New Subway: Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line

The Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line is the newest subway in Tokyo that was launched on June 8 2008. I got on the line for the first time today because I took my daughter to the promotion preview of her favorite TV program. I wanted to take the line because I wanted to see the natural air condition in the Shibuya station, in order to save energy. The station has a large vaulted ceiling as the above photo.

How to Manage in a Flat World

Have you worked for any global teams, especially, virtual teams? The manager and stuff in the global virtual team needs many skills for team buildings and communications. Philip Whiteley tells the techniques and skills how to manage in a flat world. The management skills in the global team becomes essential for business persons.

Three C: Success Business in a flat world

• Communications
  
• Compete
  
• Collaboration
  

The most important thing is to build the Human Internet.

Passion for Coffee

Doutor is the largest coffee chain in Japan. There are Doutor at every couner in Tokyo.
The president Hiromichi Toriba likes the Buddha's words "Ingakuji". It means that the result comes from the sources. If you look into the current situation, you could also understand your futures.
However, I don't go to Dotor so many because Dotor has risen the price of standard blend coffee. It costs 230 JPY for a middle cup of coffee. I prefer cheap coffee, and so I usually go to Veloce . It costs only 170 JPY. As you know well, McDounald's coffee is cheaper than Veloce. It costs only 120 JPY, but I don't like to drink coffee with a paper cup. I love a mug cup!!

Tough Negotiator: The US Lawyers

Colin P.A. Jones is not a native Japanese speaker, but his sentences seems to be written by a native Japanese. Of course, his wife is a native. However, I understood his high language abilities. In addition, I also understand the roles of the US lawyers in the courts.
I didn't know details of the famous McDonald's case. I had thought the case was forced by the rain makers.

What's Valuable School?

Kiyonuki Ohashi is the president of the Hiroo-Gakuen High-School and the Jr. High-School. He has boosted up his school. He has the strong policy of educating in his school. You could read his policy on his blog (sorry, in Japanese only). I agree with his opinion not to teach only knowledges for the entrance exams of universities, but also to think or experience what students want to become.
People needs more thinkable brain in the future. Almost all knowledges would be stored more in the Internet, people will be able to search and read the knowledges as more exact and integrated information everywhere or anytime quickly.
I hope universities in Japan to be changed much more!

Juries in Japan from the US Attorny's View

Juries in Japan will be started in 2009. There are many opinions on the juries in Japan.
The USA has the long history of juries. Colin P.A. Jones know the juries in the United States, but I don't have. I also worry about the new juries. However, I have to attend at something judicial as a citizen.

How to Use Conjunctions

When, Which and How do you use "conjunctions" on your sentences or your speech? I'm not often conscious of conjunctions I'm using. Kei Ishiguro told the situation would be dangerous. People might misunderstand what I said or myself. He recommend I should be more careful with conjunctions. That's true. I might use many, many unnecessary or unsuitable conjunctions in both Japanese and English.

Seminar: The Modern Musical Theater

I attended at the international understanding seminar in English of "The Modern Musical Theater" in the Kawasaki International Center. Dianna Ishiyama who is a musical teacher in the Senzoku Gakuen University gave us the seminar.
I've watched "Miss Saigon" in NY. I felt it's not worth because many large stage setting are appeared. e.g. A real helicopter is appeared on the stage. The musical didn't seem to have valuable contents. However, I could understand to need the large stage setting in her seminar. The musical needed the competitive functions against colored movies and TV programs. I want to watch musical again.

Recommended musicals for beginners:
CATS, Les Miserables, WICKED, The Lion King, TITANIC

Buffet & Gates Go Back to Schools

To watch the video must be much better than my opinions.

Why Do Many Corporate Scandals Happen?

There are many corporate scandals in Japan. Many scandals are also happened by the government. These scandals are happen in the world, too.
I think there were many scandals in the past. People didn't have extend the bad information in their local area, but now people have many methods to inform the bad information to public easily. In addition, we could not get limited information of the scandals by the media only. now we can see many information and opinions in the world.
Now we must be seeing the global democracy has been establishing.

What We Say Goes

The United States has had many, many problems for this eight years. I remind 9/11, Afghanistan & Iraqi War, Financial Crisis and 11/26. Chomsky has his many, many opinions for the problems and the government policies.
How the new elected president could change this complication world in next eight years.

Credit Delivatives Pricing Models

If you have to calculate the pricing of credit derivatives, you have to read this book.
The simplest CDS pricing formula is
d(1-r) = s(1-d)
s: annual CDS premier, d: annual default rate and r: recovery rate
It seems very easy. However, this formula doesn't include counter party default risk or liquidity risks. The practical formula must be more complicated.

