2011 after 2010

Today is the last day of the year 2010. I am now in my wife’s parents’ home located at the south of Wakayama. Although this location is regarded as a warm place, there is a snow storm outside the windows of this house.

2010 was a good year for me. I got married with my wife last December, so this December was the first anniversary of my marriage. Prior to the marriage, I expected a lot. My wife is good at art and calligraphy. On the other hand, my handwriting and artistic sense were poor. Thus, I imaged and wished that I would gain a good sense of it after I got married with her. However, the reality was different. She remains a good artist, but my handwriting has never improved. Being with her is not enough for improving my artistic sense.

The same can be said of her. She is not good at English. On the other hand, I like to use English even in my daily life. At the beginning phase of our marriage, I sometimes expressed my feelings in English while speaking with her. However, I had to explain the meaning of the English phrases in Japanese; otherwise she could not understand me. Day by day, our conversations were limited to ones based on the Japanese language.

I will spend the year 2011 with my wife. I have learnt the reality of my married life from the one year experience. In 2011, I will have less expectations for my married life than in 2010. This makes me feel comfortable.

Movie Version of Norwegian Wood

When I was a university student, one of my close friends told me that novels by Haruki Murakami were good, and recommended me to read them. I was 19 years old then, and it was the first time for me to read “Norwegian Wood.” The novel captured my interest, and I have read it again and again since then, and I still read it even now. “Norwegian Wood” is one of my favorite books.

The novel “Norwegian Wood” depicts the university days of the main character, Watanabe Tohru. In the novel, he lives in Tokyo, and goes to university. He likes reading American modern literature. He did not have any friends except for one best friend during his high school days, but the friend killed himself at the age of seventeen. Watanabe has several relationships with women between the age of 18 and 21. Some characters in the novel, other than Watanabe’s best friend, have also killed themselves. The novel consists of sex, death, literature, and intelligence.

I went to university, and had some close female friends. In addition, I liked reading classic literature. Furthermore, I did not belong to a sport clubs at university, so the scope of my friendship was limited. In essence, I felt a sense of intimacy with Watanabe while reading the novel. (In fact, I learnt “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger and “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald from Norwegian Wood, and both books were the first English novels which I completed reading in their original language.)

Norwegian Wood is an important book for me, so I was glad to hear, 2 to 3 years ago, that the movie version of this novel would be screened. The movie was released about one week ago, and I went to see it today.

Locations shot in the movie were beautiful, and the music sounds good. In particular, I was moved by one scene in which Reiko sang “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles with a guitar, and Naoko lost her mental stability during Reiko’s performance. In addition, the cast members in the movie were also good, especially Mizuhara Kiko, who played Midori, was very cute and vivid.

Since I have read the novel over and over, and remember the whole story in detail, I can go so far as to say that I do not need any explanation for the story in the movie. Because I know the story, I was purely interested in how the film director, Tran Anh Hung, had expressed the novel through the media of a movie.

The movie version of “Norwegian Wood” was not solely a converted version of the novel, but represented its originality and creativity with the help of movie techniques, such as music, voice (cry, laugh, or angry), facial expression, and scenery.

However, it is certain that those who have never read the novel will not enjoy the movie.

A Terminal Point and its Beyond (1/2)

I visited my one of my old colleagues yesterday, and talked with him about on-going and prospective business-related topics. He is ten years older than me, and has been working as an environmental consultant for a long time. His comments on environmental issues is based on his years of experience, and I learn much from the discussion with him.

We discussed recent topics on air quality management policies in the world. During the discussion, I asked him to give me his comments on a prospective terminal point of the air quality management policy.

I have been engaged in various types of consulting services on air quality management policies since I started working. From my experience, I have reached some basic ideas.

Firstly, the current air quality in Japan seems to be cleaner than 50 years ago. While Japan had been experiencing high economic growth in the late 1950s to mid 1970s, severe environmental pollution had occurred during that period. The Yokkaichi asthma is one of the most identified incidents. Residents living on the leeward side of a large petrochemical industrial complex in Yokkaichi city had had a high tendency to get severe asthma. Some were killed by the air pollution, and others suffered from permanent damage.

