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.