All About Credit Derivatives

As you might have listened the security name "CDS(Credit Default Swap) ", CDS would become a trigger of the financial crisis. CDS is one of credit derivatives.
Yuko Kawai and Shingo Itoda told all about credit derivatives such as the history, kinds, trading structures and pricing. The teaching of pricing on this book is not difficult and details.
CDS would be necessary in the modern finance, because someone don't want large credit risks, but others want to take large risks and profits. The credit derivatives divide some credit risks from your investment for bonds. However, now the credit market had become too huge without any authority's controls. The market overdrove, and occurred the financial crisis, as you know well.

Please watch 60 Minutes "Financial Weapons of Mass Destruction " if you're interested.

Speaking Techniques

There are many books in Japan how important that people listen what others says, but there are not many books how important to speak what I want to say. Actually, there are no classes to teach how to discuss in Japan.
It's important to survive in the global competitions. However, Kentaro Aso told only how to speak or discuss in the Japanese group only.

2009 Presidential Inauguration and Address

I also believe the new era.
"... We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. ..."

Inaugural Address Full Text  

How Much Salary of Congressional Members in Japan?

Do you know how much the congressional member in Japan gets? If you're not sure, I recommend to read this book before the next election, and then you don't want to select anyone except this author.
This author, Takashi Kawamura is the congressional member in Japan. He's disclosed the total compensation of the congressional members from local to nation. They're terrible.
As you might know, the corruption perception index 2008 was released. The Japan's ranking was 18th in the world...

Windows Server 2008 for Beginners

Windows Server 2008 is very powerful because you can execute many kinds of programs from .Net to UNIX. Windows Servers has been extended to the enterprise area. I think Linux and UNIX have innovated  many advanced technologies, but they are not integrated. Engineers had to learn many different technologies, but Microsoft has integrated the many technologies on the Microsoft policy. It'd be a stronger point than other platforms.
But it's a shame there are less good guidebooks for professional in Japanese. This book is also for beginners...

How to Survive as a Programmer

If you're a programmer in advanced countries, especially Japan, do you make any plans how to survive in the IT industry? Almost all Japanese IT guys would think they have to become a manager or a project leader. However, Mitsuyuki Komata addresses the plan is not only one. Some programmers should or must be professional.
I agree with his opinion partially, because there are very few professional programmers in Japan. Almost all programmers quit to compose their program during the junior class. They become project leaders or managers, they don't compose. However I saw many professional senior programmers in USA. They're also good project leaders or managers. I think it'd be the reason of the weakness of IT industry in Japan.

Theory of Programming

This book's Amazon rate is so low. Actually, this book is not worth to read when you could understand his blog.

How Do Presidents choose next?

How does the company president choose his or her next president? They have their own policies to choose the next. However, every president says the most important task during the president period is to choose the next.

Silverlight for Beginners

I tried to compose a simple application of Silverlight on Visual Studio 2008. The view is based on XML, and the controller was based on C# (or VB). The architecture is very understandable for .Net programmers. The quantity to learn something new would be minimum
I favor the Microsoft strategy of composing tools recently. Microsoft has got huge profits in the world, and Microsoft has returned the revenue to engineers in the world. It seems an ECO system.
This simple application on the Silverlight on the web is consisted of only two codes.

Windows 7 Beta

I'm trying "Windows 7 beta". Windows 7 is expected to replace the main stream of client PCs. Windows Vista has not been expanded to the client PCs because the Windows XP is excellent. However, Windows XP has seemed old-fashioned, but many people were satisfied with Windows XP.
I am a heavy user of Windows Vista because Windows Vista has many functions to control the client PC. However, many people don't know the importance. I think Microsoft didn't promote the convenient functions of Windows Vista. The reason would be that Microsoft has thrown away to promote their products by themselves because there are no choices. Many consultant companies and publishers have promoted Windows instead of Microsoft. Finally, Windows XP is the most string competitive products against the new versions. It's the same situation as Office 2007.
I'm looking forward to migrating to the 21st century's technology.

Why is the goldfish the representative for Windows 7??

Key Points of Practical Project Management

Have you learned any project management skills? Almost all managers in Japan except engineering departments would not have learned it, because they would think the management skills could come from business experiences but the skills could not be learned.
However, as far as I see, almost all managers don't know basic management skills or tools. If the managers know the basic skills, there would be less small failures.
However, managers who use the skills can't be always successful.

