blog - BarackObamaJapan Project

The Day is coming to us.

I started engaging in BarackObamaJapan project, translating his great speeches and uploading them onto YouTube. (Please search with 'BarackObamaJapan' or visit http://jp.youtube.com/user/BarackObamaJapan)

I've been watching him have great speeches, show deep knowledge and high-spirited principles, treat his opponents with respect, and creatively lead his campaign toward the historical day that the world is yearning for.

I bet, I'm convinced, I assure, I totally believe that Barack Obama is the one who will bring us change that we have never seen before. I thank God in spending the same time with him, sharing a common belief with him, and seeing him as a model leader.

I actually knew that he would win this election when I saw him make a victory speech in Iowa on January 3rd, 2008. I knew that he would bring us significant change when I read his brilliant two books concerning his faith, his discipline, and his dream. I knew that when he had shown his unchangeable honesty, decency, and hope.

Hope! What we are looking at is hope! The miracle that we can have a great leader who exert the influence all across the world. The world has been waiting for this moment, this miracle, this great president.

Japan will also change. All new-fledged politicians will see him realize ideal politics. All people will know him bringing us a new type of politics, bipartisanship, and a new era of democracy.

The time has come! Let's enjoy it. Let's talk about it. Let's be excited by it. On November 4th, everything will change. Not only 8 year wrong politics will end, but also the dawn of new idealism will come.


The time has come!

essay - GMAT: Argument 28

The following appeared in a newspaper editorial:

As violence in movies increases, so do crime rates in our cities. To combat this problem we must establish a board to censor certain movies, or we must limit admission to persons over 21 years of age. Apparently our legislators are not concerned about this issue since a bill calling for such actions recently failed to receive a majority vote.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author asserts that the recent increase of crimes attributes to the resent increase of violent scenes in movies, and then some corrective actions are required. He proposes two concrete actions: to establish a board censoring the violent scenes, and to limit admission to persons over 21 years of age. Besides, he sees that the legislators are not concerned about this issue on the ground that similar legislations were lately rejected. Although his reasoning is not completely imperfect, it contains several fallacies, thereby failing to convince the readers.

First of all, although he attributes the cause of the recent increase of crimes in the cities to the increase of violent scenes in movies, this argument is apparently incorrect. This is a typical "because this happens after that, that is the reason of this" logic. I mean, the true cause of the increased crime rate may be for another reason such as an influx of immigrants or surging unemployment rate. To make the argument convincing, the author should show the direct link between the increased crimes and the increased violent scenes.

Then, assuming that the violence scene is a direct cause of recent increase crimes, we can find an error in the policy of prohibiting young audiences from violent movies. If the author wants to limit admission to young people, he needs to show clear evidence that young people are source of recent crimes. Without doing that, it's unreasonable and unfair to prohibit only young people from seeing movies. This is a kind of discrimination.

Finally, the author contends that the legislators are not concerned about the issue, but this claim is unwarranted. I mean, the fact that certain legislation couldn't attain majority doesn't necessarily mean that the legislators are not concerned about it. The legislation may have had a serious flaw such as violation of constitutional right or discriminational aspect. Then, blaming the legislators for the reason is unreasonable.

In conclusion, the author fails to make its argument convincing for some reasons that I mentioned above. To strengthen the argument, the author should at least show a direct link between the recent increase of crimes and the recent increase of violent scenes in movies, for instance, by conducting scientific human behavioral research to identify the reason of increased crimes.

essay - GMAT: Issue 28

A company fs long-term success is primarily dependent on the job satisfaction and the job security felt by the company fs employees.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
In terms of my belief that success for corporations depends on people working at the company, I agree with the opinion that a company's long-term success is primarily dependent on the job satisfaction and the job security felt by the company's employees. Yet, at the same time, we should keep in mind that the degree varies with the industry to which the company belongs and the maturity level that the company's employees present. I start with my general belief connecting to this subject, and then I mention the dependency that this subject has.

