2008年12月26日金曜日

Valentine to the City of Lights








After sending out my research proposal , application documents for International Admission to Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS) , I caught a great french show called " PARIS" at Shibuya Tokyu BukaMura with Yuki san, My ex-colleague in Agilent Technologies Spore.Both of us love Paris and we have a bunch of france's friends.

"Paris" is the new film by Cédric Klapisch concerning a large group of people living in Paris. If there is one big idea, it is that life is a gift, and to be lived, in this most beautiful of cities. Stop grumbling and get it on with it, the film director seems to be saying to Paris.Though I was really too tired due to lack of sleep, still enjoyed watching this show a lots with knowing nothing about frence but counting on the Japanese subtitles.

This is the story of a Parisian who is sick and thinks he may die. His condition makes him look at all the people he meets in a new and different way. Imagining his death suddenly gives new meaning to his life, to other peoples’ lives, and to the life of the whole city. Fruit and vegetable sellers, a woman who runs a bakery, a social worker, a dancer, an architect, a homeless person, a university professor, a model, an illegal immigrant from Cameroon... All these very different people come together in this city and in this film. You might imagine there’s nothing special about them, but for every single one of them, their life is unique. You might believe their problems don’t matter, but to them, they are the most important things in the world.

I find this film is full of understated humour. Sometimes we are laughing at the characters as much as with them, but there is a sense in which their ridiculousness makes them all the more real and all the more worthy of affection. It is also a film which is truly grim in places and which pulls no punches in dealing with matters of life and death, but this is all a part of its beauty.

Recall my good friend's bright smile after watching this show~~

2008年12月24日水曜日

Gov't to extend cash handouts to 2 mil registered foreign residents

定額給付金、全外国人も原則対象 「2万円」の基準日は2月1日 Year 2009
12月20日16時56分配信 産経新聞


 総務省は20日、平成21年度第2次補正予算案の閣議決定に伴い、同案に盛り込まれた1人当たり原則1万2000円を支給する定額給付金事業の実施概要を明らかにした。給付金総額は1兆9670億円で、このほか国が負担する市区町村の事務経費を825億円と想定して計上した。

 また、11月末の「たたき台」で確定していなかった外国人の扱いについては、外国人登録者のうち、永住者や日本人の配偶者らのほか、在留資格を持つ就労者や留学生らも含めた。この結果、約215万人(平成19年)の登録者のほとんどが対象となる見通し。

 給付金は65歳以上と18歳以下の人には8000円加算し、計2万円が支給されるが、年齢の基準日は来年2月1日に決めた。具体的には、(1)昭和19年2月2日以前(2)平成2年2月2日~21年2月1日-に出生した人が加算支給の対象となる。基準日以降に他の自治体へ転居した場合の手続きなどは今後検討を進める。

 実際に住む場所と住民基本台帳に記載された居住地が異なる場合は、受給手続きが煩雑になる可能性もあり、総務省は正確な届け出を呼びかけている。

The government said Saturday it has decided to recognize 2 million foreigners registered as residents with local governments as of next Feb 1 as eligible for cash benefits it will hand out next year as a fiscal measure to spur private consumption.

The government will recognize foreigners registered as residents on the foreign registry as of Feb 1, 2009 as qualified recipients of the cash handout under the 2 trillion yen program, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Among the 2 million recipients are permanent foreign residents, such as North and South Korean residents in Japan, as well as foreign workers of Japanese ancestry who have residential permits as migrant workers, the ministry said.

Foreigners studying at Japanese schools as well as foreigners accepted as trainees by Japanese companies are also recognized as qualified recipients.

Foreign tourists, foreigners overstaying their visas and other illegal aliens will not be recognized as legitimate recipients, the ministry said.

The administration of Prime Minister Taro Aso approved on Saturday a second supplementary budget that includes the handouts as its main pillar.

The ministry said Feb 1 is the set date for deciding on eligibility for the handouts for both Japanese citizens and registered foreigners. The number of recipients, including foreigners, will total 129 million.

Japanese citizens and foreigners will basically be given 12,000 yen per person, but an extra 8,000 yen will be given to recipients up to and including 18 years old as of the standard date, as well as to recipients 65 years old or older.

Local government officials will check on such recipients’ ages when the cash handouts are disbursed. This means that those receiving additional payouts must be young people born on Feb 2, 1990, or later and elderly people born on Feb 2, 1944, or before.

Feb 2 became the defining date because Japanese law adds one more year to a person’s legal age at midnight on the day before he or she is born, the ministry said.

Consequently, people whose 65th birthday falls on next Feb 2 are counted among qualified recipients of the cash.

The older qualified recipients will total 28 million, while young recipients up to and including 18 years old will number 22 million persons.