The air pollution, including the Yokkaichi asthma and other pollution occurring in Japan at that time, triggered the Japanese government to establish The Air Quality Control Act in the beginning of 1970. In accordance with the Act, industrial factories in Japan started to regulate their emission of air pollutants. The Act has been revised again and again since its establishment, and the air quality has been cleaned accordingly.

Pictures of air in Yokkaichi, Kita-Kyushu, Kawasaki, and other industrial areas in Japan taken during the 1960 to 1970 remind us of the very fact that air was indeed highly polluted by the emissions from industrial complexes. In addition, the monitoring data taken by the Ministry of Environment shows that the concentration of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides (the two most common air pollutants) has decreased since that time. Although much more (for example, a regulation for the emission gas from motor vehicles) still remains to be done, I sense that the air quality has become cleaner than 50 years ago.

On the other hand, when I traveled to Mumbai this May, I found that the air quality had deteriorated compared to Tokyo. After that trip, I suffered from a constant cough for about two weeks. I had the exact same experience when visiting Beijing in 2006. I stayed there for about one week, and my respiratory system did not work normally during the stay. Both the air in Mumbai and Beijing were not clear, and there were identified dusts hovering in the air here and there. Although I have never been to Asian countries except for India and China, I assume that the current air quality in other Asian megacities such as Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok is more or less the same as in the Mumbai and Beijing.

These facts and assumptions lead me to reach the conclusion that the air pollution in Asian countries other than in Japan is our primary concern, and that the air pollution in Japan is the secondary one. In this sense, the air quality management policy in Japan is at the near stage to its terminal point. The Japanese government has its know-how to overcome the past severe air pollution, and it seems like good idea that the government distributes its knowledge to Asian countries in order to strengthen their capacity.

My former colleague acknowledged my ideas, and provided me with his comments. However, I have already written much, so his comments will be updated in my future blog.

Private Education Service

I had been taking an online study course on English writing from the end of 2008 to the beginning of 2010. A company in Mumbai, India provided me with the course. The course was good. Every lecturer in the course has an academic background necessary for English education. In addition, the price for the course was lower than the ordinary rate. This was probably because the company was located in Mumbai and hired local people as lecturers, so the administrative cost could be reduced to a minimum level.

During the course, I had an actual feeling that my English writing skills were improving. The style of the course was simple. A lecturer provided me with one theme, and I wrote several paragraphs along with the theme. Then, the lecturer reviewed my original writing and made comments on it, and corrected spelling and grammatical errors if necessary. I had been repeating this simple work once a week over one and a half years. However, at one moment, I realized that I had done enough practices, and decided to complete the course.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from a staff member of the company. The company seems to have a headquarters office in Mumbai and has a subsidiary office in Japan, and, the person who called me yesterday belongs to the Japanese office. He asked me to make comments on the course, and he said that he would seek to develop business strategies to promote the English writing service in the Japanese market, especially for business people.

I hope that he will be successful. However, I think that there is an intrinsic difficulty in promoting private education services. From the viewpoint of cost and benefit analysis, people want to purchase a high quality service at a low price. Thus, for example, we buy food, because food satisfies our hunger and provides us with nutrition. It is easy to distinguish between the cost and benefit.

On the other hand, how much benefit can we expect from education? Education asks us to spend our precious time on studying. In addition, we need to focus our mind on the study otherwise the education provides us with nothing. Education needs continuous effort. Thus, education requires much cost – money, time, and concentration. In this sense, who wants to pay money for private education services?

In my mind, I understand that education can give me an opportunity to broaden my career. This is a benefit, but rather an abstract one. The more concrete the distinction between the cost and benefit expected from a service, the more we want to pay money for the service.

The end of the year 2010

Today is Dec. 11th, so there remain only 20 days until the New Year comes. I became 30 years old this year. Looking back on this year, good memories exist there.

