June 24,2026
When you do not have financial room to breathe, you end up lowering your head even when you do not want to. That is why preparation for emergencies is essential. It gives you the freedom to say, in the face of unfairness, “Fine, I’ll move on then!”
A Sense of Unease Toward an Age of Excess
The other day, the Nikkei Stock Average reached an all-time high. Lately, those words have become somewhat familiar, while also carrying a nostalgic ring. There was once a time when Japan was intoxicated with itself, a period later called the bubble, a word used to describe something with no real substance behind it.
May 27,2026
A comfortable place protects you from pain. It gives you little friction and the same sense of safety you had yesterday. But if you soak too long in that warmth, before you know it, you lose the strength to step outside. You run back into nostalgia, fear stepping out of the line of your company or your relationships, and justify the version of yourself that never changes. Meanwhile, the world keeps shifting little by little, demanding that you become different from who you were yesterday. This time, I want to think about “escaping comfort before you are boiled alive.”
April 28,2026
Extreme opinions attract “likes” online, and in meetings, the opinions of those who speak forcefully often dominate the atmosphere. Behind them, however, there are many people who remain silent while feeling that something is not quite right. This time, I would like to think about those voices that never surface, the silent majority.
March 31,2026
Income, status, and possessions do give people a sense of security. But aren’t many of them less about feeling fulfilled and more about proving that we are not losing? I am not free from that competition myself, and there are times when I get stubborn about it. That is precisely why the quiet daily life portrayed in the film Perfect Days struck me so deeply. It made me feel that what we truly want may lie somewhere else entirely.
February 22,2026
The government’s slogan, “responsible expansionary fiscal policy,” is the kind of phrase that would get you called out by your boss if you used it as the title of a client proposal. It sounds soft and vaguely understandable, yet it can be interpreted in countless ways. Later on, it invites the client’s inevitable “That’s not what we meant”-the kind of ambiguity that leads to misaligned expectations. It resembles the highly abstract, authoritative laws of authoritarian states: conveniently worded so that those in power can interpret them however they like. What I want from politics is not pleasant-sounding language. There may be backlash now, but when our children look back on this era, I want them to be able to say, “That was the least bad option,” and genuinely accept it.
January 22,2026
Right now, for various reasons, I’m going through a difficult time. In moments like this, I think of the Hemingway title that serves as this piece’s heading and use it to stir myself forward. Things may be bad now, but they won’t stay that way forever. After all, no matter how painful the past was, the sun rose again, didn’t it? This time, I want to look back on that idea-that it rises again-and try, little by little, to rise once more.
First, a story that isn’t directly about me, but about a professional baseball player I admired. Takashi Nishimoto once climbed as high as becoming the ace pitcher of the Yomiuri Giants.
December 29,2025
Compounding is not a concept limited to money.
How we learn, how we work, how we keep our distance from others-these things accumulate quietly over time and eventually create significant differences. That said, such growth can sometimes make a person lonely.
The Snowball Called Compounding
Recently, the policy interest rate was raised to 0.75%, reportedly the highest level in 30 years. Savings have become slightly more attractive. That reminded me of an explanation I once heard that compared the power of compounding to a snowball. Interest earns interest, and that cycle repeats again and again. When this keeps going, the result can be astonishing. Here, I want to reflect on the power of this snowball effect.
Novemver 29,2025
Toxic workplaces and the U.S. - China power struggle share the same core truth: the side with more options controls the side with none.Not understanding this structure is like stepping onto a battlefield unarmed.
Those without options have no freedom
When you lack options, you get cornered. People take advantage of you because you have no alternatives - they can spin you around in the palm of their hand. In that position, you risk being controlled. That’s why you must project that you’re not dependent on anyone - that you’d be perfectly fine even if you cut ties tomorrow.
October 31,2025
A while ago, I came across the term “Seven Ministers of Dissent” in the morning edition of the Nikkei. It refers to seven subordinates who are unafraid to speak their minds, even to their ruler. The idea is that if a king has seven such ministers, no matter how incompetent he may be, his throne will remain secure.
Recently, Japan’s prime minister changed. As the nation’s first female prime minister, she has drawn enormous attention and enjoys strong approval ratings. Yet when I look at her cabinet lineup, I see it filled with those who supported her rise to power - an exercise in rewarding loyalty. It reminds me of how sycophants swarm around a promising rising star in the workplace. And to make matters worse, some close “friends” who share her political views have been granted prominent posts despite their prior scandals.
Septembar 29,2025
When you try to do everything at once, you can get so tied up that you can’t move at all. And yet, sometimes a small trigger lets a ray of light break through the clouds, and before you know it, the sky has completely cleared.
The Chaos of System Development
Take system development ー my own profession ー as an example. To build a new system within budget, you first have to define the scope. Each department, and every person from rookie to veteran within them, has different things they want the system to do. Trying to accommodate everyone’s wishes is nearly impossible. Add to that the power struggles between departments, internal competition for promotion within the department, and the turf wars over who owns what role ー human emotions laid bare, each trying to pull the advantage toward themselves ー and before long, things can descend into chaos.
August 31,2025
Proactive and passive－their meanings stand in opposition. Personally, I tend to associate the former with something positive and the latter with something negative, but the truth isn’t that simple. Each has its merits and drawbacks, which makes the topic all the more intriguing.
