Indian curry

I went to a curry restaurant with my family at a yesterday’s dinner where authentic curries are served by Asian Indian’s cooks. There were many kinds of curries like vegetable, keema, mutton etc. Since we were not familiar with the kinds, we ordered different kinds of curries.

I had a mutton curry. I felt it slightly emitted a rustic flavor. My father chose a keema. And my son ate a chicken curry with a piece of tandori chicken. Their choices reminded me of a story of my new boss.

He has just moved back from India since January. He was there for five years as a president of a joint venture companies in India. At a welcome party, we asked him what he ate there. He replied he was eating a curry Udon (Japanese wheat noodle) every day. At first he seems to have eaten an Indian curry like a keema. After he looked at a track which carried a cage packed with chickens to a slaughterhouse, he became unable to eat chicken curries. He expressed they appeared not to be a foodstuff but somewhat a rubbish. I heard a rate of vegetarian are quite high in India. So it may not be an odd sense if he could not eat chicken.

When we visited the restaurant at the previous time, we weren’t able to eat a portion of naan. We ate whole naan at this time. It was delicious. While we took meals, it was full of seats. It proved the taste good.

By the way, we threw the welcome party for my new head at a Yakitori-ya restaurant because he requested. He couldn’t eat chicken in India but can do one in Japan.

Book; Make or Break

As I run into books related to the manufacturing at a book store, I can’t help but pick them up. Japanese title “Gurobaru Seizougyou no Mirai” or “Make or Break, The Future of Business from Booz & Company” was the alluring one for me.

This book was written as one of the series on the future business by Kaj Grichnik & Conrad Winkler with Jeffrey Rothfeder of a large consultant firm Booz & Company. The foreword shows the content was featuring about the Western manufacturing, so colleagues of the firm in Japan added part of Japanese manufacturing and recompiled it.

Their issue is simple that the manufacturing companies in Europe and the US have tended to rely on the strategy too much, on the other hand Japanese ones have been stick to manufacturing. The prescription for the Western is to improve the process innovation. It’s a field Japanese ones are good at. To advance the process innovation needs to change the corporate culture. That’s a big change. The managements are required to treat blue collar workers with the same way as white collar.

Japanese manufacturing companies should address the low profit by using the strategic method. They need to get rid of low profit businesses among their business fields.

Their suggestion is probably right. However, both manufacturing industries are based on each culture climate. We can’t change the culture rooted on history soon. That’s why it’s difficult to escape the low profit structure.

And I think this book is lack of description on the manufacturing in the emerging countries. It’s sure that it would be more complex to introduce the conclusion if they considered the element.

Jazz Gift Song

When my brother came to my parents in winter vacation, he checked upcoming music and called a mixer to adjust sound volume or balance. The compilation album was released in mid February. The title is “Jazz Gift Song.” His band “native “ plays 10 of 12 songs in it.

From the first song “Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head (original by BJ Thomas)” to “Rainy Days and Mondays (by Carpenters), it collects good old songs. They are arranged as being easy to listen to. The catchphrase says “It’s No.1 Jazz album for ladies want to make an elegant atmosphere.”

We call it as “Kikaku mono” or “one-shot project.” However, at the present, a quite much rate of Jazz listeners is likely to be women. It may be a firm way to seek the target of middle aged women.

His band “native” plays these tunes with their distinctive stylish style. It may be good for BGM or driving.

Ice cream

My wife bought five kinds of cups of Haagen- Dzts ice creams today because they were sold at 40% discount price. After a dinner, she, my son and I ate a cup of them, “cream cheese” taste. Their normal prices are more expensive than other ice cream products, so we can feel luxury. It’s sure the tastes are softer and sweeter.

I think the strategy of Haagen-Dats is successfully working. Although I hardly see its brand stores in Japan, when I visited Shanghai I was able to see its shops everywhere. I forgot exact prices of menus in the shops, I remember their prices were not different from ones in Japan. That means they were very expensive for normal Chinese citizens.