First and foremost, my strong belief about company's success is that people are fundamental success factors for any organization. People can creatively produce the company's middle-term or long-term business plan. People can invent revolutionary products and implement them in the production lines. Therefore, companies should first invest in people, not in factories or a headquarters building. Then, taking a look at the opinion articulated above, I can find a stringent bond between people themselves and their job satisfaction. How does a company keep its smart, competent employees for a long time? How does a company empower or motivate its employees? The answer is simple: give them all necessary stuff, and get them to have satisfaction that makes them think to continue working for the company. In this sense, I strongly support the idea that attaining employees' satisfaction should be the first priority for companies.

At the same time, however, we need to take into account the dependency that the policy has. That is to say, the degree that an enterprise weighs the policy depends on the industry and the maturity level. First, the effectiveness that a company earns through the people is fully influenced by the industry that the company stands on. For instance, namely heavy industrial sectors may be more influenced by its equipment or patent it has. On the other hand, most of service industry companies have a heavy weight on the people. Then, regarding a maturity level, a company should be flexible about treating its people by considering whether the people can be proactive or not. I mean, for instance, if the employees are immature, or in other words, they can not perform their jobs proactively or creatively, the company may need to take a strong control on its people by, for instance, defining its business processes forcibly or limiting employees' @autorities. What I'd like to say is that a company needs to place its position for the policy on people in a flexible manner.

To sum up, I generally agree with the idea that job satisfaction is a critical factor for any organization. Yet, at the same time, I'd like to call managers f attention to make sure that the effectiveness varies with various factors as I mentioned above.

essay - GMAT: Argument 27

The following appeared in a memorandum from a member of a financial management and consulting firm:

We have learned from an employee of Windfall, Ltd., that its accounting department, by checking about 10 percent of the last month fs purchasing invoices for errors and inconsistencies, saved the company some $10,000 in overpayments. In order to help our clients increase their net gains, we should advise each of them to institute a policy of checking all purchasing invoices for errors. Such a recommendation could also help us get the Windfall account by demonstrating to Windfall the rigorousness of our methods.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author, a member of a financial management and consulting firm, asserts that the firm should take a new strategy that the consultants of the firm advise the clients to check with the purchasing invoices to detect overpayment. As the reason, he cites that an employee of WIndfall, Ltd. states that the company saved approximately 10,000 dollars by checking just about 10 percent of the last month's purchasing invoices. The author also mentions that this strategy makes it possible that the firm acquires the account of Windfall as a result of showing the rigorous methods to Windfall. His reasoning is not quite wrong, but several considerations should be taken.

First, although he doesn't show the cost of detection performed by Windfall, the cost may be higher than expected. That is, say, if the detection had cost the company more than 10,000 dollars (this possibility is quite low though), the saving would have brought no value to the company. Therefore, he should have shown this kind of information necessary to judge whether the policy is reasonable or not.

Second, it is ignored that the effectiveness of this policy depends on the company applying it. I mean that the fact that Windfall could save 10,000 dollars doesn't necessarily mean that the other companies can save the same amount of money. For instance, Windfall has a serious ill-managed ordering process; the employees give the suppliers the vague information, thereby making the supplies provide wrong invoices. In this case, if a company may take in this policy, it cannot save the same amount of money, since the company already has a process to prevent overpayments.

In conclusion, although his idea seems reasonable, since the argument has uncertainty in terms of the reasons that I mentioned above, he fails to convince the readers to agree with his idea. To strengthen the argument, at the very least, he should mention the cause of the overpayment happened in Windfall.

essay - GMAT: Issue 27

Location has traditionally been one of the most important determinants of a business fs success. The importance of location is not likely to change, no matter how advanced the development of computer communications and others kinds of technology becomes.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
The speaker says that location is one of the most important determinants for business organizations and then this will continue even under the circumstance of fast-growing development of technologies including computer communications. I agree with his opinion to some extent, but I generally believe that the importance is going to diminish little by little. Also, I point out that the importance varies with the industry that the business organization belongs.

