Newt Wednesday

I have a problem with English in a lot of situations.

It is the real story that I misunderstood in Business situation.

I have heard following sentence on Monday.

"We will have a meeting next Wednesday"

OK, I got it.  I have to attend the meeting on next Wednesday.

However, my understanding was wrong.

I thought I have the meeting on THIS Wednesday.

"Next" and "This"

I couldn't figure it out quickly, so I showed up on this Wednesday.

Of course, nobody was there.

I have to be familiar with these words such as "Next Monday", "This Monday" and "Coming Monday".

Mmmmnnnnn.  It is very long long process to learn English....

Cheer me up!!!!!!!

Traffic Lights

There are a lot of difference to drive a car between Japan and north America.


The biggest differences are driving sheet and driving lane.

Our driving sheet is in right side and we have to drive a car in left lane, so when I started driving in California, I felt really uncomfortable.

However, once I get used to drive a car in US, it is much easier and more convenient than Japan.

I use high way every time even if the distance is less than 5 mils (8 km), and the gasoline is much cheaper than Japan.

The most comfortable thing is traffic lights.
What the amazing thing for traffic light is that when I reach to a traffic light, it turns to be green in a second.  Because, it has a sensor!!!
So, I don't need to wait and waste my time.

Very comfortable:)

In Japan, we have to wait for a long time if you had bad luck even though there is no car near an intersection...

I mean, we have few traffic light that have sensor, but not a lot.

I wish most Japanese traffic lights have sensor.

Anyway, I like driving a car in US in terms of a lot of factors!!!

Teppei

Sense of Humor

One of my American friends asked me, “Japanese sense of humor is very different from here, right?”

I just said, “Not really, because I’m roughing at watching a lot of American TV shows and movies such as “The Office”, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Tosh.O”. 

However, come to think of it, we have some different types of comedy in Japan.  For example “Manzai(漫才)”.

Manzai (漫才^?) is a traditional style of stand-up comedy in Japanese culture, which usually involves two performers (manzaishi) —a straight man (tsukkomi) and a funny man (boke)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags.

By Wikipedia 

I can’t find any professional Manzai with English subtitle.

But, I found a YouTube video which Japanese guys are doing Manzai in English.

  

Is it Funny?  It was pretty funny for me.

  

Have a good night!

Quit After Three Days (三日坊主)

I haven’t updated my blog for a while.

In Japan, we have an expression for a person who quit something soon after starting it.

“Three Days Buddhist Priest”

This expression comes from the story that the training of Buddhist priest is too tough to continue, so a lot of potential priests quit the training in three days.

I am the one now.

I will keep updating from now on.

By the way, if anybody knows the similar expression in English, please let me know.

Do you know your blood type?

Welcome to Japanese culture.

If you are asked “Do you know your blood type?” what would you say?

You might say A positive.

At this point, I have one more question.

How much % of people know own blood type in your country?

I would say 99% of adults know own blood type in Japan.

You might say, “So what?”.

Actually, you can know your personality with your blood type.

But it is not really serious thing (Some people are crazy about blood type fortune telling especially girls).

Anyway, please check out following.

Blood Type A

 Positive Personality
・  Diligence
・  Prudent
・  Peaceful (Don’t want to fight)
・  Tidy

 Negative Personality
・  Introversive
・  They don’t like fighting, thus they have complaints and stress.
・  They tend to complain to close people (Example: Husband or Wife)
・  It takes time to get back when they mess up

Blood Type B

 Positive Personality
・  Going own way
・  Freedom
・  Entertainer
・  Flexible thinking

 Negative Personality
・  Selfish
・  Insensibility
・  Easy to be cheated
・  No MONEY

Blood Type AB

 Positive Personality
・  Idealistic
・  Unique
・  Rational
・  Creative

 Negative Personality
・  Vain
・  Childish
・  Indecisive
・  Cannot be patient

Blood Type O

 Positive Personality
・  Realistic
・  Ambitious
・  Open Mind
・  Romantic

 Negative Personality
・  Non-sense
・  Conservative & Stubborn
・  Tend to Look down on other people
・  Cannot be patient

What do you think?

Do you agree with it?

Even if you want to complain, please do not say to me. 

Hope you enjoyed reading it!

日本の血液型性格診断について英語で紹介したため、日本語で同じことを紹介しても非常につまらない。

ということで、今回は血液型を聞いた時のアメリカ人の反応を少々綴ってみようと思う。

Peter: Hey Mike(仮), what is your blood type?

Mike(仮): I think I am O - (英語ではOネガティブと発音する).

