Outside the window. 2/9

It is snowing outside.

Today's classes are canceled due to the big snow.

The wind is blowing hard as well.

It looks like winter storm but I am not sure how cold is it outside because I have not been outside yet.

The forecast says that there will be 6~12 inches of snow in New Jersey area.

It would be fun if I go out and build a snowman with my friends but I am too lazy to wear warm and go out on such a cold day.

Just stay in my house, read books, and drink coffee...it sounds amazing, does not it?

Last practice for this semester

We had the last practice for this semester tonight.
Regionals tournament was 2 weeks ago and we qualified Nationals.
I thought there were not many people in tonight's practice because our next tournament is far away from today and it's so cold outside.
But my expectation was wrong.
There were many teammates who always welcome me to the team and feel like family.
After the practice, Lindsay drove me home.
When I got out of the car, I thanked her for the drive and being my teammates.
To be honest, this semester was so good for me as a first study abroad experience, and I'm sure that it is because of Quidditch and my teammates.

I was kind of embarrassed to say that, but it would be rude if I didn't say that, so I said "I love you guys" to her.

You know what?  I mean it.

Nov.10

After I came here to study abroad, I have much more time to be alone than when I was in Japan. I can not really say it is a good thing or bad thing but one thing I am sure is that the number of friends, I mean the number of friends who I can invite them to little thing without hesitation. 

My American friends are mainly Quidditch team members and some from my classes but they are "friends" which we do not have lunch together or something, anyway, yeah, now my American friends are only people in Quidditch team. Then, they are local people here and they already have their own community and friends so it seems like that there is no space I can sneak in. (maybe if I try to, there is a space but it seems hard for now)

Ok, then let's move to exchange students.

My roommates, Felix, Thomas, and Kenta are all good, there is nothing bad actually as flatmates, but we are not that kind of friends who frequently go out together. I've never gone out with someone with only him/her. 

We do go to bar or club or have a party, but it's always a big group. 

The problem is, no it's not "problem, the inconvenient thing for me is that I do not have many friends I can suddenly poke and say "hey, why don't we have dinner together tonight?" or "Hey, I heard that there is an event I'm interested in, do you come?". 

Ummmm.

Oct.25th

http://www.inc.com/sabina-nawaz/how-to-avoid-influence-killers-4-speech-habits-to-kill-now.html?cid=sf01002&sr_share=facebook

Nov 3rd

The advertisement between songs in Spotify speakes very fast and it makes me laugh.

Japanese calligraphy Oct.13th

One of my friend whose father is a professor at Rutgers asked me to attend a Japanese Culture Club meeting about Japanese calligraphy and demonstorate some Shuji staff.

I said "sure" and I just came back my room from that meeting now.

What interesting was they, I mean non-Japanese people, were so creative.

They didn't know the basic techniques of Japanese calligraphy such as stop, jump, and sweep, or couldn't keep these rules even they tried.

But thier products were so unique and creative.

I guess they do not consider Japanese calligraphy as just "character", but "art".

One of them, who was left-handed, wrote 飛行機 (airplane) on the lower half of a paper (usually, we write characters on the center of the paper) and draw a picture of Kendama (Japanese traditional toy) trick called 飛行機 (airplane).

I was like OMG.

It looked like they were very enjoying Japanese calligraphy in thier own way.

(some girld brought the paper which was wrote about "Bitch" to me and asked "how can I write bitch in Japanese katakana?" )

It was fun night.

My first exam in the state. Oct. 5th

Today I had an exam in my communication theory class and it was my first exam which I took in the state. There were 35 multiple choice quiestions, and I think I did pretty well ( I'm sure that I got more than 90%)

The dates of Philadelphia trip with Hitomi was decided on October 21st to 22nd. I am really looking forward to going to Philly and meeting my old friend there. I just hope that the weather will be great and not too cold.

The reunion with Joe was also determined. We will meet again and have a dinner together on next Tuesday. It7s gonna be so much fun.

Tomorrow, I do not have any class so I will do my staff to do such as finish writing resume for Boston Carrer Forum and posting my first blog post and so on.