As for my private life, my honeymoon to Mumbai was one of the most exciting events this year. There existed another world. The climate was hot and humid. The city was highly air-polluted through particulate matter. Municipal waste was scattered every here and there. While I was moving to the northern part of the city by train, I found that there was a large slum town, called Dharavi, along the railway line. Above all, my first impression of Mumbai was that the city was in chaos and there were many things to improve.

On the other hand, while I was in Mumbai, I stayed at the same hotel. The hotel was located along the long seashore road called Marine Drive. The scenery was good. I could see not only the Arabian Sea, but also the skyscrapers in Mumbai from the windows of the hotel. When night fell, people gathered almost every night along the road.  Many people came. They just sat, and talked to each other, seemingly relaxed themselves. My wife and I talked to some of them. They were all kind.

Mumbai is currently developing at high speed. Mumbai is a metropolitan city like Tokyo, Shanghai, and New York, but, none of the metropolitan cities in the world are equivalent to Mumbai. Although Western culture prevailed in Mumbai, there remained inherent customs. Indian women wore traditional saris. They like eating spicy curry. Religious spirit is rooted there.

In terms of my professional life, transactions with foreign countries have increased this year. When materials, people, and capitals move across a border, an environmental business market is created. Since globalization is currently expanding in all business fields, more demand for environmental consultancies will be created in the future.

Suppose that when undertaking business activities in a new country, business operators must survey the business market in the host country in advance. In the survey, an environmental regulatory framework must be also clarified. In the next step, measures for securing compliance with the regulations in the host country must be considered. Environmental consultants play a good role in supporting clients in this phase.

In addition, there are merger and acquisition activities across a border and investment activities for foreign countries. During the course of the M&A and investment, financial and environmental due diligence are conducted. No investor wants to invest in business organizations which have a fragile financial stability or violate environmental regulations. This audit-like activity is called due diligence. In the course of environmental due diligence, environmental consultants are routinely hired.

Other than the business sectors, I have been supporting domestic governmental offices to strengthen the effectiveness of their regulatory systems since I started to work as an environmental consultant. In response to orders from governmental offices, I have surveyed the current situation in Japan about air pollution, water pollution, and soil contamination by a literature search or by field investigation.

Many people have asked me why I went to Mumbai on my honeymoon. I wanted to stay there and feel how high the speed of development was there. Japan completed a high level of economic growth in the 1960s. Mumbai was currently in a such phase. The high economic growth in Japan accompanied severe environmental issues like Minamata disease or Yokkaichi asthma. A large development potential accompanying negative issues such as the current status of Mumbai seemed to be equivalent to the initial phase of the relationship of my wife and me. Thus, I wanted to share Mumbai with my wife.

Poor Creativity versus Demanding Workload

I have started to work at a new place since the beginning of December. The place is my client office, and I have been staying there and supporting my client’s work. The client’s office is close to my company, thus my commuting time remains the same. However, since people and milieu in the client office are different from my office, I sense that some more time will be required to adjust myself to the new place. Probably, if I were to change my current job and work at a new company, I would sense a similar necessity for the adjustment.

I have been in the client’s office during the daytime. After that, I have been in my office for handling ongoing projects other than the client’s ones. Last November, I managed to complete the ongoing projects, or transfer them to my colleagues if they were not completed. Over the past month, my business schedule has been filled up and I have been contacting my colleagues, boss, clients, and contractors to complete or transfer the tasks.

Today is Saturday, and I am in my home. I am good in terms of my body, but I feel a lack of satisfaction with the very fact that today is a holiday. I am feeling burnt out. I do not find the books, which I wanted to read, interesting.

However, this feeling is similar to the one which I have felt after an achievement. The feeling of an achievement has satisfied myself, and, thus, after the achievement, I have not had an urgent motivation to undertake any activities.

Demanding workload provides me with good opportunities to strengthen business management skills. However, if the workload exceeds my capacity, then my holidays become days in which I do not initiate creative activities but instead spend it relaxing.

