Visiting Guam at the end of the year has been an annual event for us.Literally, no rest for the wicked other than this period. My life has been so hectic since last January.Father-in-law passed away due to cancer. Taking care of my parent suffering from senile dementia. Two projects needed finishing before leaving Japan.I hope it might be accepted to go on a trip to relax for a change. Why Guam? There are two reasons here.First, it's so convenient to go. Just three hours flight. Without any significant jet lag.Besides, we can experience almost all the same tropical atmosphere as in Hawaii.As another option for the destination, there might be Saipan on the table. In fact, I've been to Saipan. But I'd opt for Guam.Guam is more sophisticated than Saipan. In some reasons or other, I felt some kinds of poverty in Saipan. A little bit of dingy, lackluster downtown makes me feel so. Anyway it's no doubt that both of them are cozy.Another reason is to contract a friendship with a family we met several years ago in Guam.This time, they arranged the accommodation for us. The room I stayed at was more luxury than I expected. Thank my friend, Jeff(^^)I consider it a privilege to have known them other than the relationship on the job. I bet this kind of opportunity makes me have wide varieties of perspective. Let's say, family bond, radiance of youth, waning my strength, language and so on.I noticed that I've always been in same environment based on the job. As proverb goes, hard work and no play make Jack a dull boy. I must avoid becoming such a guy.
Photo: Jeff is windsurfing

On my way to Guam, I read a magazine a airline provides to kill time. I noticed that English is brilliant to describe as might be expected.But there are a lot of things to learn from them for non-native English speaker. Especially, a way of describing in advertisement is excellent.Let's take headset ads. -- "BOSE" for example.
"Whether it's the engine roar inside an airplane cabin, the bustle of the city or the distractions in the office, Bose QuietComfort headphones help them fade softly into the background with the flick of a switch. You can savor delicate musical nuances without disturbing others."
It's simple and straightforward to understand for readers. I'm afraid my writing is far from that level.

Here are the photos of USB memory characterlized by "Hello Kitty". Those indicate the character plate dropped. It seems that that plate is attached with chemical glue or something like that. This plate was accidentally
removed , but WITHOUT ANY STRONG POWER.

I'll talk about my experience and activity to improve English.I hope this could be used as some kinds of reference.I'd like to mention why I'm so enthusiastic about English. My biggest reason is as following:
I wand to be able to listen and pick up English properly.I want to be able to express my idea and mindset profoundly.I want to be able to argue in English deeply, not superficially.
Unfortunately, I'm not in environment of abundant English . I don't have bunch of opportunities to use English.Among this circumstance, how do I improve my English faculty?
By taking English exam., I keep measuring my progress in English. For example, TOEIC and Eiken 1st grade.The chart indicates my progress in TOEIC. Recently, I achieved over 900 scores out of 990. It was a long way to reach for me.I'm not satisfied with this level. Aim higher! As proverb goes, Ambition makes people diligent.I've never lived abroad. I'd like to challenge what kind of high level I can reach at.

Could anyone check my English, please?(^^)

In RF receiver, magnetic-coupling from a local oscillator causes self-mixing. This phenomenon generates large DC offset at the mixer output. It ends up malfunction at the system level. Although there are some factors to cause the self-mixing, the most possible reason is the leakage from on-chip inductor used as a part of tank circuit for the local oscillator. The inductor essentially spreads the magnetic flux abroad. It becomes serious problem in case of this leakage penetrating into the loops formed by the Power/Ground line or the input at the Low Noise Amplifier. To overcome the self-mixing, we propose novel shape of inductor. We name it “Back to Back Anti Phase Inductor”. This shape contributes to the reduction of the magnetic-coupling.

We went to "Roppongi Hills". This was my wife's request and the first time to hang around.I felt the same wave of some kind of European city. Buildings are modern and neat. Probably 20% of pedestrians are foreigner.I noticed just one blemish in that city. That is living cost. Let's take food cost for example.I can guess that business person needs to spend about 1000 yen for lunch. I can't believe it.At the canteen at the company I work for, I can have lunch/dinner with 450 yen. If you deliberately pick up dish, 300 yen is good enough. It's located in suburban area though.

I'm afraid we missed the chance to beget children. In some reasons or other, we procrastinated to become a parent.It's physically impossible for my wife to be pregnant at this time. Her body is removed the function to gestate because of surgery of uterus myoma.In retrospect, we should have had our children. What made me feel? Two reasons here.First, I begin to envy somebody having their children. The other day, I visited one of my colleagues in Kagoshima pref.He has two kids who are keen to football, swimming and English. He and his wife strongly dedicated themselves to support their kids.I could see their demeanor I've never seen in our office. But I felt the smell of "Family bond".Now I'm thinking that I wish we could have our kids.Besides, I can guess NO kids and relatives attend my death. I have a little worry about having to rely on help from others.Even if we have kids, I won't give them trouble for my care. But at least I want someone to be in at my finish.

