Column: 2005 Update.

The season has come again this year.
There's a new word invented again, "Love NEET" means those who fears to love an opposite sex or don't know how to love.

Akihabara story.
And these Love NEET's are easily found here in "Akiba".

Train Man.
This novel made Akiba much popular as a tourist spot. So many "first time comers" or "layman" came, and Akiba-otaku's deplore that the town is diluted.

Departure of Tsukuba Express.
Is Tsukuba Express the cause of dilution in Akiba? Maybe.

Subway in Tokyo.
The 13th line is under construction, and will be operational in 2007.

About the train accident in Japan.
People died was miscalculated: it was 107.
JapanRail West, the company which operated the said line, is still floundering.

Disasters.
There's one good news here, that Indonesia government and Free Aceh Movement or GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) had reached an agreement on peace negotiation.
India and Pakistan also show some indications about peace in Kashmir.
It's good to hear that they stopped fighting against each other, and cooperate in terms of reconstruction.

Dependence on medicine.
This winter, flu will be prevalent.
Remember to wash hands and to gargle, these are always the best ways of prevention.

Pollens as the cause of allergy.
Scientific analysis says that this year won't be bad as much as last year.
But still be careful for the people who have hay fever; whether the amount of pollens is lessen or not, you still have an allergy.

Save the Earth from short sleeves.
"Cool-Biz" campaign was successful.
Of course in terms of amount of energy saved, especially since the summer on 2005 was really hot.
But there's another aspect that it had spread and increased the Ecology-consciousness to many Japanese.

Team -6%.
Many private companies (especially in cars and electric appliances) also tell about these policies, in somewhere like TV commercials.

Vote! (of course in Japan)
Finally Koizumi and LDP won in a landslide.
It made the bills to be approved so quickly.

Privatize.
Postal service privatization bill was approved too easily after the election.

The falling nation.
Birthrate of Japan had dropped to 1.26, which is lowest in all the advanced nations ever.
At the same time, population of Japan began decreasing for 10,000 this year.
Is this problem totally helpless?

Fear of asbestos.
There's more scary news about construction.
Japan has strict laws about earthquake-resistant construction, but it was detected that there are group of people who forged the computation about it, and amazingly it was permitted by an investigating organization.
Whoever the one responsible is, those apartments built is now forbidden and will be demolished soon.

To the next step...
It's quite long since negotiation between Toshiba and Sony had been broken off.
Both the "HD-DVD" and the "Blu-ray" will begin selling on 2006 Spring, but I'm not sure if consumers are still interested.
"Flash memory" is slowly but certainly becoming the new standard, and both of them might be kicked down after the long fruitless competition.

Too Much Belief to the computer.
Stock market is still active like crazy.

Repeated Fiasco.
After J-Com stocks resumed trading from 1,020,000 yen, it had risen up to 2,200,000 yen.
Now It's falling back to somewhere near 1,600,000 yen.
And there's an individual who had earned 2 Billion yen in this incident. (17 Million US Dollars!)

Baseball and Mass Media.
Baseball marked lowest audience ratings this year.

Civilization.

This is a word of a great Japanese, said on middle of 19th century.
"Western countries are no civilized. If they are really civilized, they must bring equal living standard to uncivilized regions and treat the barbarians equally as the civilized people, instead of colonizing those lands and exploiting those people."

Profound, huh!?

In the world and times of imperialism, there was only two kinds of nation: strong or weak.
And the definition of civilization was clear: strong nation is civilized, and weak nation is not. It was synonymous with imperialism.
Japan tried to be a strong nation, and framed a lot of policies, like "the wealth and military strength of a country".
It seemed that was successful until WWII.

Japan was vanquished.
But at the same time, imperialism collapsed.
Now the definition of civilization is changed.
Most probably this is the definition accepted to almost everybody.
"Civilization is a society which justice is common to all the people."
In other words, "Civilization is a peaceful society."
When the standard of justice is different, there will be no peace.

I'd like to define peace here:
"Peace is a state that society is in order; thus, the opposite of peace is chaos."
One more, definition of war:
"War is a method of diplomacy with military power; thus, the opposite of war is consultation."

Iraq War is over, but we can't tell that Iraq is peaceful.
Yes, there are still uncivilized regions in the world.
And the people who go natural, go as they desire, or self-interested, are uncivilized.

Civilization is opposite of going natural.
Isn't it ironical that Peace isn't natural at all?

At the end of the pursuit of wealth, spiritual declination awaits, followed by collapse of civilization.
It can never continue eternally.
Environmental problems we are encountering may be the warning from nature to us.

Civilization isn't measured by wealth.

No longer an empire.

December 23 is a holiday in Japan,the Emperor's birthday.
Well, it's not a big celebration to us, we're just happy that we have one more day-off before Christmas. ^_^

About the Emperor and the Imperial Family of Japan, there's one thing I amazed:
Some schools in foreign nations teach that the Emperor of Japan still has a power, an authority.

No.
They've lost power long time ago, even before WWII.
(If my knowledge is correct, last time they got a power was on middle of 19th century.)
The Emperors were controlled, or "used" for the nation, by then powerful people, like then prime minister or then commander in chief.
The Imperial Family is just a national symbol.

I amazed also to some Japanese youth, who don't even know who is the Emperor.
But that's the reality, the Imperial Family isn't important in our life.
(Look, I don't put something like "His Majesty", I'm not that patriotic.)

Anyway, they also contribute in providing heartwarming news, where most of the news we hear are glooming.
Many people were watching the marriage of the Emperor's daughter.
She's now a private citizen, but she's still popular.
The Emperor and Empress visited Saipan, one of the site of a hard fought battle in WWII, to express their condolences to soldiers and civilians was also a good mews.

However, some people are concerned in other place.
The topic they are discussing is if "the Empress" must be approved or not,
since the first child of the Crown Prince is a girl.

Actually, there were 8 Empresses in the history of Japan.
But they were just a "filler" until a male family becomes the Emperor.

"The first child" or "The son", which must be prioritized?
The public opinions are more in favor of the Empress,
But keeping the male line made the Imperial family continued for 17 centuries is also a fact.

This is a difficult topic.
And I don't have much opinion about this.
I'm just glad to be in one of the minor nations in the world which have "national symbol".

Repeated Fiasco.

"Sell 610,000 stocks in 1 yen."

It's very obvious for everyone that this is an erroneous order.
The correct order must be "Sell 1 stock in 610,000 yen."

Mizuho Investors Securities made this order for J-Com stocks on last December 7.

And amazingly, this order was accepted.
Of course it's because of COMPUTER.

The price of J-Com stocks slumped to 572,000 yen.
No wonder, they made an order which was 42 times of the enlisted stocks.
It automatically means they sold short.

They noticed of the mistake 85 seconds later, and tried to cancel the order.
But this time, cancellation was rejected.
So they had to repurchase it to cover.po to 772,000 yen.
Few minutes later, J-Com stocks were suspended to trade.
Finally, Mizuho was not able to cover 96,236 stocks.

They lost 27 Billion yen in few minutes.
(By the way, it was swollen into 40 Billion yen on December 12.)

Now, whose fault is this?

The human error was caused by Mizuho, so it's natural to think that they have to take the responsibility.

However, TSE also admitted that they had a defect of not accepting the cancellation.
So the responsibility after the 85 seconds must be taken by TSE.
And also by Fujitsu, who made the system for TSE.

The fiasco was repeated.
It's fresh in our memory that all the trades was suspended on November 1.

Human errors are inevitable.
But we can make a fail-safe system.
The trade must be automatically rejected by computer, when a trader presents "impossible" value.

Actually, TSE called Mizuho about bulk amount of the strange trade.
But they just asked to cancel it.
They were able to stop the trade by themselves, but they neither did it nor made sure that they've cancelled it.