Additive vs. Subtractive Scoring ー Two Axes of Evaluation
In organizations, evaluation methods can be seen along two axes: additive scoring (proactive) and subtractive scoring (passive). These aren’t neatly divided into two categories; rather, they form a kind of gradient, pulling against each other in varying degrees. I’ve experienced environments that embodied both extremes.
July 30,2025
Running nonstop isn’t the only form of progress. Sometimes, it’s the pauses, the reflections, and the things we choose to let go of that become the true driving force toward the future.
Sustainable Progress Requires Deliberate Pauses
When trying to move forward, we may need to accept that short-term pauses are necessary for long-term momentum. If we ignore this, things might seem fine for now — but eventually, we risk a harsh backlash. It’s like how athletes stretch after training: to promote recovery, prevent injury, and maintain optimal condition for what comes next. Have you ever felt pressured to keep advancing without considering the cost — and felt uneasy because of it? I have. We tend to think: progress is good, stopping is bad. But maybe that mindset is actually holding you back. If you truly want to keep running in the long haul, you need the courage to stop — and sometimes, even to take a step back. That’s the idea I want to explore today, with a few real-life examples.
June 29,2025
“The incompetent but motivated must XX” this rather extreme phrase is often attributed to Napoleon. So what goes into the “XX”? The answer is—Levi’s vintage jeans, known as “Double X”! …Of course not. The real answer is: “be killed” An absolutely shocking statement. This corresponds to Type ② in the chart left, which outlines military roles based on aptitude, as defined by General von Seeckt, the highest-ranking figure in the German army. Seeing this, many people will probably find themselves nodding in recognition as old memories resurface—along with a rising sense of disgust. It’s like the growing frustration of dating someone who’s great at putting on a show, only to watch their shiny facade slowly wear off over time.
If I were to reinterpret the title phrase in a modern context, it would go something like this: “Never entrust a major role to someone who lacks self-awareness and introspection, yet has an oddly strong ambition to rise.” Why? Because when someone like Type ② gains the wrong kind of power, the people around them inevitably end up paying the price.
May 31,2025
Recently, I sorted through the clothes I owned. Why? Well, during my last health checkup, it was revealed that I had terminal lung cancer…So at the very end, I wanted to leave gracefully — like a bird that leaves no trace behind. —Okay, not really. Nothing that dramatic. The truth is more mundane: I’ve gained over 10 kilograms since my younger days, my lifestyle has changed thanks to working from home, and I feel a growing resistance to keeping up with trends as I age. Just little things like that.
I really feel we live in convenient times. If I get tired of a piece of clothing, I sell it on Mercari. Then, with that money, I buy something I like now, also on Mercari.
It’s a marketplace where wants and don’t-wants meet, and money and goods circulate efficiently—like some fated encounter between two heartbroken souls who end up healing each other.
April 29,2025
When I was about 15 or 16 years old, I remember being completely captivated by the Levi's jeans, named with three-digit numbers like 501, while flipping through a brochure I had picked up at a clothing store. At the time, young men with long hair, clad in tastefully faded denim and adorned with expensive Native American jewelry on their chests and fingers, were everywhere in youth magazines like Hot Dog. In the countryside where I lived, treasures like those featured in the magazines were rare sights. That's why I used those magazines as textbooks, studying in advance where and how much I could get them. Whenever I had the chance to visit the city for a mock university entrance exam, I shopped with excitement and anticipation. It's a memory I look back on fondly. Thirty-five years have passed since then. Levi's is still going strong today, and now, as an adult, I find myself indulging in the luxury of buying reissues of vintage models that were too expensive for me back then.
March 31,2025
In my childhood, my family was not so wealthy. My allowance was smaller than those around me. I never played the arcade games my friends used to play for 50 yen a time. Instead, I was carefully nibbling on a box of snacks, which were more than enough for 10 yen.
The clothes are all given to me by my relatives. I couldn't buy expensive shoes like Nike, adidas, or puma, and it sounded good to say that they were unmarked, but I didn't know where they came from. As a reaction, now that I am over 50 years old, I am obsessed with sports brands that I couldn't get when I was young. It's like the pity of an old man who is rude to a woman at an after-five bar in reaction to the boredom of bureaucracy. In particular, I make up for my boyhood shortages by buying adidas jerseys.
February 28,2025
A recent newspaper article was critical of business plans drawn up by companies, which often end up with boring targets such as a 10% increase in operating profit compared to the previous year. This makes it difficult to take concrete action to achieve the targets, and furthermore, it is difficult to motivate employees. The article emphasised the importance of
setting an aspirational future state and calculating backwards from there to create a coherent storyline for realising it. Such is what is meant by the title Backcast.
For example, the closure of the railway line that serves as the local transport system in our beloved hometown is imminent due to a sharp decline in the number of users. Furthermore, there is an overwhelming shortage of taxi drivers. In this context, there are concerns that the elderly in particular will be deprived of means of transport, and will lack the means to go to hospital and shop.
January 31,2025
The US Trump administration is on the move again. Many of his direct and indirect supporters who once opposed him with open hostility have changed their attitude and now follow him. Examples of this are the top executives of big tech companies, such as Elon Musk, who donated large sums of money to Trump, or his vice-president, Vance, who has been referred to as a mini Trump. In exchange for their loyalty, Trump appears to have forgiven the past and used them to his advantage. Although he appears to be a stubborn, obstinate man, his eagerness and flexibility to take advantage of available opportunities seems to be his great strength.
