Which Sports Is The Most Attractive For Writers

I'm a big fan of baseball, though, I would not mention it if visiting the UK. In the UK, I would pretend to like playing football. This comes from a result of the Books Ngram Viewers by Google. If you are wondering what Ngram Viewers is, see the following talk!



I tried several words in the Ngram, and then I found something interest by a combination of terms of sports. Here is my example:

English

I chose five sports for this analysis; (1) Baseball, (2) Football, (3) Tennis, (4) Golf, and (5) Cricket. At first, I picked several other sports like polo (I think this word is used not only for describing a sport but also for other meanings like polo shirts), wrestling, swimming, basketball, hockey and so on. But, I thought the five sports which I picked are interesting because of having well variations. At 2000, Baseball is the most frequently used in the above graph! Yeah! However, as you can guess, when this result falls into American and British English, ...

American English

British English

In the American English, Golf was the most popular for writers to mention during the early twentieth century. Also, before baseball was a popular sport in the US, cricket was in style in the late nineteenth century. It's surprising for me! Of course, cricket has been popular in the UK (+India) as shown in the British English, while baseball has been the worst attractive for writers who use British English.

One more thing I want to state here is the influence of wars on sports. Even my graphs show the evidence that  less frequent words regarding sports were mentioned during the wars such as WWI, WWII, and Vietnam War. In particular, compared the American to British graph at 1960, there is a big difference. For example, tennis indicates the opposite trend between the American and British. My explanation for it is that Vietnam War has something to do with the trend because US involvement to the war escalated in the early 1960s and also there was Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Anyway, I recommend you play the Ngram!

Happy Thanksgiving

In Japan, there is no Turkey Day. My dinner will be white rice, miso soup, tuna (Japanese national fish? Maybe!), plus something. Well, If I had thanksgiving dinner, I would like to eat mash potatoes with a gravy sauce rather than turkeys. Anyway, have a good time!

via

This Is The Music Using Our Ability

Bobby McFerrin, who is one of the best-known vocal performer, conducts a wonderful impromptu performance below.



Some people who are singing in the video sound like little off-key at first, but they gradually adjust their key. Eventually, they create a beautiful harmony between them and Bobby.

Wonderful!!

Honne & Tatemae Everywhere

"Honne and Tatemae" is a famous word to describe Japanese culture. Honne is what people are truly feeling or really want to do. It is usually used for behavior and opinions. On the other hand, Tatemae refers to socially expected behavior and opinions, regardless of what the people actually think about and want to do. For instance, suppose you are invited to a neighbor's house, and the host says "Would you like to something to drink?" If you are Japanese, you probably say "yes," even though you are not thirsty (If you were like me, you would finish the drink and even say "it's delicious," regardless of whether it's really good or "not good..." ). This "yes" is known as Tatemae.

The reason the Japanese start using this custom is to avoid conflicts. In Japan, it is important to keep harmony among people, and harmony is assumed as a value.

Zits published November 4, 2011

Well, Honne and Tatemae looks like, however, not only for the Japanese, but also for everybody in the world. Zits shows a very well example of Honne and Tatemae. In the above comic strip, Jeremy (who is sixteen years old, a high school student, and wants to become a musician) tells his mother to thank-you for buying a new down jacket in the first and second scene. However, in the last scene, he is thinking "...said the giant purple hand grenade." It seems that his thought may be "Honne," while his thank-you and comment to his mother may be "Tatemae".

If you avoid conflicts, saying Tatemae might be good. If not, say Honne!

A more sophisticated explanation regarding this topic is available at the following link: http://www.kirainet.com/english/honne-and-tatemae/.

Interesting Toy

The tool looks like very interesting. I'd like to play it. Some of the function seem difficult for children to use, but it also means that adults enjoy playing it. The last function is especially my favorite.

Virtuoso means...

According to my favorite dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a virtuoso is defined as "someone who is a very skilful performer, especially in music". The reason I saw the word in the dictionary was that I checked a word, vis-a-vis, though.

I'm no complaint about the definition of a virtuoso, but I'm very curious about why the editor (s/he is her fan?) chose the illustration:

"violin virtuoso Vanessa Mae"

I think she is a great talented violinist. However, I do not have an image for her as a virtuoso. One of her performances is below.

What I believe as a virtuoso is Itzhak Perlman. Actually, when checking out the word on the Wikipedia, Perlman is one of the examples. The point I want to make is that my connotation from the term, virtuoso, is a  performer like Perlman. But, if the word reminds other people of like Mae, what's going on is, I think, that a virtuoso may imply like her performance. Although this is a mere example of using a word differently among generations, I feel a big difference between Perlman and Mae. Just in my opinion, Perlman is more an appropriate instance! Please check out a virtuoso in your dictionary!

