Yakiniku

I went dinner with my friend.
He was concerned for my looking for a job. And he got in touch with me.
I'm glad he contacted me.

Tata’s Nano

Tata Nano is a vehicle sold for about $2,900.

It seems that Tata has struggled with problems like production delays and fire in some of cars. Tata Nano sales dipped after peaking in July 2010, sold only 509 in November 2010.

I think that the cause of decreasing sales is poor handling about fire trouble.
Tata is held accountable for this problem. But they didn’t explain accident cause and they should clear it.




=quote=
 Tata Motors has steadfastly denied that there was anything wrong with the car’s design or its parts.
=unquote=
source by The New York Times

Tata need ethical action, before expanding the warranty on the Nano.

Kiva

I made a loan to this group! I think it's this year's last loan.

high-speed Internet connection

The speed of my internet connection was upgraded from 50Mbps to 100Mbps because the internet provider changed backbone in my apartment.
The area where I am living has already used 100M speed line. However, there was a delay because of the need to consent of the residents living in the apartment. But the good things is that, there is no additional cost for this change.

I tested my internet speed, it's 7-8Mbps. It's enough speed using internet.

TOEIC

I registered for TOEIC at the end of January 2011.

So I will have had a time for three months since I took the exam at the end of October. I believe my score is improving.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts

I went to the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It's very popular in Japan, and every time is crowded.
About 15 people were lined up in front of the store.

Tokyo Sky Tree

Tokyo sky tree is name of tower. It will be 634m, the world’s tallest as a tower.

As you know, the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Sky tree is growing every day and the height became 511m now. TV news often said about Sky tree. I think it will open next year. But it’s error. It’s going to open in the spring of 2012. Lots of people in Japan think growing tower as if it's growing something such as economy, child, personal growth and development.

If sky tree open, I want to go to the 2nd observatory. This observatory called sky walkway is 450 m high.
It looks like winding around tower.

I'm looking forward to opening the tower.

Ramen

I cooked a ramen for lunch. A ramen is quick, easy, and delicious!

Zoff

Zoff is a name of glasses shop.

Recently, I went to buy glasses. I've used my glasses for about 10 years, because I hardly ever wear glasses, I usually wear contact lenses.

The reasons why I bought it are two.

The first, when I stay at home, I often wore glasses. The second is price collapse. The price became less than fifth part 10 years ago. But lenses were good, too.

broken kindle

My kindle couldn't charge the battery.
When connected to a power source with the power adapter or USB port, my kindle didn't turn up.

I contacted amazon a few times by e-mail. And they request me call.
Next day I called them but I didn't understand what they're saying for English...
Eventually it's recovered, I tried to charge again a few days later. I did't know what is problem. I wait and see how things go.

まるう商店

I had a dinner with my brother. It was about half a year ago since the last time I saw him.

He booked a Japanese style bar which is called "Izakaya" in Japan. He is usually well-prepared in eating, particularly.

Anyway, we ate lots of seafood. The foods here are delicious and have very reasonable price. However, their inner packaging was bad. They don't have any room and we share the table with others.

If you don't mention inner packaging and sharing of table, I would recommend that place. Moreover, it's hard to get a table without asking for a reservation.

- Maruu shouten (まるう商店)

  http://r.tabelog.com/kanagawa/A1401/A140101/14015237/

GOPAN

source by SANYO

Do you know what is "GOPAN"?
Gopan is a japanese product that can bake rice bread in home from using rice. "GOPAN" made a lot of orders and doing well. So it can't keep up with products.

According the article, rice demand is decreasing for a long time in Japan. The government of Japan sets a very high tariff on imported rice. Therefore, Gopan has been an attractive product for Japan government.

China mobile

China mobile have 500 million subscribers!!
For a moment, I couldn't believe what I'm hearing.

According to TAC, docomo, the largest mobile communications company in Japan, has about 55 million subscribers in the end of 2009. China mobile is one digit bigger than docomo.

I took a look at Annual Report of China mobile. It shows that they have 522.3 million subscribers in 2009. I charted the subscriptions from the year 2005 to 2009. Their subscribers increased at an average annual rate of 20.7% last 5 years.