Ate too much again. Oct.4th

Every Tuesday, I have two classes at Livingston campus, one is from noon to 13:20 and the other is from 18:40 to around 21pm.
So I usually, it has been only a month since I came here though, go to a dining hall to have a lunch after the former class ends.
The dining hall at Livingston campus is Amazing!!
It looks like hotel buffet. There is everything. Salads, pizzas, chinese, hamburgers, fries, fruits, suites, and drinks.
The price, 11 dollars, is kind of expensive, but I think it worth paying that price.

However, I have one bad habit.
I eat too much until I feel bad whenever I go to all-you-can-eat style restaurant.
So today as usual, I enjoyed my lunch in the beggining, but I felt really bad at the end.

I tend to try every kinds of foods there and, of course, it makes me full but I do not stop eating until I feel bad from eating too much.

(Sometimes, I even feel that "Oh my god I wanna puke.")

That's a problem.

Restart My Blog!! Oct. 3rd

Hey, I'm back here.

I'll try to keep writing my blog everyday just like a dairy.

A month has passed since I came here to study abroad and now I keenly feel how bad my English is.

Honestly, my English now is worse than just 4 month before when I was in Global House and had many conversations with OYRs.

I guess my trip to Latino America and that 2-months in Spanish spoken countries made me forgot English.

I can understand what my professors are talking about in the lectures, but I feel uncomfortable with my English when I am talking with my friends.

It had not been hard thing for me to talk with my friends in English before, but, I feel nervous to do that now. (wtf)

That's why I decided to restart writing my blog.

I want my English back and, to do so, I need to wake my brain up to make English sentences in my mind and speak English well.

LET'S GO KOHEI.

YOU HAVE ONLY 8 MONTHS LEFT IN THE STATE.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TIME TO TWEETING IN JAPANESE, COMMUNICATE WITH PEOPLE HERE AND DO NOT BE A SHY BOY.

YOU CAN MAKE IT.

YEAH, I CAN MAKE IT.

Don't hate "new things" at first sight. 6/12

Project based learning(PBL) is a program for student to experience to start business as a class.　
Actually, I thought that program was pretty good idea for student in 21st century.
Even if students will belong to a big corporation, the experiences to run their own business by themselves is very useful.
They can understand how difficult to run a business and how corporation run.
I think it is Japan that the country which really needs that program.

During a discussion about PBL, one of my friend said that I need someone give me assignments. I don't know so much but many Japanese student might say same thing.
It's really sad thing for Japan's future, we need to do everything by ourselves in 21st century. If not, we will be used by information, technology and will be behind others who do everything by themselves.
But but but, interestingly, soon after, she said that I don't wanna take PBL program because PBL is forced by teachers, not our choice.

WAIT.
She said I need someone give me assignments, then she also said I don't wanna do forced by teachers.
I see, she just doesn't like "new things".

As an individual, I don't wanna be same as her.

I have known about Google's 20% free time policy.
This means that if people work 5days in a week, they can get 1day free in weekday (20%×5=100%).

Oh, I really want to be in such workplace.

But, how about us as a student?
We have more than 50% free time in everyday, right?
If we don't want to take course, we don't need to do that.

So, from now on, I will stop to use excuse that I don't have time.

There is no perfect. Always improved areas are there. 6/10

Today, we did presentations about our essay topics.
Influenced yesterday's lecture, many classmates made excellent slides!!

Most of them used very memorable pictures and well contrast font colors.
Some of them used videos related with their topics and these videos were so helpful to understand reality behind their presentations.

Actually, I was impressed by my classmates presentations because their slides looked like much better than mine.

Then I'll describe their good points in presentations.

・Show outlines the beginning of presentations
・Well organized and good flow of topics
・Use good videos to catch audiences attention.
・Good transitions by google slides
・Good pictures as backgrounds.
・Good contrast font colors (Ex. Animal abuse→Black and Red)
・Good use of color
・Use body languages without any hesitations.


Then I'll describe some points needs to be improved
・Time keeping
・Lack of confident
・Eye contacts
・Jump topics

A famous man or woman (I don't remember...) said that you need to learn from other's mistakes because life is not enough long to make all mistakes by yourself.