Bystander Effect

The Street by Baltus

Here is a famous painting by Baltus who is French, 1908-2001 (it is available to see at MoMA in NY). Although at first glance it looks like just a beautiful painting, there is something wrong to happen in the painting. On the left side, the man is doing sexual aggression to the girl wearing a red cloth, but none of the people seem to notice it (or I guess they pretend not to).

This is a good example for the bystander effect (the large number of people witnessing the tragedies militated against anyone's helping). The reason that it occurs is that the people assume as the reasonableness and appropriateness of not helping by the other people do not help. In the above case, if we do not know what the man is doing, we may assume that is appropriate or even may not notice the weirdness.

The New Japanese President

The above graph shows GDP growth rate of UK (red line), JPN (green line), and US (purple line as a bench mark for global economy) between 1961 and 2010. In addition, red and green arrows indicate the succession of both Britain's and Japan's prime minister, respectively.

As you can see, the Japanese prime ministers change more frequently than those of UK. According to research on the managerial succession, there are two things regarding top management's changes. One is that poor performance in a firm is more likely to lead a leader to change than good performance. The other is that the more often a manager and CEO in a firm change, the poorer the firm's performance is.

As long as I can see the above graph, I think those facts may apply to this case (though I have not conducted a statistical test to the relationship between the turnover and GDP growth). If the relationship is true, what I expect the new Japanese prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda,  is to be in office as long as possible.

Even as one of the Japanese, I cannot remember the name of the prime minister anymore.

More Smile in Our Life

The more I smile, the less I need to eat chocolates (especially Bon Bons), according to the below talk. As a result, I would be more healthy. It's nice!! Yeah, more smile in my life!!

15 things I have still tried to learn

Two months ago (I think)  there was an article on the headline of Yahoo!. I'm not a child, technically...

Photo: Flickr

However, my behaviors are still like a kid sometimes. After finishing reading the article, I counted up how many manners out of 25 I know and carry out. I picked 15 manners from the article as follows (parentheses are my comments):

1. Do not interrupt grown-ups who are speaking with each other unless there is an emergency. They will notice you and respond when they are finished talking. (Sometimes I cannot wait and help but interrupting until someone finishes talking...It's not good, though.)
2. If you do need to get somebody's attention right away, the phrase "excuse me" is the most polite way for you to enter the conversation. (I don't say "excuse me." Well, I suddenly speak or say a hesitation. Just because I didn't know this manner...)
3. When you have any doubt about doing something, ask permission first. It can save you from many hours of grief later. (I see. I forget to ask any permission, and should do it.)
4. The world is not interested in what you dislike. Keep negative opinions to yourself, or between you and your friends, and out of earshot of adults. (I know, but it's very difficult not to utter what I dislike.)
5. When people ask you how you are, tell them and then ask them how they are. (I have to follow this rule next time.)
6. When you have spent time at your friend's house remember to thank his or her parents for having you over and for the good time you had. (I know it's important, but sometimes I don't do that...)
7. When you make a phone call, introduce yourself first and then ask if you can speak with the person you are calling. (It's dependent on situations because now we can know who is calling through the display on a cell phone and phone. But, I should introduce myself first anytime. It's more appropriate way.) 
8. Be appreciative and say "thank you" for any gift you receive. In the age of e-mail, a handwritten thank-you note can have a powerful effect. (Sending a handwritten thank-you latter is a fabulous way to convey our appreciation. My mother always does send a handwritten thank-you letter, but I don't...Really I should.)
9. Never use foul language in front of adults. Grown-ups already know all those words, and they find them boring and unpleasant.
10. Do not make fun of anyone for any reason. Teasing shows others you are weak, and ganging up on someone else is cruel. (OK...But I'm not sure to follow this manner.)
11. Even if a play or an assembly is boring, sit through it quietly and pretend that you are interested. The performers and presenters are doing their best. (Yes...But, pretending is my weak point because I'm naive, honestly(?).)
12. If you bump into somebody, immediately say "Excuse me." (Don't retort, of course.)
13. As you walk through a door, look to see if you can hold it open for someone else. (And, lady first!!)
14. If you come across a parent, a teacher, or a neighbor working on something, ask if you can help. If they say "yes," do so -- you may learn something new. (It's a good way to start a conversation with someone as well.)
15. When an adult asks you for a favor, do it without grumbling and with a smile. (Smile plays a significant role in giving good impression. At least, we shouldn't express Pan Am smile. When we are asked something, we should do it with smile with "crow's-feet," according to a speech by Guy Kawasaki.)

