I was writing to a student recently and thought I'd share it here.
I always respect a person’s decision to improve their education and improve themselves.
You will find that "formal" education does not have all the answers. In fact, people learn best "informally" from stories, from talking to others, from their own 'tacit' experiences.
Consider the knowledge that is important to you, beyond what is required. Also, I find that it is important to keep things in perspective.
A formal course of study can provide you with direction and knowledge and a piece of paper that looks good on your resume.
Thousands, or millions, of others have come before you. They have struggled at times. So will you. They got through. No one was born knowing any of this stuff. We all had to learn it at some point.
So, please bear this in mind. Formal education is directional and not final. It is a beginning and not an end in itself.
Friday, 17 April 2009
South Paws
Are you left-handed? Do you know someone who is? How about someone who can use both hands in the same manner: for writing or throwing?
You will be surprised to learn that one job in the United States has a very high incidence of left-handed people. Can you guess? I will tell you later.
In western history, there has been a strong bias against left-handers. Look at the word 'left', and where it is derived from in various languages, to see this. In French 'left' is gauche which can also mean 'ugly', 'clumsy' or 'uncouth'. In Italian 'left' is sinistra which is where our word 'sinister', meaning evil, comes from. This is similar in many other Latin-based languages. The English word 'left' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lyft, meaning 'weak'.
A 'left-handed compliment' actually is an insult. However, someone's 'right-hand man' means their most important, loyal and useful follower. Pictures of Satan, the devil, depict him as a left-hander.
Because of this, left-handers were treated differently, as outcasts or evil people. In the past, probably due to Satan being a left-hander, they were said to have been 'doing the devil's work'. Many left-handed people were forced to write and eat with their right hand. Changing a person's handedness forces them to use a different brain hemisphere, and often causes stuttering or other learning difficulties.
A left handed person is commonly referred to as a lefty or south paw. Why south paw?
The origin of this term is in the United States and it is connected to baseball. A long time ago, before flood lights and night games, all baseball games were played in daylight. Baseball fields were designed and built to accommodate the sunlight. In order to keep the bright setting sun out of the eyes of the spectators and the batter, home plate was oriented west. As the afternoon turned to evening, the sun would set, in the west, behind home base. The pitcher faced west. East was behind him. His right hand was on the north side of the field and his left hand was…south. Left handed pitchers became known as south paws. A paw, in case you don’t know, is what we call the hand (foot) of a dog or cat.
We have a special word for someone who can use both hands. They are ambidextrous. This is a rare word. Ambi means both and dextri means use. They are rare people, indeed.
Here is a collection of 1000 famous left-handed people from history. This UK website sells products for left-handed people.
So, how about that job in the United States with a very high incidence of lefties? In fact, it is President of the United States! Five of the last seven presidents have been south paws. Here they are: Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, George Bush, Sr., Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Amazing. Why do you think this is the case? You might find some answers here in this CBC article from 2008.
Left handers have their own day. It is August 13, 2009
You will be surprised to learn that one job in the United States has a very high incidence of left-handed people. Can you guess? I will tell you later.
In western history, there has been a strong bias against left-handers. Look at the word 'left', and where it is derived from in various languages, to see this. In French 'left' is gauche which can also mean 'ugly', 'clumsy' or 'uncouth'. In Italian 'left' is sinistra which is where our word 'sinister', meaning evil, comes from. This is similar in many other Latin-based languages. The English word 'left' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word lyft, meaning 'weak'.
A 'left-handed compliment' actually is an insult. However, someone's 'right-hand man' means their most important, loyal and useful follower. Pictures of Satan, the devil, depict him as a left-hander.
Because of this, left-handers were treated differently, as outcasts or evil people. In the past, probably due to Satan being a left-hander, they were said to have been 'doing the devil's work'. Many left-handed people were forced to write and eat with their right hand. Changing a person's handedness forces them to use a different brain hemisphere, and often causes stuttering or other learning difficulties.