Yesterday's enemy is today's friend
Kinnikuman (Japanese animation hero)
December 29,2024
Rabbits die when they are lonely - a phrase used in a drama about 30 years ago. Loneliness reduces a person's motivation and makes them feel strangely uncomfortable doing things that they would normally be able to do without any problems. Loneliness also makes people make mistakes because they cannot think properly.
Strategies to isolate adversary states by using such a situation against them are often seen in the international political scene. Allies work together to isolate and weaken a target state by cutting off relations with it, e.g. trade, personnel exchanges and financial flows. The target country, in turn, struggles to make
friends with the enemy of its enemy. Like Japan during World War II, or Russia invading Ukraine.
November 30,2024
The title is my favourite song by the Beach Boys. I'm not sure of my memory, but I believe the Native Americans valued feeling the air, and there was a good and bad side to it, and the good side is the title phrase. These days, computers, especially AI, have made it relatively easy for information around us to be organised properly. Because of this, I feel that what I feel, in other words VIBRATION, is becoming more and more important. To be more human.
Don’t think,feel.
Bruce Lee
October 31,2024
The number of corporate bankruptcies due to succession difficulties reached a record high of 456 in 2023, and is even on pace to exceed 2023 in the first half of this year. There has also been an increase in the number of specialist firms and financial institutions promoting intermediary matching in order to somehow avoid the worst and leave their imprint through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Companies that are struggling to find successors often regret that their strengths (know-how), which they have finally arrived at through a long process of trial and error and which are difficult for competitors to imitate, will be lost or passed on to someone else unintentionally.
Septembar 30,2024
Mr Ishiba, who won the LDP presidential election against expectations of a poor result, sought support for the presidential election, stating that ‘we must examine the lost 30 years’. It's a strange thing that somehow continues around us doesn't it? But it doesn't matter, because things are somehow getting done, and there are not a few things that just keep on going on like that. Once it becomes a habit, it is hard to stop even if there is something better to do. It seems that
the habit of preferring stability to change is embedded in our genes.
One such example. I have been working from home for a long time. One of the most exciting times of the day is lunchtime. Since some time ago, it has become the norm for me to finish off my regular lunch with a cup of ramen. Although I am very much aware that I am on the road to lifestyle-related diseases due to excessive intake of sugar and salt, I cannot stop. Just like my little finger that inevitably stands up to grab a glass of milk after a bath. Tomorrow I will stop, so just for today, the habit is kept alive by such
optimism for the future.
August 29,2024
In my contacts with many people through work, I have felt very bad on several occasions because they have been extremely arrogant beyond my imagination. At such times, this situation is not something I can control, and he probably must have been spreading a sense of disappointment by behaving in the same terrible way not only to me but also to many other people. I pacified my anger by thinking like that.
I should just pass it off as far as possible. Probably because it is so.
Do not react too much to such disappointments. Like a judoka who uses the force coming towards me to throw my opponent.
It is important to be aware of my own measure (standard of value ), to recognise my own value and to remain flexible and calm, without being stirred up.
What have you said? and must be cast aside and successfully get by.
July 30,2024
The title is an acronym for "Evidence Based Policy Making". It means that we should promote policies based on evidence, not on conventional wisdom or strange assumptions. Some time ago, the following was written in a newspaper. The Japanese economy is not only not expected to grow significantly in the future, but there are concerns that the population, which has a major impact on the size of the economy, will shrink significantly. Therefore, financial resources to support social life will become correspondingly scarce. Under these circumstances,
it will be even more necessary in the future to make effective use of precious financial resources, which are in short supply, by properly judging and verifying them on the basis of the information available
, without being dependent on the intentions of influential local politicians, profit returns to specific companies or ad hoc decisions by policy makers, which are regrettable.
June 30,2024
I love ramen, and when I go out somewhere for the first time, I often look for a restaurant with a good reputation in the neighbourhood on the internet beforehand. And when I actually try it, there are times when I feel that, contrary to the high rating on the internet, the ramen is, well, not quite right. In such cases, I wonder if my tongue is not good enough? Am I out of step with the world's standards? I feel uneasy. On the other hand, maybe the ratings are being manipulated by techniques like stealth marketing, maybe I'm right and the online ratings are just what many people have been led to believe? I can't say to the king of the naked, that's a nice outfit! I sometimes feel that way. I think that
my subjectivity should have the highest priority and objectivity is just a means to meet nice subjectivity, that's what I think about the many evaluation systems on the net.
May 30,2024
I have seen and heard more and more about Shibusawa Eiichi, who is depicted on the 10,000 yen note that will be introduced in July. I also took advantage of this boom and read a novel about him. In contrast to Yataro Iwasaki, who founded the Mitsubishi zaibatsu and was all about making money, Shibusawa built his wealth on the premise of the common good of society as a whole, based on his samurai spirit and business acumen. As someone once said, he was indeed a man of fortune. In this article, I would like to write about my feelings towards money, as represented by the 10,000 yen note.