TSE is quickly losing trust.

I just wish that this won't become the trigger to the way of depression in economy of Japan.

Don't be tricked!

At all times, the crimes from pickpockets to murders do exist.
But what is new and impressive to my ear is "pay-into-fraud".

There are so many variations of this trick, but the basic style is so simple:
Criminal calls victim, pretends to be a police, and tells that his/her son/daughter made an accident and needs to compensate, so please pay $$$ into particular bank account.

I can't believe that there are thousands of Japanese who where tricked in this single phone call!
It's so clear that this kind of phone call is strange. If they are really police, they should confirm the name of the parents first, and the one who asks for compensation is not police but the other party of the accident.
And yet, they believe in what the criminal says, since they are panicked.

The variations of modus operandi I mentioned above is about making the story not suspicious.
Criminals are clever, they change the story everytime it becomes well known.
The bad news is that there's no limit of variation of the story.

However, this kind of crime is also easily prevented.
Perhaps the victims can call his/her son/daughter, and check if they are really in trouble.
Isn't it simple?
(Well, if the criminals are so clever, they'd call when the victims can't get a contact with his/her son/daughter.)

I guess this kind of crime cannot be done in other countries.
One of the tradition of Japan which we can be "proud" of is "to trust, and to be trusted", which criminals abuse.

It's really famous in the world that Japanese are suckers,
they are easily tricked and have a lot of money.

It's also because of the environment, that provides us extra-protection, which makes us not immune to the dangers.

That's why we can never drive away all crimes,
When we conquer one crime, another crime will appear.

And since we can never be sure that we'll never be the victim,
We should be aware and cautious.

To all the readers.

I want to share my experience.

Recently, My younger brother joined in an English speech contest for junior highschool students.
Unfortunately, he didn't make it, but anyway it was surely a good experience for him.
His topic was about the global warming and too much luxurious life we have.
Which was too difficult topic, not only for the audiences, but also for the judges. They didn't understand!

The problem had popped-out when he practiced in front of me before the contest.
While listening, I noticed that some lines of his piece sounds familiar to me.

The line about "Tokyo Wall" was taken from one of the post in my blog.

I knew that soon I'll suffered under Googlewashing.
This is the problem that the copied page is either ranking higher or replacing the original page in search-engines.

To all the readers,
especially to the morally-inferior thieves:

Okay,
I'm glad that my messages are spreading all over the world.
I'm glad too that some of my grammatical errors were corrected.

But to copy-paste my post (my effort!) without telling it to me is absolutely vicious.
You should never pretend that this is your original post.

To the one who copied:
If you're reading this, tell it to me.
Everything will be alright.
It's better to be late than never.

And I won't let you copy-paste this post with the simplest method:
Signed, matwiz.

Dependence on medicine.

What will you do if you see an illusion that you're in your house and it's in a fire?
Will you throw your body out from the nearest window, even if it's 2nd floor?

I don't know.
And thanks God, I never saw such an illusion.

But this might be what the boys who took Tamiflu experienced.
It's just my guess. We don't know and we'll never know.
But the truth that 3 boys who took Tamiflu committed suicide by jumping cannot be denied.

After Thalidomide, we are sensitive to the side effects of medicines.
But as long as pharmacists keep on making new medicines, we can't avoid this.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare plans to reserve Tamiflu's good for 25 million people.

However, the Ministry mentioned above also tells that Tamiflu isn't necessary for all people.
When usually healthy people suffer from the flu, they'll have fever for about 4 days and will be fine.
It must be prescribed only when the patient is either old, has cardiac or respiratory disease.
It is also possible to prescribe for the "busy" people, with the reasons like "exam is near".
But it is not recommended to take Tamiflu rashly.
There are also some flu which Tamiflu has no effect.

There's no such thing as panacea.
We just dream that it exists.
But after all, medicines are chemicals.
(I would like to exclude Chinese 'herbal' medicines here.)

These are the best combinations I know to keep sicknesses away:
Aspirins, water, balanced diet, moderate exercises or sports and enough rest.

Except for aspirins, these are the traditional ways to fight against sicknesses mankind had since ever.

Is petroleum inexhaustible?

A scientific analysis tells that petroleum in the world will be exhausted in 40 years.

But on 1970's, a scientific analysis told that petroleum in the world will be exhausted in 30 years.
It's already more than 30 years now.

How come?

Because the word "oil deposit" is often misinterpreted.
It only tells the ECONOMICALLY PROFITABLE amount of oil.
As the crude oil prices increase, more petroleum resources repose can be developed.
Thus, the "oil deposit" of the world increases.

The steep rise in crude oil prices we are experiencing is not due to the problems in oil producing countries.
It's because of the investors, general or institutional, who foresee more demands of petroleum buy in futures.
It's clear in everybody's eyes that some rapidly developing nations, such as China or India, are needing plenty of oil.
Hence, oil producing countries earn more without increase in cost of production.
In fact, the oil income of Russia, one of the OPEC member nation, increased from 250 Billion Dollars to 430 Billion Dollars.

And of course, if there's somebody who have surplus, those surpluses are invested in the world.
As you know, this is the "oil dollars".

Perhaps Japan's economy is one of the most prospected and stable economies in the world.
Most probably they contributed some to the rise in Nikkei, which had increased about 15% in 3 months.

But wait.

Please do not misunderstand that it's not "we have unlimited source of petroleum, since oil deposit increases as the crude oil prices increase,"
It's a big NO!
According to another scientific analysis, the amount of oil production forms "bell shape" in the graph.
Which means once the peak is reached, there's no way than to follow the steady decrease of production.
And that peak is estimated from 2003 to 2006.

Ironically, the increase in crude oil prices make us hard to use the oil, and pushes us ahead to shift the source of energy.

I believe this is the biggest contribution of the increase in crude oil prices.

Too much belief to the computer.

Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) is not only the center of the economy of Japan, but also one of the biggest financial center of the world.

On last tuesday, November 1, 2005, TSE turned down for 3 hours.
Transactions for all the stocks listed in TSE had stalled.

It was caused by software glitch.

As the economy becomes active, number of transactions everyday increases.
We had never experienced the transactions as much as 3.7 Billion stocks per day, recorded on November 2, 2005.
This is primarily caused by the increase of "day-traders", who buy and sell stocks within a day and won't hold any stocks overnight.
Internet trade allowed us to join in the stock market easier, faster and cheaper.
It can also be verified by the number of accounts in internet trade, which was 750,000 accounts on March 2003 became 7 million accounts on March 2005.

Thus, TSE were urged to expand the capacity in processing, and they did so on October, from 6.2 million processes to 7.5 million processes per day.
That caused the new software unable to find where are the new locations of the database.

They had a backup for the database, but it was useless since what was down was the software.

They were able to resume, but 3 hours is too long in this world.

Were there no any possible remedy?
Well, the answer is NO!
We can never tell that system glitch will never happen.

Computers will make no mistake.
But computers are made by human, and when the input is wrong, of course the output will be wrong too.

However, transactions by "signs and gestures" are too old in this times.
Could anybody process 7.5 million a day?

What is important here is an attitude towards system glitch.
They must not just rest on the computer's laurels.
If the problems are irresistible, they must prepare to solve quickly.
Or else, they're gonna lose trust.

By the way, November 1, 2005 marked second to the highest upswing on this year.
If I was there, how much did I earn in just one day!?

Good consumers.

"Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability", or LOHAS, was introduced in U.S.A. on end of 1990's.
It's main theme is to stop having the idea of "prioritize consumption; make light of environment".

Yeah.
It's common to the traditional "Eco-movements", starting with "Slow Life".

So what's different?

