http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/rss Akira's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Mon May 20 16:57:12 UTC 2013 Mon May 20 16:57:12 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8 I went to a different hairsalon from the usual salon for no particular reason.
There are two hairsalons near my house.
Both of them are owned by Korean by chance.
I have had my hair cut at one of them since I moved to the US for two years, because it is the nearest.
All dressers at the salon were women.
Yesterday, the hair dresser was a man who seemed to be the same age man as I am.
I felt very comfortable during having my hair cut.
I discovered I had felt a little stress from hair cut by women, regardless of age.
I was satisfied with the hair style.
I’m happy to find the good hair salon.


Posted at Mon May 20 11:26:44 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/51064363223697104499740546971919320741 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/51064363223697104499740546971919320741 Akira Mon May 20 11:26:44 UTC 2013 He studied the life of a butterfly at school.
His teacher gave the eggs to the students who wanted them.
My sons explained to me how a larva would be born from the egg and changes to the pupa and finally grow to the butterfly, pointing out the pictures on his text book.
He scrutinized the egg with a magnifying glass and took pictures from various angles.
He was curious what was happening in the egg.
We enjoyed the movies which showed the life of a butterfly on youtube.
I thank for his teacher to give my son a good opportunity to get interested in the life with the live egg.
I want to expand my son’s pure curiosities as much as possible.


Posted at Sun May 19 11:57:52 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/113587097489497567485205517586918177586 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/113587097489497567485205517586918177586 Akira Sun May 19 11:57:52 UTC 2013 And employees’ target should be made being based on the division’s management plan.
The company’s management plan will be completed by employee’s achievement of the target.
It’s like a hierarchy with the company’s management plan at the top.
My company which has one hundred employees is struggling to form this hierarchy.
I learned that Japanese huge company, Hitachi which has two hundred thousands white collar employees introduce the management system which form the huge hierarchy with the headquarters of the Hitachi group at the top.
Each employee knows how his or her effort contributes to the top management.
The system will motivate the employees.
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKDASDD150SH_V10C13A5EA2000/

Posted at Sat May 18 11:41:55 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/320208457061296464938653787788101158565 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/320208457061296464938653787788101158565 Akira Sat May 18 11:41:55 UTC 2013 The due date is today.
I had checked the progress three or four times by yesterday.
At those times, she said she would complete it on schedule.
However, yesterday she replied to my question that she would complete only 30% of the job by today without any hesitation.
She seemed to think that she had done the job as hard as possible and the quantity of the job was beyond her expectation.
She lacks recognition of the deadline as an office worker.
She is the same as my elder son who don’t finish his homework by the due date sometimes.
I have to educate my son to finish his homework by the deadline to be an adult who has commonsense.

Posted at Fri May 17 13:32:48 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/90079521245526486875819589510149834405 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/90079521245526486875819589510149834405 Akira Fri May 17 13:32:48 UTC 2013 When I read his comment on the web for the first time, I wondered if I misread it.
I didn’t believe there was a man who conceives such a silly idea.
If his wife was forced to be a sex slave for a foreign country’s army, what he could do?
His comment was the most ridiculous I have ever heard in my life.
It may be true that the war makes men cruel like Japanese soldiers during World WarⅡ.
So, we have to seek for the world without war.
We should not admit the institution for the cruel soldiers.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/world/asia/japan-hashimoto-comfort-women

Posted at Thu May 16 11:05:28 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/176181924153626789786491551752005852772 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/176181924153626789786491551752005852772 Akira Thu May 16 11:05:28 UTC 2013 The package says that its expiration date is two month ahead.
It is not a vacuumed sealed package, although they should be put in the refrigerator.
How the eggs will be kept fresh enough for us to eat for two months?
Do they contain tons of preservatives?
I asked my wife not to buy this type of foods.
http://almarkeggs.com/company.html