Risk Preference

Recently I read a book "What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20" by Tina Seelig. This book provides a lot of fascinating examples and is well organized. I found and got some useful insights from the book. Also, it was very easy to read. I'd like to mention a thing from the book, anyway.

The author introduces a thought of risk in a chapter. According to the book, there are five types of risks:

1. Physical risk: such as being willing or unwilling to bungee jump off a bridge.
2. Social risk: like being willing or reluctant to start a conversation with a stranger. 
3. Emotional risk: revealing own emotion and feeling.
4. Financial risk: a big financial risk taker or not.
5. Intellectual risk: willingness to take risk in pursuing scientific inquiry.

According to the finance, risk is the probability that actual return on an investment will be lower than the expected return. And, suppose a financial assumption -- which is the more you take risk, the more you get the return, and vise verse -- is correct (For example, high-risk, high-return research is here). That is, the more we take risk, the more we will get something successful or big, as the following comic strip shows.

Comic Strip: Frank & Ernest published on June 23, 2011

With the above idea, I'd like to consider about my risk preference, that means which types of risks I am willing to take. I'm comfortable to take physical risks because I don't think about risk of fracturing a born which some people may worry, while taking social risks are uncomfortable for me as I confessed before: "Shy is not Shine". Also, I'm willing to take intellectual risks such as I like casting doubt on theories and common thought regardless of whether my critics for them are correct and pertinent or not, but I'm not a big financial and emotional risk taker so I may be a cheapskate and an expressionless face...

As Tina Seelig points out, although we are taking a big risk, we don't see ourselves as big risk takers on certain types of risks. For instance, unlike me, some entrepreneurs and bankers don't assume themselves as big risk takers despite spending huge money for investments. On other hand, if someone paid one million dollars for you to play a sky diving, you could never try it out. I think a message comes from these things. That is, "Don't be afraid of failure and shame." But, I know easier said than done. As for the first step of action, take a look at your own risk profile. Which types of risks are you willing to take and don't you see as a big risk? Though it is just a starting point, it would be easy and sometimes helpful for you to go ahead. 

Dogs and cats love watching television shows as well as human being does?

Photo: Hanna watching her favorite show on TV

Recently I have observed my family's dogs, Mikke and Hanna (in the left photo). Although Mikke is a nice dog, Hanna is an interesting dog because she has a weird habit. It's to watch TV with smacking, punching, and heading onto it like the below video, while Mikke isn't seemingly interested in watching TV.

Even when I showed the video to Hanna, she was trying to punching the cat -- particularly, she loves cats.

By the way, some TV shows are known as affecting our behaviors in the social psychology. For instance, a study shows that viewing television violence can subsequently numb people's reactions when they are faced with real-life aggression (called the numbing effect). In the study, those who had watched the police show were more likely to allow to observe a verbally and physically aggressive interaction between preschoolers than those who had watched the volleyball game. Thus, violence shows influence "human being" to response an aggressive behavior.

On other hand, my concerns are as follows:

• Do TV shows have an effort on animals' behaviors?   

To begin with, TV shows are really interesting and an influencer for animals like dogs and cats to change their behaviors? For example, my dog really likes seeing a cat and even a wild felid (Once I watched a documentary about a cheetah, Hanna had an interest in it.). If Hanna's behaviors are changed like a cat by TV shows and she duplicates cat's behaviors, I could assume that dogs are influenced by TV shows. But, is it right? I don't know. The best way is that I'd conduct an experiment for that, anyway.

• Do animals understand TV shows like us?

Are violence programs able to influence animals to change their behaviors more aggressively like human being? Or if I show sexual programs to my dogs...Oops. Anyway, if they understand TV shows like us, violence materials would tend to lead them to take more aggressive actions. But, the cat seems to me to immitate what boxers are doing in the below video (I heard cats are recognizing the world as black and white without colors.), and interpret their aggression. It's really difficult for me to understand waht dogs and cats are doing. I hope to understand correctly. If not, it might be a disaster.

I'll keep observing my dogs because they give me so much fun!

Real Nokanshi

Photo: IMDb

Have you ever watched Departures, a Japanese movie? Basic story is the below:

"Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and now finds himself without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled "Departures" thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of "Nokanshi," acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living."