The best and the biggest difference is that it DOESN'T FORCE ABSTINENCE.
it just requires us to be WISE CONSUMERS.
By becoming wise consumers, we can make a good influence to our economy and to our Earth.

Here are some keywords:

- Sustainable Economy
Use recyclable energies like wind power or solar power. Buy "energy-saving" goods. Ride bicycles.

- Healthy Lifestyle
When we pursue for the delicious foods, we reached to the additive-free organic foods.

- Alternative Healthcare
We're interested on oriental medicines. If we become healthy by improving our constitutions, we don't need drugs.

- Personal Development
Yoga may not only get ourselves into shape, but also disciplines us.

- Ecological Lifestyle
We better buy something lasts long, even if it's a little expensive.

To be concrete,
Consumer: "If we buy something at all, we should choose the one kind to the nature."
Producer: "If we sell something at all, we should make the one kind to the nature."

Clear?
It's also easier for producers to join this movement, since it also thinks about the flow of money.

And as long as you're concerned, you're in this movement.
There's nothing bad about it, why don't you join!?

Baseball and Mass Media.

You might have no idea about the relationship of these two.
If you have thought that some Mass Media companies own baseball teams in Japan, you're splendid.
In fact, 3 out of 12 professional teams are owned by Mass Media companies.

But the situation is more complicated (and exciting) now.

Last year, The world of baseball was reorganized.
some Baseball teams were sold, bought, merged and newly joined.

While, in the beginning of this year, Livedoor fought against Fuji TV about the M&A of Nippon Broadcast.

And now,
Murakami of M&A Consulting is Buying stocks of Hanshin Electric Railway, the owner of "Hanshin Tigers", and Tokyo Broadcast, the owner of "Yokohama Bay Stars", while Mikitani of Rakuten is also buying the stocks of Tokyo Broadcast.

Their difference is clear.
Murakami purely pursues for profit margin, while Mikitani believes that when an IT company and a Mass Media company merges, it will pioneer a new form of industry.
Mikitani said, If they can merge, it is alright to make Rakuten to be the subsidiary company of Tokyo Broadcast.
That is his vision.

But it may be somehow difficult for them to merge.
Tokyo Broadcast is an owner of "Yokohama Bay Stars", and according to the rule, it is not allowed for a company to own two or more baseball teams.

Either way, I'll enjoy watching the development after this.

Baseball was the most popular sports in Japan, while Mass Media had strongest influence.
These two worlds reigned for long time in Japan, and are believed that they are unshakable.
But as the proverb says "The only constant thing in this world is 'change'.", They represents that Japan is in a phase of generational change.

Baseball is not anymore the only popular sports in Japan. People loves to watch Soccer (Football), K-1 (Martial Arts), Golf, Tennis, and many more.

And as Horie or Mikitani said, Internet is becoming the new ruler over the world of Mass Media, no longer TV Broadcasting.

And generational change is a proof of active economy.

Column: Baseball reorganization.

Last year, The world of baseball was reorganized.

Perhaps the biggest shock was that "Kintetsu Buffaloes" declared that they are in financial difficulties. they decided to MERGE with "Orix Bluewaves", and became "Orix Buffaloes".

The world of baseball was in an uproar.
They had never experienced the merge between two teams.
And a problem came out inevitably, that the number of teams lacks to continue the league.

In this situation, Livedoor and Rakuten, both the newly founded IT companies, had given their name for new entry.
Finally, Rakuten had won, and "Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles" joined the league.

Also, Daiei, the owner of "Fukuoka Daiei Hawks" sold the team to Softbank, an IT company too, and became "Fukuoka Softbank Hawks".

In short, the owners of baseball teams represents the economy of this nation.

Disasters.

Last October 8, there were strong earthquake on northern part of Pakistan.
It is said that about 50,000 people are dead.

Hurricane Katrina stroke Southern part of U.S.A. on last August.
Here, about 1,200 people are dead.

So which of the two is the bigger news?
Think well...
(Terrorism in Bali is another big news, but I'll put it aside.)

You might say, "many people are died in Pakistan, since that country is overpopulated."
But the population of Islamabad is just 400,000 while the population of New Orleans is 500,000.

Many buildings are ruined? That's for both.
Crimes increased drastically? Same as well.

The scale of news isn't proportional to the scale of the disaster.
(It may be politics, but I'm not talking about it this time.)

These both incidents brought out the consequence of prioritizing the pursuit of profit.

There are people who underestimate the power of hurricane.
There are people who constructed the buildings which don't meet the required standards, to built them cheaper.
And, there are people who weren't able to escape, since they had no enough money.

Perhaps, these are the warnings from nature.

And yet, Japanese proverb says, people use to forget the news in 75 days.
Who still remember the earthquake in Sumatra? Terrorism on London? Train accident in Japan?

Okay, Terrorism or Train accident are human errors.
And you may say, natural disasters are inevitable.
But remember, human errors together could make the disaster more tragic.
Our little care could prevent so many things.

Did you know that in Chernobyl, when the alarm rang, a stuff TURNED IT OFF!?
Ridiculous, but it's true.

That's not nature? Okay.
Tokyo has one of the most developed drainage system in the world.
And yet, It flooded on last August, caused by a local downpour and such a carelessness.
Nobody expected rain of 100mm per hour, and the drainage system soon reached its maximum capacity.

In modern civilization, we, human race, thought that we conquered the nature.
NO.
Nature exists first, then us.
So we must become humble to the nature.

Team -6%.

On February 2005, Kyoto Protocol took effect.
It says all about reduction of green house gases for the global warming.
And all advanced nation must reduce CO2 emission, with quota. Japan must reduce 6% from the amount emitted on 1990.

Still, Kyoto protocol is powerless.
These are the top 5 nations in the amount of CO2 emitted:

5601.7 m-Tons : U.S.A.
2795.0 m-Tons : China
1437.4 m-Tons : Russia
1186.4 m-Tons : Japan
1072.6 m-Tons : India
(m-Tons stands for metric tons, which 1 m-Ton = 1,000 kg.)

In above nations, U.S.A. doesn't ratifies Kyoto protocol, while China and India are exempted from Kyoto protocol as "developing countries".

But it doesn't mean that we may not stop the Global Warming.

Team -6% (Minus Six Percent) is a group of people who stands up against the Global Warming.
The leader is Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan. Many other celebrities and famous people are members, and 110,000 people join this movement.

And I'm a member, too.

"Cool-Biz" is one of the most well-known activity of the Team -6%, but it's not the only activity.
From this October, "Warm-Biz", the counterpart of "Cool-Biz", begins.

There are 6 main activities.

1. Aircon is 28 degrees Celsius for cooling, 20 degrees for heating. (Cool-Biz and Warm-Biz)
2. Close the faucet often.
3. Buy eco-goods.
4. Stop idling cars.
5. Decline over-packing.
6. Unplug often.

These small acts can be done promptly by everybody.
And these could save the Earth, if everybody unites to do these.
Yes, it's our consciousness which could save the Earth.

Education. (Part 3)

Why is education important?
Zomahoun Rufin said, "Education is the foundation of the nation." and he builds many schools in his homeland, Benin.

The miraculous revival of Japan after World War II is also based here.

It is not well-known that graduate of engineering schools are excempted from conscription during the war.
They had survived, and contributed a lot to the revival.
Japan lost so much in the war, but not the technology (the brain).

In fact, during the rapid economic growth, Japan's education was top level of the world.
(It's not well-known too, since education are held in Japanese, and only few foreign students came to Japan to study.)

Japanese style of education is to "mass-produce the quality".
Most of the students are made to be "the same as others", and supplied to enterprises, which leaded Japan to prosperity.

But on 1980's, Japan abdicated it's position to Korea.
Other rising nations, like Taiwan or Singapore are following.

