Hello, everyone. Today is finally the start of December. Time always passes mercilessly. There's nothing we can do about it.
The day before yesterday, I had a gastroscopy. I have it done once a year at my family doctor's. This doctor is very familiar with the ongoing condition of my stomach and is well aware of the stress I face on a daily basis.
I've been seeing this doctor with the gastroscopy every year since 2004, without fail. This is my 22nd time.
The first five or six times I had an oral gastroscopy. Looking back, it was extremely painful.
When we switched to the nasal approach, the pain was dramatically reduced. (Still, it's still not easy.)
Company O, a giant in medical endoscopy, has lost market share to Company F in the nasal gastroscopy market. When I attended a local entrepreneurship seminar 10 years ago, someone from Company O was teaching a course. According to this person, the only reason Company F won was because the diameter of the tube was just slightly thinner.
I don't know how many microns the difference is, but I'm sure that slight difference has a huge impact on the discomfort.
The following is purely my speculation, but since women's bodies are smaller, the diameter of their nostrils is also likely smaller.
As far as I know, there are a few women who don't want to have a nasal gastroscopy because it makes their nose uncomfortable.
However, manufacturers and medical professionals refuse to comment on this at all.
So, The Beatles' "Anthology 4" has been released.
It is a collection of so-called unused recordings, practice recordings (extensions of jam sessions, etc.), failed recordings, playful recordings, experimental recordings, specially edited recordings, remixed recordings, etc.
Excluding the remixed recordings, it is a collection of what used to be called "bootlegs."
What makes it different from bootlegs is that these unofficial recordings are properly edited and released as official recordings.
Ever since the days of bootlegs, it's often been said that it's these unofficial recordings that capture the Beatles' musical excellence. I absolutely agree. First of all, no two takes feature the same playing or singing. What's more, they're all just so cool (is that an outdated term?).
In Anthology 4, you can listen to tons of such coveted recordings.
This time, I'll be looking at the song "Hey Bulldog." It was written by John Lennon.
John wrote highly artistic songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever," but he also wrote pop songs like "Hey Bulldog." It's a very popular song.
Let's start with the original promotional video.
John's piano vocals, Paul McCartney's bass, George Harrison's guitar, and Ringo Starr's drums all shine, and the overall pop vibe is second to none. I think Paul's bass is quite distinctive among the instruments.
And now, on Anthology 4, Paul's bass has been completely removed. (The vocals have also been pushed back quite a bit.)
At first, I thought, "How dare they remove that distinctive, wonderful bass!"
But what happened? Rather than being a negative, I quickly realized that removing the bass created something completely different. "Hey Bulldog," performed by the three Beatles—John, George, and Ringo—took me to a completely different world.
This has happened countless times with The Beatles before. I really feel like this song has once again added to the list of examples like this.
By the way, when The Beatles' best-of albums, "Red and Blue Albums," were re-released in 2023, many of their songs, including this one, were remixed. Demixing is a technique used to separate the sounds of each instrument and vocal, then remix them into left and right.
In the 2023 remix of "Hey Bulldog" for the Blue Album, the bass was reduced and the drums were increased instead. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, my impression was that the bass's charm was diminished, and nothing new was created in its place. Of course, those with a more discerning ear than I do will likely have a different impression.
Finally, I'd like to introduce One-san of Black Areion, who covers the bass on this song.
She's very skilled, and it sounds more like Paul's bass than Paul himself. Her outfit is a little sexy though...
Hello everyone. The weather is refreshing, isn't it?
Let me tell you a little about my trip abroad from October 1st through 10th. The country was Vietnam.
Actually, my daughter's family is stationed there. They moved from the Philippines. I went to see that they were settling in well and reliably making a living there.
I myself have had countless short business trips to US and Europe, lasting up to a month at longest, but I haven't been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be stationed overseas. Therefore, I envy my daughter's family, and at the same time, I respect them for overcoming numerous difficulties, and I wanted to help them in any way I could.
Now, about Vietnam, this was my first time going there. My daughter's family lives in Hanoi. They took me to various famous places in the city, and also to Ha Long Bay. I'll write more about it if I have the chance, but Vietnam is "hot" in many ways right now.
I myself am interested in the Vietnam War, and how they defeated that great power, how guerrilla warfare like the Viet Cong troubled the American soldiers, and I would like to visit places like the underground tunnels in the south, but I couldn't go that far this time, so I'll leave that for a future opportunity. This time, I visited the military museum and the ethnological museum in Hanoi. That alone was incredibly impressive.