A left handed person is commonly referred to as a lefty or south paw. Why south paw?
The origin of this term is in the United States and it is connected to baseball. A long time ago, before flood lights and night games, all baseball games were played in daylight. Baseball fields were designed and built to accommodate the sunlight. In order to keep the bright setting sun out of the eyes of the spectators and the batter, home plate was oriented west. As the afternoon turned to evening, the sun would set, in the west, behind home base. The pitcher faced west. East was behind him. His right hand was on the north side of the field and his left hand was…south. Left handed pitchers became known as south paws. A paw, in case you don’t know, is what we call the hand (foot) of a dog or cat.
We have a special word for someone who can use both hands. They are ambidextrous. This is a rare word. Ambi means both and dextri means use. They are rare people, indeed.
Here is a collection of 1000 famous left-handed people from history. This UK website sells products for left-handed people.
So, how about that job in the United States with a very high incidence of lefties? In fact, it is President of the United States! Five of the last seven presidents have been south paws. Here they are: Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, George Bush, Sr., Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Amazing. Why do you think this is the case? You might find some answers here in this CBC article from 2008.
Left handers have their own day. It is August 13, 2009
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Pizza vending machine
TOPIC: Pizza vending machine
Japan is the land of the rising sun and the land of 5,400,000 vending machines, the most anywhere on the Earth. Most of these are beverage machines. Now, a new vending machine is set to be introduced that will make and bake a pizza in 3 minutes. You won't find this vending machine in Japan, a country that prides itself on gadgets. Rather, this machine was created in the land of pizza: Italy.
QUESTIONS
Why do you think this machine was developed?
Aren't there many places to buy pizza in Italy?
What possible problems do you see with this machine?
Do you think that a sushi or onigiri vending machine might succeed in Japan?
Read the story and watch the video here:
VIDEO:YouTube video clip
STORY: The Independent - Pizza vending machine
Japan is the land of the rising sun and the land of 5,400,000 vending machines, the most anywhere on the Earth. Most of these are beverage machines. Now, a new vending machine is set to be introduced that will make and bake a pizza in 3 minutes. You won't find this vending machine in Japan, a country that prides itself on gadgets. Rather, this machine was created in the land of pizza: Italy.
QUESTIONS
Why do you think this machine was developed?
Aren't there many places to buy pizza in Italy?
What possible problems do you see with this machine?
Do you think that a sushi or onigiri vending machine might succeed in Japan?
Read the story and watch the video here:
VIDEO:YouTube video clip
STORY: The Independent - Pizza vending machine
Wide Girls - Japanese stocks - The Economist
TOPIC: Japanese stocks
Wide girls
Mar 26th 2009 | TOKYO
"Mrs Watanabe is tiptoeing back into Japan’s stockmarket"
“NOT trusted” is how Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso described stockbrokers this month, before calling them kabuya, or “wide boys”. And with the Tokyo stock market scraping 26-year-lows in mid-March before soaring 20% in the past fortnight, the reputation of equities as an investment is shoddy at best. Yet some Japanese investors are throwing caution to the wind and beginning to buy.
QUESTIONS
Do you invest in equities (the stock market)?
Is it a good time to invest? Has the market bottomed out or do you think that the markets will get worse before they get better? In Japan, individual investors are rushing in to the market. Why are they doing this now? Do they know something the rest of the world doesn't?
LANGUAGE
wide boys / wide girls
tiptoeing
scraping
fortnight
shoddy at best
throwing caution to the wind
net buyers
tip the trend
A lot rests on Mrs Watanabe, the fabled retail punter who plays the markets
wade in
she and her kind
a big fillip
it elicited only cynicism from seasoned hands
Wide girls
Mar 26th 2009 | TOKYO
"Mrs Watanabe is tiptoeing back into Japan’s stockmarket"
“NOT trusted” is how Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso described stockbrokers this month, before calling them kabuya, or “wide boys”. And with the Tokyo stock market scraping 26-year-lows in mid-March before soaring 20% in the past fortnight, the reputation of equities as an investment is shoddy at best. Yet some Japanese investors are throwing caution to the wind and beginning to buy.