I'll improve my oral presentation skills and the techniques to make good slides.

Practice makes Perfect. 6/9

An hour presentation needs one hundred hours. when our teacher said that, I thought he was a professional presentator.

His attitude toward his job is what I do for everything in my life.

one thing needs much more preparation than what I do.

Practice makes perfect, and preparation makes perfect as well.

But, I have had a problem to time management since I was child.

I usually finished my assignments in summer on the last day of summer vacation.

After entering ICU, the situation is almost same as my childhood.

I’m always thinking that I need to change, but it is pretty difficult to alter habit made by long time.

Practice and preparation need well organized schedule and time.

So, when I try to make something perfect, I need time to practice and preparation.

…….Oh my god, even a elementary school kids know that thing.

There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

No bias No Life. 6/8

Bias exists everywhere around me.

What we need to acknowledge is the we can’t escape from bias.

I have bias, and you have bias.

You have bias, and your friends have bias.

You judge your teacher based on bias, and your teacher judges you based on bias.

In today’s lecture, our teacher said that the movie Load of the Ring was influenced by the world war Ⅱ. 

I watched that movie but I didn’t notice that bias and even didn’t try to find bias.

But, now I can try to find bias and can find some fun through these finding bias process.

In the end of today's class,

one of my friend said 

“I have a confident with that I have no bias.”

I replied 

 “Oh, you don’t have any bias? That’s a bias."

Cover, not Copy. 5/29

Today's class was something special for me.
Out teacher said that Cover is totally different from copy.
We watched some music videos which were covered by some singers and bands.
Some of "cover" artist make just "copy" of genuine music, however, a few of them add their creativity to genuine one and make their cover music different from genuine one.

Actually, I'm trying to start my business with my partners.
Then, the simplest way in business to success is to "copy" forgoing business someone launched.
But, that is not enough and is it worth trying for us?

As a first step of new business maker, we need to make "cover" plan, not "copy" plan.
If we have these thoughts that we need to add our creativity and make something different after learning from forgoing business, we could make good things for people and these challenges are gonna be worth trying!!

Ok, everything I will try, I'm gonna add my creativity to "copy" and make my version of "cover".

This advertisement of android which I saw at Times square in New York is so meaningful for everyone in 21st century.

Tips for good presentation. 5/27

In the beginning of today's lecture, our teacher quote catch-22 to describe ICU's contradiction.

Multimedia room should be open for students who want to use it, so a class which consist of students can not use multimedia room.

What I felt cool was that our teacher easily use a example of literary work.

That might be based on his refinement, and I can guess he had read many books.

I genuinely could respect him.

Anyway, we researched and watched video about presentation skills.

I watched pretty good tv program about presentation in NHK(Nippon Hoso Kyokai), but NHK videos are not on any free movie web site such as youtube, so I could't share that program with my classmates.

In that tv program, Joichi Ito, who is a head of MIT Media Lab, told that when presenter change the subject, he or she should turn their direction of body as well. 

It's called chapterizing.

In videos I watched, one of them said that good slides have less words and more pictures, but some said that people can read faster than can listen.

It's inconsistent, isn't it?

Mention my ideas make my ides clearer. 5/25

Today, we had a small presentation about our essay topic in a small group.
I needed to explain and convey my ideas to 4 people.
Presentation, whether in front of many people or not, needs clear mind.
So, When I stand in front of people and mention my idea, I'm required to understand my idea.

And also, questions and feedbacks are so important to reconsider my ideas.
Opinions from outside of my mind is so helpful to recognize what I couldn't come up with.

When my audience asked some questions to me, I couldn't answer a couple of his questions with confidence.
This means I didn't understand my topic fully and I need to think more about my ideas.

I could notice that things from a small presentation.

Free range studios tell us a reality. 5/22

Free range studios, which I did't know, has a lot of interesting and meaningful videos in the internet.
Actually, I think that website is one of the best staff to learn English and new information at the same time.