Posted at Thu May 16 00:49:14 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/146707168881570625316259357403594595940 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/146707168881570625316259357403594595940 Akira Thu May 16 00:49:14 UTC 2013 Before visiting, I checked a discount coupon on the web and found the Groupon offered the half price tickets. I could buy tickets for six dollars per adult instead of twelve dollars. We have to be skeptical about the normal price of the museums in the US.
I thought the museum was one of the best facilities in LA to visit.
We learn American culture through the cars, like drive thru, car race, food truck and so on.
The exhibitions showed us that there have been a lot of American movies in which the car played an important role.
The Batman car attracted my kids.
I was drawn to the beautiful American vintage cars which I saw in the American graffiti.
Each of my family enjoyed the museum in their own ways.
http://www.petersen.org/

Posted at Tue May 14 11:57:37 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/160342860457250454227527641227496234596 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/160342860457250454227527641227496234596 Akira Tue May 14 11:57:37 UTC 2013
Our family went to the page museum which we visited one month ago.
When we visited the museum last time, my older son wanted to buy a carnival plant at the souvenir shop.
I didn’t buy it for him, because he didn’t feed a beetle which I had bought from his request in the past.
He had asked me to buy a carnival plant since we visited the pate museum.
Finally, I decided to buy it for him with the promise that he would take care of the plant.
I didn’t find a carnival plant at garden store near our house.
He was so glad to get it.
He is now looking for a fly or small insect to feed the plant.
Unfortunately, he has not found it at our house yet.


Posted at Mon May 13 11:01:44 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/169913966655858882673245074280521113188 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/169913966655858882673245074280521113188 Akira Mon May 13 11:01:44 UTC 2013 After the 4 hour online exam at a test center, I received the failure notice immediately.
I was discouraged with the result so much.
However I had to admit lack of my knowledge.
My way of studying was wrong.
From this failure, I found that there is a more practical way for the exam.
I can't give up.
I refresh my mind.
I will start studying for the next exam today.

Posted at Sun May 12 10:29:41 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/291585157026121652433986521604719353444 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/291585157026121652433986521604719353444 Akira Sun May 12 10:29:41 UTC 2013 We celebrated her childbirth in next month with some gifts from her wish list.
We enjoyed chatting over snacks and special cake for her for a while.
I learned this type of party is called baby shower, which sounded little bit strange for me at first.
She will come back the office in September.
I wish her a safe childbirth.
I hope she will come back on schedule.
On the other hand, I want to give her more leave.
She will struggle to be separated from her angel because of her job at our office in September.


Posted at Sun May 12 01:43:42 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/128208712240888576140593056272395929253 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/128208712240888576140593056272395929253 Akira Sun May 12 01:43:42 UTC 2013 I’m too busy in this week to find time to do it by myself.
The price was very cheap.
The translation of the document in which there are 1308 Japanese characters costs 4000 yen, although it will take one week.
The secret of the price is auction.
The company has an auction system while it provides translation service in general way.
I putted up my document to the auction on their site.
I had got a few bids for my document for only one hour.
I ordered the translation to one of them.
This service is very helpful.
Of course I will make English documents by myself as much as possible.
https://www.quicktranslate.com/auction/index.php

Posted at Fri May 10 12:54:22 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/250508865520351115808832061555220285093 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/250508865520351115808832061555220285093 Akira Fri May 10 12:54:22 UTC 2013 I called an ex-colleague in our Paris office.
He asked me if American breakfast, which contains hot egg dish like omelet, was necessary or not, because some hotels in Paris serve only continental breakfast.
He seemed to think that most of American people eat American breakfast every morning.
I think not all American people eat American breakfast.
I see many American people eat cereal or sweet Danish with coffee at a star bucks.
Some adjectives related to nationality are different from the current reality.