I'm interested in how to monetize their enormous subscribers without voice and data connection. In my opinion, They should build up a platform service. But now I don't know what service is good, because I don't understand their service.

Taikang Lu | Shanghai

The place at Taikan Lu groups small shop. There are a lot of nifty gadget at most shops.

food | Shanghai

On the last day, my friend took me a Shanghai food restaurant.
I enjoyed the dinner. In particular, crab fried rice was delicious.

Yuyuan | Shanghai

The Yuyuan is one of the most famous sight in Shanghai, according to my guidebook...
The child in the picture was so cute. I don't know why, but I felt a sense of nostalgia. I must have seen the similar ride.

Flair | Shanghai

My friend took me the bar, Flair is located at 58th floor at the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong.
This night view was amazing!

Bicycle Tour | Shanghai

My friend and I participated  in a bicycle tour of China Cycle Tours. The tour took us to lots of iconic sights in Shanghai. At first, I felt it was a little bit dangerous because the traffic rules in Shanghai was chaotic for me. It was true, it was as chaos as I was expected. I saw few road accidents.
However, it was amazing tour.  I was very pleased with the tour.

The picture below, I took it when I rode in a ferry during the tour.

Our tour course :
- French Concession
- Cite Bourgogne
- Xintiandi
- Tianzifang(Taikang Road)
- ZhouEnlai`s Residence
- Antique Market on Dongtai Road
- Shanghai Old Streets
- Shanghai Confucius Temple
- Binjiang Avenue
- Nanjing Road
- People`s Square

Kiva

I made 3 loans. It's my the 43th loan.
By the way, Kiva provide a Kiva gift card. What do you think to send a gift card at Christmas gift?

DIN TAI FUNG (鼎泰豐) | Shanghai

The Din Tai Fung is located in the Shanghai world financial center. My friend took me there.

This restaurant was selected as one of the top 10 best restaurants all over the world by New York Times in 1993. I didn't know but it's okay since it's a little bit of an old story.

After dinner, my friend said that the Din Tai Fung is in Japan too. I've never been there but when I get a chance, I want to go there.

Shantang street | Sozhou

I got a bicycle taxi near the Lingering Garden and went to the Shantang street. The area had a very quaint street and was surrounded by a waterway. I guess if the water of the waterway is clear, it is a better place.

The picture below are interesting carvings. They are cheerful faces.

bonsai | Suzhou

 "Bonsai" is a Japanese term, what's it in English? It's a miniature potted tree, right? Here I use the word "bonsai".
There were a lot of bonsai in the Lingering Garden. There were amazing.
The best bonsai for me is shown below. It's "the Bonsai with Dragon-shaped trunk". It seems like to me...

Lingering Garden | Suzhou

The Lingering Garden is a classical chinese garden. It's a famous World Heritage Site.
I was looking forward to visit here, so, I looked around slowly in the Lingering Garden.

bullet train | Suzhou（苏州）

Day 2, I went to Suzhou alone because my friend had to work.

It took about 35 minutes from Shanghai to Suzhou by bullet train. The deluxe seat and the normal seat had almost the same price. So I bought the deluxe seat and I could sit in front of the cockpit.

I bought a normal seat ticket on the way back.

tower | Shanghai

Talking about Shanghai, I have an image of the oriental pearl tower, it's a TV tower.

I met my friend at Luziazui station. His office is near this station. After going out of the subway, the TV tower was in front of me. I was very surprised. Moreover, I turned around, I could also see the World Financial Center and the Jin Mao tower.

    Height          Name

----------------------------------------------------------

    492.0m    Shanghai World Financial Center

    468.0m    Oriental Pearl Tower

    420.5m    Jin Mao Tower

Maglev Train | Shanhai

Shanghai Maglev Train reaches maximum speed of 430kph!!

I expected the speed to be 430kph, but it only reached 300kph... I was disappointed.

However the speed was 430km on the way back! I was lucky.

Just for your information, you get a discount upon purchase of your maglev ticket, you show your air ticket.