These premium brand strategy is effective for less volume products. For example, sales production figures of Mercedes Benz or BMW or Audi are very less than that of VW. The numbers of them are not able to win VW, but they can gain more profit.

However, as everyone gets to buy these products, the prices are declining. The values as the premium brand are vanishing. Maybe the brand value of Haagen-Dats is gradually losing in Japan because it has a longer history in Japan than in China and other luxury products of competitors are increasing.

As thinking of that trivial matter, I ate it delectably.

Resuming construction

A new house diagonally in front of my house was resumed to build today. It has been completed by 80% until last spring. There were some troubles including that a designer did moonlight because of money shortage to contractors. So the construction has stopped. I heard the fly-by-night was solved and the owner found another contractor.

It is three years ago that the owner bought the land. And he asked his friend who was a fly-by-night designer to construct the house. At first, the owner wanted to build three- story house. A resident behind it opposed the plan, so he changed his mind to make a basement.

But the designer failed to take a right procedure to the authority for constructing a house. At the time, he had to revise the design. And the construction expense surpassed the initial budget.

The owner family had to wait to restart the construction for a year. It has passed three years since the owner bought the land.

There are a few lessons. We shouldn’t ask our friends to do something pricey. When we build a house, we shouldn’t demand outrageous requests.

Hatsune Miku

A NHK news program in this morning reported Hatsune Miku for about five minutes. There might not be important news because of Sunday. However vocaloids including Hatsune Miku have been growing their popularity as much as the Japanese public broadcasting introduced them.

We’ve seen a commercial film featuring her on TV since a month ago. It’s a Google CM. According to its advertisement, the most videos seen by Japanese are related to her. Despite of declining CD sales and reducing young Karaoke singers, music related to Hatsune Miku is growing.

We have to thank Yamaha which has developed the voice synthetic technology, and should be proud of the Japanese original technology. The popularity is based on allowing the secondary use by Crypton Future Media Inc., which is selling the vocaloids’ software. By means of the secondary use, various derived ways have been posted in the video sites like YouTube or NikoNiko-Doga. We can enjoy original songs, animations, dances, and so on.

Amateur composers are said to have made more than 30,000 songs for vocaloids. There are a variety of song types, some are experimental. I think music is a kind of stimulus. That means the experimental tunes are stimulus in a certain sense.

On the other hand, while Hatsune Miku was developed with the vocaloid 2 software, Yamaha released the new vocaloid 3 software last fall. There are many vocaloid singers using the new software. New songs of Hatsune Miku appear to decrease. In that sense, I feel the NHK news is slightly late behind the real fact.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the songs downloaded through the videos. I really thank works of composers and creators.

A music concert by the city fire fighters band

A regular concert by the city fire fighters band was held at a concert hall today. My mother was looking forward to listening to their music. She had applied for the tickets including my family to the fire fighter office a few weeks ago. Besides she went to the hall to change them into reserve seat tickets in advance this morning and gave them to us.

The concert was 16^th anniversary of the band, and the 100^th anniversary event of this city. The venue was packed by audiences. It was comprised by three parts, the first was classical music, the second was marching band and the last was popular music stage.

Their occupation is fire fighters or officers of the city fire fighter agent. They are not professional of music, however, the level of their performance is enough to offer audiences.

At the marching band stage, they played the “From the new worlds symphony No.9” by Dvorak arranged a marching band style with a marching performance and percussion performance. We were mesmerized by the performance.

I had an impression that their music was a bit solid or had me remind of an army-type discipline. It’s natural that people working at dangerous places are required of the discipline.

Anyway I had a good time at no charge.

A book I was unable to sympathize with

A title was so attractive that I bought the book “Manegimento no Nichi-Bei Gyakuten ga Hazimaru” or “A Great Turnatound in US-Japan Management Battle.” I had never known of the author Etsusuke Masuda. There were some books by him in a book store. I assumed he was a famous writer.