It was also the end of generation of education stressing memorization.
It was clear that something like "creativity", "conception", "application", "leadership", "ability to solve a problem", are more important than "knowledge".
Then, on 1990's, Japan turned it's style into education free of pressure with latitude.

Still, it is questionable if it is working out.
In order to cover the omitted lessons, children are obliged to go to cram school or supplementary private school.
Thus, they have reduced their free time than before.

I think the "free of pressure" is FOR TEACHERS, not for students.

Nowadays, it's rare to see a passionate teacher.
Of course, they exist. But at the same time, they are usually found in expensive schools.

Since when did the teachers lost enthusiasm to teach?

In Korea, ONLY THE TOP 10% of the examinees are qualified to become the teachers.
This is also one of the reason why Korea's education became the top level of the world.

After all, quality of education greatly depends on teachers.

Education. (Part 2)

The birthrate of Japan reached 1.28, which is lowest in all the advanced nation.
This causes a lot of social problems, such as Pensions.

Another thing is Education.

During the "rapid economic growth" on 1950's to 1970's,
population was increasing rapidly.
At the same time, schooling became affordable in every family.
Thus, there were so many schools built.

But now,
many schools are closed, due to lack of students to run.

This is not a latest news, it was also happening before.
But it usually happened in rural area,
that decrease in population is not only for youth but for all generation.

Now, there are many colleges where they let enter the examinees 100% for admission and yet lacks the quota.

Moreover, people called "NEET" - Not in Employment, Education or Training - is increasing.

Do you know how much big issue is about NEET?

1. The nation became rich.
2. Cost of bringing up children gets expensive.
3. Birth Rate goes down.
4. More money is spent for every child.
5. CHILDREN'S MOTIVATION TO WORK LOWERS. (we are here)
6. At the same time, a lot of baby boomers retire. (coming soon on 2007)
7. Shortage of labor.
8. Nobody inherits some technologies.
9. LOSS OF TECHNOLOGY. (our future)

Beyond it: you already know.
Japan is an industrial nation, supported by technologies.

Education. (Part 1)

Education is extremely expensive in Japan.

Tokyo University is one of the most well-known public university in Japan,
but it has a tuition fee of about 5,000 US Dollars per annum.
when it comes to private universities or colleges,
20,000 US Dollars to 30,000 US Dollars per annum is still "cheap".

Unbelievable. o_O

Japan's compulsory education is 9 years (from 6 years old to 15 years old).
Still, tuition fees are expensive.

By younger brother's public junior high school takes a tuition fee of about 1,000 US Dollars per annum,
The redeeming feature is that the people who can't afford it can ask for a financial aid to Education Committee in every local government.

No, not everyone can do that.
The people must have passed the qualification of household's annual income of less than 20,000 US Dollars or something.
hehehe...

It's amazing that although schools take so much tuition fees,
children's parents pay that expensive tuition fee with or without wondering.

Yeah, the schools which take expensive tuition fees EXISTS,
because there are people who pay it.

Nevertheless,
education is a compulsory for children,
but not for adults.

Disregard the price,
Higher education have a right to take a tuition fee.

And as long as they provide a "high-quality" education,
the "expensive" tuition fee is reasonable.

Question:
What should a student without much money do?
Well, there are some general answers here:

1. Stop studying and work.
2. Work while studying.
3. Study extremely hard, and go to a "cheap" public school.
4. Study extremely hard, win a scholarship, and pay back after graduation.
5. Student loan.

And many more...

And my choice is to "work first, save money and go to school". ^_^

Vote! (of course in Japan)

The bill of postal privatization has rejected.

Actually, it passed in the House of Representatives on July, but rejected in the House of Councilors on August.
And Koizumi said that when the bill is rejected, they will dissolve the House of Representatives.
Hence, the election will be held on September 11, 2005.

Koizumi is the party leader of the "Liberal Democratic Party" (LDP), which is the ruling party together with the "Clean Government Party".
Koizumi also pushes the bill of postal privatization.

But there are some members of the LDP who had voted against the bill, like Watanuki or Kamei.
Koizumi didn't allow them to run as a member of the LDP, thus they seceded.
They formed a new party, the "New National Party", Watanuki as the party leader.

Anyway the New National Party is unable to rule the government in everybody eyes, Koizumi decided to put candidates against them in each electoral district, and they called "assassins".

One of the most popular assassin, against Kamei is Horie, the president of the company "Livedoor", who had secured the business tie-up with Fuji TV.

He supports Koizumi reformation, but he runs for election independently of any party.
He is so popular in the economic world, and this is his new challenge.

Of course, I should not forget of the biggest opposition party, the Democratic Party.
Okada, the party leader, says that the postal privatization isn't the only point at issue, like problem on pension, and aims to come into power.

He has to say so, because public opinion says that about 70% of the people supports postal privatization, and Democratic Party can't support, since they are the opposition party.

Or do they rather want to say, "Privatization is good, but Koizumi reformation is not."?

Interesting thing is that both Koizumi and Okada say that they will resign the position if they can't get at least 50% of the seats.

Of course, there are other minor parties, but to mention about them makes the story too long.
So forgive me to omit.

...

So what?
What I want to say is that this election will be so exciting!
It's rare in the history of Japan.

I hope I had a suffrage...

And I also hope that many people will vote in this election,
since Japan has extremely light vote.

Departure of Tsukuba Express.

Last August 24, 2005,
a new railroad "Tsukuba Express" or "TX" has been inaugurated.
It connects 58.3km between "the city of technology" Tsukuba and "the city of electronics" Akihabara.

Starting fare is just 160 yen (about 1.45 US Dollars), and from Akihabara to Tsukuba is just 45 minutes, and it costs 1150 yen (about 10 US Dollars).
Expensive? Well, it's up to you, how to take the value of 45 minutes.

TX is also the "last commuter railroad" connecting to Tokyo.

There were so many people riding the "new train", and the stations were often entrance was restricted. Although, inside the station was not that crowded, since it takes universal design:

• big elevators
• lessen difference in ranks
• wide hallways
• protection fences on platform, which opens interlocking with the door of the trains
• ATC : "Automatic Train Control" system
• ATO : "Automatic Train Operation" system
• no railroad crossing

etc.
These are believed to prevent an accident like the one happened on April 25, 2005 in Fukuchiyama line.

TX also provides:

• wireless LAN (meaning connected to Internet)
• radio wave for cellphones (which means the signal is always maximum)
• small tables enough to put Laptop PC

and other things inside the stations or trains, suitable as a "scientific" railroad connecting not only Tsukuba and Akihabara, but also somewhere like Tokyo University Kashiwa Campus.

As you sense,
I rode TX. ^_^

In just 15 or 20 minutes from Akihabara,
rural landscape spreads over the window.
While watching and enjoying,
I was thinking that this landscape will be gone in few years.
The area along a railroad will be developed, and it should be.

In fact, Akihabara station of TX is in the eastern part of Akihabara, and this area is developing rapidly.
Soon, the weight of the city will be shifted towards east.

'cuz a railroad makes a flow of people.

Which makes the summer hot?

Tokyo's Summer is hot.

Well, one reason may be Cool-Biz,
all the aircon in public places are set 28 degrees Celsius.

But that doesn't explain the reason why last year's summer was so hot,
'cuz Cool-Biz began this year.

So why?

Global Warming?
Perhaps, but why is it hot especially in Tokyo?

Some scientific researches says,
One big cause is what-so-called "Tokyo Wall".

"Tokyo Wall" is a group of skyscrapers bristling on Tokyo Bay Side,
which blocks cool winds from Tokyo Bay,
and leaves the inland calm and very hot.

The worst thing is that there are plans to construct more skyscrapers on Bay Side.
Some estimate says, that maximum temperature in Tokyo will reach 40 degrees Celsius within few years.

