Joseph Campbell talked about the role of mythology in people's lives. It's so true. And it seems to me music tells so much about each culture. Modern Japanese choral music performed by children at schools show so many things about Japanese culture. Importance of harmony between people. Working together. The lyrics of modern choral music… Continue reading Understanding Japanese Culture Through Music
Category: Insight
Insight, inspiration
In a nutshell: How innovations happen, how businesses grow
If you would search on the web with "Apple innovation" or "Sony demise", you would find plenty of interesting reads. Talk is easy. I do it all the time, and I often get paid for doing it. But to actually make a product or service that people actually pays for, and sell them in quantity,… Continue reading In a nutshell: How innovations happen, how businesses grow
Big topic: Are we born to run?
I took my sons on edu-vacation last December, but one of the thing that I treasure from the trip is not what we did together, but the encounter with Christopher McDougal's thoughts. My 16 year old was having his English lesson with a tutor at Starbucks at Barnes and Noble in San Jose, and I… Continue reading Big topic: Are we born to run?
Love of leather, paper
Designers with capability to create and has in reality created things that are truly wonderful to those designers who can talk about design are like real plants to fake plants. Mike Abelson is one of those real designer. He often talks about about his love of working with leather, and recently, he was telling me… Continue reading Love of leather, paper
Longing for beautiful, long life, things that fulfills human needs
People who live long lives begin to yearn for things at some point in their lives, things that fulfill the human needs. For us, the aging population in Japan, who had good active lives, the desire for such things grow. We no longer want to clutter our lives with objects that titillate our senses, perhaps… Continue reading Longing for beautiful, long life, things that fulfills human needs
Creating best fit workplace
Mike Abelson and Yuri Shimizu's Research is inspiring. Their ability to capture the spirit of things is amazing. I am stingy when it comes to spending my own money, but they make things so well, I end up buying them despite their price. I was inspired by their booklet , AT Work. I have found… Continue reading Creating best fit workplace
The Residence Inn, Starbucks, McDonald’s
http://www.flickr.com/photos/projectkobo/5262526291/in/photostream/ This was the longest stay for me and my family at a hotel. For 15 nights, 16 days, we stayed at the Residence Inn in Campbell, California. In the past, for this length of stay away from home, I would seek out short term rental of a furnished apartment, but taking past lessons about… Continue reading The Residence Inn, Starbucks, McDonald’s
Sandwich generation
Gretchen Addi and I both have older children and aging parents to take care. She said we are of sandwich generation. Our parents did not have to think much of how to die. Living long was good thing. Living long, and enjoying the fruits of life. Like most of things in our lives, things do… Continue reading Sandwich generation
Things reveal themselves if we become interested
For about 7 years, I had firsthand experience in taking part in crunching numbers at a business unit. Before doing that, all the education I had was taking a course in accounting in college and all the actual experience I had in accounting and finance was managing my own young, small family finance. It was… Continue reading Things reveal themselves if we become interested
Reading on paper vs. online
It's been 5 days since I returned from the US, but I still have a jet lag. I woke up and got out of bed at 3:50 am. Before starting to work, I read online for nearly an hour about psychokinesis, para-psychology, Dean Radin, Amazon customer reviews on Dean Radin's books, University of Pennsylvania. At… Continue reading Reading on paper vs. online
User segmentation, profiling is dangerous
I've learned about Feargal Quinn's Crowning the Customer through reading Tom Peters blog a few years back.  It's a classic. I read it over and over, and each time, I am inspired on different pages. What I was inspired this time was what Mr. Quinn wrote about "seeing customer as people". He encouraged his workers… Continue reading User segmentation, profiling is dangerous
Starting up design essay project
14 years ago, I attended Yoshiko Sakurai’s seminar for small business audience. She said, when you read a book, have a pen or pencil in your hand, and underline the parts that means something to you. If you do that for 10 years, you will be standing here instead of me, giving seminar about the… Continue reading Starting up design essay project
Humans will be mostly manufactured
Maybe humanss will be manufactured, not born by year 2209. Look around now. We seem to have already made the choice. We are waiting for the technology to catch up. Kids in advanced country planted in front of PC or gaming device or some sort of machine, because there aren't room for them to play… Continue reading Humans will be mostly manufactured
Use technology to communicate better
The title seem lame: use technology to commuincate better. I hear often that we already use too much technology and not enough face-to-face real life communicaiton. It seems many of us had enough of fragmented, tedius, limiting technology communicaiton in text messaging, both in forms of e-mail and homepages including blogs. In the world of… Continue reading Use technology to communicate better
President of a major global company, president of a country
Watching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's speech at UCLA for the inauguration of UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block, I started to think of the responsibilities of a president of a major global company and a president of a country. Both are ultimately leaders who's action and decisions affects everyone within his/her company or country. Just as with a… Continue reading President of a major global company, president of a country
FUJIKO SUDA 