QUESTIONS
Do you invest in equities (the stock market)?
Is it a good time to invest? Has the market bottomed out or do you think that the markets will get worse before they get better? In Japan, individual investors are rushing in to the market. Why are they doing this now? Do they know something the rest of the world doesn't?
LANGUAGE
wide boys / wide girls
tiptoeing
scraping
fortnight
shoddy at best
throwing caution to the wind
net buyers
tip the trend
A lot rests on Mrs Watanabe, the fabled retail punter who plays the markets
wade in
she and her kind
a big fillip
it elicited only cynicism from seasoned hands
Friday, 27 March 2009
Bullish on Japan? Nonsense
Why I am bullish on Japan
I want to thank Mr. Koll for writing as his view highlights a way of thinking that is no longer effective.
It is clear to me that Mr.Koll has the wrong perspective on Japan and on the world going forward. As a former economic analyst with a major investment house, he is seeing the world in ways that no longer apply. He is looking at the world through the rear view mirror.
The R&D argument is easy to refute. As is the case with the education system in the US where more money is spent per child than in any other country. You would expect the results to be stellar. Far from it. It is not how much you spend, it's how you spend it.
If patents are a measure of economic success, does it really help the wealth of the nation if these patents pertain to some functionality of a vending or pachinko slot machine? sheer numbers of patents indicate nothing nor do patents on a vast array of technologies that may never be adopted. The number of patents in relation to economic output over the past 10+ years tells me that their systems are misaligned. They are out of focus. If,however, they are continually dominating patent awards and clipping along at 3-5% growth in GDP, then I'd say, yeah, they are really onto something and all countries would be rushing to Japan to study their success. They are not.
"The future will be designed and invented in Japan" Should read: "The future will be designed and invented in by a few companies in Japan for a little while longer until the Indians and Chinese have fully ramped up."
Creativity has been bred out of Japanese. That is no great revelation. The ability to get things done is clearly here, but those steering the ships are largely inept and inbred - in politics and in business - large and small. Ability, profit motives, efficiency and effectiveness are clearly absent from Japanese business. If the Japanese economy comes back it will take another 20 years. That's the amount to time it will likely take for all the deadwood to retire from the system.
Japan has been coasting for years on an explosion of wealth, savings blanketed in protectionism. Now that wealth is dwindling, the savings are going fast, and the population is ageing.
Japanese are not any more "hard working" than anyone else. They work long hours. Are they any more productive? Look at all the overtime, no holidays, no layoffs and economic growth that's been sliding for years. This is a very ineffective economy. Look at the other G7 countries where overtime is much less, people have holidays and there has been economic growth.
Japan today is the rich, spoiled child, now fully grown with no career, smokes, drinks, gambles and is living off a trust fund that's soon to run out.
All the "wa" in the land will not help Japan, the nation, regain it's former position.
At best, Japan will find its position in the world as the ageing engineer uncle who used to be wealthy, still knows a few things, but who no one takes seriously as the world has moved on while he still talks about the old days.
There is no vision in japan, no inherent spirit or drive like post-war Japan.
India and China will soon regain their positions as world leaders that they held a few hundred years ago.
Sadly, Mr.Koll is analysing the wrong things. The world has changed. Governments are and will continue to fall, banking systems are and will continue to collapse. Riots - have started and will continue. what we see now with bailouts is a necessary but short term window dressing. The media uses the word: recovery. This, too, is a misnomer. It's a whole new world emerging and we have to see it in a different way. The way that it is and not the way we think it is (or was) or the way we think it ought to be.
I want to thank Mr. Koll for writing as his view highlights a way of thinking that is no longer effective.