The lifestyle of an ethnic group in Vietnam. They seem to have more diversity than the various lifestyles in Japan.
On October 18th the Hakone Ekiden qualifying race was held. Among the various events throughout the year, it's one of the most interesting for me. I myself used to run in ekiden races (not at a competitive level, but as a citizen runner). This time of year, with the Izumo Ekiden starting and the Hakone qualifying race... it's the beginning of the full-fledged ekiden season, and it's an exciting time.
Now, about the qualifying race this time. As always, there were some highlights. Personally, I was happy that the "three universities of concern" all qualified for the main race.
The three universities of concern? First, Tokyo University of Agriculture, which narrowly missed qualifying for the main race last year by just one second in the qualifying round. This time, they proudly secured their place in the main race in 6th place. That's impressive. After all, the New Year's Hakone Ekiden race wouldn't be the same without their daikon radish dance. Tokyo University of Agriculture also has an excellent track record in biotechnology research and education, so I'm rooting for them.
Then there's Juntendo University. Last year, they beat Tokyo University of Agriculture by one second in the qualifying round to secure their place in the main race, but in this year's main race, they narrowly missed securing a seeded position by just 7 seconds. And in this year's qualifying round, they came in a respectable 2nd place.
And then there's Tokai University. The biggest misfortune in last year's qualifying round wasn't Tokyo University of Agriculture, but actually Tokai University. One of their runners collapsed due to the heat just 15 meters before the finish line. If he had finished, Tokai University would have qualified for the main race instead of Juntendo University. (Although "if" is forbidden in sports results) This time, that runner who collapsed also participated again and brilliantly secured their place in the main race in 5th place.
Another topic is that Nippon Sport Science University has qualified for the main race for an incredible 78 consecutive years. Although it was a close call, finishing in 9th place. Kudos to the runners who upheld this tremendous tradition.
And while it was great that Rikkyo University narrowly qualified in 10th place, there were also mixed feelings this year, with traditional universities like Hosei, Meiji, and Senshu failing to qualify. Personally, I was rooting for the University of Tsukuba, but unfortunately, they didn't make it. There are also some very good runners at the University of Tokyo.
Now, the introduction of this article has become too much. I'll briefly talk about my work.
I have a contract with a company, and I'm supporting their cutting-edge technology research through external outsourcing. I'm doing this based on that company's business model. Therefore, while my research itself reflects my individuality, the way I conduct my work adheres to the company's way of thinking.
In such a circumstance, with the recent rise of AI, AI is increasingly encroaching on cutting-edge technology research, and is steadily taking over the work of this company. Therefore, since my personal business is providing value as a research and development support service, I thought I would not only align with the company's business model but also try making counter-proposals.
This kind of thing is easier said than done; actually making things happen successfully is extremely difficult. I've tried and failed at this kind of thing many times before.
So, this time, I tried to approach someone in the company's general affairs department. This person was someone I had a good relationship with and who was quite open with me.
And when I contacted the person, saying something like, "I've reviewed your company's investor presentation materials and learned about the situation and future challenges. I was wondering if there's any way I could assist your company...", she actually arranged a meeting with the president.
This was incredibly fortunate. Although it was only a 30-minute online meeting, I sent him my personal business introduction materials beforehand, and on the day of the meeting, I gave a presentation based on a simple material.
The meeting went quite well. I received an indication that he would consider using my consulting services in a certain area. I hope that this will develop into a fruitful relationship in the future.
Good evening everyone. It's been a long time since I last updated mid-week.
For the past few days, I've been updating every Sunday evening. Well, I think that's a reasonable pace, so I've been keeping it up. However, today was a drinking day (Wednesday and Sunday), and I had some thoughts, so I decided to update mid-week for the first time in a while.
By the way, I'd now settled on updating the English articles at the beginning of each month. Since this is in English, I think this will be fine for a while.
On Wednesdays, I start drinking earlier than usual for dinner. As a result, I start work earlier than other days and try to be as efficient as possible. As a result, I actually end up producing more output than on other days.
I think it's a good habit. So, why not do the same on other days of the week as I do on Wednesdays? You might be thinking. But that doesn't happen. If I were to do this kind of hyper-efficiency too often, I would suffocate. In fact, I allow myself to laze around on other days of the week.