But babies who will be born exactly on next Feb 2 or after will not be recognized as qualified recipients, because the government is designating Feb 1 as the defining date for eligibility, it said.

The cash will be handed out through the offices of the local governments at which Japanese citizens or foreigners are registered as residents.

The payments assume that the second extra budget and other relevant bills will pass the Diet. They also assume that local assemblies will pass budgetary bills to cover expenses for administering the payments.

It is not yet known, therefore, whether the government will be able to hand out the cash benefits prior to next March 31 because deliberations on these bills may drag on.

2008年12月23日火曜日

チェ/39歳 別れの手紙

先日、映画のプロモーションで来日中だったみたいで、東京ミッドタウンで偶然見かけました。映画も見に行く予定。

今年のカンヌ主演男優賞、チェ・ゲバラ伝記映画が2部作で公開決定!ブックマーク:

革命家ゲバラにそっくり!
[拡大画像][eiga.com 映画ニュース] 「トラフィック」でアカデミー監督賞受賞のスティーブン・ソダーバーグ監督と、助演男優賞受賞のベニチオ・デル・トロが再タッグを組み、革命家チェ・ゲバラの生涯を描く伝記映画「チェ」2部作の日本公開が決定した。ギャガ・コミュニケーションズと日活の共同配給で、前編「チェ/28歳の革命」が09年正月第2弾、続いて後編「チェ/39歳 別れの手紙」が相次いで公開される。

「チェ」は今年のカンヌ映画祭に出品された時には、4時間22分の長尺な1本だったが、その後、前後編2作品に分割されたようだ。1作目の「28歳の革命」では、エルネスト・チェ・ゲバラが亡命先のメキシコでフィデル・カストロ(のちのキューバ最高議長)と運命的な出会いを果たして、28歳の若さでキューバ革命に着手し、1959年1月1日、革命を成し遂げるまでを描く。2作目の「39歳 別れの手紙」では、キューバを解放し、カストロ議長の右腕という要職を得ながらその地位を捨て、65年10月に「別れの手紙」を書いてキューバを離れ、ゲリラとして革命闘争に身を捧げることを選んだ末に、39歳だった67年10月、ボリビアで銃弾に倒れるまでを描く。物語としては、ゲバラの青年期を描いた「モーターサイクル・ダイアリーズ」(ウォルター・サレス監督、ガエル・ガルシア・ベルナル主演)の後日譚となる。

自らプロデューサーも務めたデル・トロ(プエルトリコ出身)は、アルゼンチン出身のチェ・ゲバラを演じるにあたり、全編でスペイン語の難しい訛りにも挑戦。08年2月退任前のカストロ議長と対面して、生前のゲバラについて入念にインタビューし、完璧なゲバラ像を構築。今年のカンヌ映画祭では主演男優賞に輝くなど、絶賛を浴びている。

なお、同作は今月4日から開幕するカナダのトロント国際映画祭でも特別招待作品として上映され、ソダーバーグ監督とデル・トロも現地入りする予定。

2008年12月21日日曜日

I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing



I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
Far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Well, every moment spent with you
Is a moment I treasure

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you
Feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
And I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna miss one smile
I don't wanna miss one kiss
Well, I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just wanna hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

Don't wanna close my eyes
Don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
'Cause I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Don't wanna close my eyes
Don't wanna fall asleep, yeah
I don't wanna miss a thing

2008年12月17日水曜日

Love Letter



大塚愛デビュー5周年! 5枚目となるALBUM! yeah !Otsuka Ai’s 5th studio album, entitled LOVE LETER, was released on 12.17.08

Just got to know this heart-warming love song when I was strolling at Shibuya.
It warm my heart in the winter.The album begins with the title track, LOVE LETTER. She opens up right away with the chorus and it’s almost acapella because of the soft beautiful piano. Her vocals are wonderful, hitting the higher notes with grace and ease.

2008年11月29日土曜日

'Autumn Gold'










The grounds of Tokyo University's Hongo campus are planted with ginkgo trees, known for their endurance and longevity, and the ginkgo has become the symbol of the university. The fallen leaves make a brilliant gold ground carpet these period.It's really gorgeous!!

Autumn is the most amazing season for me,I like sunshines of this season, and so delightful to see streets been adorned by yellow ginkyo leaves along the Hongo campus and some parks.

Sometimes, one just have to slow down…one’s footsteps to appreciate such peerless beauties.And I am glad that I am in a place that allows me to appreciate the changing of season and the wonderful sense of seeing things coming alive from their dormant stage right below my eyes.

2008年11月20日木曜日

何だよ?世の中悪いニュースしかないかな

I rarely watching televesion although my friend gave me one.When I need to know what's happening normally go thru articles in websites or mixi, a well known social networking service site in Japan.