Business Risk Analisys for Beginners

The Monte Carlo Method is a very common in financial institutions. Especially, the method is used for the risk management for the financial products. The Monte Carlo Method is not difficult. If you know to calculate a current value what you want to know, you could use the method easily. The method needed much CPU power several years ago, but now it can be calculated on your PC.
Actually, I calculate some options which I composed the programs. The calculated future values are very close to the explicit solution method values. If the value doesn't have the explicit solution method, you could get the future values from the current value with Monte Carlo Method.
I recommend to learn the Monte Carlo Method.
ビジネスリスク分析入門―モンテカルロ・シミュレーションの応用事例 (早稲田大学理工総研シリーズ)

Tips for Couple

My wife brought this book to me. There are some tips for couple.
Prohibited:
- Don't go to bed until your husband is back to home.
- To cook what your husband like but you dislike.
- To believe your husband's promises.
... and so on.
It's funny. As far as I see the prohibitions, my wife has been already clever. :)

Selective Customers

Akira Ishihara is a top business consultant in Japan. He is the president of his own lab. However, I sometimes don't suspect the reason why there are the Marketing section in Japanese companies. I have experiences three Japanese companies and one non-Japanese company. The three Japanese companies don't have the Marketing positions! It's incredible, but it's truth!

Reading English Books for Senior Beginners

This book is not only for senior beginners. Every English learners should read as many English books as possible. Almost all Japanese could make much mistakes to learn English. They must use English more in their lives because they only study English. It seems to bring less effective. I've written blogs in English, read WSJ or NYTimes news, listened BBC or WSJ news and watched CBS or BBC documentaries and trained to speak with a dictation with "WSJ This Morning " everyday. The dictation is still tough for me, but I'll get the ability even though it'd take 10 years.

Ski 3rd day

My son has been able to ski without any supports since 2006. My daughter has just started skiing on this trip but she can go down on the beginner course without any supports after my only 2 hours lesson. I will be allowed to ski freely without supporting my kids soon.

I Chased My Daughter's First Ski.

Admiral Seiichi Ito

Admiral Seiichi Ito was the last captain of the battleship Yamato in the WWII. Mitsuru Yoshida wote down the other famous book on the battleship "Death of YAMATO ".
There are many sad tales on this book. I was interested in the discussion to start "Kamikaze" in the Imperial Navy. Chief Ohnishi analyzed
- There were the huge gap of the air forces.
- The gap of the fighting skills was critical.
- US Navy had the strong radar already.
The Imperial Navy finally decided that it's impossible to fight with ordinal tactics and agreed with Chief Ohnishi's opinion.
I was also interested in the decision of "Kamikaze by the battleship Yamato." The Imperial Navy had planned to use large guns for the defense of the main land. However, the Imperial Navy decided the symbol of the "Kamikaze by All Citizens" on fighting in the main land. It's stupid.

Ski 2nd Day

It's not snowy, but still cloudy, and there are much snow. The ski condition was very good yesterday but I coud not sometimes see anything by heavy snow. However, I and my family enjoyed skiing very much.

It's the first time for my daughter to ski. She can not still get on any lifts,and so I had to coach her skiing. I could only go down the ski courses 10 times a day....

Photos

Return of the Taleban

The situation in Afghanistan has seemed to be more difficult and complicated. There are many poor countries in the world. I wondered why Afghanistan has been focused. I recognize a reason. It's huge natural resources in the area of the Caspian Sea. The stabilization in Afghanistan would be very important to transfer the natural resources.
In addition, as you might know well, the terrorism by Taleban and Al-Qaeda are grown in this area. The terror in Mumbai would be outbreak.

It's Snowy.

It's been snowy since midnight. I'm looking forward to sking because I did't ski last year. Let's ski!

My Son's Ski

Is Climate Change True?

Kunihiko Takeda addressed the climate change would not be a large issue because the climate change would not be happened. He mentioned the temperature would not be higher for the long period, and the polar bears would decrease and so on. The media and politicians has made the large campaign for their profits.
I'm not sure whether his opinion is true or not. However, it's much important to save energies even if the climate change is happened.

Optimizing LUCK

IUE(International Ultraviolet Expoloer) in NASA has been the successful mission since 1978. Thomas Meylan is a leader of the mission in the early '90s. He joined five missions in NASA, and he chose this mission. He told many tips on making the best team from his experiences.
The most important tip is that a leader produces the team culture to optimize lucks.

For optimizing lucks
-Team Building: High quality communication, Regarding
-Supervising: Observing direct clients, Watching news and topics, Using well-informed persons, Training observations to your stuff.
-Working Hard
-Critical Thinking against the current status and situations.
-Delegation

Microsoft 2.0

Mary Jo Foley is a famous journalist of Microsoft. He's written the Microsoft's products or strategies for 25 years. I feel the large size and the long history of the Information technology industry in the Unites States because it'd be hard that a journalist who focuses on only one company could survive for 25 years in Japan.
You could get a lot of information on Microsoft which Bill Gates left from this book, which are many area such as Windows Server, Web services, Windows, Windows Mobile, these organization and so on. We IT guys have to know the strategies since Microsoft have huge impacts to our jobs.

My HDD Recorder Was Broken!