Posted at Thu May 09 11:57:33 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/215295193577238811719499075826011181225 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/215295193577238811719499075826011181225 Akira Thu May 09 11:57:33 UTC 2013 They will go back to Japan at the end of next month and spent one month at her parent's house.
I planned to book a going flight which leave Los Angeles at midnight and arrive at Tokyo in the early morning and a coming back flight which leave Tokyo at midnight and arrive at Los Angels in the evening.
The round flight ticket was 200 dollars cheaper than other flights.
She refused the flights firmly.
Last time when we went back to Japan, we boarded on the same flights.
I who can sleep on board was satisfied with the flights so much because I could use my time efficiently.
My kids also didn't have problem for the night flights.
On the other hand, my wife who couldn't sleep on board was so tired with the flights. She was annoyed with jet-lag after the flights. It seemed like nightmare for her.
I will book day flights for them.
If she could sleep on board, we could spend 600 dollars on another family activities.

Posted at Wed May 08 13:12:41 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/328327510693823986811163245798658525617 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/328327510693823986811163245798658525617 Akira Wed May 08 13:12:41 UTC 2013 In Japanese, lemonade is pronounced “Re-mo-ne-i-do” which is very different from the English pronunciation.
“Ra-mu-ne” is more similar to English pronunciation than “Remoneido”.
Why don’t we call lemonade “Ramune”.
We don’t need to change the pronunciation of English word into Japanese way.
Japanese English word makes me confused.



Posted at Tue May 07 11:25:30 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/280643072599294292882564199680895327844 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/280643072599294292882564199680895327844 Akira Tue May 07 11:25:30 UTC 2013 I had not been able to concentrate on the study at home because of my kids.
The coffee shop was crowded American people who were enjoying their Sunday afternoon.
A song which I knew came out from the speaker.
It was “Englishman in New York” by Sting.
I stopped studying and listened to the song.
I felt something from the melody of the song and paid attention to the relics which I had never cared.
The relics fitted with my feeling.
"I’m an alien. I’m a legal alien.
I’m a Japanese man in the U.S.
Be yourself no matter what they say."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27gTrPPAyk

Posted at Mon May 06 13:21:52 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/311375432815613234224279895687035487909 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/311375432815613234224279895687035487909 Akira Mon May 06 13:21:52 UTC 2013
I found an interesting picture on the web.
The title is “I like crab, but I don’t want to be served crab like this.”
Me,too.
From the kind of the crab, the restaurant was not in Japan.
I wonder if the restaurant arranged the crabs like a centipede on the dish not jokingly but seriously.
http://twitter.yfrog.com/z/oekj2usj


Posted at Sun May 05 13:28:51 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/246822221136396207994347211253065715035 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/246822221136396207994347211253065715035 Akira Sun May 05 13:28:51 UTC 2013 Kmart offers to ship their products for free.
The cast repeats to say "ship my pants.
It is said that it the commercial is funny but vulgar".
A consumer group asked Kmart to stop the commercial from being on air.
Unfortunately, I don't understand why it is funny or vulgar.
Pleas give me advice.
I really want to know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL4lSavSepc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Posted at Sat May 04 10:33:15 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/9468564254697125070271893746615178210 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/9468564254697125070271893746615178210 Akira Sat May 04 10:33:15 UTC 2013 It makes my eyes tired.
I often squeeze my eyes tightly to stretch the muscles around them.
Today, I noticed that I did that while I was not facing the screen without intention.
It seems to fall into my habit.
It must be strange for others around me that I frown suddenly.
The strange habit may leave a deep wrinkle between my eyebrows like Anderson Cooper.
I have to stop it immediately.
http://www.thebeatlesneverexisted.com/celebs/acooper4.jpg


Posted at Fri May 03 11:28:18 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/188586038342512277799306014037314766501 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/188586038342512277799306014037314766501 Akira Fri May 03 11:28:18 UTC 2013 He is the first gay player in the four major professional sports, who admitted his sexual orientation.
President Obama commented that he couldn't be prouder of the player.
I was surprised that it became a big news in the U.S., although various sexual orientations seem to be accepted in the U.S.
There are a lot of celebrities who are know as gay.
There is even national gay basketball association in the U.S.
I don't understand what's going on.