First, let's talk about preparing for retirement. As retirement is no longer in the distant future, I hope to get on board with the government's plan to make Japan an asset-management nation, which means that households' idle cash will be invested in companies, which will then use it to take on new challenges, and the returns will enrich the household budget. I am a little worried, though, because I am part of the generation that remembers the bursting of the bubble economy. I hear that today's children have the opportunity to learn about such money in class. I think it's a wonderful thing.
April 30,2024
With the Golden Week holiday starting and some free time on my hands, I went out to look at foreign-made campervans that could be used as a mobile office. The reason I’m interested in foreign-made ones is that I’ve always felt a certain sophistication in the living spaces of vehicles produced in countries with a culture of driving to favorite spots and enjoying holidays while staying in the vehicle. However, due to the recent depreciation of the yen, the shop owner was lamenting the incredible cost of importing these vehicles. Yesterday, the yen fell to 158 to the dollar, a level not seen in 34 years. On the this morning's news, visitors to Japan from overseas said that 40,000 yen for accommodation is not much! while Japanese domestic travellers were left with the comment that 20,000 to 30,000 is their limit....
March 29,2024
Recently, an activist opposing the regime died in prison in an authoritarian country. The true cause is unclear, but it was reported as a natural death due to illness. In another similar authoritarian country, a second-in-command, who had a falling out with the overwhelmingly powerful leader, was dismissed and soon passed away. This was also reported as a natural death due to illness. In centralized authoritarian states, advocating for ideas different from those of the central authority can sometimes pose a risk.
The phrase JTC (Japanese Traditional Company) is used to describe the Japanese corporate structure that resembles this type of regime state.It is a phrase used to ridicule traditional Japanese companies that are shaped by the vertical hierarchy of their elders, or in other words, by a top-down organizational structure. The word "cooperativeness," rarely heard today, was once worshipped as if it were a god. It is a word that means to
read the air and make oneself conform to the whole
, and such a thing is considered a good thing. "Cooperativeness" is exactly the opposite of "diversity" a word that has come to be frequently used in place of "cooperativeness". "JTC" is a self-sacrificing organizational form built in the name of such "cooperativeness".
February 28,2024
My son recently finished his entrance examinations. In the end, he passed. But he had to pass all of them. Failure is absolutely unforgivable. He seemed to have driven himself into a corner with such thoughts, and fell into a slump in the early stages of the exam. I realized that it is just fine to be lucky to get into one of the many schools I wanted to apply to, even if I didn't make it. Like Ichiro's thoughts on hitting, relaxing a little more will increase the distance of your ball. Otherwise, I cannot tolerate the slightest mistake, and impatience will rule, making it difficult to make the calm decisions I was able to make in my usual practice sessions.
If you start something new ten times, nine times it will fail.
President Yanai of UNIQLO
January 31,2024
The title is a song by Beck, an American musician. It is a relaxing and soothing song that is perfect for starting the day. I was listening to it while walking this morning. I have had fewer hard mornings in the past few years. I can distance myself from the nausea caused by the irritation, despair, and excessive pressure of the gloomy days ahead. I have a good appetite and my weight is rather increasing. Above all, I am satisfied with my current life where I can walk in the morning.
This is a contrasting lifestyle from my past self. A corporate slave. I was not excellent, so I wanted to be recognized by working hard. I obediently obeyed the excessive demands from others.
Because I wanted to be acknowledged.
so I was such a convenient person, the burdens were placed on me one after another.
December 31,2023
The other day, after Ieyasu Tokugawa destroyed the Toyotomi clan and took control of the country, a history program introduced the shift to a policy that emphasized seniority over ability in order to establish a stable, long-term government as the situation changed from wartime to peacetime. For example, the eldest son was basically chosen as the heir to the throne, thereby avoiding unnecessary heir disputes. In addition, the vocation (status) was fixed in perpetuity. Children of samurai could remain samurai for a long time, even if they lacked fighting skills or talent in governance, while farmers, no matter how talented they were, had to cultivate the fields for generations to come. In today's companies with stable sales channels, every little risk-taking to find new business opportunities is crushed by the old guard, who brand it as reckless.
November 29,2023
Interest rates have been abnormally high in the U.S. for a long time, and although they have been called a brake on the economy that slows the flow of money, the situation has been maintained at a moderate level. However, recently we have seen some weak employment figures. In such a situation, the possibility that the economy has finally passed the peak and is going down is increasing, and the person in charge of managing interest rates must carry out policy while accepting the "invisible hand" with sincerity! The newspapers were expressing something like this.
October 30,2023
Recently, my dog, whom I started breeding about six months ago, has been making a lot of toilet mistakes. Every time he does this, he soils the carpet on the floor, so the carpet is washed every day. Therefore, ironically, the carpet is always kept clean.
On a similar matter, it is said that drinking lots of water is good for one's health. They say that by frequently expelling bad things from the body, such as fat, sugar, and salt, the body is kept clean and adult diseases are prevented.
September 30,2023
On instagram, I watched a video of a surfer taking on an incredibly large wave, perhaps 10 meters high, with a life-or-death risk.Perhaps he would be swallowed by a big, murderous splash and his body would be slammed to the bottom of the sea. As I watched these images,
I wondered if I was in an environment where I could at least ride a big wave, even if I did not think I could ride a big wave now. I felt a little uneasy.