Bleah!all isn't very well in the land of the rising sun.
In the area of politics:
Update 1.Japan's main opposition party has begun a boycott of discussions in the Upper House, effectively bringing debate on key legislation - including measures to halt economic contraction and Japan's commitment to the conflict in Afghanistan - to a halt.

UPDATE 2-Japan economy may not grow until 2010, Yosano saysAccording to TOKYO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Tuesday the economy may not return to growth until 2010, suggesting the recession that began in the second quarter could be much longer than the central bank has forecast.

Update 3-Nikkei sags as exporters, banks battered by econ moodJapan's Nikkei average slipped 2.3 percent on Tuesday, dragged down by worries about a weakening global economy that battered exporters such as Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research), though bargain-hunting prevented further slides.

Update 4-Japan's Corporate Bankruptcies Rise to Five-Year High
Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's corporate bankruptcies rose to the highest level in more than five years in October as the fallout from the global credit-market turmoil engulfed the world's second-largest economy.

Update5-Goldman cuts 10 percent of bankers in Tokyo - sourcesGoldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has cut about 10percent of its investment bankers in Tokyo

And, when turn a channnel to look at the US elections. Everywhere I turn, every blog I see, is harping on how AWESOME Obama is.Obama is WORLD PEACE! He will shine his god-like beams upon this world!!

Anyway, I am apathetic about whatever man.
And truth be told, I do not give a shit about whether or not Iraq is going to continue being invaded.
If I don't believe in your religion, it means I am IGNORNANT?
It means that I don't know enough of it and that's why I don't believe in it?

hmmmm, enough of that,I hate reading news and get touch with such pseudo world.Meanwhile I'd rather hide in my little peaceful world.

2008年11月14日金曜日

ロウソクの芯

ロウソクの芯は主に綿糸で三つ編み芯状になっています。これは燃焼時、芯が外側にねじれ(曲がり)、焔の外側近くにいくようにするためです。こうすると酸素の補給が大きくなり、完全燃焼してススや糸くず等の燃えかすが出なくなります。三つ編み芯は画期的な発明品だったのです。

ロウソクの芯以外の部分に火を近づけても、燃焼しません。芯の部分に着火するまでにも少し時間がかかります。これは、芯にもみ込んだ固体ロウが溶けて液体となり、さらに蒸気(気体)になって初めて燃焼が始まるからです。芯の周囲のロウは溶けて液体となり、この液体が芯に上昇して燃焼を続けます。燃焼焔は放射状の直進光で、光(あかり)として周囲を照らします。

2008年11月2日日曜日

第25回国際コミュニケーション・フォーラム



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Today,I have participated The 25th International Communication Forum in Akihabara Convention Hall.Met my Korean Senpai from Chuo University in the forum.Suprisingly he has become a well known prof at Keio University .Hopefully I can be a pretty and well known prof in future.hhmmmm..

In general, this Symposium consisited of session both on the "information society" and on the media convergence" between broadcasting and telecommunications.
Regarding the media convergence, japanese Governement recently proposed to shift its regulatory structure in ICT sector from vertical structure to horizontal & layer-based one.

It also proposed to intergrate the current 9 IcT related laws, called Info-Communication Law. This regulatory reshuttle is seen in other contries too. They had examinined how different countries adapt the basically same technological phenomenon in different ways, in term of regulatory policy, business models and user behavior. This comparative perspective enrich our understanding of global deployment and evolution of the "information society".

2008年10月12日日曜日

旅人の歌う


This is one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life.
Traveler's song

Lyrics:

It is said to a man that there is man's hometown.
It is said to the woman that there is woman's hometown.

Only the wandering person : no complete possession.
A person alone who doesn't understand : where to return.

Transmit in love, and also to the traveler who ..one.. wanders
Transmit in love, and to return here
The dream has not disappeared yet even if disappearing that every day.

You must sing, and sing to me.
Do not forget, and when the one not forgotten either is here

2008年9月4日木曜日

Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life



So many nights I sit by my window
Waiting for someone to sing me his song
So many dreams I kept deep inside me
Alone in the dark but now
You've come along

You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song

Rollin' at sea, adrift on the water
Could it be finally I'm turning for home?
Finally, a chance to say hey,
I love You
Never again to be all alone

You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song

You light up my life
You give me hope
To carry on
You light up my days
and fill my nights with song

It can't be wrong
When it feels so right
'Cause You
You light up my lif

2008年8月7日木曜日

Joan Baez - Diamonds And Rust

I want to be famous , I want to be a singer like Joan Baez. I just want to be on an empty stage with my guitar and my voice. Just me . and I want to reach people on a personal level. I want to be able to say tings,just one to one ……

2008年7月30日水曜日

2008年7月5日土曜日

100 Japanese poems by 100 poets



Katsushika Hokusai illustrated
(http://visipix.dynalias.com/sites-en/hoku_100_poem/poem_01_05.htm)

100 poems written by noble members (Emperors, princesses) and high functionaries at the Imperial courts between 800 and 1200 AC. The poems are about love, forbidden affairs, young age and old age (related to spring and autumn) and death, and represent the centre of the culture of Japan.