Posted at Thu May 02 12:22:28 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/325108988126215659032020303842970148452 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/325108988126215659032020303842970148452 Akira Thu May 02 12:22:28 UTC 2013 It is a premium tooth brush made in Japan.
It uses a Japanese high technology which prevents stain from attaching on the tooth.
We don’t need to wet the brush at the beginning of the brushing.
We don’t need toothpaste.
It costs about ten dollar.
It’s very expensive but affordable.
It must be a good souvenir from Japanese for American people.
http://yumeshokunin.jp/misoka.html


Posted at Wed May 01 11:27:42 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/47279466090521977397185184332380085860 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/47279466090521977397185184332380085860 Akira Wed May 01 11:27:42 UTC 2013 The address of my friends had been changed.
It took five month.
Outward was air trip and homeward must have been cruise trip.
One envelop was tattered.
I imagined the long journey of my cards.
They made a round trip to Japan from the U.S. at only one dollar.
I will ask new address of my friends by email.



Posted at Tue Apr 30 12:17:45 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/327892488817000281875694590908623427717 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/327892488817000281875694590908623427717 Akira Tue Apr 30 12:17:45 UTC 2013 Our target was sea urchin, which my wife and elder son love.
In southern California, we can enjoy fresh sea urchin.
We chose a big one in the shelf at the court.
The clerk cracked the above part of the shell with a special tool and gave us the opened shell in which there were full of fresh eggs in it.
This was the first time for us to eat sea urchin like that way.
My wife couldn’t eat it because the moving needles on the shell looked cruel for her.
My son also couldn’t eat it because it was too salty because of sea water.
My wife and son enjoyed other seafood like oysters, shrimps and calamari.
Thanks to them, I was satisfied with a lot of sea urchin.
Fresh is not always good.


Posted at Mon Apr 29 12:09:18 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/210484559374427508217480787170411126372 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/210484559374427508217480787170411126372 Akira Mon Apr 29 12:09:18 UTC 2013 If diligent ants are forced to form one group, 10% of them will be lazy.
The researcher analyses that the ants may prepare for the emergency with excess workers as their instinct.
Our company prepares for any contingency plans by the same way.


Posted at Mon Apr 29 00:29:54 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/311063821795446249845952536008533989689 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/311063821795446249845952536008533989689 Akira Mon Apr 29 00:29:54 UTC 2013 I have lost o.1kg everyday in 7 days, 0.7kg in a week.
It was fun to stand on the weight measure machine and see the digits which was losing regularly
The ways of my diet which I started a few weeks ago is as follows,
I commute 2.5 miles by bicycle as long as possible.
I measure my weight every morning after shower.
I bring a lunch box from home instead of buying a heavy and oily lunch box which is sold at the office.
I don’t eat carbohydrate like steamed rice for dinner.
I drink a bottle of sparking natural water instead of beer at dinner.
Before each meal, I eat a handful of almonds to decrease my appetite.
Aside from the above diets, I have a custom to eat only fruits for breakfast, I don’t eat much meat, I eat brown rice and exercise at a gym twice a week.
I enjoy dieting.


Posted at Sat Apr 27 12:47:33 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/214142267888722553089164338966605335899 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/214142267888722553089164338966605335899 Akira Sat Apr 27 12:47:33 UTC 2013 The product was a pad which is put into the gap between the driver’s or passenger’s sheet and shift lever board in a car.
The pad prevents things from falling down into the gap.
I often fall things like a coin, phone, candy and so on into the gap.
It was pain in the neck to pick them up.
However, I have never imagined the simple product, which solves my problem.
I have to recognize that there is a seed of business in a trouble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_t3dFFsKVfg