His biography shows he gained a doctorate of history and economy at Johns Hopkins University after graduated from Hitotsubashi University. He was engaged in an assistant professor at New York State College, and then has worked as an analyst.

Therefore I think he’s been known about the US well. He’s putting down the US and the US oriented major corporations. I don’t understand how he has become an anti-American. He claims that corporations in the US where many executives profit a big payback and don’t work hard can’t go ahead of Japanese counterparts where employees work hard and executives have fewer earnings.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish reading it. His way of thinking is extremely assertive. He frequently uses “absolutely.” Even if he believes his way of thinking is right, I think he should not use many assertive expressions without objective data. The data themselves are a kind of favorable ones for him. And he put a lot of citations from other books.

Japanese management is superior to the US. He just says it. But I had an impression it’s rude and not persuadable. I don’t know his further career, but he is a kind of a person who I don’t want to be a friend. As reading one’s book, I get to appreciate the character or trait of the author.

I hope I could come across a high quality and logical book.

Chocolate day?

Valentine’s day is the day someone in particular women sending others usually the opposite sex chocolates or cakes in Japan. There is no religious meaning. No one don’t care for Valentine, even if whoever he is.

When I was young two decades ago, a few female colleagues gave us a small piece of chocolates. It was called “Giri choco” or obligation chocolates. I didn’t get such chocolates except that from my wife today.

I saw a male sales-rep in my office handed this sort of chocolates to female colleagues. Times have changed. Just one month later of the Valentine’s Day, the White day is set, in which a male received chocolate from females gives them cakes like cookies in return. Of course, I know he did it by way of a compliment.

My son came back from his high school with a several chocolates and cakes today. He told us that he was given them by his female friends of an after-school activity. I heard they were all his one year younger, because his same grader girls were too busy to make hand-made cakes last weekend. There was a mock test on last Sunday. Now young generation seems to make the cakes by themselves. I was a bit surprised. I’ve never given these handmade cakes. It might be a fad. However, cake makers may think it’s a regrettable phenomenon that their product like chocolates can’t be sold as many as they expected.

So the Valentine’s day passed. I like chocolates. When I passed by a store, I buy one. So that, I have chocolates in my house throughout a year.

Smart phone

When I went to an accustomed tennis court last weekend, a friend asked me whether I had a smart phone. I don’t have even a normal mobile phone. I did but didn’t use it so much. I quit it. If I necessarily need it when I go to a business trip, I can use a cell phone owned by the company. So I don’t feel the necessity.

My director learned how to approve documents or requests for managerial decision by his smart phone last Friday before he would go to an oversea business trip. It’s convenient to submit these documents or requests wherever the person is even abroad. Instead, the businesspersons can’t escape their work during all day.

Reversely, my brother seems not to be able to let go of a smart phone. When he came back to my parents’ home and ate out with my family, he was touching it during a dinner at a restaurant. I didn’t know at first what he did. I guessed that he texted someone on his business. Actually, he was doing a web surfing through his smart phone. I was amazed. I questioned if he enjoyed the net surfing rather than the dinner with families.

I’m sure it’s innovative gadgets. I wonder how many users get to addict them. I’m afraid if the day when people are tied up by them will come.

A mock exam

My son is doing a mock test for a college entrance exam today. It starts at 8:30 a.m. and finishes at 8:00 p.m. It’s a long day for examinees. The real common examination called as “the national center test for university admissions” is carried out at two days schedule. They don’t have enough time of two days, so an organizer appeared to plan to do it for one day schedule.

The examinees will see their total scores and deviation. The deviation is important for them to know their current capability. And they can check their destination college on the deviation score.

I think it’s somewhat sad for students preparing for a real exam, and meaningless at a real social life. The entrance exam system in Japan has been accepted the same system for twenty something years. There are some issues. The test held last month was also been reported some messes for examinees by news.

I don’t say that the knowledge oriented education system in Japan is superior of others. Students taught by the method are said to be lack of the ability of logical thinking and leadership. However, it has been good for Japan where they are fond of uniformity and harmony. I comprehend it has had an aspect required by Japanese society.

