laeddis asks Dr. Sheehan, “Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or die as a good man?”, and then calmly leaves with the orderlies. Dr. Sheehan is left uncertain whether or not Laeddis has truly relapsed, or simply prefers lobotomy to having to live with his guilt and sorrow.

I actually am not sure that I could understand this movie correctly, but let me write movie review. This movie is really exciting. Story is complex but you will be obsessed with.

http://www.shutterisland.com/#/home

Good English words I found at books, online, and my life recently 2.

1. Expectation is the root of all headaches –William Shakespeare.

I found this on Facebook post by English literature and Language.

2. You are writing primarily for please yourself, and if you go about it with enjoyment you will also entertain the readers who are worth writing for. If you lose the dullards back in the dust, you don’t want them anyway.

The book ’’On writing well’’ chaper5, The audience.

3. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together – African proverb.

I found this on Facebook post by English literature and Language

4. The best revenge is not to be like your enemy – Marcus Aurelius.

I found this on Facebook post by English literature and Language

5. The Changing Taste of Beer: Qualia are qualitative experiences such as tastes and smells, but how real are they? As an example, the philosopher Daniel Dennett cites the typical first reaction to the taste of beer: “What awful stuff!” But suppose you become a beer lover—has the taste of beer changed? Do you have different qualia, or do you have the same qualia but are just reacting differently?

I found in the course description for “Philosophy of Mind: Brains, Consciousness, and Thinking Machines”. I am so curious. I would like to buy this DVD in the near future.

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=4278&ai=81259&cm_mmc=email-_-Mag7TopRatedActNMRHO20130212-_-courses-_-moreinfo&cm_mmca1=81259&cm_mmca2=4278

6. Anxiety, you’re not the boss of me.

I found this online article written by Richard Lucas, Special to CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/health/anxiety-first-person-irpt/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

7. I just posted your passwords on Facebook – your Ex

Email advertisement from MacAfee. Haha!!

8. If you don’t like something, stop reading it. You’re under no obligation to finish. It’s not required reading. You’re not being graded.   This one is hard for me. I like commitment. When I start something I want to finish it. If I’ve invested time into reading so many pages, I might as well see it through.   But I’ve learned how quickly this can kill my momentum and enthusiasm.

Hendricks, Kevin D. (2013-01-19). 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading (Kindle Locations 303-306).Kindle Edition.

9. Confession time: I’ve had plenty of “classics” I stopped reading because I didn’t like them.

Hendricks, Kevin D. (2013-01-19). 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading (Kindle Locations 310-311). Kindle Edition.

10. If you want to read a lot of books you have to finish them. You can’t just jump to the next one every time you see something shiny. Have the discipline to finish a book before moving on to the next one.   If you’re tempted to start up a new book before you finish the old one, pay attention.

Hendricks, Kevin D. (2013-01-19). 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading (Kindle Locations 567-569). Kindle Edition.