Now, here in this place, we will never be able to expect big waves, but we will be able to secure a minimum income. So I am not really excited about it, and I wonder why I am bowing down to such a person. I used to feel annoyed at myself for continuing to choose stability.
August 31,2023
The other day, I read an article in the newspaper about the introduction of proprietary information systems by local governments. This is the worst case scenario in terms of effective use of taxpayers' money, and the best case scenario for system development companies. They can sell similar systems to each municipality individually and make huge sums of money on a regular basis in the name of operational support.
Over the years, local governments become dependent on a particular system development company, making it difficult for them to use the system without its support, and they find themselves in a situation where they are rolled in the hands of the system development company. Like a poor addict who continues to depend on a drug dealer and loses his assets.
July 30,2023
In high school, I remember being filled with anxiety and dissatisfaction, and thinking that
these things would organize themselves through many experiences, and one day they would disappear cleanly and lead to stability, and maybe that is what it means to be an adult.
Certainly, as I approach 50 years of age, I am much less anxious and dissatisfied than I was in high school, and I sometimes wonder if I have reached a point of stability. I can now use such a nice technique to
deal with many inexplicable things in a flexible and peaceful way, letting go or giving up, without being too eager to solve them.
June 30,2023
The other day I stepped on a can of dog food that was lying on the floor and sprained my leg. Although I can walk there now, I had to spend four full days in bed. I had a very painful period of time with a cold dull ache that felt like there was ice in the back of my leg. Even in such a situation, I had to fulfill my assigned role at work. It would be an exaggeration to say that I was just like Takanohana, who had a bomb in his right knee when he won the championship game in the last round of the tournament with a devilish look on his face.
May 30,2023
At the time of graduation from elementary school, everyone in the class was asked to write one word about their aspirations for the future onto a piece of colored paper. I wrote "memories". because I wanted to cherish my memories in the future. When I showed it to my father, he scolded me, "Everyone else is writing about the future, so why are you writing about the past?" At first glance, it seemed like a reasonable suggestion, but at the time, I was filled with a sense of discomfort.
Now that some time has passed since my parents passed away, when I look back on my family's past, many things, good and bad, are pulled out from the back of my mind. Strangely enough, there are things that I didn't agree with my parents at the time, but now I can see that it was inevitable under the circumstances.
April 30,2023
Not a day goes by that we do not hear about ChatGPT, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) that enables smooth conversations with people via text messages. While there are hopes that such AI can be used successfully as a trump card to maintain national strength by improving labor productivity amid concerns about Japan's declining national strength due to a certain decline in the working-age population caused by the falling birthrate and aging population, there are also many who point out risks such as copyright and privacy violations, promotion of discrimination, and information leaks.
March 31,2023
WBC Mexico game. They scored three runs in the first inning, and we had no choice but to hit back. I wanted to get on base somehow, but the batters were trapped with 0 balls and 2 strikes. The opposing pitcher has a wide range of options, such as an out-course slider that runs away from the strike zone , or an in-course high-strike rate to attract a swinging strike.The situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable. Cheering for the batter who was being pushed into a corner reminded me of a past time when I was pushed into a corner and struggled to turn things around and didn't want to be reminded.
February 28,2023
Depending on the environment in which they were born and raised, their innate character and physical strength, the confidence they have gained or lost through experience, the amount of assets they possess, and so on,
The responses to the exact same stimulus are diverse. For example, if you greet an acquaintance, but receive a gloomy attitude back, people perceive it very differently. Some people may wonder if the person is not in good physical condition, and be concerned about the person's condition, but they are not disturbed by this. Others may feel that what I said or did yesterday may have offended him, and they may feel depressed.
January 31,2023
The title is a rough description of how computers work. If the initial input (the information being fed in) is wrong, the output will also be very wrong. No matter how nice the processing (thinking) is, it is meaningless if the input information is incorrect.
In the case of people, the input is listening. Here, there is a big difference. In a conversation, a conscious attitude of listening is required. While the importance of good speaking skills is sometimes strangely prized in the business world, it is not uncommon to encounter disappointments that continue to talk eloquently about things that are out of focus.
There is nothing more useless, if not dangerous, than the right answer to the wrong question.
Dragger.
December 29,2022
I'm neither in favor of it nor against it, I'm more or less in favor of it, but considering the other point of view, I'm also against it. It is not uncommon to fall into such thoughts.
I feel uncomfortable belonging to an organization where the dominant mindset is that if there are two choices, one is 100% correct and the other is completely negated. Instead of the one who was not chosen, is there a middle ground that is neither? Even such an assertion would not be tolerated and could be treated as incompetence. I think that this kind of forced uniformity is at the root of the problems of new religions and corporate scandals.
November 30,2022
The feeling of wanting to be understood and recognized is an emotion that everyone has, probably. However, the intensity and the content of this desire for approval varies from person to person, and it is often misleading at times.
When people do not have enough room for themselves, they lack the degree of acceptance of others and feel rather jealous.
Therefore, I believe that moderation is just the right expression when I want my approval.
October 30,2022
Just this past Sunday was the third anniversary of my father's death. Since he passed away so suddenly, it was very difficult for me to take over the affairs of his relatives, his legacy, and his wishes.I felt that I should have checked with him more before his death. But the timing of the farewell was sudden and difficult to predict, so it could not be helped. At the very least, I should have kept in close communication with him as a daily basis, just as a professional baseball player does with his weight training. By doing so,
I probably would have been able to improve the accuracy of what my father would have thought.