Now Japan has faced with a tough situation since the huge earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. Through the earthquake and tsunami, many people died. In that situation, there is a volunteer, Ms. Ruiko Sasahara who is a professional encoffineer helping the families of identified dead, sharing the sorrows, and making up the face of the dead with the families.

Photo: asahi.com

Until now, she has already taken care of over 300 bodies from a 10-day old baby to above 90 years old person, according to a radio program.

Modern Pavlovian Response

Comic Strip: Frank and Ernest on May 11, 2011

In a book by Elmer Wheeler, "Tested Sentences That Sell," first chapter is "Don't Sell the Steak -- Sell the Sizzle!" Of course this is a figurative expression, but it is right to the point.

In the above comic strip, "Beep" is "Sizzle." This automatic response by human is not only increasing our appetite, but also a strong marketing tool to us -- as another type of example for that automatic response,  expense = good stereotype (Reference from "Influence" by Robert B. Cialdini). Unfortunately, "Beep" and "Sizzle" works too well, even though you don't have a feeling to buy anything or going to a restaurant. We cannot avoid our physiological instinct.

What is your sizzle to stimulate your appetite? Mine is a slam when slamming a fridge to because my favorite dessert is a grapefruit jelly (and also Bon Bons,  a chocolate ice candy). To keep my figure and health, all I have to do is to wear earplugs like him, especially when someone slams a fridge door to.

Photo: Milton Bradley

A new function for Facebook

I've wondered why Facebook doesn't have a function to connect with friends' friends by a friend's recommendation.

Photo: halifaxlight

Suppose I'm looking for a person who speak English to develop my English skills via chatting on face-to-face or Skype like a conversation partner. And then, When I post that comment on the Facebook, although by far some friends see it, they usually wouldn't introduce me to their friends who have the same needs like wanting to speak Japanese to improve his/her skills -- because I'm Japanese, so both become win-win. -- as a friend (I mean as a friend who is on the Facebook, not necessarily to be a real friend.). Existing function is, for example, "Find friends." This gives us an opportunity to find a new friend through being able to see our friends' friends. However, this is not a good way to connect with people, in my opinion. Generally, when in our community friends' friends are connected with each other, an intermediary -- in this case, a direct friend between both friends' friends -- plays a significant role to this accomplishment because he/she knows information regarding both of them well. He/she can match up between them well.

With those idea, my suggestion is to create a new tool: "Want" and "Recommend" buttons. First, I'd like to explain about the "Want" function. If a person is looking for a textbook and want to know about the class at the same time, one of the best solution is to make a friend who already took that class and want to sell the textbook. First, that person posts that message on the "Want" like an usual Facebook comment. But, this "Want" function spreads that comment to all friends or friends who that person designated (This function is similar to the event function.). And then, if the friends who received that message have frieds' friends who would meet the request, they can introduce that friends' friends to him/her by using "Recommend" function. When using the "Recommend," the message is forwarded to that friends' friends as a friend's recommendation, and to the person who used "Want" too. And then, if both that friends' friends and the person agree with the offer, they can become a friend.

"Want" and "Recommend" function provides a win-win opportunity for us. But, my story is not the end here. My idea is not only to give a win-win situation to friends' friends and the requester, but also a profit to the intermediary. The intermediary is like a matchmaker. Although some people are a good matchmaker, they are not known well sometimes. So, when the intermediary did tie up between friends' friends by using "Recommend" button, their "Profile" on the Facebook lets him/her show "Matchmaking" like "Friend" and "Family" so that friends can see. As a result, the intermediaries may get a trust from friends and even make a new friend by that signaling effect as a matchmaker.

So far, I don't know such service. If you know anything like that, let me know. And, what do you think such service?

Mrs. Tanaka

Since 2007, Mrs. Watanabe has been recognized as one of factors to move market trends among dealers and investors who are in active to global currency market.

Who is Mrs. Watanabe?

Photo: The Star Publications

No...(This is Ken Watanabe, a famous actor, and his wife)

Photo: Catastrophist

Indeed, Mrs. Watanabe is "a mythical housewife representing the thousands of small Japanese investors who prefer speculating on currencies to stocks" (Reference is here). She is generally doing investment activities during lunch time. As a result of her activities, at Tokyo market, a fact that after the lunch time the market price frequently turns the opposite way against that morning market price, despite no significant factor, at the foreign exchange market between dollar and yen has been confirmed. This was surprising foreign investors. And, they couldn't help highlighting Mrs. Watanabe.