All because of artificial landscapes.
They are made ecologically unplanned.
Now, the consequence is back to us.

Of course, those are not the only reason which makes the summer hot.

To live in urban is hard in many ways...

The Japanese I respect most.

Sugihara Chiune is the name of the street in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Seriously!!!
You can find it in a map.

Or do you want a story about Sugihara Chiune as a person?

...

He was Japanese (obviously).
He was a deputy consul in Kaunas, Lithuania during World War II.
He saw thousands of Jews surrounding the consulate and shouting in bloodshot eyes.
They came to ask for visa to escape from the persecution of Nazi.
Japan was one of the axis powers, as well as Germany.
Of course it is not allowed to issue any visa.

But he issued, with his own decision.

He issued the visa, even reducing the sleeping hours, even his arm began to swell, and even he was called back, he issued in the train going back and scattered from the window.
He carried through his convictions, took the responsibility, prepared himself for expected punishments and saved the life of 6000 Jews.

The honorary president of Chicago Mercantile Exchange is also included in the people who was saved by Sugihara.

...

He was imprisoned, and released.
He spent the rest of his life calmly and peacefully.
He never tried to go back to the world of diplomacy.

He was an ordinary Japanese.

He was not submissive, definitely.

But he's great as a human, don't you think so?

Fear of asbestos.

Asbestos is an artificial material, and cannot be decomposed.
It is poisonous to human body, once inhaled, it stays in lungs permanently.
It causes illness such as white lung or lung cancer.

This study was discovered for about 4 decades ago.
When this was known, many advanced nation banned usage of asbestos.

Japan didn't.
Well, Japan made a law to REGULATE the usage, but asbestos were still used in many constructions and other usages.
(There are some kinds of asbestos, and Japan banned the more poisonous ones, but allowed the less poisonous ones.)

Until now.
95% of asbestos usage are banned, but the remaining 5% are still used, since there are no alternative material for some particular usages.

This problem is RECENTLY spotlighted.

Begins with the news of "workers in a factory using asbestos DIED."
The known number of people died at this point is over 300, and more are in serious illness, caused by asbestos.
Not only the workers in a factory, but also some people living near the factory, or families of the workers.
News were talking about a housewife who used to wash the uniform with full of asbestos, and it caused her to death.

Condolences.

You might ask me, "Why Japan didn't ban?"

Well, I don't know. I was not there that time.
But I can speculate.

Japan was still a developing nation 4 decades ago.
Most probably, the industrial circles resisted against the prohibition that time. I think I know what they said, something like "We NEED asbestos for quick development of our nation".

Duh.
I don't want to hear their nationalism.

Is that the reason why we have to suffer for the consequence?

IS IT ALLOWED TO KILL SOME PEOPLE AS AN CONSEQUENCE OF DEVELOPMENT???

I'm disgusted.

Moreover, this is not the "past problem".

Because there are more factories using asbestos?
Because asbestos diffuses also in destruction of landscapes?
Because there are many landscapes in Japan which are constructed about 4 decades ago?

All of the above.

But that's not all.

We have to remember:
THERE ARE MANY DEVELOPING NATIONS IN ASIA RIGHT NOW.

History repeats.
Problems come back in different form, we just don't realize them.
I mean, asbestos is not the only problem.
It may be any kind of pollution.

So what's the solution?

Always remember to have a HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT.
This "healthy" isn't only for people, but also for nation, society, and nature.

And that's the time when we can make a real contribution to the world.

The falling nation.

7.1 Trillion US Dollars.

Do you have any idea what is this money about?
The answer is: National Deficit of Japan.

Pension is involved closely with this problem.

Why?

Pension is usually managed by nation or large companies.
This works best, if the population is in pyramid shape - many young people to collect money, and few old people to pay money.
Unfortunately, population of Japan is far from pyramid shape.
Young people are decreasing and old people are increasing every year.

We are supporting every 1 aged people with 3.6 grown up people.
While the birthrate reached 1.28, which is lowest in all the advanced nation.
These numbers are getting worse.

What does these mean?
It's very clear,
it's either young people should pay more or old people should receive less.
Otherwise, National deficit keeps on increasing, and in worst situation, the nation collapses.

Of course, everybody doesn't want to pay more nor receive less.
But is there any other way?
All the other choices are just disguised them.

Honestly speaking,
there are only two ultimate choices.
WE PAY NOW, or WE PAY LATER.

Pension is such an immature system.
The major premise is that people keeps on increasing.
(hmmmm... I think I heard this in promotion of pyramiding or networking.)

Nevertheless, I don't want to leave this problem to our next generation.

Stop escaping from the problem,
it will never solve the problem.

Alternative energy.

Recently, Rokkasho gave up for inviting ITER and conceded to Cadarache.

So this is the review and further information about it.

The energy crisis is in a desperate situation.
You know the countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China and many more developing countries needs more energy for their development.
But the petroleum is DEFINITELY INSUFFICIENT for it.

It is said that oils will be exhausted by 2040, coals by 2070 and natural gases by 2100.
Mankind must look for alternative source of energy, even just to maintain our civilization.

Yeah, we have Nuclear Fission.
People says it creates a lot of power with low cost.
Well, that's one.
But it is in a political headwind, as you know.

Besides, it is not actually generating in low cost,
if we think of disposal of nuclear wastes.
(I personally don't like the idea of burying nuclear wastes deep down in the mountains, But mankind had never thought of any better solution for it.)

Is Fusion safer than Fission?
Well, one thing is that there's such thing as "melt-down" in Fission, but not in Fusion.
You know Threemile Island or Chernobyl, right? ^_^

Technologically,
When there's a crack in a container of both,
Fission begins to spread neutron and radiation from the crack.
Fusion rapidly cools down because of the outside temperature, and stops generating, since Fusion requires Hydro gens and Helium's to be in a state of "plasma".

Which do you think is safer?

Anyway,
human error exists in anywhere,
so there's no absolute safety.
(H2 - H3 Fusion generates hundreds times of neutron than Fission.)

How about Solar Power? Windmill? Bio-mass?
I just wish that they will be spread enough to cover the energy demand which currently petroleum supplies.

You can read "Ecology Business" in my post in my blog, if you haven't read yet. ^_^

Nevertheless,
Be kind to our Earth first, before our desires.
I wish that a century from now, Earth is still a beautiful planet.

Train Man.

2ch is one of the most famous bulletin board in Japan.

(This website requires a support of Japanese script.)

It got it's fame for "anonymity".
Yeah, many "Mr. Nameless" are chatting here.

There are many "residents" of 2ch, calling theirselves "channelers".
Well, some of them are "Akiba-otaku", the group of people who infest at Akihabara.
One of it's definition is "never had a girlfriend in his life".

On March 2004,
there was a person who named himself "Densha Otoko", meaning "Train man".
Train man was an Akiba-otaku too.

He posted a message, and many chanellers began having interest in it.

He said that in the train he recently rode, He saw a drunken man making a pass at women.
He stood up to help the women, and tried to restrain the drunken man.
Finally they went to police and the drunken man was caught, and he was thanked by the women.

Later day, he received a pair of teacup of Hermes(!) from one of the women as a gratitude.
But he doesn't know what to do!

With the helps and advices of channelers,
he tries to ask her to go to dinner as a gratitude for the gratitude.

Story goes on...

For 2 months,
Thousands of channelers kept a watch of the real time love story.

Yeah, it's a pure love story.

Conclusion:
It was happy ending.

"DENSHA OTOKO: The story of the Train Man, who fell in love with a girl, Hermes" was published lately.
(Of course the author is "anonymous".)
Just as it's published, it became the best seller.
It's also made into a movie and a drama.

(This website requires a support of Japanese script.)