"DNA modification" Some people criticize this technology is still unreliable and dangerous. Especially, it's controversial issue in terms of ethic point of view. For example, clone of human beings is acceptable? Definitely, it's morally no. But I strongly support this technology. We have already used artificial hybridization for producing crops for a long time. There is no difference between DNA and hybridization in essential. Besides, if we take huge merits of DNA modificationinto our consideration, negate argument is trivial. Needless to say, we should be cautious about this issue. Owing high technology doesn't always mean that human beings may adoptthis technology for everything. As proverb goes, "Too much of one thing is not good."

"Koizumi -- Who else?"Personally, I had long voted for the DPJ but I voted the LDP this time because I want the party to stop bureaucrats from wasting money.I want politicians to go forward with the structural reforms first. An economic recovery would follow the reforms.Therefore, the LDP's stratagem concentrating on postal privatization worked well.Besides, Mr. Koizumi's explanation helped me understand what people's money was being used for.And I have hope that he will make a change. I believe he did a good job advertizing his campaign in the media.His successful playing of the media game drew massive numbers of urban "floating voters" to the LDP.On the other hand, the DPJ had no detailed counterproposal in response to Koizumi's policies.Anyway, I hope they push forward their reforms. The burden will fall directory onto our shoulders if nothing is done.

Today is the Sept. 11 general election day. Definitely, I'm going to vote. There is no more time I'm interested in the election than this time.Whether LDP remains its power or DPJ gains its seats. Hmm....I can't wait for this evening result.

Last Friday night, I and one of my best colleagues I feel affinity with went out drinking. We talked about the issue I previously posted.That was the article excerpt from Wall Street Journal 050629 -- "At Sony, Rivaliries Were Encouraged; Then Came iPod".He expressed his interesting perspective as following:Ex-CEO, Mr. Idei had STRONG opinions and was good at appealing his STRONG mindset. A lot of people recognized it easily.From business point of view, he might not be able to bear fruits. But he accepted tons of criticises inside/outside Sony and didn't excuse himself.However, his successors were not so clear about their own ideas. This is one of the reason made Sony into plunge.After chatting, I found analogy in the Prime minister Koizumi. A lot of people criticize him that his idea is too unrealistic or too aggressive to accomplish.But I recognize his appealing point apart from bad/good. It's crystal clear to me. There are no politicians other than Mr. Koizumi. Other politicians and political parties might emphasize their own opinions. But those are too weak to me. I don't know why.It's better than nothing.

What do you think about Sony? What kind of image do you have?I can guess a lot of people have positive images in a sense.But the reality is that it runs into a problem that is all too common at the electronics giant.There are many levels of hierarchy for making decision. Employees are overly cautious and conservative.Their transactions are redtape. For example, I've played a role as a coordinator between Japan and affiliated company abroad.Two sides encountered some conflicts over even trivial issue. I sometimes had a hard time between the two. Japanese engineers want to keep their traditional ways which have been accepted among them for a long time.They don't like breaking their existing rules. On the other hand, American/British engineers tend to question Japanese way and urged me to change their rules.I tried to be in neutral as much as possible. But American/British engineers ideas were logical to me at that time.I thought Japanese engineers should have plenty of courage to change the status quo, guts to break down an old custom.This is what people in the world expect for Sony. I know it's easier said than done.

A couple of days ago, news conference of Mr. Nakata, who is one of the most renowned football player was on the air.A lot of medias praised his English. He speaks English fluently and describes his mindset in detail.He is also good at Italian. Apparently he is polyglot. He might have a sense of mastering foreign language. He made a big effort to improve his faculty. But I take it for granted.He's spent much time among multinational players. He might need foreign languages including Italian, Spanish, English and so on to handle communication problem.Environment is a key factor. How I can make an enviroment by myself is also another issue.

“employees’ motivation”
In my case, accomplishment for assignment given to me is my big motivation. Any trivial thing I've never achieved on the job will do. For example, Now, I have small experience to design CMOS Amplifier, but I didn't have any experience to design it a year ago. This change contributes to my motivation. I always compare myself to 1 year ago. Around me, there are a lot of people who have excellent ability. If I compare myself to them, I'd be depressed. So, I try to measure my improvement inside me.