Recently, Mrs. Watanabe has been crashed allegedly by hedge funds. After the Japanese big earthquake and tsunami, despite the serious situation, the yen has been risen against the dollar. This tough condition would continue to face on Mrs. Watanabe awhile.

Although some articles wrote up of Mrs. Watanabe, I would like to highlight another point these articles didn't pointed out. Many housewives include in small Japanese investors who deal in the foreign exchange -- aka Mrs. Watanabe. I guess they are majority, of course though there are a lot of college students and businesspeople engaging as side business. And, they are a key player for Japanese economy now.

Though some of them got a lot of loss by this tough situation, they would keep doing or come back because most of their money come from their husband's income -- for them, dealing in foreign exchange is a thing like earning their allowance.

For example, my mom, Mrs. Tanaka, set up a booth at a flea market like a garage sale last Sunday. When coming back home, she got some money by selling our stuffs which we didn't need. Also, she has engaged to invest some stocks and have a real estate -- the source of funds from my dad -- like many Japanese housewives do , though she is not one of Mrs. Watanabe. When she gets a profit from her business (?), she enjoys traveling and shopping by using its money.

Thus, Japanese housewives are so powerful not only in their family, particularly wives hold real power in modern family, but also in economy by their very good business mind. They will have continued to have an impact on markets and economies, albeit Japanese markets and economies have been sunk by the earthquake and tsunami. And surprisingly, they are spending a lot of money to buying clothes and even eat a great lunch at an expensive restaurant because they have a good backup giving them funds and also their return in their investment to stocks and foreign exchanges. Although Every housewife is not like that and Mrs. Watanabe, they are worth to be highlighted and they are the hinge of recovering from this bad situation in Japan.

I personally have a little hope that my mom becomes the person called "Mrs. Tanaka" who is success in business world instead of "Mrs. Watanabe." I know it's not going to happen...

Good Definitions

I just translated a part of an article by my professor into English as follows:

1. Study: knowing what somebody revealed
2. Criticism: criticizing it
3. Education: letting people know it
4. Research: revealing what nobody knows

These definitions look like pretty good to me. I was considering about which level my blog is (Study is easiest level and Research is the most difficult). I assume this blog would be categorized Study/ Education. My goal is that someday in the future, I will engage in researching somehow. When you write a report or something, what do you think which level your report is? 

M's Won!!

The most amazing game by the Seattle Mariners in this two seasons it was!!

Photo: CosbySweaters.com

They came from behind, 7-0, and won at walk-off hit by Louis Rodriguez. During the almost entire game, I was nearly crying and the game made me crazy.

However, in the 8th inning, the situation was changing. The Seattle Mariners got five runs including by three straight based-loaded walks (actually, in the 7th inning, Bradley got solo home run.). So, at the finishing 8th inning, the Mariners was losing against the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6.

Oh boy, boy. The drama was waiting in the bottom of 9th inning. First, Saunders doubled, and then Branden Ryan did a perfect sacrificed bunt to Saunders for the third. Adam Kennedy grounded out to short stop. And, Ichiro was given an intentional walk.

And, Louis Rodriguez, he got it!! Good for him!!

I did give up winning, because this year again the offence of Mariners had stunk, so far. But, we baseball fans are always waiting this kind of game and moment for a pretty long time. Anyway, I'm quite happy now.

Nothing Special, Nothing New

Photo: kyokke tanaka (Onyx)

Three days ago, I got an email from a person. It had some questions for me. So, I wrote some suggestions from my point of view. Although those are nothing special and new, what do you think? Are those proper way to answer the questions or appropriate answers? If you wouldn't mind, I want to hear your comment to followings (*I added a few links and fixed some sentences on the original one):

• Do you think I'm stupid about my just keeping myself busy for my family or friends?

I don't think keeping busy for families or friends is stupid. At least, everybody spends some time with their family, friends and, more say, somebody. Social networking is a part of our essential job, as long as we live in a society. But, you should consider about how much you devote your time and endeavor to your family and friends. Just in my opinion, if you need something special like your own skills and competence -- in other words, to differentiate from others, you should make your own time in order to create who you are. For me, you look like you don't recognize who you are and what difference you are from others. Our tendency is that when we are close enough to each other, we couldn't see and create difference between us because we are likely to be being similar between us. Let's think about another way. It also means if you were someone, you should be close to him/her, inasmuch as we have the nature of similarity (This nature comes from the struggle for existence.).  So, I suggest that you should consider about this way. If you want to keep busy by taking care of your family and hanging out with friends, would your ideal and future be connected with them? Remember your family and friends are very important, though, yet they are not you, they live their own life and they don't replace your life. You have to invest your future. 

