Monday, December 27, 2010

Saudi Video

An Egyptian friend Mona let me know this. It's one episode of Saudi Arabian TV program series describing Japanese society by comparing it to Arabian society like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This is very interesting because it makes me realize that there still remain some good points in Japanese society from a foreign people's viewpoint that Japanese people should pay more attention to.

It looks like there are many more episodes from the same program. I am trying to watch them though I understand only basic Arabic greetings...

Thanks, Mona!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mowwJJMb8A&feature=channel


(Translation by Mona)


the episode's title : Construction with  respect


respecting the human value when does it appear?
it appears when dealing with Employment ( workers )

watch how workers are treated and you will know if this Community respect the human value or not

we went to a place where they build a building in tokyo
and we saw some issues describes their strong attention with safety things and cleanliness and give the worker his value ..

at the scene place :

i think if we asked them what do you call the constructor ...they will say mud Engineer ( he is kidding because even if it's a simple job...in tokyo they give you a decent job's name however your job is )

they asked all of us to wear a helmet to go to the working site ...workers safety and also anyone who across the building site's safety ! (he is surprised ) they consider it ...their responsibility
even if he came to shoot a programe...they consider it their responsibility

this one will hold the camera later ( one with glasses )

this banner i didn't know what it meant ..i thought it was a ( gateway )  or something like that ...
they wrote..from here you can take off your helmet ...and then from here you have to wear your helmet

so they made a line on ground...before wearing helmet and after ( la elaha ela allah means...there is no god but allah ) Significance on how great this thing is

he says...bring me some more and laughs ...here on their helmet ...everyone's name is written ...ofcourse it's a respect to him ...because he's not just a worker !! he is a Human being with name ...secondly their blood type ...he says : nice...keep on


on the studio again :

and then we went to a different planet ...and to a building in a other planet ...and we saw also the living creatures ...how they are treating them ( he says it with sarcasm)

on the working scene :

they are building a construction ...
no one wears a helmet !! the helmet young fellow ! where is it ...ha?
the worker says: they don't give us such things

in japan planet :

now they will start Morning exercise

they will massage each others also !! laughing =D
yes...it's a good thing to start a working day like this ...Excellent

on the left japan planet...on the right ( another planet )

he asks someone...do u make morning exercise?

he said : no exercising is just in our Residence ...not in work ...

he ask him again: you all don't do exercises together..? !

in japan planet :

he is checking the Attendance ..

he says : sob7an allah ,,,it's glorification the god 
this is a new worker ...he joined them today
so they called his name and the team is greeting the new ones

he saw the worker's shoes...these are special shoes ?

he asks is it steal? she said yes

a shoe Padded with steal for his safety ...because he has a value to them

japan planet...and other planet

in the other planet he goes to them and tell them...i want to hit with Crutch here also ( he is joking ) =D

he tells someone: i was in japan...the other man: japan again? laughs
and someone gave me a Crutch and told me hit hard ...and shouts ...

isn't there a shoe? only this?

he goes to someone else...when can i hit with this?

he looks at men standing above the building and said :
for god's sake is he wearing shoes or is he Barefoot ...he is barefoot...

the end =)


Interview Questions

Today, I had an admission interview to the EMBA program on the phone. They turned out to be as follows:

1. What can you contribute to our program?

2. Why do you apply specifically for our program?

Thanks to my former colleague I mentioned earlier, I was able to perfectly prepared for these.

Thanks, Shun!


Saturday, December 25, 2010

One Piece

The author of the famous anime "One Piece" is earning more than two billion yen (USD 20 million) annually according to a renowned weekly magazine just published in Japan. The author Eiichiro Oda, a former dropout from a university, is said to have handed out his autographs saying "I will become a celebrity" from the days when he was not famous at all. He has been licensing his work in US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ etc.

When I was little, every kid liked manga and anime, and our life was filled with characters from manga and anime. A friend and I used to draw manga and publish them within our circle of friends. However, nobody imagined a manga author would license his copyright in foreign countries because anime and manga were considered as too Japanese to be understood by foreign people.

Today, thanks to the globalization, I think the quality of manga and anime has become more sophisticated and easier to be accepted among people from other cultures than they used to be. But still I like them as they used to be... coarse and excessively sentimental for kids...