Of course, I've read the book.

As a novel, it doesn't have sense.
The book is almost "copy & paste" from the threads.
Sentences are incomplete, with full of wrong spellings, technical terms of chanellers, and drawings using letters.

But it doesn't matter.
I had no difficulty in reading. Actually it's very easy to read!
It's a new way to deliver a story, which proved that what we learned in English (Japanese?) class is not the only way.

About the content:
As I read, I wanted to shout "do your best!" to Train man.
Yeah, I'm touched.

And I wish that other "Akiba-otaku"s to follow Train man.

...

Anonymity has a bright side and dark side.
In fact, there are so many Japanese think that 2ch is the place with all manner of abuse, and it is a truth.

But it's not the only side of 2ch.

2ch is a place where various sentiments of people are surging.
Thus, this is also an oasis in the materially-rich-but-mentally-poor nation's people.

Privatize.

There are 4 main enterprises under postal services in Japan:

1. Post. (of course)
2. Bank.
3. Insurance.
4. Window.

#1 is no need to explain.
#4 is simple: where they accept the posts.
it is also functioned as branches of "Bank" and "Insurance".

#2 and #3:
the "postal services" had collected trillions of yen (REALLY!) from people.
Of course they have to operate it in order to pay the interests or something,
but the way they operate is the problem:
They invest into national bonds.

The government have "extra money", which they must not have.
This accelerates the growth of national deficit.

As you know, Japan has the greatest amount of $$$ from trade surplus.
But at the same time, Japan has the greatest deficit,
with the unit of TRILLION US DOLLARS.
(trade surplus is billion US dollars.)

Problem, right?

That's why it must be privatized.

Or else, soon the nation will be collapsed.

BUT!
There are group of people who protest against privatization.
The reason is simple:
They are working in postal office, or they are their relatives.
They are afraid of being unemployed.

Perhaps because they are incompetent.
Competent people won't be unemployed.

Why don't they work harder, instead of consuming energy to protest?
They're campaigning for "Do not privatize",
and many foolish citizens listen to them believes that "privatization is bad".

Damn.

I wonder, do they know what they're doing?
They're trying to COLLAPSE the nation just for their "better paid" life.

I repeat:
It must be privatized,
for everyone.

The project had begun on 2001,
this year is 2005, but not yet privatized.
And if not privatize until final deadline of 2007,
Perhaps it will never be.

Save the Earth from short sleeves.

From this year,
from June 1 to September 30,
Japanese government will apply "Cool-Biz".

As well as a lot of private companies,
with encouragement of the government.

This is an act of wearing short sleeves instead of suite and tie,
to feel comfortable with hotter temperature.

It's because the research says,
that even with the temperature over 30 degrees Celsius,
about 20% of men still wear long sleeves.

So what's with it?

It's with global warming.

By increasing just ONE DEGREE Celsius in all of the Air cons,
So much Carbon Dioxide will be reduced,
and so much Petroleum can be saved.

If you're interested in the problem about the source of energy,
click here.

Yet,
Still there are so many private companies which don't want to apply "Cool-Biz".
They say, "suite and tie" is their culture, and it is a MUST.

Duh.

It's an IMPORTED culture.

Whatever.

Anyway, I appreciate this movement,
And I would like to let much more people to know this.

We can save our Earth,
from each of our little attentions.

Future source of energy.

ITER : International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

It is the reactor, having a nuclear fusion of Deuterium (H-2) and Tritium (H-3) at more than 100 Million Kelvin.
Hard to understand?
Nuclear fusion is the way the "Sun" produce energy.
If you knew that there's no oxygen in the Sun, you'll notice that the Sun is not actually burning, right?

So in short,
ITER is trying to make an "artificial sun" on the Earth.

Why do they have to?
This is because of the sense of energy crisis.
Scientific analysis tells that petroleum oil will be exhausted in 40 years.
They say, "We need a new source of energy."

This extremely huge project began on 1985,
between USA and USSR(currently Russia) as a symbol of peace after the cold war.
then EU, Japan, Korea and China joined lately.

But because of many obstacles,
especially the POLITICS,
the project is stagnated.

Japan wants to invite reactor at Rokkasho, Aomori,
supported by US and Korea.
While EU wants to invite at Cadarache, Southern France.
China and Russia supports this.

Here again.
Politicians are really hard to move.

Another problem: cost.
It is estimated that total operation cost is 12 Billion US Dollars,
construction cost for the reactor is 5 Billion US Dollars,
takes 30 years for construction and operation.

With this reason,
USA had evacuated from this project on 1999.

Stop thinking only of the present!
There are only two choices for human being after the petroleum will be exhausted.

1. Reduce the energy consumption, and lower the standard of living.
2. Find another source of energy.

If you studied the history, psychology or whatever,
you know that once people knew the luxurious life,
it's very difficult to go back.

No way, but to choose the choice 2.

Warning:
Nuclear energy is extremely dangerous.

So why do I support for ITER?
It's because I know that anyway people's desire will have the control.
But with one condition:
Never forget to control the risk.

Earth is not a planet only for human race.

Column: What is "Nuclear Fusion"?

Nuclear fusion is the way the "Sun" produce energy.
If you knew that there's no oxygen in the Sun, you'll notice that the Sun is not actually burning, right?

There are two kinds of nuclear energy: fission and fusion.
Fission means producing energy by splitting an atom into two or more. It is held with heavy atoms, like Uranium (U).
Fusion means producing energy by combining two or more atoms into one. It is held with light atoms, like Hydrogen (H).

Just like marriage and divorce both takes a lot of energy.
hehehe...

Q: Why fission for heavy atoms and fusion for light atoms?
A: Because those atoms are unstable, and trying to become stable.
The atoms in the middle, like Iron (Fe) are very stable.

Q: Which is more effective to produce energy?
A: Fusion.
I don't like this example, but it is the difference of Nuclear Bomb and Hydrogen Bomb.

Q: Is it practically used?
A: NO.
The "Nuclear Power Plants" are all by fission.
It is very difficult to make an environment which allows to have fusion, since it requires more than 100 Million Kelvins.
At present, the ONLY possible way to make a fusion is the Hydrogen Bomb, which is triggered by fission to produce that extremely high temperature.

Q: When the fusion will be practically used?
A: About a century later.
It requires enormous amount of basic research.

Q: Is it safe?
A: I want to answer "Yes", but my answer is "No".
ITER is making a promotion that it is safer than fission reaction,
but the problems about flying neutrons, radioactive waste materials, etc. are still unanswered.
It is one of the big subject to research.

about ITER, click here.

Akihabara story.

On 1990's,
Akihabara was famous for being a town of electrical home appliances.
The trend changed the town,
it made Akihabara a town of computer hardware and software.

This changed the consumers in the town.
So many "autistic" people were attracted here.

They seldom have conversation with other people.
Computer was a great toy for them,
because Computer don't know how to "reject" them.

Another common thing they had is that they were anime fanatics.
Thus, Akihabara became famous too for being a town of animes.

They had thought of a good idea: empathy.
By feeling with the hero of a story,
they were able to have communications with other characters,
without hurting others or being hurt by others.

They called it "Moe".
pronounced as mow-ey.

There's no such word found in dictionary,
because this word was created by enthusiasts of it.

It became a social phenomenon in Japan,
making some huge issues.

They close their eyes to the reality,
since they are afraid of it.
they are living in a roll-play,
within their imaginary world.

...

I feel apprehensive very much about it.

Where are they going?
Will they end their life being isolated from society?

I couldn't see the vision of their future.

The constitution of Japan.

Last May 3 was a holiday,
"The constitution's day".

Although,
most Japanese don't care about what day it is.
They're just enjoying the vacation.

Another thing is,
I found out that most people on this planet doesn't know that Japan has a constitution which no other nations have.