A few articles ago I wrote about how it's a nuisance when the car next to me in the parking lot of my apartment parks closed to my car. It was an SUV that was already huge in both width and length. The owner had just moved in a few months ago. I had only seen the owner of the car once before. In the driver's seat was someone who looked like Yumi Takigawa.
I have no idea whether this woman lives in the apartment alone or with her family. I did know the apartment number of the car's owner. It's diagonally below mine.
One weekday morning last week, I was going down the stairs to take out the trash and was about to pass by that room entrance. Just then, someone came out of the room.
To my surprise, she had a face and hairstyle that looked just like Shizu-chan from Nankai Candies. My first thought was, "Huh!?" She looked nothing like Takigawa Hiromi. Maybe it was a different person?
The person in question wasn't as tall as the real Shizu-chan, about 160cm tall or a little bit higher. She was also a little on the chubby side. She was about 40 years old. She had a much more approachable face than Yumi Takigawa, and her hairstyle wasn't particularly urbane. However, she did seem to spend a lot of money on fashion.
Even though she looked like Shizu-chan, she seemed to have a really mean personality. Without even a glance my way, she hurried off, got into her car, and drove off.
Normally, in a situation like this, I would be the one to make the first move and speak to her, but because of the car incident, I didn't want to sell myself short, so I ignored her.
However, recently she has gotten a little better at parking, which tends to less parking at the close to my car or a forward position. I still cannot get my car out smoothly due to her car, but I'm patiently letting it go.
Now, to the main topic (that was a long introduction).
My life can be summed up in one word: a life of risk-taking. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I have a recklessness that makes me want to jump into a flame.
This applies to all areas. It would be endless to write about every single one, so here I will just talk about my relationships with people.
Where the average person would think, "I shouldn't get involved with this person," I tend to think, "This person is dangerous, but I should get involved with them."
So, while there are unexpected positive effects, there are also many major negative effects.
At the very least, it is often a constant source of worry. Because I take risks in my relationships with people, conversely, many people take risks in their relationships with me.
This means that I often have to engage in quite difficult communication with a variety of people. If communication were limited to letters and phone calls, like in the past, there wouldn't be so much miscommunication, but with today's email, blogs, LINE, chat, etc., miscommunication happens all the time.
So, it's no exaggeration to say that correcting and preventing miscommunication is a major daily theme.
Now, amidst all this, today I found myself faced with the need to advance communication with a certain person. In a sense, this person is a key person to me (and likely to him/her as well), so I knew that simply evading the issue with niceties would only have a negative effect.
In situations like this, the easiest thing to do is to leave it alone. But in the end, nothing will come of it.
So I decided to set a turning point.
In situations like these, the important thing is to be prepared for either outcome!
If he/she reacts the way you want, that's OK, of course. And if he/she doesn't react the way you want, I can always take a different approach! (In extreme cases, this may include breaking up with him/her.)
In short, be prepared for either outcome. It could be said that this is my greatest philosophy in life.
Hello everyone. It's only the end of August, but the heat is on its way. It's starting to make me wonder if autumn will ever arrive. However, the slight chill in the mornings and evenings, the chirping of autumn insects at night, and the increasing Tsukutsukuboushi (a kind of cicada) — the progression of the seasons is definitely palpable.
Next time, I'd like to do my annual summer temperature roundup. While it may be a bit warmer, I don't think we should simply assume that global warming is the only explanation, as TV often suggests. Today's TBS Sunday Morning program assumed that this year's heat was due to man-made global warming.
Today, I'm going to talk about Ibaraki. First of all, it's not "Ibaragi," it's "Ibaraki." What's interesting is that people who think it's "Ibaragi" are so convinced, they won't easily accept it even when presented with evidence that it's Ibaraki. Perhaps the reason they think it's "Ibaragi" is because Miyagi and Tochigi are nearby.
Those of us connected to Ibaraki don't pay any attention to the annual prefecture attractiveness rankings. Ibaraki is fertile, has a good climate (except for the cold winters), is highly productive, and its people are gentle.
In particular, the yields of vegetables, fruits, and buckwheat are high and of high quality. Today, I'm enjoying some alcohol with some simply prepared Ibaraki vegetables. (Sunday is drinking day.) I got this from the obachan (a friendly expression used about older women) at my favorite barber ("tokoya") (called a "sampatsuya" in Kansai). (The only thing I got was the bell peppers from another prefecture.)