It is clear to me that Mr.Koll has the wrong perspective on Japan and on the world going forward. As a former economic analyst with a major investment house, he is seeing the world in ways that no longer apply. He is looking at the world through the rear view mirror.
The R&D argument is easy to refute. As is the case with the education system in the US where more money is spent per child than in any other country. You would expect the results to be stellar. Far from it. It is not how much you spend, it's how you spend it.
If patents are a measure of economic success, does it really help the wealth of the nation if these patents pertain to some functionality of a vending or pachinko slot machine? sheer numbers of patents indicate nothing nor do patents on a vast array of technologies that may never be adopted. The number of patents in relation to economic output over the past 10+ years tells me that their systems are misaligned. They are out of focus. If,however, they are continually dominating patent awards and clipping along at 3-5% growth in GDP, then I'd say, yeah, they are really onto something and all countries would be rushing to Japan to study their success. They are not.
"The future will be designed and invented in Japan" Should read: "The future will be designed and invented in by a few companies in Japan for a little while longer until the Indians and Chinese have fully ramped up."
Creativity has been bred out of Japanese. That is no great revelation. The ability to get things done is clearly here, but those steering the ships are largely inept and inbred - in politics and in business - large and small. Ability, profit motives, efficiency and effectiveness are clearly absent from Japanese business. If the Japanese economy comes back it will take another 20 years. That's the amount to time it will likely take for all the deadwood to retire from the system.
Japan has been coasting for years on an explosion of wealth, savings blanketed in protectionism. Now that wealth is dwindling, the savings are going fast, and the population is ageing.
Japanese are not any more "hard working" than anyone else. They work long hours. Are they any more productive? Look at all the overtime, no holidays, no layoffs and economic growth that's been sliding for years. This is a very ineffective economy. Look at the other G7 countries where overtime is much less, people have holidays and there has been economic growth.
Japan today is the rich, spoiled child, now fully grown with no career, smokes, drinks, gambles and is living off a trust fund that's soon to run out.
All the "wa" in the land will not help Japan, the nation, regain it's former position.
At best, Japan will find its position in the world as the ageing engineer uncle who used to be wealthy, still knows a few things, but who no one takes seriously as the world has moved on while he still talks about the old days.
There is no vision in japan, no inherent spirit or drive like post-war Japan.
India and China will soon regain their positions as world leaders that they held a few hundred years ago.
Sadly, Mr.Koll is analysing the wrong things. The world has changed. Governments are and will continue to fall, banking systems are and will continue to collapse. Riots - have started and will continue. what we see now with bailouts is a necessary but short term window dressing. The media uses the word: recovery. This, too, is a misnomer. It's a whole new world emerging and we have to see it in a different way. The way that it is and not the way we think it is (or was) or the way we think it ought to be.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
The Incredible Shrinking Polar Bear
Read the article here:
The Incredible Shrinking Polar Bear
I have long known about the fate of the noble Polar Bear. I learned years ago that the polar ice cap is shrinking, that the annual ice floes do not last as long as they used to and as a result, polar bears can not feed long enough. They are getting thinner and female bears cannot sustain enough fat to bear (excuse the pun) as many cubs as they used to - three became, two and two has become one.
I have been know, for years, to refer to SUVs as "polar bear killers".
Vocabulary and Phrases
turning to cannibalism
to draw up an action plan
to subsist
to congregate
to recede
a vital fattening-up time
to see them through
a long summer fast
chair (a person and a verb)
delegates
desperation
deliberately
denning (den - noun, to den - verb, denning)
over-optimistic
The Incredible Shrinking Polar Bear
I have long known about the fate of the noble Polar Bear. I learned years ago that the polar ice cap is shrinking, that the annual ice floes do not last as long as they used to and as a result, polar bears can not feed long enough. They are getting thinner and female bears cannot sustain enough fat to bear (excuse the pun) as many cubs as they used to - three became, two and two has become one.
I have been know, for years, to refer to SUVs as "polar bear killers".