It is also called as "the peace constitution" with it's Article 9.

Article 9
(I translate:)

1. Japanese citizens sincerely long for international peace based on justice and order, and eternally renounce the war exercised by the right of the state and threat by the military power or exercise the military power as means to solve international disputes.
2. It doesn't hold land, sea and air forces to accomplish purpose of preceding clause. The nation's right of belligerency doesn't admit it.

But the problem is:
There's a possibility that this Article 9 might be REMOVED under the current government.
They say it's better to solve the strain,
that the truth that Japan has the "Self-Defense Force",
for the attack from the third power.
And that the "Self-Defense Force" is having the "Peace Activity" in Iraq.

On the other hand,
there are people who protest.
They say that removing Article 9 will bring Japan to strengthen the military,
which will destroy the military balance on far east.
And that Korea and China will take it as military threat.

Duh.

My opinion about the Article 9?
I think Japan has to convince Korea and China about Article 9 first,
before the argument of removal.

But I don't know any other nation arguing about the law which binds herself.

About train accident in Japan.

I guess you saw or heard in the news.
There was a train accident in Japan,
which killed 106 people.

Why did the tragedy happened?

One big factor is the tradition in Japan,
"strictness" about the time.
Trains MUST run ALWAYS "on time".
in fact, passengers can see "diagram",
a schedule of train arrivals and departures in every station,
and unless there are some emergency situations,
train arrives and leaves the station as it is written in the diagram.

There are also table of "how many minutes to arrive to which station",
"which station is good for changing to which lines",
"how many minutes to take in changing the lines",
etc.

about the subway in Tokyo, click here.

Q: Where is the borderline of "late"?
in Italy: after 15 mins.
in England: after 10 mins.
in Japan: after 1 min.

Usually, accuracy to the schedule must be within 30 seconds.
But in the case of Fukuchiyama line,
where the accident had occurred this time,
accuracy must be reported in "BY A SECOND".

The motorman who caused the accident was late for 90 seconds.
he had to arrive at next station on time.
or else, he will be suspended and his salary will be reduced.
thus he run at 100km/h in the railway,
where it's speed limit is 70km/h.

I wonder.
Must "Speed" be prioritized than "Safety"?

To the next step...

When DVD was introduced,
the world impressed and wondered.
It looked exactly the same as CD,
but a DVD can contain as much as 5 times of a CD.

That's an old news.
The issue is about "next generation" optical discs already.
it enables to increase the capacity,
by using blue laser instead of red laser,
which is used in the present DVDs.

The problem is,
there are TWO "next generation" optical discs.
"blu-ray disc" supported by Sony, Panasonic, etc.,
and "HD DVD" supported by Toshiba, NEC, etc.

"blu-ray" is characterized with it's capacity.
it can contain as much as 10 times of a DVD.
but it has no compatibility with the present DVDs.

"HD DVD" is characterized with it's compatibility.
the current industrial line for DVD can be directly turned into it.
but it has less capacity, just 6 times of a DVD.

What will happen, when there are two standards?

Hollywood is in the middle of vortex.
the whirlpool of the two makes them troubled.
If they just take one standard,
the consumers on another standard might not buy.
If they take both standards,
it will cost a lot.

Just like the battle between "VHS - beta".

Furthermore,
Chinese are developing the third standard.
although they are using red laser,
they might dominate the whole market,
if the battle of "blu-ray - HD DVD" continues.

Situation was too grave.
just this April,
the administration of both Sony and Toshiba discussed about UNIFICATION.

They will make an another standard,
which develops advantages of both standards.

These are the merits of the new standard.

1. It allows to lessen the cost.
2. It makes consumers not to worry about choosing the standards.
3. It spreads and enlarges the market faster.
4. It keeps from meaningless price competition.
5. It keeps the proper profit on the maker's hand.

I would support the technology of Japan.
but they must study more about management strategies.

There's no much time left.
Time won't wait for you...

Ecology Business. (From the issue of "New Journal From Japan")

Smokey mountain.
Well known as the mountain of garbage in the Philippines.
Scavengers look for metals and plastics from them to live for a day.
And enormous kitchen garbage, the main component of the smokey mountain, produce vast amount of methane gas, which pollutes the atmosphere.

Last year,
Mitsubishi brought a project.
It is the generator, which uses methane gas as fuel.
They say this project is feasible, and it contributes a lot to an area.
Its merits are:

1. It generates electricity, and improves supply system in the Philippines.
2. It doesn't use petroleum. the cost of production is not affected by the WTI.
3. It reduces the pungent smell of methane gas.
4. Greenhouse effect will be reduced. methane gas is 21 times more effective to catch heat than the CO2, which is emitted in it.
5. Mitsubishi will earn an ecology right.

And the last one is the main purpose of this project.

I'm gonna explain.

On February 2005, Kyoto Protocol took effect.
It says all about reduction of green house gases for the global warming.
And all advanced nation must reduce CO2 emission, with quota. Japan must reduce 6% from the amount emitted on 1990.
And when an advanced nation helps the third world nation for CO2 reduction, the amount reduced can be emitted extra. that is "ecology right".

Right now,
CO2 is traded with the price of 6 US Dollars per ton.

Clean air costs a lot.

We must not leave this problem to the next generation.

Column: The battle of M&A between Livedoor and Fuji TV.

"Money can do many things, but not everything."

"I'm not trying to takeover, I'm just trying to cooperate."

"We don't trust an IT profiteer."

"If you don't want to be controlled by the Capitalists outside, then don't list stocks in the market."

These are the words said in the battle of Merger and Acquisition(M&A) between Livedoor and Fuji TV, in Japan.

Here are the brief passage of the battle between them.

January 17, 2005
Livedoor, the newly founded IT company, announced to acquire 50% to 100% of the stocks of Nippon Broadcast, which is the parent company of Fuji TV.

February 8, 2005
Livedoor announced that they had acquired 35% of the stocks of Nippon Broadcast.

February 10, 2005
Against it, Fuji TV declared Take-Over Bid(TOB) to acquire 25% of the stocks of Nippon Broadcast, to lose effect of Livedoor.

February 23, 2005
Nippon Broadcast announced that they will issue reservation for new stocks to Fuji TV, to lower the proportion of the stocks possessed by Livedoor.

February 24, 2005
Livedoor applied a preliminary injunction of issue to Tokyo District Court.

March 7, 2005
TOB of Fuji TV ended, and announced that they had secured 36.47% of the stocks.

March 11, 2005
Tokyo District Court banned issue reservation for new stocks.

March 16, 2005
Livedoor announced that they acquired more than 50% of stocks in voting rights basis.

March 17, 2005
Livedoor plans to take-over Fuji TV by Leveraged Buyout (LBO). It allows to charter funds with buying company as collateral.

March 24, 2005
Nippon Broadcast lends all the stocks of Fuji TV to another IT company, Softbank Investment as a White Knight.

April 18. 2005
Finally, Livedoor and Fuji TV reconciled. They reached a consensus in business tie-up, Fuji TV buys all the stocks of Nippon Broadcast which is possessed by Livedoor, Livedoor allocates new shares to Fuji TV, and Fuji TV invests 12.75% to Livedoor. As a result, Fuji TV paid 147 Billion Yen (about 1.38 Billion US Dollars).

Electrification.

During the planning of houses,
Structure is important. So is infrastructure.

Q:
What are the 3 important infrastructures?
A:

1. Water supply and drainage.
2. Electricity.
3. City Gas*.

* This is not popular in the Philippines.
People "buy" Gas Tanks at Gas Station,
and bring it to the kitchen.

* City Gas usually means Liquefied Natural Gas.