Peter: Wow, I have never seen O- person.  I am B -. It is rare(レア) in Japan.

Mike(仮): Oh yeah? ……………………….

Mike(仮):…………………….

Peter: Hey what about you, Bob(仮)?  Do you know your blood type?

Bob(仮): I don’t know.

Bob: ………………………………….

 

日本では血液型の話しになると、あまり気にしない人間も多いがそれなりに話しが弾むものだ。

しかしアメリカ人は何も気にしない上、興味も無ければ知りもしない人間も少なくない。

この会話は盛り上がらなかったが、その後日本の事情を説明したら喜んでいたようだ。

ちなみにお隣韓国でも実は血液型性格診断が通用する。

ある友人は日本からブームが来たというが、いったい誰が考えたのだろう。

確かに面白い発想であるし、実際に血液の化学的な構造が、いくつかのパターンに分けられているということを考えてみると、とても面白い。実際は４パターンとRh+ -の他にも、さらにもう少し細かく別れているようだが、それでもパターンというものは存在する。

なぜ人間の血にパターンが存在するのか？

性別は外見から明らかに２つに別れているが、内部で見えない部分の血の違いによっても、実は何か異なる部分があってもおかしくないのでは？

血液型診断、なかなか侮れない。

Peter Teppei

Safety country Japan

When I am having a conversation with foreigners, sometime I am surprised about negative parts of their country, public order for instance.

We know our country is very safe, but a lot of people do not really know how other countries are dangerous.

This is about what I have heard about South America.  I couldn’t believe my ears.

The first story that I have heard is that my Brazilian friend has been kidnapped in Brazil.  The friend told me kidnapping is not really rare in Brazil.

In addition, one of my friends from Venezuela got kidnapped, and then her husband gave kidnappers a lot of money.  Eventually, she could be free.

Secondly, this is about how to treat your electronic equipment in Colombia.
We Japanese can’t believe it, but it is dangerous to use expensive electronic equipment (IPhone, Computers) in public such as in a bus or on a street.
If somebody knows you have one, you are in danger.  He probably has a gun.

Third of all, this is the story that my Ecuadorian friend told me.
When she tried to get into her car after work, a young guy suddenly talked to her.

Young Guy: Hey Honey.  How are you doing?  I miss you so much.

He had a gun and he pretended to be her boyfriend, and then, he took her computer and other expensive staff.

We who have stayed in Japan for a long time hardly see a gun and most Japanese finish their life without having this kind of crazy experience.
It’s like a movie theater.

I went to Mexico last week, and I saw a police who was wearing a facemask and had a sub machinegun on a street.  Moreover, I saw other unbelievable situations…

Japan is really safety country.

 安全な国、日本



海外の人達と接すると、各国のネガティブなことにも非常に驚かされる。
例えば国の治安である。
確かに、日本人は自国が安全な国だという認識はあるが、各国がどのように危険なのか、ということについては、その詳細まではあまり考える機会が少ない。

今回は、３人の南アメリカに住む友人から聞いた、耳を疑うような恐ろしい出来事。

まずは、ブラジルの友人が誘拐されたこと。ブラジルでは誘拐に合うことは、そこまで珍しいことでは無いようだ。

次に、コロンビアの友人から聞いた公共の場での電子機器の扱いについて。

日本人からは考えられないが、コロンビアでは人目がある場所（例えばバスの中など）IPhoneなどの高価な電子機器を操作することは危険らしい。

持っていることがわかると、恐喝に合う危険が非常に高いという。
拳銃で脅されることも多いという。

最後はエクアドルの友人がパソコンを盗られた出来事。
仕事を終え車に乗り込もうとしたその時に若い男がこう話しかけてきたという。

Young Man: Hey, honey.  How are you doing?  I miss you so much.

彼は拳銃を突きつけながら周りの人間から恋人と見せかけるため、このように話しかけてきたという。
そして彼女のパソコンやら高価なものを奪っていったという。

日本に長く住んでいる私達は拳銃を見ることも、実際少ないし、突きつけられることなど、映画の世界でしか無いようにも感じる。

つい最近メキシコに行ったが、覆面をしてサブマシンガンを持った警察を路上で目撃した。

他にもいくつか私の常識では考えられないことが。。。

日本は本当に平和な国だ。

Peter Teppei

Yutori Education (More Relaxed Education) was failed?

Yutori Education is the education system that made by government to have more spare time instead of studying in school for kids in Japan.

They became adults, and they started working after graduating from college in these days.

A lot of people disagree with the education system, because new employees tend to drop out easily or give up when they face to a challenging.

