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.

Studio Ghibli

I watched the movie "Karigurashi no Arrietty" last week.

The movie was produced by Studio Ghibli, an animation studio in Japan. The studio is well-known as Director Hayao Miyazaki . If you like Japanese animation, you may know him. He created good animations such as "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind," "Laputa:Castle in the Sky," "Spirited Away," etc

Rain

source by MoMA

It rained all day. I sat in front of my computer all day. Because of that rain, I finished many to-do list of tasks.

It will be clear tomorrow.

motivation 3.0

Have you read "Drive : The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" ?  The book was written by Daniel Pink who worked previously as Vice President Al Gore's chief speech-writer from 1995-97.

The book title is "motivation 3.0" in Japan. It's translated by Kenichi Ohmae.
The book provides new motivation 3.0.
 - Motivation 1.0
     It's the most basic motivation such as survival.
 - Motivation 2.0
     It's the carrot-and-stick approach. Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money.
 - Motivation 3.0
     To put it in a nutshell, I think that it's intellectual curiousty. And motivation 3.0 is built upon 3 elements which are Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.


I think my motivation is about 2.5 at this time.

graduation party with former business associates

Former business associates celebrated my graduation last month. I worked with them for about 7 years. And I had been influenced by them. For instance, I've never been to Thailand and I didn't know how the country is. So I didn't go there to work. I was scared to work in Thailand. But they were different. They enjoyed trying new challenges. I remember the time when I changed my mind little by little.

I left the company a year ago but I want to keep in touch them.

For your information, this cake was made by Sucre-rie which is very popular in Tokyo.

Kindle

I bought Kindle e-book reader released by Amazon. I've heard from my friend that Kindle is good.

I don't have to go to the book store because my Kindle have 3G & WiFi. I tried to buy Kindle e-book with 3G from the web. Before, I was carrying around thick books when I went out. Now, I don't have to since I have Kindle.

Why isn't Amazon not selling Kindle in Japan? If they will release it in Japan, I think it will become a huge product. This time I directly ordered Kindle from Amazon USA.

If you have a chance, you try to use it.