The story of staff, which is one of the popular video series in free range video, is easy to understand what happens behind "ordinary" and "daily" products.
I watched "the story of bottled water" in that website, and I was a kind of shocked by that content.
As a man who drink bottled water everyday, I actually have robbed water of someone I haven't met in some developing countries.
I didn't know where bottled water comes from, but this video told me a reality.

About 9hundred million people can not drink clean water around the world.
However, in developed countries such as Japan, some people say I need clean water even they have much cleaner tap water  than developing countries.

How many planet do you need? 5/20

Finally, we finished watching the corporation.
That was pretty critical movie against the corporation.
All things in that movie are not fiction which most people didn't know before.

However, we can't live without corporation.
Our life is totally depend on products from corporation.

We already know how child labour works and how corporation exploits it.
We can criticize them but actually we need to buy their staff, this means we have been feeding them.
You may say we shouldn't buy these products and should buy fare trade staff.
But, H&M is quite cheep and fare trade shirt are expensive for students.

Of course, when I get rich and become a man of conscience, I'll buy fair trade staff.
However, now for me as a student, actually, cheaper is better.
I don't buy fair trade coffee in cafeteria, I don't buy fair trade clothes.
Sometimes, I  buy fair trade shoes or bags when I like these design.
But, usually, I don't change my decision for the only one reason that this product is not fair trade staff.

Anyway...Ralph Lauren is too much expensive compared with their products quality. They should stop make price such high or give their employees in Vietnam more salary.

Actually, I think the problem is there are too much corporation which exploit employees in developed countries.
We know some of them like NIKE and GAP, however, even we stop buying their products, we might grab another unfair products which we couldn't recognize.

With drinking a cup of fair trade coffee in his hand, someone might buy Ralph Lauren's 100$ shirt.

When some professional talk about poverty in developed country, he might be with high quality fancy suit made in Vietnam and he might not know price breakdown of that price.

.......So, what we can do now?

.......I have no idea.

Should I criticize NIKE wearing GAP clothes?

http://www.polorlukonsale.com/images/Men-BigPonystripedPoloShirts26-26/Men-Palph-Lauren-Color-Block-Polo-white-and-black-for-cheap.jpg 

Medical kit needs injured. 5/19

Psychological counselor needs mental illness.
Medical kit needs injured.
Weapon needs victims.

These things which I was thinking during today's class is, I believe, truth.

In the movie, the government and corporation keep friendly relationship even during the war.

If a weapon corporation wants to get more profit, they need conflict.
If a medical supplies corporation wants to get more profit, they need injured.

They easily can corporate each other, because their benefit is related.
They need a war.

Then, the government can get tax from the corporation in their state.
More profit in corporation means more tax income in government.

Actually, war makes people cry, but makes corporation laugh.
A part of people, who are not in danger zone, wants war to get their benefit.

And it is what is going on this real world.

Press around the world. 5/18

In today's lecture, most interesting point for me was the corporation and press can lie.
We, people, allow to lie, and there is no law for individuals to ban laying.
In the context of law, the corporation is considered as individual, so theoretically, they don't need to say right thing or correct answer, because they are also individuals.

However, is this ok?
The corporation actually consists of many individuals.
When they try to deceive one individual, they can do that easily because they are big enough to force something.

A girl from Japanese imperial family entered ICU since this April.
Then, Japanese mass media have been reported about her and ICU, whether the information is correct or not.
Actually, almost all people around me who are not ICU students believed these kind of gossip from press.
One good example is here, she likes dancing since her childhood and she wanted to join one of the most popular dance club in ICU.
Actually, my seniors in that dance club told me that she attended practices several times before she entered ICU.
So, they and me thought she really wanted to join that club and practice dance with high quality members.

That club had a welcome party to freshmen include her in Kichijozi, and press could get that information "she will appear that place".
Actually, on that day, there were many press around that place to take some pictures and write some gossip.

Then, one of cub member knew that many press will come to take pictures of her in welcome party, so they change place and date in order to keep their privacy.

If everyone can trust press that they won't write incorrect information or gossip. it doesn't be matter.
However, press already have wrote incorrect and improper information about that dance club.
So, they couldn't trust them.

If press can use incorrect information and can lie, they can do personal attack in public by incorrect information.