I assume we are eager to change such a system without the past bond. It’s not easy. That’s the present democratic capitalism like the US and Europe. So we are demanding innovative leaders. The leaders are created under the current education and exam systems in Japan, though.

Book; Tips for speaking in English

I’m trying to keep this diary in English to improve or not to deteriorate my English ability. I’m interested in books on English. I caught a glimpse of this book “Eigo de Hanasu Hinto” or “Tips for speaking in English” at a book store, and then I got it. It has a subtitle as “the way to improve English taught by the interpreter. The prominent interpreter is an author Tatsuya Komatsu.

He’s engaged in a simultaneous translator and a English teacher at a college for a long time. We can get a lot of tips. He says that it’s not good to use a word-for word translation when you try to translate from Japanese to English. He’s told his students not to adhere to an original sentence, but it’s vital to understand the meaning and to speak it with your own words. Anticipation is helpful to understand the meaning. However to anticipate something requires to learn a lot of related matters, and we have to keep reading or making an effort to learn.

There are peculiar syntaxes in languages over the world. English has Subject (S) + Verb (V) + Object (O) syntax. But Japanese has S + O +V. He explains we have more than 6,000 languages in the world and the most syntax is S + O + V type. I’ve never known. Nonetheless, Japanese need to get accustomed to the SVO syntax. If you repeat speaking with SVO, you will be able to do it automatically. He claims this automatization is important.

One language has unique expressions despite of easy words like “Amai” in Japanese. There are several meanings. They are untranslatable into other languages. In these cases, it needs a process to “create” but “translate.”He shows examples about “Amai.”

a. Jinsei ha sonnani amaku nai. – Life is not that easy.

b. Shusyo no handan ga amakatta to iwazaru oenai. – We have to say that Prime Minister was too optimistic / naïve in his judgement.

c. Mago niwa doushitemo amaku naru. – We tend to be overly soft / permissive / indulgent with our grandchildren.

d. Watashi wo amaku miruna. – Don’t underestimate me.

e. Kare wa amai tama wo homuran shita. – He hit a fat pitch and scored a homerun.

He says that motivation is important to keep learning English. To get to like English is the fastest way to improve your English skills. I’m not so good at English, but like it.

Loud voices

I try to keep going to a swimming pool once a week due to make up lack of exercise. When I returned to a locker room after swim, there were lots of swimming school boys maybe under ten years old, and a few teenagers with minor intellectual disabilities. I’ve attended the pool for three years, so I know they are in it at the time.

Some school boys have a lot of energy and make mischief. Their conversation often makes me chuckle. Someone says it’ll be rain tomorrow. Another replies, no, it’ll be fine. Other shouts rain, rain, rain! Others say no, no, no. And then the locker room is filled with voices.

Besides in case involving the disabilities, the fuss gets louder. I think they are very sensitive regarding voices or words, even if the words don’t have a special meaning. In response the voice the school boys brought out, they also started to yell out, “Rain, Rain, Rain!”

Some school boys were afraid of the loud voices and rapidly got out of the room. However a few remained and talked with them. Just saying “rain” or “fine.”

The disabilities are courteous. When someone passes by them, they say “Hello.” I reply ”Good evening.” At times, they get uneasy and upset. When it happens, someone like their parents or swimming coaches get them calm. However, when they say “Hello” or enjoy talking with boys, they are innocent and may feel good.

Public spaces like the swimming pool are not only for ordinary people but for them.

Underground passage

I went to Tokyo for a business trip today. I had to transfer from a Shinkansen to a subway Hanzomon-sen line. It was raining this morning. After I went out the Marunouchi exit of JR Tokyo station, I walked through an underground passage. I’ve never lived in Tokyo, so I’m unfamiliar with the underground. As seeing signs showing the direction and distance to the destination station, I headed.