September 30,2022
Do you know the title of this article? I found it in a recent newspaper. It means results per hour. Good time-effectiveness means that the results per hour are great, and the fruit in a short period of time is great. The attitude of young people these days (I am a little disappointed that I have come to use this expression) to value time-effectiveness makes me feel ambivalent: "Oh yes, yes," I sympathize with them, and "Hmmm, something's different" I also felt uncomfortable.
They said that most trendy songs these days have short intros. It's a waste of time for the extra stuff (intros), they say, and they don't want to wait for it. They also said that best-of albums are better than original albums. They quickly get the latest fad, and let the other extras go. It seems efficient, to get results quickly.
August 31,2022
The following article about Tsuruoka, the most winning manager in the history of professional baseball, appeared in the Nikkei newspaper the other day.
Tsuruoka believed that a 50-50 split between allies and foes was a failure as a leader, and that a 7-3 ratio would be admirable. He took care to avoid gathering too many players with few opportunities to play, and devised a loving way of disciplining them. He looked back on his 23 years of managing the team as "the days of striving to turn five against five into six against four, and then into seven against three."
July 31,2022
I don't think there is anyone who is not concerned about what others think of them. If you are a working person, it can lead to an increase or decrease in your income, and it can affect your self-confidence. But it is a bit of a problem to get too caught up in it. Depending on the situation, you may or may not be appreciated for doing the same thing.
When organizational performance is manageable, obedient, cooperative people are valued. Any different person who tries to change things in a strange way will be beaten down. Since a winning pattern has been established, there is no need for extra effort. Just as the ironclad division of roles that has been inherited from one generation to the next over the years in government offices is eternal and immortal. Essentially, while we can afford it, we can strengthen our resistance against change by building in strengths for the future that are different from our current strengths....
June 30,2022
There is a sneaky and clever way to avoid making things worse by dare to be ambiguous about one's own stance. For example, complaining to a supervisor about the poor performance, laziness, or arrogance of another department does not necessarily mean that the supervisor will proactively and promptly approach the other department with the problem in order to resolve it. It is the administrator's genuine intention to be as calm as possible. My supervisor says. I'll let them know when I get the opportunity. 、、、Such an opportunity rarely comes along. Unless the problem grows considerably, these complaints will continue to accumulate underground without being expressed.
May 30,2022
If you make it a habit to do every day, you can continue it without difficulty. 'It's a hassle, can I skip it today?' There is no such hesitation at all. Like a series of ceremonies: go to the toilet when you wake up, wash your face, have breakfast and go to work. Every day, I spend an hour after waking up to prepare for TOEIC through online learning materials and 40 minutes in the evening for online English conversation in order to communicate with people overseas through English. When I first started, I had not established a habit (pattern), and there were evil whispers that I should skip it! But now, as we need unconscious breathing to stay alive, it has become so natural that we are able to continue without any major brakes.
April 30,2022
When I was a child, the word “tell on" meaning to tell a teacher, was frequently used. I had a lot of experiences of being told on and being scolded by teachers, and at that time, I had a sneaky image of telling on people.It's terrible that my opponent would secretly tell on a teacher with overwhelming power only my negatives, and I would be punished based on that! I thought.But in most cases, I am not without fault, and in some cases, I think I was fully responsible for the situation. Like the poor tyrant who is unilaterally executed by the revolution without a trial. When I was a kid, I was greatly repulsed by the idea of an adult intervening in a kid's world and exerting overwhelming influence, even if it was my own fault.
March 30,2022
There is a sea creature called Bathynomus giganteus, which looks like a larger version of the roly-poly
you find under a garden stone, and it has a record of living for five years without eating anything. Like the Bathynomus giganteus, I want to reduce the cost of living as much as possible, and even if the challenges I want to try don't work out, I want to keep the tenacity to somehow make a living.
It seems that many companies have fallen into the deficit due to the reduction of customers, sales, and profits as a result of the action restrictions imposed by Corona. Although the number of bankruptcies has been kept at a surprisingly low level due to the benefits provided by government support measures, the number of bankruptcies may gradually increase as the support becomes less and less.
February 27,2022
I've lived a long time, but I've never seen anyone be coherent before. Somerset Maugham
Sometimes I feel like my righteousness has been violated, and I say something really uncool on the spur of the moment. A gaffe. When that happens, I feel self-loathing afterwards. Neither you nor your partner can be perfect all the time.
We can't be perfect all the time, but We want to keep trying to be. If we do that, sometimes we may go out of our way, but for the most part, we will be able to be.There are also people who persistently abuse others from the past, as if it were a fairy tale. If I were the target of such accusations, I would like to be able to pass it off and be tough enough not to overreact.
Sometimes I say too much to my sons. I don't want them to be embarrassed when they grow up. because no one will pay attention to them and they will be laughed at behind their backs.Also, it's not sustainable to keep making mistakes everyday and having to follow up on them every time. In this way, I justify myself and become a nag.
January 31,2022
This year is almost over, and I'm wondering if I'm any better at dealing with new things than I was a year ago. Looking back, I can't help feeling a little nervous. The last year, for better or worse, has been a year of stability.