Thursday, December 23, 2010

Telephone Interview

As I wrote previously, I have to have a telephone interview to an EMBA program next Monday. I am now preparing myself for it. A former colleague gave me some tips below. He has already gotten his MBA diploma from INSEAD, France,  conducts interviews himself on behalf of the admission committee of INSEAD, and is kind enough to have written a recommendation letter for me to the faculty I am applying for (not INSEAD) :

The interviewers might ask you these questions as follows ,so be prepared.
- Describe your work experience so far.
- Describe the situation(s) where you took leadership.
- Why do you apply for our program?
- How do you want to build your career after graduation?

They will carefully assess whether you will make a member of prominent alumni, so it's quite important to make an impression on them that you are a confident and rational, good communicator and team player.

These are very informative. Thanks, pal!

Emperor's Birthday

Today is the Emperor's Birthday which is a national holiday in Japan. In Japan, based on the ancient Chinese imperial era system, an era name ("gengo") is assigned to each emperor's ruling period. Japanese people use the imperial era name combined with the years counted from the first year of the period, as well as the Christian era system. Government offices usually use the imperial era system, so we are constantly required to translate from one system to the other.

The Gengo of the present emperor Akihito is "Heisei" and this is the year "Heisei 22." Today, Emperor Akihito turned 77; therefore it is at the age of 56 that he started his rule when his father Emperor Hirohito passed away in January 1989.

Although today, after the WWII, the Emperor has become a mere figurehead politically, a number of people come together at the Imperial Palace to celebrate his birthday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101223/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_emperor

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Montessori Kindrgarten

My three year old daughter is entering a Catholic kindergarten nearby that adopts Montessori Method next April. I had never heard of this education method until I had to prepare for the entrance examination on her behalf. At first, I was somewhat scared to learn that "works" it requires children to do look like rituals a secret society would require their members to do. However, as I have learned more, I have realized that this method is an extraordinarily well-studied education method for developing children's brain from their early age that Maria Montessori who was a doctor in Rome created in 1900s. Since the creation, it has been producing its "brainchildren" while improved over a century.

According to an article by a Montessori school, those who were Montessori educated include:
- Peter Drucker, Management Guru
- Larry Page, Co-Founder of Google
- Sergey Brin, Co-Founder of Google
- Jeffrey Bezos, Founder of Amazon.com
- Katharine Graham, Owner/Editor of the Washington Post
- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Editor, Former First Lady
- Anne Frank, Author of The Diary of Anne Frank
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize winner for Literature
- Prince William and Prince Harry, English royal family
- Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian painter and Architect

Impressive, isn't it? Now, I'm in a learning process and reading books on the method.

Montessori Madness! A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori EducationHow To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori WayTeach Me to Do It Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your ChildMontessori: The Science Behind the Genius

Monday, December 20, 2010

Entertaining Clients

Working in the real estate industry in Tokyo, I occasionally have to entertain clients at night. We "wine and dine" them sometimes to get information or a deal, and sometimes just to build a friendly relationship for future deals. Entertaining clients is, by nature, broadly embedded in this industry probably because information is unevenly distributed among limited privileged people who love to entertain and to be entertained. Information here is extremely important like in the intelligence world.

Recently, Tokyo's real estate market has been gradually picking up. As always in every real estate market, the first movers are lenders thinking about selling off their bad loans collateralized by real estate. Actual real estate disposition follows it.

I have friends in the banking industry as I used to work for a bank (long time ago, though). They sounds like they might partially start selling their loans soon. I need to introduce one of them to a client interested in buying bad loans tonight over drinks. I am hoping to not drink too much according to the industry standard...

Internet Riches

I am reading a book whose title is "Internet Riches: The Simple Money-making - Secrets of Online Millionaires." I bought and downloaded it at Kindle Store in Amazon.com (I love Kindle!). This is easy to read and very informative so far especially for the people who are thinking of moonlighting while working or studying like me (I am preparing for the probable cases that I cannot continue my current job after enrolling in the Executive MBA program, such as the case that my company refuse to endorse my plan to take time off and study etc.) I haven't talked to my superior about EMBA yet by the way. I think I am going to do after I am admitted...

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Executive MBA

I am applying for an Executive MBA program and have sent all the documents required last week. The program is a joint venture between a US university and an Asian university which I happened to find on the Internet. I need to have an interview on the phone on Dec. 27 and am waiting for the exact time to be noticed. After they reviewed my resume, they encouraged me to apply for it, but I am still nervous. I suppose they will ask me about my submitted essays in detail. They might ask me if I have any questions. Unless I can come up with appropriate questions, they might think I am not so much interested in the program, so I need to prepare for them. Now I'm reading their brochure and  website again for the preparation. I am keeping my fingers crossed...