Who Owns a Company and What Does It Mean?
Generally, share holders own a company.As you may know, the process is as following.Share holders own the company's stocks. They are entitled to vote for some kinds of decision including the selection of the board members.But the reality is that their impact for making decision is too slim.Just only a few dominant share holders have a big influence.Besides, most of the proposals on the general meeting of stockholders are almost fixed.Let's take the selection of the executives in Sony for example. Mr. Idei appointed Mr. Stringer as his successor.This decision was widely announced and became the accomplished fact.Ok then, I'm one of shareholders. Even if I insist that Arnold Schwarzenegger should be the CEO, it's impossible to change the decision.

I watched two films related to Christianity. One is "Dead Man Walking" and the other is "The Passion".I found that one theme on the same wavelength on both films is profiled. That is "the love of mother".In "Dead Man Walking", the mother of culprit were shed light on. It's no wonder that she laments over her son's death penalty.In "The passion", Maria run up to Jesus on his way to the hill.Their facial expression stick to the bottom of my heart.Who can entitle to kill men and women. No one can't be entitled. It's so impertinent.

The statement by new Sony CEO Howard Stringer was launched.
Sony must change in order to remain globally competitive.
There are three ways Sony should take to remain globally competitive.
First, it’s very important for Sony to concentrate on just Electronics and back out the fringe business such as finance and insurance. Sony has become too big a company. It has branched out too much various arenas. It ends up branching off.
Second, it’s a good idea to launch a business for white goods such as refrigerator, washing machine and air conditioner. It might be too late but why don’t you imagine Sony’s refrigerator? Don’t you think Sony can produce a fancy refrigerator by its unique sense and high technology?
Third, it’s very important to nurture global leaders playing an important role in competitive market. A good way is to nurture such a personnel by Sony itself.
For example, Sony establishes a private academe having junior high school, high school and university. Self-sufficiency in terms of human resources is vitally crucial.

Day 2nd, version2. Central Nagasaki City is well modernized and similar to atmosphere of Yokohama.Especially, harbor is lively area. There are various restaurants from Japanese, Italian, Chinese and so on.We opted for a pavement cafe style restaurant. I drank several glasses of beer in thimblefuls listening to music.I wonder if European also drank at the same place feeling sea breeze of Nagasaki over 400 years ago.

Day 2.On the morning of the 2nd day, we went to "Huis Ten Bosch" that combined Dutch city planning with Japanese technology. We could experience the Romance of Europe and stroll along the canals and 17th century Dutch houses. We stand atop a historic church tower and took a breathtaking bird's eye view of one of Kyushu's finest bay areas.To tell you the truth, I didn't expect it too much. We visited there just because the hotel we stayed at provided the discount ticket.The buildings are European style and some of staff members are foreigners. The atmosphere gives off the sense of Europe.It seems that the dominant visitors are Japanese. But Korean follows them. So, every direction is also written in Hangeul.I enjoyed a lot there. After that, I headed for Nagasaki City.

Day 1st version2.First, we visited Hirado which is famous as the first location where St. Francisco Xavier arrived.Historically, this place is the origin of Christianity in Japan. I've wanted to visit there someday.At last, my dream comes true. It's surprising that they came to such a far east to proselytize Christianity.I'm not a Christian. I don't know any difficult creed of Christianity. But I'd like to shed light on its influence on the culture Japan.Anyway, I was so delighted to visit the church which is related to him.After that, we headed for Sasebo where we were supposed to stay. This is the city which has a sense of provincialism.I enjoyed a lot of distilled spirit -- shouchu. Food is yammy. Perfect!

Last week, we visited Nagasaki pref. as private trip. I've been to there on business trip. But this was the first time to hang around for sightseeing.I'm writing this travel record for a couple of days.Day 1st: At the Haneda air port, we were waiting for boarding at the gate. Coincidentally, I came across my colleague who usually works in Kagoshima.He was on his way to Nagasaki for his business trip. I came across another acquaintance in the plane.Actually, it's no surprising that I met a couple of colleagues. Because, the company I work for has several factories in Kyushu Island.So employees take air plane for granted as same as bus.

One of my colleagues and I discussed how to improve our English faculties. We concluded that we should have time using English as much as possible.It's a common sense. But as proverb goes, "To say is one thing ; to practice another" Finally, we came up with one idea that we should utilize our hobbies as leverage to improve our English abilities. For example, golf really takes him by storm. So, reading golf journals or books written in English would help us to touch English.I'll try and I hope this method works well.