Stability doesn't create a new need
, I need to do something about it! I need to tighten up.
Often, companies and nations seem to be like people. The U.S. is anxious and jealous of China's catching up, and is doing a lot of obstructing to reduce its momentum. Just as Japan used to be a target of this. Like the fairy tale of the hare and the tortoise, Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers once dominated the world, but have lacked innovation due to their subsequent hubris. In this way, companies and nations are very human.
December 31,2021
This year is almost over, and I'm wondering if I'm any better at dealing with new things than I was a year ago. Looking back, I can't help feeling a little nervous. The last year, for better or worse, has been a year of stability.
Stability doesn't create a new need
, I need to do something about it! I need to tighten up.
Often, companies and nations seem to be like people. The U.S. is anxious and jealous of China's catching up, and is doing a lot of obstructing to reduce its momentum. Just as Japan used to be a target of this. Like the fairy tale of the hare and the tortoise, Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers once dominated the world, but have lacked innovation due to their subsequent hubris. In this way, companies and nations are very human.
November 28,2021
In this week's issue of Nikkei Business magazine, the topic of reskilling (relearning) was featured. The article said that there are a lot of unemployed people in the company (people who are still in the company but are not fulfilling their roles), and unless these people are brought back to life, the company's survival is in danger.
I've met a number of such people myself. Among them, I have seen a lot of people who not only don't work, but also have a negative influence on the people around them, such as making strange appeals for the reasons why they can't do something, making a fuss over the small mistakes of those who are doing well, or finding weak people and beating them up.
I strongly believe that if they are so dissatisfied, they should move to a place where they can play an active role, but such people tend to stay in the same place. The organization becomes points-off system when there are such people. What you can do is not so important, and what you can't do becomes the major focus. The search for mistakes. That's why it's important to drive safely and not to push yourself too hard. If you try, you lose. It's a really unfortunate environment.
October 31,2021
The title of this article is a quote by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, who is said to be the founder of the Paralympics. I saw it in the Nikkei newspaper the other day and thought it was a very nice phrase and made me strongly want to always be like that.
A week ago Sunday was the first anniversary of my father's death. My father's death came as a great shock to me because I thought he would live for another 20 years or so. But since he is no longer alive, I can't help it. I have come to believe that I will live for those who died.
It is natural to feel depressed for a while because of the sudden misfortune. But one day, you have to come to an end and look forward to the future. Strangely enough, regardless of how sad the event is, the sadness never lasts forever. Days drug. Perhaps there is a kind of total amount of sadness, and when it is used up, the sadness seems to run out. Though a fuzzy sadness remains afterwards.
September 30,2021
The words in the title mean that
knowledge and action are one and the same
, and knowledge becomes real through action. I am currently reading "Toge" a book about Kawai Tsugunosuke, who led the Nagaoka clan at the end of the Edo period. His philosophy is the unity of knowledge and action.I am energized by the way he gathered information, made decisions, and took action one after another to transform the clan, despite the risks involved, without giving in to the resistance of many. In this article, I would like to express what I think about knowledge and action.
There is no doubt that it is desirable to spend money and time to acquire knowledge that will drive one's direction and actions. I am often conscious of whether I am spending my time to acquire knowledge that contributes to my goals.On the other hand,
it is also good to pick up information that you are interested in, but don't know how it will help you in the future.
As long as you find it interesting. It may not help you directly, but in some cases, you may be able to extract the essence of something, such as a way of thinking. Just as Lévi-Strauss noted in his book "Wild Thoughts" that Indians have a vast knowledge of reptiles that is not necessarily practical but interesting.
August 31,2021
Sometimes we get so frightened of things that probably won't happen, and if they do, they won't do much damage. It will probably happen, and the damage it will do will be critically damaging to the rest of my life... I keep getting stuck in the back of my mind, and I keep getting fuzzy anxiety.
In such a case, writing it out as a sentence may alleviate my anxiety. By transcribing that it may happen, but the damage it takes is not that bad, the worst becomes clearer and mental health is improved. No, no, it's not such a big deal! So there was also a book with the title, "You don't have to be so afraid, because most of the things you are afraid of don't happen." Once the heart of a flea, I was influenced by the book and thought that I should worry about it after it happened, so I gradually became able to release my anxiety over a long period of time. By accumulating a lot of experience about anxiety and its consequences, the accuracy of estimating the probability of occurrence of danger has improved considerably, and the magnitude of the occurrence of danger can be estimated appropriately. I think that is the reason why I am not too worried.
Most anxiety does not occur, and if it does, it does not cause much damage.
2021.07.27
Those who don't fight will laugh at your song When you are fighting.
This is a passage from Miyuki Nakajima's song "Fight". I'm not a courageous person, so I rarely stick to my correctness while being exposed to a lot of backlash. Even if the other person is a little sloppy, or if I am a little right and the other person seems to be wrong, I often put up with it so as not to disturb the place (protect myself). But sometimes I insist and feel uncomfortable. What I feel at such times is what is said in the shadows, isn't it? It's better to be told directly. I am very lonely at that time.
Through my experience, I think that people who often criticize others anonymously or behind the scenes at drinking parties, etc. often have their own evaluations overwhelmingly higher than those evaluated by others. It seems that it is often done by jealousy and dissatisfaction of people who are not evaluated correctly.