• Do you think I'm sacrificing myself not thinking anything??

I partly agree with your statement, even though I don't think you're not thinking about anything. Why do we sacrifice myself? Why don't we sacrifice others? Just thought. What is your role in your family, friends, groups, and society? Speaking of a baseball, each player has diffident role. For example, second hitter is generally supposed to do most sacrificed bunt. However, they don't do every time. How come? Because what they make a decision whether they do or not depends on what situation it is. Did you look at any situations? Sometimes they do choose a different choice from a sacrificed bunt, even if the situation is absolutely necessary to do the bunt. The reason is that they outwit a rival. This is not always needed, but, especially, when we need a big change, this strategy is useful. Don't beware I don't tell you thinking longer and more careful. Use your blink.

• Have you thought I'm selfish and just pretending to be nice to others?

I'm selfish too. Who cares? Probably you care. What's the matter? If you were pretending to be nice, I don't know and even care. I want to ask you what the difference between pretending and not is. For me, it's more significant that what someone or I did something nice was really so? If not, and then the cause was the pretentious attitude. Think about it. But, this is just in our mind. Who really knows the truth? The opposite case could happen high possibility. We do not handle everything, especially invisible things. And, we are easy to lie! Anyway, overall I'm really no concerned about the argument whether or not selfish and pretending is. If you are interested in it, you should ask Onyx (He is a shiba dog.). He is a really well socialist. In addition, we don't know what he think about, you know.

Thank you,

Taking Test

Photo: Sheknows.com

Who the heck loves taking a test? I confess that I hate a test. Whenever I take a test, it makes me nervous. And, if a test were a big deal like an entrance exam, it could make me crazy. In fact, before the quake and tsunami hit in Japan, cheating at entrance exams for college was a big issue. I would not say about how to prevent such cheating in this blog, but I would like to introduce a way to feel better to take a test.

Here is two pieces of research. One suggests that taking a test is the best way to learn, and another one introduces how to improve your test score better. These are just a tip.

First, Jeffrey D. Karpicke and Janell R. Blunt found that students who read a passage, and then took a test asking thiem to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods -- repeatedly studying the material and studying with concept mapping. Although this doesn't urge you to take a test more often as argued at an article by the New York Times, just keep your mind that an exam is one of the ways you study and retain knowledge. Also, I want to make a comment for this research. This study supposed school situations. Especially, if we were in school, we would be required many tests, and take again and again. This hatred ritual actually helps us retain taught knowledge at school.

Next, a study by Gerardo Ramirez and Sian L. Beilock showed that a brief expressive writing assignment, which occurred immediately before taking an important test, significantly improved students' exam scores, especially for students habitually anxious about test taking. This advice might be useful for some of readers who are facing on a significant test like an entrance exam and qualifying exam. I think this is worthy to try once because if it doesn't work well, we'll find another way to improve our exam scores. That's it.

Finally, I'd like to say if you have an opportunity to take a test, take it easy!! Because there is no royal road to learning. Although they may be useful, yet aforementioned researches are no more than some consolation.

How Changed by the Quake and Tsunami

Day by day, the catastrophe by the quake and tsunami in Japan has been revealed. Whenever I see news on a TV and in a newspaper, I'm disappointed, but I'm relieved by good stories at the same time. I really hope that its situations will be getting better.

The New York Times has uploaded interesting photos. Check them out!!

The top of that photos is of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant I'm most concerned about now. Obviously, the radiation leak crisis is so serious. As long as I listened to comments by Mr. Goto, the former Toshiba Nuclear Plant Designer, it's already worse than the Three Mile Island accident. We should pay attention to what's going on the plants because radiation could have a bad affect on us not only directly but also through food chains for a long time. Hope quick recovery!

Take a Break

He is amazing!! How hilarious he is !!

He, a 3 years old kid, is one of the greatest conductors I've ever seen. He knows the music, 4th movement of Beethoven Symphony 5th. Especially, the end is my favorite! Don't miss it!!

And, if you need more laughing, visit Funny or Die -- there is also an interview with its founders on @KatieCouric.

"Laugher is the best medicine."

8.8 Earthquake Hit in Japan

Yesterday 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit in the eastern area of Japan with huge Tsunami. We are able to get information about Japanese situations from a Japanese Live TV program.

Photo by The Time

Hope the earthquake victims are safe and get a safe place! And, I offer my condolences to the families of those who were killed.