Posted at Fri Apr 26 13:07:18 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/76457402399338405174045108273711739786 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/76457402399338405174045108273711739786 Akira Fri Apr 26 13:07:18 UTC 2013 The museum consists of 7 buildings in the huge area.
We started viewing from a pavilion of Japanese art.
I was so excited to see the exhibits there, because there were some artworks of my favorite two artists in Edo period between 17th century and 19th century.
One was Okyo Maruyama, who merged Japanese traditional decorative style paintings and western natural paintings.
The other was Hokusai Katsushika, who is famous for his woodblock prints with the bold compositions and colors of ukiyo-e.
The pavilion was not big, but I was satisfied with the quality of the arts.
When I tried to move to the next museum, my kids complained that they were bored to view the arts.
One hour was maximum for them to be in the art museum.
Unfortunately I left LCMA.
Our family have to come to LCMA many times to visit all pavilions.
http://www.lacma.org/

Posted at Thu Apr 25 11:03:42 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/269675747979650323318361335129002974820 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/269675747979650323318361335129002974820 Akira Thu Apr 25 11:03:42 UTC 2013 I crossed Venice Boulevard on the way to a museum in downtown LA, I saw a lot of people enjoy biking, skating, jogging and so on as they liked.
The number of participants in the event, which called CICLAVIA, was 100000.
There was no particular program on the road like a bike race.
It was a simple but bold event.
It must be difficult to hold this type of event in Japan, which has the vertically divided administration.
Next event will be held in June.
I’m planning to take part in the event with my younger son by bicycle.
http://www.ciclavia.org/files/042113_map_8-17.5x11_FINAL-17.pdf

Posted at Wed Apr 24 10:43:55 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/293049037082676258692567188435439847077 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/293049037082676258692567188435439847077 Akira Wed Apr 24 10:43:55 UTC 2013 It was a quiet interesting museum.
There were many tar pits which have been made in ice age around the museum.
A lot of animals have been trapped and died in the pits in which there was sticky heavy black tar.
In the museum, fossils of those animals including mammoth, wolf, saber tiger and so on were exhibited.
Most of those animals have been extinct yet.
My kids could imagine that they used to live in Los Angeles here from the fossils with related drawings or figures.
We enjoyed the museum a lot.
http://www.tarpits.org/

Posted at Wed Apr 24 04:17:38 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/305730324821413656625014534226557509220 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/305730324821413656625014534226557509220 Akira Wed Apr 24 04:17:38 UTC 2013 It was difficult for me to play with eight years old son and three years old son.
First, we played soccer togethher.
My young son and I competed with my old son.
After a while, my young son was bored, because he rarely touched the ball.
Then, we went to playground equipment following my young son’s request.
Of course, old son was bored.
Then, I decided to leave my young son there saying to him that old son and I were playing soccer.
I could see my young son playing in the equipment from the ground where we were playing soccer.
Five minutes after we started to play soccer, I noticed that I couldn’t see my son.
I rushed to the equipment and looked for my son.
I felt myself go pale imaging the worst situation.
A man in the playground told me that a boy went to that direction weeping.
I found him with two women who cared of him.
I was so relieved and hugged him apologizing to him.
He had seemed to lost his way while he was looking for us.
I shouldn't have left him alone.
It was dangerous.
I won’t repeat the same big mistake.



Posted at Mon Apr 22 10:22:25 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/179358100687166585174296197118464859748 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/179358100687166585174296197118464859748 Akira Mon Apr 22 10:22:25 UTC 2013 The key board was very easy to type comparing to typing on the screen key board　of ipad.
I was very satisfied with my shopping.
When I was typing the board, my three year old son asked me, "father, did you buy a new personal computer?"
His question reminded me when I bought my ipad, I wondered if I should have bought PC or ipad.
As my son told me, my ipad with the cover looks like a PC.
The size and weight of my ipad with the cover is almost the same as ones of a PC.
I should have bought PC instead of ipad, shouldn't I?


Posted at Sun Apr 21 13:14:15 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/124744672210699510253947580824077076133 http://lang-8.com/217290/journals/124744672210699510253947580824077076133 Akira Sun Apr 21 13:14:15 UTC 2013