Eye of the Tiger

A conversation with my senior of the Karate club reminded me of something in my mind.

After promoted to the yellow belt, I sometimes sparred with him. He already had the green belt, two level higher than me at that time. And now he, wearing the blown belt, is still two-level higher than me.

(Level and the color of belt at Seido karate)
Dan - Black
1kyu - Blown
2kyu - Green
3kyu - Blue
4kyu - Yellow (allowed to join sparring)
5kyu - White

Anyway, he said "Usually yellow belt guys are hungry and upper levels are getting cooler as promoted. The same is true of you. You were so aggressive at the yellow belt."

Even though he didn't mean that I became weaker, the word lifted my soul. It reminded me of the age of joining sparring, when I kept hitting him just because I was scared to be heavily attacked as soon as stop and take the defensive.

Moreover, it reminded me of the time I had been struggling for tomorrow. It's true that I was hungry mentally and physically always after I quit a company and went to the US. I still remember how one dollar was valuable for me at that time.

As reconsidering not only on Karate but also on most parts of the life, eye of the tiger must be what guids me to the next stage.

Washed at Kujyukuri..

Along with one of this year's resolution, I went to practice surfing at Kujyukuri beach in Chiba Friday. It was about a year ago I've been there with my friend.

The hight of wave was shoulder or head for some sets.
Even though temperature was mild with dazzling sunlight, my hands were paralyzed with cold. And as always when putting on boots, I failed to ride on the waves. Never counted but I've been to surf a couple dozens of times, so I felt blue on the way back to home..

However, according to some bloggers who play surfing, they spend approximately fifty times to ride on the waves with some actions like bottom turn or cut back. This fact expostulates with me to go surf more often.

2 days already passed..

Since the year 2009 began, 2 days have passed so soon.
I'm afraid that another 363 days would also come and go with little change in my life.

Anyway, just doing my best is the only way I can get something as Max Weber says.
According to Weber, I'm targetting to finish those things soon this year.

・read "politics as a vocation"
・read "science as a vocation"
・read Krugman's textbook of microeconomics and some essays

I hope to make comments on them at least in this month.

Ability of speaking English

I was impressed by the lecture at HBS during my Boston trip.

It was a discussion over the case of the marketing strategy of Apple with its official Apple stores over the world. It was only less than for a hour and half but vigirant to keep us awake despite the heavy jet lag. The class looked earnest, willing not to miss any words by others.

The lecture conjured up an image of the international conference, which I've been dreaming to be there as a representative of the country. Howevery, it hit my thrasonical thoughts and reproached me for little effort of improving English skill since coming back to Japan.

I was indulged in an environment not necessary to use English, which should be a fundamental tool to negotiate internationally. Already full of assignments for this year, but I'll never forget the image and thought I countered there.

How democracy work?

I was involved in a study group on "widening gap" with some scholars and politicians.
It was an attempt to clarify what exactly is "gap" and how harmful for our society.

Prof. Jinno's talk at the last meeting reminded me of a role of civil society. He admitted that "gap" is actually widening regionally and economically. They were caused by several reasons including deregulation of labor market and foreign investment, he said.

As a solution of this widening gap, prof. Jinno mentioned a keyword, "social capital", which consists of individuals' ability and trust in society. According to him, that can build a blank of limiting social services such as adult or child care, education, and re-training, etc.

That's also said a decade ago by R. Putnam, who questioned a reason of economic gap between North and South Italy.

OK. Maybe we can also find some examples within the country to highlight the cause and effect.
Next question is "how can we raise social capital?". That's a key for revitalization of local communities.

Thinking about democracy with French cuisine

Time flies so fast..

The meeting with an editorial chief of an English journal was interesting.
We had a wonderful dinner at a french restaurant in top floor of a hotel. The course with seafood appetizer, onion soup, roasted duck and two desserts were great. The volume was not enough for me, though..

Anyway, we discussed over energy, pension, relation with China and of course Japan-US relation. Among them, there was a deep topic, "is democracy universal?". Maybe not, as we could see many different institutions over the world. However, as some scholar commented in the dinner, "liberalism should be universal". He gave us an example of the case, Iran. Well, while Iranian people could vote, it is not democracy. But in terms of liberalism, they have some of them even though still limited.

The talk was abstract but rare opportunity for me to think about.
Actually, it could be linked to a fundamental question of American foreign policy.

Long time no write..

It took more than a year since the last post...

During this period, I've focused on researching on the prospect of oil production while supporting to make the Japanese petroleum strategy. For these purposes, I had some interviews with international oil companies and attended a huge conference on the global oil market.

Then, I recognized again how essential English ability is for my business. This is the motivation I've started again this blog..

Hopefully, see you every day!

Comparing political systems

I spent a time today for preparing next lecture on American economy.

Following the last one in which I talked about the US political structure, this week's lecture would more focus on the role of each actor in policy making. While making a presentation, I remembered some scenes in DC and London. Those quite memorable experiences have motivated me to consider about the ideal political institution for Japan.

Professor Francis Fukuyama's word in our class was one of those. He said in the first class of Comparative National System at our school, "if you know only one country, you don't know any country". Then, he talked about how important to learn governance was. In our school, most of professors and classes were supposed to give us opportunities to learn policies. However, we might lack the perspectives of comparing the process of the policies, or outcomes. Indeed, there are so many Japanese, who have or learn Amercian perspectives and its good points. Most of them simply suggest Japan to apply the same way America suceeded. But it isn't so simple. Lacking the understanding the big difference of political system between two countries, we can't get the same outcomes by the same inputs.

Visiting London was from such reasons. At that time, I noticed that there were our ancestors, who thought the same way and looked around the European countries. The mission was led by Tomomi Iwakura and the best and brightest in Japan. Every time I consider about building the better goverment system, these people give me a confidence to go on in that way.

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