People who use the underground everyday may not mistake their direction or have a strange sense to the underground. But It was the first time for me to pass it. Some parts of it were narrow and other parts have up and down stairs. What I was surprised the most with was the distance. Probably I mistook the shortest pass. It took a quite long time to reach the station.

I admired how long the underground was. At times, we found out news articles like that a long tunnel for smuggling drugs from Mexico to the US was discovered or Palestine has tunnels reaching Egypt, etc. Human beings might be fond of digging these tunnels or undergrounds. As roaming the underground, I got an illusion that I became an ant and the underground might be an ant nest.

At an urban, it may be convenient. But it’s like a monster of complexity for a local dweller.

Yakitori-ya

A welcome party for a new head of my section was held at a yakitori restaurant on Friday. It served several sorts of grilled chicken. I’ve rarely visited this kind of restaurant. They were delicious. I realized what rich variations they were.

Yakitori restaurants feature skewered foods mainly of chicken. They use most part of chicken like meat, skin, and giblets. The seasonings are different from salt, sweet soy source and special sauces. Moreover, we can enjoy some textures like just grilled chicken meats are normal, livers are soft, gizzards are chewy, skin are resilient and meat balls are melting.

Japanese are enthusiastic to create different versions of foods derived from one ingredient. Ramen, Sushi etc. The basic forms are same but there are different tastes, textures and appearances. We can enjoy them. I thank professionals who have created them and have a sense how wealthy Japan is.

Book; Skepticism to management strategy

Japanese title “Keiei Senryaku o Toinaosu” of this book written by Kazuhiro Mishina may be directly translated as “Asking management strategy again.” He is a professor of Kobe University Graduate School of Business Administration. It’s two times that I read it. I’ve read almost all his books and his ideas backed by numerous data that he’s conducted about Japanese listed companies inspired me.

In this book, he develops his skepticism about management strategy. The essence of management strategy includes “Ritchi” or the positioning, “Kamae” or the structure and “Kinsei” or the harmony.

However, the strategy itself is incubated by a businessperson. If the strategy depends on the person, it’s created by the three important points, “KKD” from the initials of Japanese words “Kan”, “Keiken” and “Dokyo.” “Kan” is how the person foresees the business environment as the result that he’s learnt over his education and knowledge including the perspective of the world, the view of history and the way of seeing persons. “Keiken” or experience is the clue or trigger to resolve it. And “Dokyo” or courage is self-confidence.

How do the businesspersons read the present period surrounding the business environment? If they can set it, what they should do is automatically decided. The premise is relied on the persons, but few can take a wrong procedure of the inference. That means the essence of the management strategy is to “read” but to “do.” The perception of the times the businesspersons have is a base of the strategy.

Administration and management is different. Persons who have controlled or administrated a group or a department or even a subsidiary can’t manage a big company by the way they have done.

After all, a person is the key. Considering it, it might be simple to prosper a corporation. Steve Jobs did, but Howard Stringer didn’t.

Snow

When I came out of my house this morning, I didn’t see fallen snow around the house and sidewalks. As I came close to my office which is located at 15 km north of my house, fallen snow appeared. I turned to a path due to take a shortcut to the office. The ground of it was frozen. It was so slippery that I had to give attention to my driving. Some office workers were unable to arrive before the opening time.

We rarely see fallen snow in this area I live in, so a small amount of snow cause unprecedented traffic accidents or a heavy traffic jam.

When I came close to my car at a car parking in my company after finishing today’s work, I found there were frozen ices on the windshields. I’ve hardly encountered the situation, so I was bewildered how I should deal with it. After all, I brought out a metal scale and had the ices wiped out with it.

A high school my son attends had an event of a long distance running with some groups. He told me that while he took a run it didn’t snow. Before and after the event, snow appears to have flown. It must have been cold.

I’m a bit busy tomorrow. If roads are frozen and I can’t reach the office on time, how should I catch up with the tomorrow’s plan? As thinking like it, I will never be able to live in a snowy area.