In addition, if they do something different from “Typical Common Sense”, some people say, “They are Yutori generation”.

First Yutori generation people were born in 1987.

I think Yutori educated people are still “childish” (Of course, not everybody).

However, I think it could be positive.

If adults still can think with childish mind, some people could come up with interesting idea, like this amazing child.

 

 

ゆとり教育は本当に失敗？

ゆとり教育世代は大きな試練を強いられている。

何か少し”典型的な常識”と異なることがあれば、すぐに”ゆとり世代”と言われる。例えば、社会への不満を未熟な観点から批判したり、簡単に物事を解決しようとする。

要するに、子供のような一面が残っているように、私は考える。

しかし、それが必ずしも悪いことでは無いと思う。

もし、子供のような考えができるようであれば、社会の人間が普段考えないような発想をすることができる人間がでてくるのでは無いか？

この子供のように。

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/ja//id/815

Unbelievable Korean High School

This story is about Koreans.   

Unfortunately, Korean culture is sometime hard to accept for some Japanese.   

In my opinion, the reason why it happens is Japan and Korea have similar culture.

Do you know what I mean?

Personally, even if some cultures are hard to believe based on my “common sense”, I decided to accept them.  

I call this mind “Neutral Gear”.

Anyway, I am talking about high school students in Korea.

What do you think how many hours they study in high school?

We had following conversation in class.

Teacher: What did you use to do in your high school?

Brazilian: Used to go to beach! Party!!

Everybody: (Laughing)

Korean: I used to study from 7am to 11pm in school.

Everybody: Whaaaaaaat!!!!!!?????

High school students in Korea are amazing.

I asked other Koreans later, and they used to study pretty much same hours.

I’ve heard that most students in these days study less that before, 8am to 7pm for instance.  The situation is changing.

However, it is still amazing obviously.  A lot of people in the world cannot believe it.

It makes sense that Korean economy has been developed dramatically.

I have a question at this point.  What about China and India, which is huge countries in terms of population and growing economy?  How many hours do they study?  I want to ask!!!!

The world is interesting!!!!

今回は韓国の話題。文化が似ているからなのか、韓国の文化を受け入れることが難しい日本人が多いように思う。

私はまずは、その文化がどんなに自分の常識とかけ離れていても、すべて受け入れようと決めた。

要するにNeutral Gearの状態。

ところで、今回の内容は驚きの韓国の高校生の話し。

いったい彼らはどのくらい勉強しているのか？

こんな会話がある授業で繰り広げられた。

先生: 皆さんはどんな高校生活を送っていましたか？

ブラジル人:ビーチ！パーティー！

Every Body: 笑

韓国人: 私は朝７時から夜の１１時ゴロまで勉強していました。

Every Body: えーーーーーーーーー！！！！！！？？？？？

恐るべし韓国人高校生。

後々、他の友達に聞いてみても、同じような答えが返ってきた。

今の高校生世代は朝８時から夜９時といったように、状況は変化してきているようだが、それでも他の国の人間から見たら末恐ろしい状況。

経済の発展も納得できる。

はたして、中国人やインド人はどの程度勉強しているのか？

世界はおもしろい。

Peter Teppei

Do you want to wash you XXX after #2 ?

 

This story is a little bit dirty, but I want to talk the “Amazing Japanese Technology”.

Most Japanese do NOT go to #2 without this.

“Washlet”

Most houses have “Washlet” in Japan.

“Washlet” is one of the most missing things for me.

It is the function that you can wash your ass after #2!

I found the Youtube video, let's take a look.

You get it?

Peter says,

Peter: I am really missing it…

By the way, I am curious that if foreigners who are living in Japan usually use Washlet or not.

少し汚い話しかもしれないが、日本の”素晴らしいテクノロジー"についてのお話。

ほとんどの日本人は”これ”が無いと”大きな方”をしたくない。

“ウォッシュレット”

日本ではほとんどの家庭のトイレに”ウォッシュレット”がついている。

私にとって、これが１番に値するほどアメリカ生活で存在してほしい。

日本語でウォッシュレットの話しをしても無意味に等しいため、簡単にトイレに行く時の面白い話。

英語では”小”のことをNumber 1と言い、”大”のことをNumber 2と言う。

正直、実際あまり会話で聞いたことは無いが、文章にする時に表現しやすいのでは。

また、下記のような発言はよく耳にする。

Peter: OMG!!! I gotta pee!!!　（おしっこ行かなきゃ！）

そして１つ疑問が生まれる。

日本にいる外国人の方々は、はたしてウォッシュレットを愛用しているのか？

Peter Teppei