As everybody is aware, information technology is rapidly developing. Nowadays, any smooth business activity can not be performed without email, Internet sites, laptops, and so forth. Electrical commerce (E-commerce) especially affects the importance of location. E-commerce is a type of business; commercial activity through the Internet. If a company has a commerce site on the Internet, the company can sell or buy any products on the Internet. (Of course, the product is conveyed to the customer by shipping.) In this case, location is not a crucially important factor for the company. Even a company which has only the virtual shop exists. (A typical example is Amazon.com. It sells books and other gadgets on its sites and doesn't any physical store.) Therefore, under this circumstance, the importance is relatively going down for enterprises.

Also, I'd like to spell out the relationship between the importance of location and the type of business. For retail industries, such as the food service industry or a shopping center business, location is critically important for the success. If a restaurant owner starts its business at the site where nobody comes, the failure is inevitably showing up. On the other hand, for B2B companies (B2B stands for business to business), location is not necessarily important, because the frequency of transaction is less and it is general that sales person visits the customer to make a deal. Therefore, although the speaker doesn't mention, this aspect should be taken into consideration when talking about the importance of location.

To sum up, while agreeing with the importance of location to some extent, I don't agree with the claim that the importance won't change. In addition, the importance depends on the type of business.

essay - GMAT: Argument 26

The following appeared as part of an article in a magazine on lifestyles:

Two years ago, City L was listed 14th in an annual survey that ranks cities according to the quality of life that can be enjoyed by those living in them. This information will enable people who are moving to the state in which City L is located to confidently identify one place, at least, where schools are good, housing is affordable, people are friendly, the environment is safe, and the arts flourish.

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

Answer:
The author of this article indicates that City L is the best choice for people considering coming to the state where the city is located because of good schools, reasonable housing costs, friendly friends, the safe environment, and the flourished arts. This reasoning, however, is very weak since necessary information is not shown.

First, the reader can not judge the city is truly good. That is, the author shows the result of the survey conducted two years ago, but necessary information such as how many cities were surveyed or what kind of people answered the survey. Therefore, the reader has a doubt on the claim.

Second, the second sentence of the article is completely ambiguous. What does the author want to say? Since the sentence doesn't contain clear conclusion such as City L has the benefits or something, the reader gets confused in how to judge its contention.

In conclusion, this argument is really poor in terms of the lack of necessary information and clear conclusion.

blog - Vision For Week

I'm having lunch with a person who works for the other Indian company on Wednesday. I'm going to Mitake, a mountain area west of Tokyo, with my two young brothers on Saturday. Other than that, I'm fully devoting myself to rigorous routine work mainly focused on Toefl and Gmat.

Toefl, an examination gauging English proficiency, consists of four parts: reading, listening, speaking, and writing section. My previous focal point was only on the speaking section, because my score on that was quite low. But lately revealed that my listening should be improved. In order to get nearly perfect score.

Gmat, an examination gausing verbal ability in English and quantative skills, is an exam that even US people take. This means that required English ability is much higher than exams like Toeic and Toefl, which are specifically for non-native speakers. My challenge is here. To get a high score enough to get top MBA schools, I need totally to immerse myself into Gmat world.

On the other hand, I'd also like to focus on English itself. I'd like to learn "small talk" to make conversation more smooth. I'd like to learn more specialized words especially in environment, business, politics, and IT world.


I'm ready to go.

blog - My First Surfing

My first surfing was performed well! I went to Hirai and Kashima in Ibaragi Prefacture last Saturday, and I surfed for the first time in my life. That was amazing, splandish, and my back hurt.

We had also a campfire at the previous night. That was also amazing. Shining stars, shooting stars, baked mashmaros, nice guys. Everything was perfect!

I got back home at the evening on Saturday, and I saw the Vice Presidential debate held in US between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. That was interesting, though I got asleep at the middle of the show.

I was seeking my new possibilities last week. I got to read new books, have a lunch with new colleagues, and even go surfing for the first. That was pretty good. But at the same time, I'm feeling I get to go back to my routine tasks. Toefl, gmat, and so forth.


Wonderful the world is.