Vocabulary and Phrases
turning to cannibalism
to draw up an action plan
to subsist
to congregate
to recede
a vital fattening-up time
to see them through
a long summer fast
chair (a person and a verb)
delegates
desperation
deliberately
denning (den - noun, to den - verb, denning)
over-optimistic
A Lender
Today I became a lender.
Today I lent money to person I've never met.
Her name is Tagi.
She is 49 years old, has six children and lives in Samoa.
Read about Tagi and why I am lending her money.
Today I lent money to person I've never met.
Her name is Tagi.
She is 49 years old, has six children and lives in Samoa.
Read about Tagi and why I am lending her money.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
What to read - March 2009
From the BBC
Dalai Lama renews autonomy call
The Dalai Lama has repeated his demand for "legitimate and meaningful autonomy" for Tibet.
Your ability to discuss this issue is very good practice.
Some good language here:
"legitimate and meaningful autonomy"
a climate of fear
a bloody uprising
feudal society
serf
emancipation
"mutual benefit"
legitimate and meaningful autonomy
enable
within the framework
exile
prevail
On a lighter note...
Short article. Key terms are emboldened.
Love letters from Prince Charles to Canadian woman listed on EBay
Friday, March 6, 2009 Canadian Press
You, too, can own love letters apparently written by Prince Charles to a Canadian woman - if you have a minimum of $30,000 to spare.
The six letters are up for grabs on the online auction site EBay with a starting bid of $30,000. So far, there are no bids. The letters are written to a Montreal woman named Janet and most were written in 1976. But the latest letter is dated June 8, 1980 and in it, Prince Charles discusses how he was under tremendous pressure to get married, but assured Janet he would give her fair warning before that happened.
He married Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981.
Looking for a new career? How about as a Bee Inspector? :-)
From The Guardian
Bee parasite devastates colonies as hives go unregistered and uninspected
Millions of insects could be wiped out because thinly staffed inspectorate does not know where half the country's beekeepers are.
Dalai Lama renews autonomy call
The Dalai Lama has repeated his demand for "legitimate and meaningful autonomy" for Tibet.
Your ability to discuss this issue is very good practice.
Some good language here:
"legitimate and meaningful autonomy"
a climate of fear
a bloody uprising
feudal society
serf
emancipation
"mutual benefit"
legitimate and meaningful autonomy
enable
within the framework
exile
prevail
On a lighter note...
Short article. Key terms are emboldened.
Love letters from Prince Charles to Canadian woman listed on EBay
Friday, March 6, 2009 Canadian Press
You, too, can own love letters apparently written by Prince Charles to a Canadian woman - if you have a minimum of $30,000 to spare.
The six letters are up for grabs on the online auction site EBay with a starting bid of $30,000. So far, there are no bids. The letters are written to a Montreal woman named Janet and most were written in 1976. But the latest letter is dated June 8, 1980 and in it, Prince Charles discusses how he was under tremendous pressure to get married, but assured Janet he would give her fair warning before that happened.
He married Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981.
Looking for a new career? How about as a Bee Inspector? :-)
From The Guardian
Bee parasite devastates colonies as hives go unregistered and uninspected
Millions of insects could be wiped out because thinly staffed inspectorate does not know where half the country's beekeepers are.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Cows - Their Impact on the Environment
What is the impact of a cow on the global climate? In fact, collectively, they can have an impact. The food we produce - how we grow it, and not so much how it get to us, has a significant impact on CO2 emissions. This according to a recent article in New Scientist.
Deliver us from Cheeseburgers
New Scientist
Check out Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions and see that food production accounts for 15% of greenhouse gases. 5% of global CO2 emission comes from livestock. This stat from the World Resources Institute. How do they know?
Food for thought
Household Greenhouse gas emission account for double that of driving! Check out this chart.
Read the story: What is your dinner doing to the planet?
Deliver us from Cheeseburgers
New Scientist
Check out Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions and see that food production accounts for 15% of greenhouse gases. 5% of global CO2 emission comes from livestock. This stat from the World Resources Institute. How do they know?