This "Gas" is traditionally important factor in Japan.
Not only for the fire supply,
but also for "Hot Water" supply.
(Heating System, too.)
Those are essential during winter.

Japanese take "bath" in hot water.
(about 40-43 degrees Celsius)
and few LITERS of water is needed to fill the bathtub.

...

Did you notice that water can be heated using electricity, too?

And did you know that to heat using electricity is more Ecological and Economical?
it consumes less energy,
it produces no Carbon Dioxide,
and it is cheaper.

Moreover,
"IH Cooker" is attracting the attention of people.
It enables to cook without "Fire", to say nothing of a "Gas".

To cut the long story short:
Gas is not necessity.

The mode is "All-Electrified" house.
the house which doesn't use Gas.
It is extensively advertised by electric power companies.

And this time,
they are facing the apprehension of violation of Anti-monopoly Law.

"The electric power companies are in stronger position than the gas companies in competition, and it is necessary to correct the abuses." by Fair Trade Commission

They're doing their business.

But I'm not sure if their business is right.

It must be customer's choice, if they're gonna choose "Traditional" house or "All-Electrified" house.
Even if all the customers chose "All-Electrified" house,
it must be the taste of the times,
and I think Fair Trade Commission have no right to say anything about it.

Just like when cars usurped the position of horse-drawn carriages...

The "Good old days" is gone.
Don't be left behind the times.
Time flies.

Column: What is "IH Cooker"?

"IH Cooker" is attracting the attention of people.
It enables to cook without "Fire", to say nothing of a "Gas".

How?

IH stands for "Induction Heating".
You must have studied in electromagnetism.
Induction is the process,
that the Primary Coil (The cooker) "inducts" electricity to the Secondary Coil (The pots and pans).
The pots and pans must be made of Steel or Stainless Steel, which produces heat from resistance in it.
Thus, Aluminum can't be use, since its resistance is not enough to produce sufficient amount of heat.

Okay, scientific explanation is enough.

What are the merits of using IH Cooker?

1. Strong heating power : can be cooked in about 30% shorter time than Gas cooker.
2. High thermal efficiency : reaches 90%. (Gas cooker is only up to 55%.) Also, residual heat remains as 1/5 of Gas cooker.
3. Economical : about 20% cheaper than Gas cooker.
4. Safety : since it doesn't use actual "Fire", and doesn't heat non-metals directly, it is much more safe than Gas cooker.
5. Easy to maintain : since it is flat, spilled boiling overs are easily wiped.
6. Easy to cook : it conducts heat evenly, thus it doesn't need to mix or to stir during cooking.
7. Comfortable : it conducts less heat to the surroundings, thus it makes cooker more comfortable, especially during summer. It also enables to use electric fan or wind from aircon.

No wonder,
it attracts the attention of people.

Subway in Tokyo. (from the issue of "New Journal From Japan")

Everything is expensive in Tokyo,
especially the transportation fee.

I often ride in subway in Tokyo.
a ride to an adjacent station is 160 yen, worth 1.5 US Dollars.
and it is the minimum fee.

As the destination go farther, fee get more expensive.
But not "directly proportional", future engineers there!?

Okay, here's what I like in the subway in Tokyo.

1. Plural lines are owned by the same company, hence there's no extra fee in changing the lines. in short, you can ride in different lines in 1 pay only.
2. Some lines join converges with another company's lines.
3. Not crowded. usually train is composed of 10 cars with 4 doors each.
4. Fast.
5. Convenient.

Right now, 12 lines are in Tokyo. (subway only)
It covers the area about twice of Metro Manila.
And as you know, subway doesn't pollute air unlike the jeeps or buses.
Generally I like subway.

Conclusion:
To ride subway is expensive.
hehehe...

Have a nice day!

What is Mass Media for?

it was in internet, where I knew about the death of Pope John Paul II.

Many hours later, I just found a small article in the news paper, telling the same thing briefly. I took a little more time to see it in TV.

Duh.

I thought this could be the headline certainly. But the news are just focused on privatization of postal service or battle between Livedoor and Fuji TV (and Softbank too).

Hello? I want to ask to all the reporters, journalists and editors in Japan: Are you really working? They treat this news less important than the death of Ronald Reagan. Hey, do you know that the death of U.S. President is a news for a decade, but the death of Pope is a news for a century??? I couldn't understand the system of Mass Media.

I know, the population of Catholic people doesn't dominate Japan, but still, this must be the headline in this time of globalization.

Bicycles. (from the issue of "New Journal From Japan")

When I go to subway station,
when I go to the market,
when I'm crossing the bridge,
when I'm crossing the street,
when I go home,
I always see.

Bicycles.

Too many.

Of course, also in front of this internet cafe.

And I'm riding the bicycle, too.
going to subway station,
going to market,
crossing the bridge,
crossing the street,
and going home.

This is one face of Japan.

Why only few bicycles are in the Philippines?
bicycle doesn't cause traffic.
doesn't cause air pollution.
doesn't cause global warming.
and,
bicycle is the most energy efficient vehicle.
did you know?

I believe Philippines would be better if there's
more bicycles instead of other cars.

Do you think so?

The season has come again this year.

Many people graduate again.

Some people are looking for a job, some will continue their studies, some will go under training to look for a job or to continue their studies, some are just hanging out there without having destination nor direction...

The serious problem in Japan is that the people classified last is increasing rapidly.

They are called "NEET" - Not in Employment, Education or Training.

And 680 thousand Japanese are classified as NEET.

I found an interesting article said that there are 4 kinds of NEET:

1. the one who thinks "If I can live today happily, then why do I have to struggle?".
2. the one who can't build a relationship with the society and keep on staying indoor.
3. the one who fears to go forward and stand petrified.
4. the one who once employed or continued their education but lost self confidence and quited.

Thus, there are many job offers but they don't work.

Thus, there are many colleges where they let enter the examinees 100% for admission and yet lacks the quota.

Hmmmm...

Am I the only one who feels weird?

Pollens as the cause of allergy. (from the issue of "New Journal From Japan")

Pollinosis.
Well known as hay fever.
It is an allergy caused by pollens. its symptoms are: sneeze, mucus, bloodshot eyes, itch, etc.

It's now a serious social problem in Japan.

Every year, hay fever positives are increasing.

Prediction says that year 2005 will break the record of maximum pollens released.
It is 30 times greater than the amount of year 2004.

Some causes of hay fever:

• Pollens lost its destination.
  Grounds are covered with concretes, asphalts and other artificial constructions, which don't absorb pollens.

• People have weak immunity.
  Japan used to be too clean, which it can be called as "germ-free" environment. Thus, immune system lost its opponent and began attacking the pollens, which is harmless to human body.

• Global warming.
  The theory says that it has some effect on amount of pollens produced, but still on research.

Conclusion:
Highly modernized community is not necessarily comfortable to us.

Be kind to nature. ^_^

Still cold in Tokyo.

Spring has come.

Yet, I find Tokyo is still cold.

I'm not talking about the climate, but the people here.

Why?

It's simple - because Tokyo is too urban.

I'm living in a residential area, which is quite popular in Tokyo to be "good place to live".

But is it so? I do agree with the statements that this place is quiet, clean, full of nature, not so far from the downtown, etc...

You know, it is true that they are some important factors in the residential area, but what I am looking for is definitely absent here.

The communication.

Why some people don't greet, even they're my neighborhood? Is it because we're not acquainted? Does people need to get acquainted in order to make greetings? Is it necessary to be shy just to greet?

I can't get the behavior of the urbanized people. If the answers to the questions above are all "Yes", I guess they'll end up their life in their small world, without knowing the presence of large world outside their.

I don't want to be "the frog in the well". I want to get out of the well, and open my eyes to the outside.

I know it won't make my life easy, but many challenges are awaiting.

And those are my motivations.