Narita airport | Shanghai

I usually take a bus when I go to Narita airport. But this time I took a train, the NEX which has a single route, that is the airport.

APEC summit is being held in Japan. So, I heard that there is sudden traffic regulations near the airport. And I thought that using bus can cause substantial delay. I confirmed it to the bus company and a stuff said that they're thinking a few hours delay.

This is a picture of small lounge in Narita airport. There were several types of drinks free, so I had a cup of cappuccino.

I took Japan Airline (JAL) using a mileage points, so my air ticket was free.

I'm home!

I came back home from Shanhai yesterday. There's a lot of interests!!

I took a lot of pictures. I'm sorting out. I want to share that on this blog.

onset of a cold

I've had onset of a cold for a few days. So I got enough sleep and took medicine. Now I got over my cold.

I know it can be difficult to get enough sleep regularly when you're busy, but you take care not to catch a cold.

Shanghai

My friend who was my classmate as a graduate school has been living in Shanghai since this summer. I want to take advantage of having a free time to meet him, so I'm going to go to Shanghai in the middle of this month. I'm looking forward to it.

I saw a guidebook of Shanghai today. According to this guidebook, it's a season to eat Shanghai hairy crab. I want to eat it! Also, I want to go to Suzhou. It takes about one hour from Shanghai to Suzhou by train. Suzhou is famous for gardens designated as world heritage sites.

250th anniversary of Hokusai

Hokusai Katsushika is famous for ukiyo-e paint. His 250th anniversary was celebrated by google.

TOEIC

I'm going to take the TOEIC tomorrow.

Today it's rainy hard by a typhoon. But it will be fine tomorrow.

McDonald's

I posted about McDonald's on my blog few days ago. I closely checked the financial data and I realized I got the wrong idea. 

Looked the finance data was McDonald's HD Japan. Their main service is real estate rental not selling products. 

They have another index which is systemwide sales, so I should look it for to check their products sales. The systemwide sales include sales at all restaurants, whether operated by the company or by franchisees.
The systemwide sales has been increasing since 2005.

And I checked McDonald's HD Japan's financial data again. Their operating margin ratio had increased for the past 5 years because their cost to sales ratio was decreasing.

So, How did they they decreasing cost to sales ratio. It think they change stores from corporate operated to franchised. The company operated stores were 74% in 2006. But it's 46% in 2009. And of cause, they was closing unprofitable stores.

Kiva

I made 40th Kiva loan!!

Nike plus gadget

I put the blog gadget of Nike plus on my blog. Look at right hand please!

I was hoping to put Nike plus gadget, but I didn't know how to put the gadget on my blog. Now it's clear because my friend who knows much about web told me how to put the gadget.

I almost reach to 400 km. I will reach it by the end of the month.

McDonald's

I went to eat a quarter pounder with cheese in the McDonald's because I got a coupon last week.
When I was working, I used to have a lunch there about once in a month.

There were lots of people in the store. So I checked the financial data of McDonald's Japan.

The net sales for 2009 was about 3623 billion yen. It is decreasing after peaking in 2008. But the operation income is increasing since 2005.

Kiva

I made 39th Kiva loan. I hope for her success.

Yen's up

Recently I heard daily news about currency. Japan yen's value is increasing and it has a big impact in a company's operation. According to Keidanren, Japan Federation of Economic Organization, 75.7% company are concerned about currency movement.

If yen's value will continue to increase, a lot of company will have to move to overseas. In fact, today's news said, Toyota Corola's production is going to be in overseas.

Knight & Day

source by knight&day official site

I went to the movie theater to watch "Knight & Day". Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz appear in the movie.

It was fun but I won't tell you details about this movie.

It takes 15 minutes by bike from my apartment to the movie theater. So I have free time, I go there. In addition, late-night charge is about 40% cheaper than ordinary one.

Cylindrical Toothbrush

source by STB Higuchi

Do you know a cylindrical toothbrush?
Recently my friend told me about it. I tried to buy it. In my opinion, it can brush my teeth very well, especially  my molars.

This company website said they got an international patent for cylindrical toothbrush.