This eggplant is a white eggplant. The obachan also grows vegetables, but this one was given to her by a customer at her barber shop. Following the obachan's recommendation, I stir-fried the eggplant in oil and then ate it with chili oil or ginger. It's incredibly delicious! Especially the ginger.
The obachan (mid-70s) runs the barber shop by herself. She has a husband, but he had always been working for a company and doesn't work as a barber.
The obachan is smart and has a good personality, so customers flock to her. She's like an "information center." Not only does she have local information, but she also has extremely valuable information on the local research and corporate scene. (This area is a major research and business hub!) Of course, she's also extremely knowledgeable about local shops, services, and other local information.
The obachan primarily speaks Ibaraki dialect. However, she's adapting to people like me who are from outside the area. Even so, to be honest, I can only understand about 95% of it.
I've been living here for over 13 years, but I still can't understand the unique phrases and intonation of Ibaraki dialect. I think it's probably difficult unless we've lived in Ibaraki since childhood.
In the Kanto region, speech is almost 100% understandable between Saitama, Tokyo, Gunma, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within that range, the further to the right it goes, the stronger the dialect. Incidentally, Tokyo dialect is not the closest to standard Japanese. In my opinion, it's Saitama dialect. Of the prefectures listed above, Kanagawa has the most dialect. But it's mostly within the margin of error.
In Tochigi, the regional accent is stronger, and we can't understand about 5% of it. And Ibaraki has the strongest regional accent in the Kanto region. On average, it feels like we can't understand about 10% of it. The above is about pure regional people only, and doesn't apply to people who do business with the general public.
The obachan's barber shop is often visited by people she knows. Usually, I can hardly understand the Ibaraki dialect these people speak. The obachan then translates for me. But I don't always understand everything she speaks.
There are several reasons why Ibaraki dialect is difficult to understand, including unique ways of saying nouns and verbs, as well as pronunciation, accent, and intonation. But that's not all. When talking to the obachan, this kind of thing often happens.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a person was often shown wearing a mask with their nose exposed. When the topic turned to "why do they do such sloppy things," The obachan would say, "It's because it's uncomfortable, that's why they do it like that." If I answer somebody, the "because..." part would give the reason for doing it. In other words, "They probably do it like that because it's more comfortable with their nose exposed." Thw obachan's logic means, "Wearing a mask properly is uncomfortable, so sticking your nose out like that must be more comfortable, so they probably stick their nose out," which is a bit of a leap in logic.
When we're talking about masks, this kind of misunderstanding isn't a big deal, but when the topic gets a little more complicated, it can become difficult to communicate. I too feel a little strange every time I hear her logic, and feel bad about interrupting the conversation, so I end up agreeing with something like "I see," but before I know it, what we're trying to say is completely different.
This is not limited to Ibaraki dialect, but it's common in regional dialects to describe actual actions in chronological order, rather than saying "They did △△△ because of XXX reasons," for example, "If they had worn the mask properly, it would have been uncomfortable → That's why they stuck my nose out." In other words, what I'm trying to say is that regional dialects don't talk about logic, but rather about the natural flow of feelings that occur when people act.
Anyway, even if there was a bit of misunderstanding, I'd built a relationship of trust with the obachan at the barber shop. Next time, if I keep the above points in mind when I talk, we might be able to understand each other better.
Speaking of Ibaraki, the comedy duo "Kaminari" comes to mind. My impression was that they'd only ever appeared on TV shows ranking the most attractive prefectures, so I thought they were just unremarkable entertainers from Ibaraki, but I recently had the chance to get to know them better and was surprised. First of all, their comedic talent is quite impressive.
I knew that they were both childhood friends from Hokota, but I learned that Manabu was actually at the extremely prestigious School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, and Takumi has a teache's license and has other steady academic achievements.
Also, Takumi's parents run a melon business, while Manabu's parents ran a supermarket, both successfully. They come from respectable families. However, Manabu joined a club and spent all his time at BBQs, so he didn't get many credits and ended up dropping out.
Both of them are talented individuals with exciting futures to look forward to, and as someone connected to Ibaraki, I will continue to watch over and support them.
Hello everyone. The heat has been intense for a while now. It would be easier if there was a slight change, but it's hard because the same heat continues.
