Author: Christopher

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Staying Focused

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I did an experiment yesterday. The goal: completely sequester all distractions and see how much I could get done in 5 hours. I managed to surprise myself as to how much I could accomplish. From 4pm to 9pm I worked like a busy little bee and the only thing a bit dissatisfying was how much work there was left to do, but it got me thinking. A little focus in all aspects of my life could certainly help.

I think that I will work with two central themes this year, capturing a story and capturing motion. I will not focus so much on the media this happens in or even the discipline in which it occurs. I’m curious to see how much I can reduce the things I shouldn’t be doing and add value to the things I am doing by applying a simple concept to things across the board.

For example, in my professional work I could certain benefit from this. Capturing the story of how businesses transform in a simple way for presentations could certainly help. Being able to accurately capture and harness business change (“motion”) provides a focus for my business architecture research.

Even in my amateur photography work, these are two great themes to be able to work with. I hope it also reduces the temptation to take cliche photos of buildings, sunsets, flowers, and pets.

What is the central theme to your work, professional or otherwise this year? Should we even be using this approach. I’m wondering what other people use to guide their work.

Or perhaps, maybe I have just had too much coffee today.

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Aqua Teen Attacks Boston

I was reading a post from a friend about Boston being shut down by a potential terrorist attack today. Totally under my radar. But after randomly watching a Youtube video today, I soon realized that it was actually Turner Broadcasting and their marketing of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force show, one of my favorites. And even better, it was the Mooninites. I think this entire incident shows the hilarity of the way some people think. Even after Turner claimed the strange magnetic lite-brite devices were part of their guerrilla marketing campaign, the siege continued. The video link above has some good insight, but this quote from CNN throws me off the train completely.

Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards “bomb-like” devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged transportation infrastructure in the city. – cnn.com

Are you kidding me?!? Bomb-like?! Look at that picture!! Sure, if the manholes in the streets were explosive, they could really damage quite a few vehicles in the streets of Boston as well. If the streetlights were explosives, they could cause some major traffic delays. If the trees were … you get the point I’m sure.

At any rate, I think we all need to take a look at the way we react to “terrorist threats”. A visiting prospective student today (who is British, British mind you) even remarked to me on how he was detained at the airport for nearly 3 hours, passport confiscated, no ability to make a phone call and consequently missed his connecting flight and was unable to get in touch with the folks waiting for him at his final destination. Without passport and communication with the outside world (no phone calls mind you), he was essentially without rights.

It’s really incredible how much of those goes on day to day and we, as Americans, simply miss it. Turner, get permits for physical marketing. Boston, get realistic or watch more Comedy Central.

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More Updates Coming

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Hey everyone, just a quick update. Sorry I have not posted any audio or video lately. I read a review in the iTunes Music Store of this podcast and thought to myself, “Yeah I really need to do more”. The past month since I have returned to school has been very busy. We’re already taking finals next week and we have a Japanese language mid-term the week after.

The good news is, our eligibility certificates came in from the Ministry of Justice in Japan (photo above). We’re sending these off today to hopefully get our student visas. It should only take a week or so. Once that is in, I’ll be able to stay in Japan for more than just the 90-day tourist visa. It seems like the process we are going through is much easier and straightforward from our European track classmates.

In the meantime, I’ve been working hard at my existing job to get things closed out before I leave. I’ve also been really digging in with Japanese. I can recognize about 100 Kanji now, which doesn’t sound like much but it has been a big step for me. Alex and I will be participating in some role play in class next week, I hope to catch that on tape and put it up as well. I also hope to start writing posts in both English and Japanese to help work on my writing skills, but we’ll see.

I hope everyone else is doing well. I’ll be back more later this week. ごめんあさい。またね。

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Hello World From Columbia

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Hey everyone, just a quick hello from Columbia. This picture was from a few weeks ago – a party at Sarah’s house to celebrate the fact that we miss our peers so much (in a a good way of course). I’m still completely jealous that everyone is having amazing experiences overseas. I will certain be posting many videos and pictures come March when I arrive in Tokyo to enact my sweet revenge. Muhahahah!

We miss you guys, come back soon!

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Nihongo Study Plan

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I have a confession to make, I’m really not a fan of the book we are using to study Japanese – “Nissan’s Beginner Japanese – A Complete Beginning Course in Business Japanese”. When I began my self-study, I worked in a structured way to carefully learn the writing system first (sans Kanji), the basic grammar, and then proceeded to build up vocabulary. To me, learning a language is alot like building a house. You start with the foundation and work up – it makes sense with the way I think, in frameworks and structures.

Lacking in any sort of structure for grammar, this book is certainly motivating me to study and I think I have stumbled upon a way to use it’s random nature to my advantage. Though, certainly not for beginners who wish to really get to know the language, this book does have a redeeming value. In attempting to tame the mighty blue monolith, I’ve developed my own Nihongo study plan to sort through what I have been learning. It’s making the Nissan book much more digestable and enjoyable to work through.