Current Status

I attended an annual conference of “The Society of Risk Analysis Japan” over this weekend, and I made a presentation on the theme of material management at a section meeting. About one and a half years have passed since I joined to study the theme. After the presentation, I felt relief to find the time to contemplate a blueprint of my future activity.

On the other hand, after the conference, without any specific purposes, I searched my past colleague’s name on Google. I found one blog which she has been constantly uploading. According to the blog, she is currently working at a United Nation’s organization as a technical expert. She lives in Geneva, and has traveled for business to Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe for the past one and a half years.

When she was in my office, she said “my friends tell me that I have been lack of energy since I started working at this office.” After a while, she decided to leave my office, and entered a graduate university. She received a doctorate from the university, and started her career at the international organization.

We hit it off at first sight. We were both freshmen. I dropped out of graduate school, and she wanted to join graduate school. I explained that I lost my psychological balance when I was in university. She said that she had been energetic when she was in her master’s course.

I am vividly working at my office. I do not have a doctorate. In addition, I am in a domestic private firm. Compared with her current career, my current status seems less stimulating. However, I am vigorous now. My personality is suitable to my current job.

Limitation of Technology

If there is a problem, this is an opportunity for technological innovations. Technology has solved unbelievable problems so far. For example, although people in the past could imagine that they would land on the Moon and walk on its surface, they did not know how they could do. There were many problems to be solved. However, our modern technology could solve them, and accomplish the feat. This is how our technology has been developed.

When I heard a presentation on “Hearing Aid” by Mr. Seno at the CSIJ the other day, I learned that there are problems that cannot be solely solved by engineering. According to the presentation, with the help of hearing aids, people with moderate hardness of hearing can make conversations without severe difficulties. Actually, since my grandmother has weak hearing, I feel difficulty to communicate with her unless she wears a hearing aid. However, if she wears it, she can hear me if I speak loud. In this sense, a hearing aid can partly solve the problem.

However, Mr. Seno mentioned that it was difficult for people with innate hardness of hearing to communicate with people with verbal language even if they wear a high quality hearing aid, if they became matured. People with innate hardness of hearing usually understand human voice as just vibration even if they can get to hear human voice with the aid of wearing a hearing aid. Their brain is not trained to interpret the meaning of human voice. If people with innate hardness of hearing receive cochlear implant at around 1 and half years old, they gain a chance to hear and interpret human voice.

There are many people who have not received the cochlear implant at their early age. They communicate with people in sign language. So far, there seems to be no such technology that can solve this issue. Mr. Seno provided me with the opportunity to acknowledge the limitation of our technology.

 

This essay will be published on the homepage of CSIJ, probably after it is translated into Japanese.

Motivation for Work

When I took a walk with my friend on a holiday several years ago, we talked about each other’s motivation for working. I explained that my motivation for working was based on my curiosity about environmental issues. She said that she understood my answer very well.

She knew that I'd had a difficult time finding my current job. During my job hunting time, I applied for various kinds of industries and occupations. Every application was rejected except for the one with my current company.

I had intended to hold an academic position during my student days. After graduating from university, I entered a graduate school. After obtaining a master's degree in grad school, I became a doctor candidate. However, at this stage, I dropped out of my academic career.

I realized that I lacked the wisdom necessary to be a scientist. I thought that if I had become a scientist, I would have ended up conducting tedious studies in order to mass produce academic papers. What I had wanted to do was not to increase the number of academic papers, but to pursue the fundamental mysteries of the nature.

I am currently working as an environmental consultant at my company. My fundamental mission at my company is to earn a profit. Thus, a concrete numerical goal is imposed on my annual working plan. If I fail to achieve the goal, my remuneration will be reduced accordingly.

In order to achieve the goal, I need various capabilities. One of them is a deep knowledge of environmental issues. I have been curious about environmental issues since I was in university, though my expertise was biophysics in my grad school.

Therefore, I need to study environmental issues to widen and strengthen my environmental consulting service. I study it according to my curiosity. I think this is a good cycle.