Food for thought
Household Greenhouse gas emission account for double that of driving! Check out this chart.
Read the story: What is your dinner doing to the planet?
Namaste
Namasté is a common spoken greeting or salutation in the Indian subcontinent.
It is commonly used in India and Nepal by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, and many continue to use this outside the Indian subcontinent.
In Indian and Nepali culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, the same hands folded gesture is made wordlessly upon departure.
In yoga, namasté is said to mean "The light in me honors the light in you," as spoken by both the yoga instructor and yoga students.
Taken literally, it means "I bow to you". The word is derived from Sanskrit (namas): to bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, and (te): "to you".
Namasté is one of the few Sanskrit words commonly recognized by Non-Hindi speakers. Namasté is particularly associated with aspects of South Asian culture such as vegetarianism, yoga, ayurvedic healing, and Hinduism.
In recent times, and more globally, the term "namasté" has come to be especially associated with yoga and spiritual meditation all over the world. In this context, it has been viewed in terms of a multitude of very complicated and poetic meanings which tie in with the spiritual origins of the word.
Some examples:
• "I honour the Spirit in you which is also in me." -- attributed to author Deepak Chopra
• "I honour the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honour the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."
• "I salute the God within you."
• "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE." -- attributed to Lilias Folan's shared teachings from her journeys to India.
• "That which is of the Divine in me greets that which is of the Divine in you."
• "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."
• "All that is best and highest in me greets/salutes all that is best and highest in you."
It is commonly used in India and Nepal by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, and many continue to use this outside the Indian subcontinent.
In Indian and Nepali culture, the word is spoken at the beginning of written or verbal communication. However, the same hands folded gesture is made wordlessly upon departure.
In yoga, namasté is said to mean "The light in me honors the light in you," as spoken by both the yoga instructor and yoga students.
Taken literally, it means "I bow to you". The word is derived from Sanskrit (namas): to bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, and (te): "to you".
Namasté is one of the few Sanskrit words commonly recognized by Non-Hindi speakers. Namasté is particularly associated with aspects of South Asian culture such as vegetarianism, yoga, ayurvedic healing, and Hinduism.
In recent times, and more globally, the term "namasté" has come to be especially associated with yoga and spiritual meditation all over the world. In this context, it has been viewed in terms of a multitude of very complicated and poetic meanings which tie in with the spiritual origins of the word.
Some examples:
• "I honour the Spirit in you which is also in me." -- attributed to author Deepak Chopra
• "I honour the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honour the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One."
• "I salute the God within you."
• "Your spirit and my spirit are ONE." -- attributed to Lilias Folan's shared teachings from her journeys to India.
• "That which is of the Divine in me greets that which is of the Divine in you."
• "The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you."
• "All that is best and highest in me greets/salutes all that is best and highest in you."
Thursday, 19 February 2009
The Google GDrive?
It is very mysterious, the Google GDrive.
The posting on Wikipedia and the audit / edit trail are quite mysterious.
Check it out.
GDrive [on Wikipedia]
The posting on Wikipedia and the audit / edit trail are quite mysterious.
Check it out.
GDrive [on Wikipedia]
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Whirlwind
The recession in America is now being branded as a whirlwind? Is that what they're calling it now? Did Madison Avenue do another spin job?
A recession (or whirlwind) in Tokyo? Here is a definition: There is a recession in Tokyo when the line up to pay for your designer clothes is shorter than usual.
In Japan, well, Tokyo, people make money people spend money. It flows. the yen has jumped quite a bit as a result of the banking meltdown in the US, so foreign products are cheaper and i get a great rate when i send $ home. People are flying to Seoul to shop 'cause their currency has dropping making the difference even more extreme.
That being said, people -are- being affected here. Though nothing like in North America.
Areas outside of Tokyo and Osaka have been hard hit for a long time.