However, it may just be my imagination, but it feels a little easier than last year or the year before. I wonder if the humidity is a little less this year. As I wrote the other day, I think the atmospheric pressure distribution this summer is a little different.
I would like to plot (graph) the usual temperature at the end of July this year as well. I would like to be able to draw the humidity if possible.
Due to the nature of my work, I often need to convert between the Gregorian calendar year and the Japanese Imperial calendar year. For example, what year is Heisei 27 in the Gregorian calendar? Or what year is 2005 in the Heisei era?
Nowadays, it is common in Japan to use the Gregorian calendar year for years. However, government offices and public institutions still often use the Japanese Imperial calendar year. For example, in national project plans, reports, white papers, etc.
I don't think this is a bad thing. But it is inconvenient for people like me who need to understand the relationship with the Gregorian calendar year.
For example, if I am explaining to my client the outline of the progress of a public institution's ** project in the ** fiscal year of Heisei, I will explain it in the Gregorian calendar year. If you are interested in these documents from public institutions, please take a look at the example attached below. They are available for anyone to see online. This is just one example, and I am not currently doing this job.
In the document attached above, Heisei 27 is 2015. Can you do this conversion instantly?
I will write later about how to do this conversion in your head. Before that, I would like to write about how it was in the Showa era.
This problem did not exist in the Showa era. This is because there is an exact 5-year difference between the Showa era and the Gregorian calendar, which made it very easy to remember. For example, Showa 40 was 1965, and 1970 was Showa 45.
And there were many symbolic events in the Showa era, so there was no need to bother converting them, and both the Showa year and the Gregorian calendar year for each one are burned into my mind.
1941 (Showa 16) - Start of the Pacific War 1945 (Showa 20) - End of the war 1957 (Showa 32) - Birth 1964 (Showa 39) - First Tokyo Olympics 1966 (Showa 41) - The Beatles visit Japan 1970 (Showa 45) - First Osaka Expo 1976 (Showa 51) - High school graduation
Also, in the world's political and music scenes, there were symbolic events in the 1960s and 1970s. For example, the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the world's first live music broadcast by the Beatles in 1967, Chicago's visit to Japan in 1972, etc. And I remember exactly what grade I was in school in that year, in Showa and the Gregorian calendar.
For example, I was in the third grade of elementary school in 1966, and I can perfectly remember that it was 1966 without having to convert it. This is probably because the Beatles came to Japan that year, so it is firmly fixed in our consciousness.
In 1989, it became the first year of the Heisei era, and the relationship is no longer clearly demarcated like the Showa era. We have a certain understanding of what years in the Gregorian calendar major events occurred in Japan and abroad since the Heisei era.
However, it is not easy to determine what year in the Heisei era they are. For example, we remember well that Japan and South Korea jointly held the World Cup in 2002, but it is a very difficult process to arrive at the fact that this was in Heisei 14.
If we remember that the year 2000 is Heisei 12, it is somewhat easy to convert. This is because we can get Heisei by adding 12 to the Gregorian calendar. Conversely, to get the Gregorian calendar, we subtract 12 from Heisei.
However, this rule is not very convenient either. We often forget which to add (subtract) and have a hard time checking the rule itself. Alternatively, since 1989 was the first year of the Heisei era, the first year of each decade of the Heisei era is ***9 in the Gregorian calendar.
As for what happened to me during the Heisei era, I remember well that I changed jobs in 2005, which was Heisei 17. And 2019 was the last 31st year of the Heisei era and also the first year of the Reiwa era. And this was the year the COVID-19 epidemic began.
Using these as a starting point, you could try to convert between the Gregorian calendar and the Heisei era, but it's not that easy.
After all, in the Heisei era, I lost my identity with the years that were comparable to my school years, and the years made it difficult to remember.
Reiwa is OK if we add 2 to the ones digit of the Gregorian calendar. The meaning was fine as an extension of Heisei. If we need to add a number other than 2, it gets complicated.
Reiwa is easy to understand because it's still a single digit, but it gets complicated when it becomes a two-digit era. Because it won't be as simple as just adding 2. For example, the year 2035 is the 17th year of Reiwa.
That's what it comes down to. I have a comparison table (quick reference) of the Gregorian calendar year ⇔ Heisei and Reiwa in front of me. Because I keep looking at it (it's easy to understand!), I end up neglecting to make the effort to convert in my head.
I'd like to write about converting between $ and ￥ in my head at some point.