When I became too tired due to being overworked in my office, I sometimes felt irresponsible for my work. However, every time such a situation occurred, I was reminded of the fact that this profession was exceptionally suitable to me.

How to Resist Temptation

I moved to a new house a couple of weeks ago. When I was packing my clothes, books, and diary in the course of moving, I found a past article in my diary. The article was written about 6 to 7 years ago. Even though it was written that long ago, I was clearly reminded of my past psychological torture.

The title of the article was “Negative Aspects of a Condom.” The logic of the article was the following.

The invention of the condom has brought certain merits to human beings. The condom plays a central role in decreasing opportunities for unwanted pregnancy as well as preventing the spread of venereal diseases such as HIV.

However, I cannot neglect the negative aspects of the invention of the condom. One of the worst impacts is the propagation of psychological tortures arising from safety sex.

If there were no condoms, and society were to have an equivalent scientific and medical knowledge to our modern world, we would hesitate to make love, even with our beloved one. For example, our scientific knowledge would tell us that infection of venereal diseases and unwanted pregnancies result from making love. These facts would cause fear in people, and the fear would become a driving force for people to feel hesitant about sex.

However, we have invented the condom, and a condom can prevent the disease and unwanted pregnancy. In this respect, we could sweep away the fear. Accordingly, we can make love safely. This is good for people. Thus, the developed world and international agencies such as the World Health Organization promote condoms for all the people who need it.

However, I sense one negative impact originating from the invention of a condom. The condom has deprived us of the fear to resist temptation to make love. Premarital sex accompanies psychological tortures. Young couples have no other choice but to resist premarital sex, not out of a fear, but out of their own morality and patience. However, generally speaking, since morality and patience are not enough to prevent the desire for sex, young couples are easily trapped in a sex life. Premarital sex life produces complex emotions, which are not easily solved.

Human beings are weak. Thus, we are always in invisible fear of something. If one of the fears is wiped out, we will feel a strong gravitation toward the absence of the fear.

The Value of Books

I prefer Plato to Aristotle. Along the same line, I like Camus more than Sartre. Both Plato and Camus had published their books which had been written in simple terms and thus easy to read. I like reading their books. However, even though Aristotle nor Sartre had seemed to establish their permanent positions in literature and philosophy, I did not find their (Aristotle's and Sartre's) books interesting, thus I could not complete reading even one of their books.

Some people say that philosophers use difficult words. I agree with this opinion in some degrees because I cannot understand what Aristotle or Sartre wanted to express. This difficulty makes people avoid even trying to read books on literature and philosophy.

True philosophers should publish their thinking in simple statements. Thus, in the future, the fame both of Aristotle and Sartre will diminish little by little.

Writing

I came back to my home by walking from my office with my younger colleague. She has only about 1 year's working experience. When talking with her, I realized that I was no longer a freshman.

She said that she found it difficult to write business documents. If she could have a better ability in writing them, she said, then she would gain more opportunities to broaden her horizon.

When I was a freshman, I had a similar frustration to hers. I was terribly bad at writing business reports. Logic was not well constructed, and an adjective and an adverb were not placed in suitable positions in one sentence. My boss and my senior staff member often pointed out that I should improve my writing ability. I had an aspiration to obtain a better writing skills. I thought that if I could have the skills, then I would have more chances in my future carriers.

However, I have not been trapped in such frustration at least for the past year. During that time, I did not even remembere that I had such frustration. Although I have experienced many problems and confronted difficult situations in my business, I have not ascribed the origin of those problems to my poor writing skills. Instead, I have realized that communication skills were as equally important as personal skills such as writing skills. In the years ahead, I will realize other important factors which will be needed in my future business activity.

A Promise

When I was a student, I had a girlfrined. Like other couples, we left each other. Before the separation, we made a promise. We promised to do our best performance individually in the future. We believed that if we continued to do our best, then the records of our future performances would be uploaded on the Internet. We said that we could find each other's record if it was necessary.