June 29,2021
It has become commonplace to connect to a high-performance computer far away from home with a not-so-high-performance personal computer and work in the same environment as working at a company. At least this kind of mechanism has been technically possible for a long time, but it has been hindered by
the rigid rule that "Work is done at the office".
When I used to commute to the city center, my wife was also working and had a small child, so I couldn't live like overtime for 150 hours a month. That said, the system construction work I'm engaged in can sometimes be harsh for a while.
Under these circumstances, I have to share the housework, so I have no choice but to work remotely from home after returning home or on holidays. However, since
the results of IT work cannot be seen as a form(I
think that there are similar things in many workplaces, not limited to IT), it is a pity that no one can understand the hardships that are not seen. After working without a break for three months, I was disappointed with the words of my boss, "You are not doing anything." That's why I'm very happy now that Remote Work has gained citizenship.
May 31,2021
Do you know the words in the title? It may be an unfamiliar word, but when you know the meaning, there are many people who remember their own experience while feeling a little frustrated. What this means is that
the shop intentionally incorporate the mechanism that it gains by inviting customer mistakes at the store.
For example, a store may raise the price to 1.5 times the normal price and advertise it as "a celebration pennant race victory, a special 30% discount only now." As another example, good information is very large and prominent, and the worst information you should be aware of is very small and unobtrusive at the bottom of the screen.
Also, when I make a purchase, they start sending me annoying email newsletters even though no one asked for them. (In fact, when I make a purchase, I automatically check the "I would like to receive email newsletters" box, and if I don't want them, I have to remove it. In this article, I'll give you two examples of such nasty, nasty, nasty patterns that I've experienced.
April 30,2021
Yesterday, I threw away the surfing longboard I bought about 20 years ago. It's been about 15 years since I've been away from surfing, but I couldn't throw it away because I was full of memories, and a huge board of nearly 3 meters continued to occupy a lot of space in the storeroom. Recently, I'm crazy about camping and I have to make room for storage! So we have decided to put an end to the long-term postponement. The satisfaction of being able to store it for a new lifestyle counteracts the loneliness of throwing away the past. In order to start anew like this, it is necessary to throw it away first, and today I will write about such things.
March 31,2021
Bad luck, such as failures, illnesses, and accidents, which we struggled hard to get through at the time, and which we don't want to remember anymore, can turn out to be a long-term positive opportunity. In today's morning paper, there was an article about
today's Corona disaster being a good opportunity to take a step toward new growth by breaking away from the old ways.
It may become difficult to maintain the status quo in the face of the imminent threat of life or death, to protect ourselves and continue to undermine the status quo as before.In order to remain as before, you need to be able to afford to still be okay. Just as "I look fat" is a special word allowed to slender people.
February 28,2021
Solo camping, whose popularity was sparked by the comedian Hiroshi. "Yakiniku Like", a yakiniku restaurant where one can easily and inexpensively grill and eat meat alone. Prepared foods in sizes that can be eaten by one person, in line with individual meals at convenience stores and supermarkets. One person has come to be noticed for something.
Compared to 30 years ago when I was a young man, a lot has changed. The main theme of many trendy dramas was love and friendship within a group of several men and women. In addition, at school and work, there were many group activities such as drinking parties and events, and cooperation was required in many situations. On the other hand, nowadays, dramas no longer earn viewership ratings, and people prefer Internet videos that are more personalized and segmented, and we hear more and more of the expression "year-end party through".
January 31, 2021
I love ramen. I'm not lying, I really want to eat it every meal every day. How did I come to love it so much? I don't have a clear memory.Just as no one knows the very first drop of the Amazon River.I fondly remember when I was about five years old, my younger brother and I would share a bowl of Myojo Chalmera ramen that my grandmother made as a snack. We used to check each other's food and eat it slowly because if we finished it first, we would be envious of the other.
My father, mother, younger brother, and I all loved ramen in our family. On Saturdays, when we only had classes in the morning, our lunch was always Sapporo Ichiban Miso (easily stretched) or Shio (with a nice bag of sesame seeds). It seems that the habit and taste of these days have become ingrained in my body, and even now, I usually have Sapporo Ichiban for lunch on Saturdays. Just like the cunning marketing of McDonald's, which uses inexpensive set menus that come with toys to instill in our bodies the fun and delicious experience of eating out when we were little, and make us lifelong customers.
December 31 , 2021
There are frequent news reports of suicides due to bullying. Bullying may be an inevitable part of human nature, whether small or large, in places where people gather such as schools, local communities, and workplaces. On the surface, they act like good people, but behind the scenes, they target weak people who may not have much influence on the surface, and bully them to death through insidious means.
This is a similar story. The Edo period is famous for its status system of samurai, farmers, craftsmen and merchants. However, in reality, there is a problem of "Dowa," which is an unpleasant and unpleasant situation that still remains in some places, where people are placed under the system and discriminated against to ease their daily complaints.
I'm not good enough now, but I'm still better than them. It's a really disgusting way of thinking.
Tsuruoka believed that a 50-50 split between allies and foes was a failure as a leader, and that a 7-3 ratio would be admirable. He took care to avoid gathering too many players with few opportunities to play, and devised a loving way of disciplining them. He looked back on his 23 years of managing the team as "the days of striving to turn five against five into six against four, and then into seven against three."