Just a Memo

I guess that the hard disk drive (HDD) market is not familiar to many people. The bottom of the figure shows us an example of the Kryder's law, which is one of similar laws of Moore's law -- a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware. Anyway, I'd like to think about the HDD industry through a current issue.

Figure: Hard Drive Capacity Over Time by the Wikipedia

Western Digital (WD) and Hitachi announced on March 7, 2011 that WD will acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) for approximately $4.3 billion, according to an article by Venture Beat and a press release by WD.

This news gives a significant impact on the HDD industry. To begin with, the leader of the industry is Seagate, which has occupied about 41% of the market share, according to Smart HDD. And, WD is the second at approximately 23%, and the third is Samsung at approximately 16%. Hitachi GST has held about 8% of the market share. As a result of the acquisition by WD, WD will be closer Seagate's market share (simply, market share of WD and Hitachi GST totals about 31%.). Additionally, as an interesting thing, Seagate is favoring heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), while Hitachi GST favors patterned media (DTR or PBM) -- both have been known as a new technology. As long as I read a report of the HDD industry by Tom Coughlin and Ed Grochowski, it would be happened a format war between HAMR and DTR/PBM, such as the format war between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, and so on -- aka, a de facto standard. Therefore, competition between WD and Seagate will be harder, instead of the previous competition among to five companies; Seagate, WD, Samsung, Hitachi GST, and Toshiba.

It also implies another thing, which Samsung would take action like acquiring a HDD company or constructing a new factory to enhance their capacity of producing. It is because Samsung will keep away from the top two companies; Seagate and WD.

Thus, what WD is going to buy Hitachi GST is a big deal for the HDD market. How the market will be changed is interesting for me as a consequence of the acquisition.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Recently some articles on the TechFlash have introduced Microsoft's cutting-edge technologies. Each technology is cool and, needless to say, is expected to launch as up-and-coming products (visit for more other videos: Todd Bishop's Microsoft blog. However, stories of businesses by stunning technologies aren't generally in progress, and reach the happy end. There are some reasons why brilliant technologies don't promise to be success and to be accepted by consumers.

For instance, an electric car was already invented in the mid-19th century, and seemed to get legitimacy by consumers between 1890s and 1900s. But, the history was different. In fact, electric vehicles were defeated by gasoline cars as a result of competition regarding more popularity (A story of why people changed from horses to cars as a transportation by NOVA is interesting. If you are interested in it, click on THIS.). Since then electric cars have waited for a century to get the tipping point. They would seem to build status instead of gasoline cars within a few decades.

Why are technologies so difficult or taken much time to be accepted by consumers? Cameras, TVs, Computers, the Internet, Google, Facebook, Smartphones, and so on look like easy to diffuse markets. But, each had different difficulty in the way to accomplish the tipping point (btw, Malcolm Gladwell is actually my favorite author.). As far as I know, lots of books and theories tell us how to break the wall in order to get citizenship in markets (As references from a point of view of marketing and management, Blue Occean Strategy, The Innovator's Dilemma, Crossing the Chasm, et cetera.).

Here, from my point of view, I would like to make a comment. Obviously, some of technologies like the above video are too daring. They are hard and difficult for customers to figure out, and they are even far away from and beyond their life style. Thus, a problem for the hyper cutting-edge technologies is how to sell products with such technologies. In other words, it is a marketing problem. A good example is the Apple Inc.. iPhone is one of the great gadget and at the same time a blockbuster. Also, Mac series, despite having maniac functions, have contributed to build and acknowledge the Apple brand by consumers. A key for diffusion is that it is recognized as cool and stylish not like gizmo. On other hand, PlayStation and Xperia by Sony -- especially, PlayStation 3 and Xperia TM PLAY -- is too having functions and qualities, such as too beautiful screens and sounds, too much capacity to play game and use cellphone, and so on. Apparently, the target customers are not everybody but a part (and, actually I don't know how much they are sold, so this opinion is not strong and needed more information, though).

As long as I saw the videos by Microsoft, they are trying to promote their technologies with their familiar products like Xbox360 and Kinect. I think this is a good way. However, Microsoft should pay attention not to be caught a competency trap (aka an innovator dilemma), as examples for it; actually Sony's PlayStation 3 and more likely film cameras (More in detail: Organizational Learning, or The Innovator's Dilemma). They always have to stare at customers in order to avoid happening such situation (Unfortunately, Microsoft is already called as 20 centuries company). At the same time, we consumers have to catch up with their cutting-edge technologies, too!!