Some years have passed since then. When I search my name through Google now, I can find my past records. Most of them are my professional activities on environmental consulting services. Until now, I have not broken the promise.

Even though I have not been conscious of the promise most of the time, the promise may constantly encourage me to sustain my motivation in the background of my mind. I made a good promise.

Uncontrollable Moment

I like comics. I went to a comic cafe last Friday night, and read the last 4 volumes of "Higanjima". Higanjima consists of about 30 volumes, and I have spent almost 1 month to finish reading each and every volume of this series.

I have deepened my confidence that Higanjima is a platitude comic. The story is similar to "Momotaro". An evil boss governs an island named as "Higanjima", and a wise man is confined to the  island. Young boys, including the younger brother of the confined man, and a young girl go to the island and fight with the evil boss in order to rescue the man.

Higanjima entices its readers into reading this childish story by using 2 measures. One is that Higanjima frequently depicts violence scenes. There are almost always fights between justice and evil. The other is the utilization of sex scenes. There are also almos always naked women, who are stripped of their clothes by evil people.

However, I was impressed with an interesting logic used in the comic. Evil is depicted by vampire and justice is depicted by human beings. Whoever gets infected with the bood of vampires becomes a vampire. The vampires always seek the blood of human beings, because the vampires become mad if they have not drunk the blood of human beings for a certain period of time.

15 to 20 minutes were required to finish reading one volume on average. I have spent 2 to 3 hours in comic cafes 4 to 5 times this October. I have been to the cafes at night without exception. After leaving the cafes at midnight, I have almost always thought that the comic was boring.

Although the comic was boring, I cannot resist my temptation to enter comic cafes. This temptation is similar to the one that I felt when I have approached men/women who were boring to me. Talking with such people was fun at the beginning, and I wanted to continue to contact them. However, soon or later I realized that something was different, and ended up being alienated from them.

I refrain from entering comic cafes, because I know my habit. Once I start to read a comic, I make myself to finish reading all the volumes of the comic. Since I do not want to spend my precious time in reading boring comics, I avoid entering comic cafes.

Love Marriage or Arranged Marriage

Couples get married through love marriages or arranged marriages. Although love marriages sound romantic, unmarried people usually find it difficult to meet good partners.

As far as I know, arranged marriages had been common in Japan before the World War II. My grandfathers and grandmothers both on my father's and mother's sides got married through arranged marriages. Love marriages were very seldom at that time.

However, love marriages started to prevail in Japan after the World War II. This is partly because the U.S. infused the concepts of freedom of love and freedom of marriage into Japan at that time. The concepts must have motivated youngsters to get married due to love.

As for modern times, love marriages have become frequent. Unmarried people tend to avoid searching potential partners through arrangements. Love marriages are common in Japan now. However, my friends living in India said otherwise. Many couples in India get married through arranged marriage. There seem to few barriers to arranged marriages in India.

When I heard it from my friends in India, I though that there were more freedoms in India than in Japan. Even though people can choose between arranged marriages and love marriages in Japan, Japanese society implicitly forces unmarried people to choose the love marriages.

Pornographic sites

The Internet is full of information ranging from scientific, artistic, to business topics. However, I cannot neglect pornographic topics when talking about the Internet. If I were to goole pornographic keywords, I would hit millions of websites dealing with porn. This is the strongest supporting tool, especially for teenage boys who are hungry for female's naked bodies.

If I were to be a teen in this Internet area, I would be trapped in and addicted to the Internet. Every night, everyday, I would search and download or watch pornographic sites. No hindrance would be placed in the way of my addiction. This would be certain.

In addition, pornographic sites are like labyrinths. There are many links, one from another. Sometimes it is a very long way to reach a satisfactory site. This difficulty also would drive young people to get addicted to the porn.

Human right issues have been of concern to people with a lot of common sense. Although I totally agree with the illegality of uploading and downloading, for example, child porn photos or movies, the ethics itself is inadequate to prevent teenange boys from watching such sites. In addition, imposing legal punishments seems technically difficult to implement. Furthermore, technological countermeasures such as filtering have not been distributed in Japan. Today's teens have no other choices but to waste time and energy through Internet surfing. Oh, how sad this reality is.