Prime minister, Mr. Koizumi changed my image of politician. I support him and his regime. The reality is that a lot of people have some negative opinions. For example, politicians are greedy and tend to tell a lie. They alwayscheat money or something like that. In terms of Mr. Koizumi, manypeople are criticizing him and his policy. But I support him by showingtwo reasons.First, I feel his strong passion from his remarks in any case. For example, here is famous expression on Sumo tournament award ceremony. “You made it! I’m touched by your strong effort regardless your injury!” Some are criticizing this is just performance to catch voter’s favor. But I’ve never seen such a brisk politician like him.Second, he bears a lot of fruits. For instance, he visited North Korea twice by himself. As a result, he brought abductee back toJapan. Some are saying this is the worst outcome. But I consider thiskind of activity is a good step further. Who has ever handled thisabduction issue other than Mr. Koizumi? He made indelible work inhistory. Mr. Koizumi changed my negative image of politicians into positive one.However, here is Achilles heel. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi andSouth Korean President Roh Moo Hyun failed to bridge their gap overperceptions of history during their talks in Seoul. He should avoidunnecessary conflicts to build a good reciprocal relationship.

Yesterday, I joined the party for my friend leaving alone for job purposes to Osaka.The late father-in-law also spent half of his incumbent -- about 15 years.This temporary dispatch without family is very common in Japan. From job assignment or company's profitability point of view, this might be necessary.But is it truly worth dedicating themselves? I've been doubt it since my farther-in-law passed away.

"China may stop food aid to N.Korea."I strongly support this idea. There are two reasons here.First, China among six nation's party is the only leverage to deal a heavy blow to N.Kore.Relatively, China and N.Korea have been keeping a good relationship. N.Korea relies on the China's aid to cover 30 percent to 40 percent of its food shortage.Apparently, N.Korea can not ignore China's movement.Second, from an emotional point of view, there is a likelihood for N.Korea to accept China's suggestion. N.Korea will not lose its honor.Other members -- S.Korea, the U.S, Russia and Japan can't be clout over 6 nation's talks.It's no doubt China plays an important role.

My brother-in-law decided to leave the company he works for. One of my colleague will resign our company at the end of this month.a couple of my colleagues around my seat, they joined our company after they resigned their previous companies.The turnover rate in Japan has increased drastically. I wonder I can get by if I quit.Hmm, I don't have any confidence to make something of myself in my new job. Neither in my current job. Oh, boy!

Today, I left my office a little bit earlier than usual. Why? No big reason. But I wanted to do something for a change. I hung aroud Ikebukuro by myself. No where to drop in at. Eventually, I ended up buying a pint of Guinness at "HUB". That's all.

The benefit of media’s influence is that it has a huge power which creates public movement. The reality is that some criticize it’s an axis of evil fabricate the news to obtain higher ratings or broadcast sex and nudity scenes. But if you take the huge benefit into your consideration, those criticisms are trivial. The benefit of the media’s influence is verified by three factors.
First, the media’s influence plays an important role to represent the public opinion. For example, the ex-leader of Democratic Party -- Naoto Kan, was disdained on ground of not paying pension insurance fee by the public voice over the media’s frequent report.
Second, the media can provide useful information to rally volunteers. For example, in case of earthquake having hit Niigata, the media’s frequent notice for donation and volunteer activity inspired a lot of people. This volunteer movement would not have occurred without the media.
Third, the media has the economic influence on various areas. For example, just one TV program -- “Winter Sonata” hit Japan. This phenomenon leads the increase of sales for tourism, film industry, publication and so on.
There is no other tool to move public forward other than the media.
In conclusion, the benefit of media’s influence contributes to forming public movement.

Tomorrow, bonus will be paid to us. Generally, it's no doubt that it's a good incentive. But I wonder I 'm the person I'm entitled to get much money apart from monthly salary.This is a performance based system in our company. To tell you the truth, I'm fed up with the rating. I want to keep away from swinging from joy to sorrow.

Narrowly, I could watch a football match -- Japan vs. North Korea. I'm not so enthusiastic about football.But I wanted to watch it. It's just because I can follow the talk of the match among my colleagues.Especially, for the conversation with lunch mate. Recently, I haven't watched TV program. So lunch time is quite important for me to acquire various information.I'll bet I can follow the tomorrow's talk about the match.Anyway, tonight's match was a little bit dull, wasn't it?

Yesterday, we had a party in honor of winning the award in our division with bounty money. Despite "all you can drink", I couldn't drink a lot. This decline started a couple of years ago.
I could guzzle tons of beer ten years ago. But it seems I might be over the hill anymore. Oh, man...

I was inspired to improve my written skill by one mail magazine I found. It's "Blog in English" -- http://eigodeblog.com/mailmagazine.html
Definitely, I though it's a good idea for me to keep thinking in English. I hope this activity improves my English faculty.What does this blog title -- "Leather and Pruner" come from? My boss has his own web page to keep a diary. The title is "Dodemo iikoto" in Japanese.This expression implies the meaning of "make no difference", "Let it go" and "nonessential"
I sought an adequate expression for this meaning. At last, I reached "leather and prunella". It's cool, huh!?