My HDD recorder "Toshiba RD-H1" was broken in this morning. The strange sounds had been rung since last Sunday. The recorder didn't work at all finally in this morning. I bought the compatible HDD in Akihabara and I changed the broken HDD to the new one by myself today. The price was 5000 JPY. If I had sent the recorder to the customer center, I could have paid 25000 JPY. It's much cheaper though the recorder's guarantee was lost. However, I have to buy 250GB with 5000 JPY though I can buy 1TB with only 8000 JPY!

All About Fuji-TV

The Fuji Television is the most popular network in Japan. The employees in allmost all sections wrote down their tasks or opinions.

However, some reports showed that people reduce to watch tv programs. Actually, the profits of all tv networks in Japan has been decreased. Allmost all writers on this book didn't seem to analyze the reasons why people don't watch the tv programs.

I've been not interested in the tv programs so much since I went to collage except news and documentaries. I don't have enough time to watch, and there are not any worth programs to watch because I feel the qualities of the tv programs in Japan are much lower than the States as far as I watch both.

Why Were Many SU Business Failed?

The most important reason why many start-up business under large companies would be failed is very simple. The employer and employees don't have real passions and motivations to be successful for their business. That's simple, isn't that? But, it must be true!

This author reported that

- Almost all emplyees in SU under the large company have their shelter after failing.

- The parent company doesn't give enough privileges, but has all responsibilities. The balance betewwen plivileges and responsibilities is usually not good.

animoto

I tried to use "animoto". If you use any online photo services, you can create a new online slideshow easily. In addition, you can upload the slideshow soon from the animoto site. Please try it.

Percentage of Completion Method

In Japan, the IT companies may still choose the account methods for their long-term projects, the percentage of completion method of the completion job method. As you might know, the percentage of completion method is the global standard.
Sometimes investors in Japan could be surprised at the sudden bad financial statements of the IT companies. It's hard to get the actual progress of their projects on the completion job method.
However, the IT companies have to use the percentage of completion method from next fiscal year 2009. I have experienced the method in my first company. The company has chosen the method since 1995 because of reducing risks. Everybody complained to use the method on starting. The decision was true.

New Year Card Contest 2009 @ Apple Shibuya

My son submitted into the New Year Card Contest 2009 at the Apple Shibuya Store. He enjoyed the contest though he didn't win. The first prize's card which a lady of a pastry cook made was so nice. She put some cows which were made from chocolate on her picture. She got the iPod nano 8GB.

I and my son watched the large mural "Asu-no-Shinwa (Tomorrow's Myth) " of Taro Okamoto in the Shibuya Station.

Soft Law on Regulation

There are many, many different soft laws or unwritten rules everywhere even if there would be in a barbarian village. 

This book was written as a result of  the "21st Century COE Projects" selected by the Japan government.

I'm interested in the chapter of "the soft laws between the governments and the markets". The social scientist researched the actual garantees of the ungarantee national and local government bonds. The other social scientist will publish the book "Soft Law on Trading in the Markets" soon. I'm looking forwad to it.

Successful Person's Methodlogy

What do you try to study anything? Do you give them up soon? This author tells you how to study what you try.

Reading Textbook

- To read only one textbook three times at least.

- 1st: to finish reading until the end of the textbook rapidly. You don't have to understand everything. Don't underscore.

- 2nd: To recognize what you don't understand. You have to note the links on the margin of the textbook.

- 3rd: To understand everything. You may underscore the important parts for you.

Using Practice Book

- To make a plan the quantity of your practices for a day, and just do it.

- To pracitice as soon as possible.

- To practice as much as possible in the early period of your plan.

- To record your practice.

- To enjoy when you can correct the higher practices than the middle level.

- To use the practice book instead of a textbook.

Hawking Show

After the Imperial Apperance, my family went to see the hawking show in the Hamarikyu Garden. The hawing show of the Suwa Falconry Preservation Societ y is held today and tomorrow. If you want to see, please access here (sorry, in Japanese only).

First Practice for the young hawk and falcon.

Final Practice for the senior hawk and falcon.

Imperial Family Appearance 2009

The Imperial Family Appearance is held on January 2nd every year. My family attended at the appearance. It's the first time for us. There were already many people in the Imperial Palace Park at 10am. All attendees were frisked by the imperial police at the park carefully.

We went through the Imperial Palace Main Gate at 10:30am.

There are many, many people at the park.

We arrived at the Imperial Palace at 10:45am.

Emperor Greeting

"I really appreciate to see the people in the new year. I've worried that many people on the new year day would be suffered by the severe economy situation. I hope that this new year must be better for the people. I think, therefore I wish the people a happy new year and the peaceful world."

We went out from the Sakasita-Mon Gate

We enjoyed the Indian curry lunch at RAJ in the Shin-Marubiru.