I'd say that I am affected by some corporate training contracts that are "pending", so it is not losing work, rather, not getting proposed work.
Here in Japan and especially in the US there was what I call a false economy for years: People spending money they don't have on things they don't need. Too much credit. People kept buying. Companies scaled up production and operations based on this. Now that it's crumbling, 'false profits' are going and 'false jobs' are now gone.
Everything goes in cycles. Economies go in cycles. When times are good people think they'll never end. When times are bad, likewise.
It is possible, not only to survive but thrive, during a recession. Where there is crisis, there is opportunity. You have to think differently. With the wipe out of the banking system, when it gets restored, it will not be the same as before. When the economy recovers it will not be the same as before. Things will be quite different in the future. Expect change. Don’t expect that a 'recovery' will look like things did before.
I predict that as I write now in January 2009, things will get worse before they get better. We have not seen the worst of it yet.
I’ll be ok. I am used to it. Here's why:
For the past 10 years, all my work has been on contract. I generally work 2-4 different places. Sometimes I am really, really busy. Sometimes I am not. When I am not working, I have no income. It happens. I've learned to expect it and manage it. Eventually it comes back.
Compare me to a Japanese "salary man" who has worked 10 years at the same company. If / when he loses his job tomorrow with wife, family and no savings (they've spent it all on Disneyland, Louis Vuitton bags and a host of other useless things). And, never having been in that situation, it's major stress. he's likely to jump in front of a commuter train (which happens far, far too often here).
Me? I'm fine. just inconvenienced by the train delay. Most Japanese, like Americans -- with way too much unwarranted credit -- have lived in a happy-happy world too long. Time to wake up, read a newspaper and learn what's really going on in the world.
A recession (or whirlwind) in Tokyo? Here is a definition: There is a recession in Tokyo when the line up to pay for your designer clothes is shorter than usual.
In Japan, well, Tokyo, people make money people spend money. It flows. the yen has jumped quite a bit as a result of the banking meltdown in the US, so foreign products are cheaper and i get a great rate when i send $ home. People are flying to Seoul to shop 'cause their currency has dropping making the difference even more extreme.
That being said, people -are- being affected here. Though nothing like in North America.
Areas outside of Tokyo and Osaka have been hard hit for a long time.
I'd say that I am affected by some corporate training contracts that are "pending", so it is not losing work, rather, not getting proposed work.
Here in Japan and especially in the US there was what I call a false economy for years: People spending money they don't have on things they don't need. Too much credit. People kept buying. Companies scaled up production and operations based on this. Now that it's crumbling, 'false profits' are going and 'false jobs' are now gone.
Everything goes in cycles. Economies go in cycles. When times are good people think they'll never end. When times are bad, likewise.
It is possible, not only to survive but thrive, during a recession. Where there is crisis, there is opportunity. You have to think differently. With the wipe out of the banking system, when it gets restored, it will not be the same as before. When the economy recovers it will not be the same as before. Things will be quite different in the future. Expect change. Don’t expect that a 'recovery' will look like things did before.
I predict that as I write now in January 2009, things will get worse before they get better. We have not seen the worst of it yet.
I’ll be ok. I am used to it. Here's why:
For the past 10 years, all my work has been on contract. I generally work 2-4 different places. Sometimes I am really, really busy. Sometimes I am not. When I am not working, I have no income. It happens. I've learned to expect it and manage it. Eventually it comes back.
Compare me to a Japanese "salary man" who has worked 10 years at the same company. If / when he loses his job tomorrow with wife, family and no savings (they've spent it all on Disneyland, Louis Vuitton bags and a host of other useless things). And, never having been in that situation, it's major stress. he's likely to jump in front of a commuter train (which happens far, far too often here).
Me? I'm fine. just inconvenienced by the train delay. Most Japanese, like Americans -- with way too much unwarranted credit -- have lived in a happy-happy world too long. Time to wake up, read a newspaper and learn what's really going on in the world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)