2008年6月29日日曜日

道程 Of Kotaro Takamura

僕の前に道はない

僕の後ろに道はできる

ああ、自然よ

父よ

僕を一人立ちにさせた広大な父よ

僕から目を離さないで守ることをせよ

常に父の気魄を僕に充たせよ

この遠い道程のため

この遠い道程のため

Before me, no road,
Behind me, a road,
O, nature
Father,
Spacious father who made me to stand on my own,
Do not lose sight of me, protect me.
Fill me always be a fatherly spirit,
For this long jorney,
For this long jorney.


The above is a poetry written by Kotaro Takamura. Actually I am looking for his well known poem, The Chieko poems.Will buy it if I manage to get it from a recycle bookshop.

The poems in this volume, however, are touching portraits of his wife and his life together from the time of their courtship until some years after her death. Their subjects are some of the greatest in literature: love, isolation, loss, and nature, as well as the relationship of the individual to society and the natural world.

Chieko sits in the sand and plays.
Countless friends call her name:
Chi, chi, chi, chi, chi...
Leaving tiny footprints in the sand,
Plovers come to gather round Chieko.
Mumbling away to herself,
Chieko beckons them with her hands.
Chieko Plays With Plovers

Introduction Of KOTARO TAKAMURA高村光太郎

Kotaro Takamura , 1883-1956, Japanese poet and sculptor. After studying art in France, where he was profoundly influenced by Rodin, Takamura devoted his career to applying Western aesthetics to Japanese poetry and sculpture. Takamura's poetry, almost all in free verse, underwent many changes. His early decadent style later shifted to one of simplicity and direct expression. Perhaps regretting the militaristic literary stance he assumed during World War II, Takamura retired from public life after the war. Takamura is best known for his series of poignant poems written about his wife Chieko, whom he watched slowly descend into madness.

2008年6月11日水曜日

Terrible News....

7 killed, 10 injured in Akihabara stabbing spree
Kyodo News
Seven people died and 10 others were injured after a man hit pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed people Sunday in broad daylight on a street in Tokyo's busy Akihabara district.


Passersby attempt to help a traffic police officer injured during a stabbing spree in Tokyo's Akihabara district today. Seven people died and 11 were injured after a 25-year-old man from Shizuoka Prefecture began indistriminately stabbing people around 12:30 p.m. KYODO PHOTO


Police arrested the man, 25-year-old Tomohiro Kato from Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, and seized a survival knife he was carrying. He admitted to stabbing all the people with the knife from around 12:30 p.m., the police said. The truck was rented in Shizuoka Prefecture.

"I came to Akihabara to kill people," investigative sources quoted Kato as telling the police. "I am tired of the world. Anyone was OK. I came alone."

According to the police and hospital officials, six of the seven who died were males and aged 19, 20, 29, 33, 47 and 74. The other was a 21-year-old female.

In addition to the seven, 11 people who were taken to hospital after the stabbing rampage. Of these, eight men and two women were injured, including a traffic police officer who was patrolling at the time. The remaining male person had sustained no injury but simply had blood on his clothing.

The area was crowded with shoppers as Chuo-dori in the Akihabara district was vehicle-free for pedestrians. The scene was near the intersection of Chuo-dori and Kanda Myojin-dori streets, only a stone's throw from JR Akihabara Station.

A 19-year-old man from Tokyo's Ota Ward said, "The man (Kato) jumped on top of a man he had hit with his vehicle and stabbed him with a knife many times. Walking toward Akihabara Station, he slashed nearby people at random."

Shunichi Jingu, a 26-year-old self-employed man from Gunma Prefecture, who witnessed the incident, said, "It seemed that a traffic accident had happened. Then a man got out of a vehicle and began to brandish a knife."

Akihabara is a district of Tokyo known for its electronics shops and as a center of modern culture, including manga and animations, and attracts many visitors from both Japan and abroad.

There were similar street stabbing rampages earlier this year.

In January, a 16-year-old boy attacked five people and injured two of them with kitchen knives on a shopping street in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. A man wanted by police on suspicion of murder stabbed passersby with a knife at an entrance to a shopping mall in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, in March, leaving eight people injured, one of whom died later in hospital.

The Akihabara rampage also occurred on the seventh anniversary of a stabbing spree by a man at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture on June 8, 2001.

The attacker, Mamoru Takuma, was executed for killing eight children and injuring 15 others in that case.