Marriage of my friend

A friend from my university days has recently informed me of his coming marriage. 3 to 4 years has passed since we have seen each other. He and I shared the same room when we were in our first year. We had the 2 other friends in the same room. However, we two hit it off well.

Work and Life

The term of "work and life balance" has been prevailing in Japan for 3 to 4 years. This is easy to say, but difficult to accomplish. This term implies that the more we work, the less we have time with our family. Thus, we are expected to work in balance with our private life. Accordingly, the quality of our work will increase.

However, although I do not have any strict reasons, I do not agree with this movement. To begin with, I cannot accept an easy-to-hear phrase like this one. There must always be hidden a negative effect when someone distributes easy words.

I understand that overwork does not guarantee a good job. However, I want to say that work should be managed not by the government or society, but by oneself or individual organizations. Imposition of an ideology will reduce the width of our individuality.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1)

I have been reading Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell for the past 2 weeks. The book consists of 3 chapters. I am now in the last section of the chaper 2.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a very famous novel. I came across this book when reading the Japan Times, a newspaper written in English and published in Japan. I remember that an article in the Japan Times described an unstable political phase in Zimbabwe 2 or 3 years ago. At that time, a tyrant governed the country. Members of the opposition parties to the tyrant were reported to be killed by accidents or suspicious reasons. 

The article referred to a one-party dictatorship described in Nineteen Eighty-Four. In some other article in the Japan Times, there was also a reference to Nineteen Eighty-Four. Almost 50 years have passed since the book was written in 1949. However, there were still references to the book, from which I sensed that something universal would had been written.

My intuition was correct. The book is well written. I cannot do any other thing except reading the book in my free time. I will post my impression on the book in a future blog.

Tea Ceremony Utensils

One of my wife's acquaintances is a ceramic artist, and he currently presents an exihition of his tea ceremony utensils. My wife and I visited there today. There are various utensils ranging from tea cups, calligraphy mounted on a hanging scroll to flower vases. Besides, I could attend a tea ceremony in which the artist's utensils were used.

Tea and a Japanese-style confection were good taste. In addition, talkings with the artist was also good. On the other hand, I found myself not to be relaxed because the tea ceremony was conducted according to traditional manners.

About 5 years ago, I read "The Book of Tea" written by Tensin Okakura. The book introduces and explaines an essence of a Japanese tea ceremony. The book was easy to read, but at that time difficult to understand what the author wanted to express. I forgot the details, but I remembere that the author said "The tea ceremony can create a small cosmos among a mind of the attendees."

The tea ceremony utensils which I saw were good ones. Textures and structure of, and paintings on the utensils seemed to be all based on the traditional manner. By seeing and surrounded by them, I sensed as if I had not lived in the modern time. I mean that I could drop the concept of time at a single moment.

Busy is good, and nothing to do is wrong. This scheme is easy to be accepted in the modern developed society. However, looking back on the Edo era (about 150 years to 300 years ago), tea ceremonys were common among samurais. Although the level of science and technology in the Edo era were lower than in the modern era, the cultural levels and the hearts of human-beings seemed not to be lower than in the moder era.

Eiken Grade 1 Test

I will take the Eiken Grade 1 test next Sunday. This will be the third time that I have taken the test. I got better scores in the second test than in the first one, but I failed to pass even the second test. I would like to gain a higher score in the third test, and pass it.

Eiken Grade 1 is regarded as one of the most difficult English tests in Japan. One of my relatives has passed it. My parents has referred to her as "that lady who is the Eiken Grade 1 holder."

As far as I can see the score gained at the second test, I would have passed the exam if I had not made 2 mistakes. However, even now, I cannot believe why I have gained such a high English capability that I would have nearly passed the Eiken Grade 1. I've neither had an experience to live in a foreign country outside Japan, nor been enrolled in a school or university specializing in foreign language studies.