So now, the updated nihongo study plan for me includes four aspects:

  • The Vocabulary Study List / Flash Cards – Every time I run into a word I do not know, I place in in a vocabulary list (using iFlash). This list gets reviewed between rounds of Wii tennis and is rewarded with many cups of coffee and sometimes beer.
  • The Kanji Breakdown List / Flash Cards – Starting from the first level of Kanji, I’ve begun storing the meanings, readings, and writing of basic kanji. This is being done independently of the material in the book. I have also added a few that I run into multiple times while plowing through the Nissan book. This is sometimes helpful in decoding what appears in the next list.
  • Superhard Suicide Kanji Recognition List – There are a many kanji our instructor feels are imperative to know for international business, most of which are culled from big blue. My favorite at this point is 再固形責任者 最高経営責任者 (arigtou saya-san) – the Japanese equivalent of CEO. The SSKR list is not meant to help understanding and is brute force memorization brain cycles. I’m not bothering learning any of the meanings of these Kanji individually as they distract from my base list of kanji.
  • Grammar Notes – Lastly, I’ve started keeping notes on verb conjugations and grammer rules which I will be compiling into a notebook for review. Reading this information in a linear fashion is much more helpful than using flashcards.

In addition, I’ve also gone back to later episodes of Yesjapan.com shows I downloaded when I was a member. I’m finding I’m understanding more at this point now, which is very encouraging. Hopefully this helps anyone who is using the Nissan book for their language instruction as well.

And so on that note, I’m off to go watch NHK television on Google Video fall asleep. おやすみなさい！

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Finding an Apartment in Japan

Today’s post comes in video podcast form. I explore making finding an apartment in Tokyo easier with Google Earth and Rikaichan. I take a look at the logistical aspect of looking in an unfamiliar area and explore the use of a Firefox plug-in that makes life easier when reading Japanese.

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Show Notes:

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Right Place

I could write an entire article about the wonders of the social bookmarking site del.icio.us, but I won’t at this point. Suffice it to say that by subscribing to this search for movies relating to Japan, I am frequently surprised at what arrives automatically in my iTunes. Today was no exception.

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This morning while drinking coffee and reviewing work email, I was treated to an excellent short film by Kosai Sekine called “Right Place“. As a musician, I’ve always loved working with independent filmmakers, but this short 5 minute film really struck a chord with me. Not only because of its Japanese-ness or its simple aesthetic, but because it is truly a great short film in many aspects. The concept is simple yet incredibly powerful, the cinematography stunning, beautifully done colors and editing, and easily digestible in five minutes.

I cannot say that I am any sort of film critic, but it was no surprise to find that “Right Place” won many awards include Young Director / Best Short Film at Cannes 2006, Diesel Film of the Festival at The Raindance Film Festival, and the Best Foreign Film Award at the New York City Short Film Festival.

If you are into indie films, you may really like this film and it’s director. Take a look at Right Place.

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Japanese, Day One

I’m writing a quick entry this morning as we wait for our China Business Issues professor to arrive in class. Today is the first “official” day of Japanese language classes for Alex and I (as well as two other classmates who are interested in Japanese). Though I’ve learned some of the language through self-study and online resources, I’m still a bit nervous about learning the language in a classroom environment. It’s been nearly 14 years since I’ve attempted to learn a language in a classroom setting.

The text we are using is Nissan’s Business Japanese. It was written in the early 1990s I believe and its quite a strange way to learn Japanese. Most of the verb forms are introduced to the student in the polite present form, already conjugated. It’s throwing me a bit since I’ve attempted to learn the proper forms to begin with. I will most likely take it upon myself to re-study the three major verb forms and just continue to add to my vocabulary.

Hopefully, this will give me the opportunity to interact with more people on mixi.jp. I’ve missed writing in Japanese since there was not much time available last semester for language focus.

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Slow and Meandering

Thank god for work…and get ready for random thoughts.

Having an IM conversation with a few friends this morning, I realized how slowly life is going by at this immediate point in time.

On a macro level, it seems as though life is speeding by. I woke up this morning reflecting on a project that I completed in 2004. 2004! That was nearly three years ago but I can remember as if it were last year.

However, on a micro level, its painfully slow at this point. Last semester was a whirlwind of classes and group work. This semester, in comparison, seems incredibly lacksidasical. I only have 2 classes that meet twice a week and language classes that also meet twice a week. I have been working more for work which is nice, but it still doesn’t fill up all the hours.

In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on small tasks and errands that have been prying at my sanity the last few months. I’ve also managed to, gasp, enjoy myself now and then. I saw Children of Men with Alex yesterday which was cool. Very disturbing yet well done movie. I enjoyed it immensely. I’m not sure what it got for reviews but I’m sure they were quite high. You are also now reading the words of a Wii tennis pro, achieving pro status in the Wii hours of the morning as I could not fall asleep.

This week I will be releasing a video episode on searching for apartments in Japan. Stay tuned…

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IMBA 2006 Blogs

Hey everyone. I’m in the process of creating one site for all of the folks in the same program as us. Hopefully I can figure out how to aggregate all the feeds so we do not have to visit a dozen or so sites to keep track of everyone’s travels. More to come.

In the meantime, here are the actual links that I have.

  • Scott – Portuguese Track Class of 2008
  • Anand – Spanish Track Class of 2008
  • David – Global Tracel Class of 2008
  • Alex – Japanese Track Class of 2009
  • Adrian – Chinese Track Class of 2009 (photos)
  • Nanda – French Track Class of 2008
  • Senate Street – Samantha, Kavita, Angus, Dan, Tonisha and Alex
  • Kate – Spanish Track Class of 2008
  • Sara – French Track Class of 2008
  • Samantha – French Track Class of 2008
  • Josh and Kristen – Frenck Track Class of 2008
  • Tara – Spanish Track Class of 2008
  • Christopher – Japanese Track Class of 2008
  • Emily – French Track Class of 2008

If you know of others, please write them below and I’ll add them.