SUMO

Sumo wrestling in Japan is exposing a serious problem. According to an article of the Seattle Times, police have found text messages to plan how to fix bouts on confiscated cell phones which implicate 13 wrestlers. And, the text messages indicate that the wrestlers routinely fixed matches and charged thousands dollars per match to do so, according to Japan's Kyodo news service. This is pathetic for me and sumo fans.

At the same time, this is interesting for me because this news reminds me of Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. In the book, Steven already showed evidence to fix bouts of sumo. His blog and comments for his article also pointed out the thing. It means that empirical research and a method based on data would be useful to reveal a part of reality.


Finally, the following is my reaction to the news:
I have been concerned about sumo wrestling since coming to the U.S. because it's typical of Japanese tradition and culture. For example, many people in a class of college know about, and are interested in sumo wrestling, so they asked me to explain about it more in details than they know. Also, as another instance, I saw a video about sumo wrestlers by National Geographic Channel a few months ago. In the video, American wrestlers were featured. I was very impressed with their attitude and effort toward sumo, and the fact that they purely love playing sumo. However, at the same time, I was ashamed at professional sumo wrestlers because they are losing a proper attitude, which means they look like more sticking to gain money.

My feeling and impression to sumo wrestling is getting worse throughout a series of scandals -- the baseball gambling, using marijuana among three Russian wrestlers, and so on. As the article by the Seattle Times pointed out, sumo is seen by most Japanese as not only a sport but a bastion of Japanese tradition and culture, and sumo wrestlers are expected to observe a high standard of public behavior. Is this too much expectation for them? I think no. We Japanese people are positively able to introduce sumo to other countries' people as a Japanese culture (as a result, sumo received positive reputation from the world, too. It is give-and-take) because it has kept depicting what is a respectable manner and behavior for Japanese people, which is deeply connected with Japanese image of tradition and culture. If sumo wrestling lost the image, we would never introduce it to others as a Japanese culture.

Spot-light Effect

One day, I went to college, wearing a T-shirt inside out. When coming back home, my mom pointed out the fact. I was so ashamed. However, I asked some friends about it next day. Although some of the friends noticed it, the others did not!

I guess that many people have a such experience. In Social Psychology, it is called as the spot-light effect. The Spot-light effect is a tendency to overestimate the extent to which others notice our behavior and appearance.


Article: The Seattle Times by Mort Walker

 The above comic strip is a good instance for the spot-light effect, I think. In this comic strip, a senior gentleman wears his military uniform in the morning despite no workday. He subsequently goes to check the mailbox, even though it is on Sunday. At the mailbox, he says "But if neighbors see me peeking in my mailbox, they'll think I'm looney." His comment and behavior imply that he cares about neighbors' eyes, and he thinks that he is always seen by neighbors. I think these behaviors and statements show the spot-light effect. What do you think about it? Is it a funny thing, isn't it?

In fact, an experiment by Thomas Gilovich and his associates shows us how much we are often greatly exaggerating such worries.

In the experiment, participants who are college students were worn an attention arousing T-shirt (one with a large picture of Barry Manilow on it) and then they were indicated to enter a room full of other student. After interacting with the students awhile, the participant was asked to estimate the number of students who had noticed the decidedly uncool T-shirt. The experimenter also asked everyone in the room if they had noticed the shirt. The participants thought that about 50% of the people in the room noticed their shirt. In reality, however, only about 20% had noticed!

So, you don't need to worry about your ashamed statement and behavior too much. We often overestimate that others are paying attention to us! Again, "Don't worry!"

Resolution

A happy new year! How was 2010 for you? For me, it was a wonderful year. A reason for that was that I stayed five countries: Austria, China, Japan, Canada, and U.S.. This was definitely a precious experience for me.

On other hand, I had a lot of regret and failure. But, it is fine because we are able to learn from our own failure and also others', and we will be able to do the better job next time. Jay-Z, who is a famous hip-hop singer, said the same kind of thing in the one of OWN programs. Moreover, he stated that he doesn't know how to learn from success. It is a very difficult problem for us, especially when we would like to sustain our success, although it is totally different between getting and sustaining success as he pointed out. Anyway, we at least want to avoid going on the following situation by learning from our own experience or others'.   

Article: The Seattle Times by Glenn McCoy

 I hope that the situation which is depicted in the above comic strip would never happen to me. So, what is your new year's resolution? A piece of advice from me is that there is no resolution in the toilet!

Enjoy 2011!