I have a Japanese friend who is fond of communicating in English. I have written letters in English or spoken English language often when I have contacted him. This communication created an opportunity for me to eliminate any phychological barriers to English in my teen's.

Moreover, I have contacted, not limited to the friend, many foreign friends, teachers, clients, and contractors both in my personal life and business life. All the opportunities have nurtured my English skill.

My parents will be surprized if I pass the Eiken Grade 1 test.

A Resolution on my Thirtieth Birthday

I turned thirty years old today. I am now healthy, and have a place to work. I have novels which I want to read. (I am now fascinated by "1984" by George Orwell, and wish to finish reading it within this October.)  I have many haves. I feel good now, and today is my thirtieth birthday.

No one is able to forecast one's future life and career; neither scientist, business executives, nor engineers. All we can do is to live our life & perform our role imposed by our society as best we can. As a result, so-called fortune or success will turn up. Compromises and laziness will create no satisfaction. I wish to conduct my best performance during my 30's. This is my resolution made on my thirtieth birthday.

Yes, no one knows his/her own future, but I think that if I keep doing the following things during my 30's, I will enter my 40's with great pleasure.
- To keep recording my life in a blog/diary,
- Commuting to my office by walking from my home,
- Reading/watching/listening good novels/movies/music,
- Socializing with nice people.

Taking a seat of directors of CSIJ

A periodical meeting of the board of directors of  the Citizen Science Initiative Japan (CSIJ) was held today, and the board tentatively nominated me as a new director of the CSIJ. According to the statute of the CSIJ, new directors are to be selected and appointed at the annutal general meeting held usually in summer. Although I have not become a formal director yet, I will be involved in activities of the CSIJ more often and harder than ever, sooner or later.

The CSIJ is a non-profit organization comprising more than two hundred supporters as of August 2009. A mission of the CSIJ is to discuss and propose better blueprints of science and technology which are mainly provided for citizens.

This is the first time for me to deeply get involved in an NPO's activities. I have been and am currenly working in a private company, and one of  the main missions of my company, probably every company, is to produce monetary profit. The mission - to produce a profit - is very simple and easy to understand. However, I have been seeking other or hidden purposes of private companys. Even though I have been working for 5 years in my company, I am still uncertain what the hidden purposes are. I would like to seek them by socializing with people I meet through the activities of CSIJ.

Purchase of House

One of my friends got married a couple of months ago, and he will hold his wedding reception in the coming months. I talked with him over the phone today. He said that he was currently preparing invitation cards for guests. He requested my wife and me to attend the reception. He also talked about his new life with his new wife. It sounded good. Even over the phone, I could imagine his face seemed content with the marriage.

On the phone, I informed him of my decision that I would move to a new house. The house is close to my current home. I rent the current home on the condition that I have to leave this place in a couple of years. I, thus, have been looking for a new place to live for about one year. And, I found the one. The new house is also a rented house.

The friend mentioned that he and his wife sometimes have wondered about purchasing a house. They now rent a house and live there like I do. The friend asked me whether I have a plan to purchase a house. I answered no, because I do not want to bear a housing loan. The friend said he will purchase one if he finds a good one, since paying a rent creates nothing.

I remembered that some other friends of mine had bought a house, and my colleagues own their house. I suddenly realized that I compared my life with that of my friends and colleagues. When I was single, I did not do the comparison. If I were to purchase my house, would I feel superior to my friends who would not own their own house?

Thinking on a possibility of purchasing a house reminded me of one phrase which my former girlfriend said during my student days. She said that any materials would not satisfy me. House, car, money, nor any countable materials. I would feel satisfaction only when I accomplish self-imposed goals or encounter serendipity. The goals would not be materials, but be uncountable things, such as understanding complex logic, deepening friendships, or falling in a love.

More than 5 years has passed since I graduated my university. I have not yet bought a house not because of ideological reasons. But because I do not want myself to be bonded with a long term housing loan.