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.

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.

Kiva

I'm continuing to make loans on Kiva. It forgot to post on my blog...

Aomori - dinner -

Aomori - Nebuta -

Nebuta festival takes place in Aomori City from August 2nd to 7th every year. When we arrived in Aomori City, it was the end of Nebuta festival. So We went to see the huge paper lanterns. It takes almost a year to create the Nebuta. It's about 5 meters tall! Moreover it's a wooden frame wrapped with Japanese paper.

In fact, I've been to Nebuta festival 10 years ago.

Aomori - the Sannai-Maruyama site -

Aomori - hot spring -

We went to Asamushi hot spring (浅虫温泉). I enjoyed a relaxing soak in the hot spring.

Aomori - lunch -

My friend took me eating place. There is famous for seafood. There were a lot of autographs on the wall. 

Aomori - return road -

I stopped at a small store on return road.

Aomori - Aoike -

There are several ponds in a corner of Shirakami mountain range. One of them has blue water. The pound is Aoike(青池). The second picture is a normal pond. Aoike was a mysterious pond.

Aomori - Shirakami mountain range -

I rented a car at Aomori airport and I went to Shirakami mountain range. It took about 2 hours from Aomori airport to Shirakami mountain range. The way has a beautiful road along the coast so I looked at the beautiful scenery.

Aomori (青森)

I went to Aomori prefecture to meet my friend in the university and to see Shirakami mountain range(白神山地) , a World Heritage site. It took about 90 minutes to get to Aomori from Tokyo by air.

My friend lived and worked in Tokyo until last year. But he came back to his hometown to take over his father's company.

115 Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay

I went to the exhibition of "115 Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay" at National Art Center, Tokyo last month. I think the exhibition was spectacular. Put simply, some of the pictures have appeared in school books.
The art museum was very crowded and there was a long line. I had to wait for about 90 minutes.

Graduation

I've gone to a school for two years. At long last, I could have enough credit for graduation. It made me very happy that the announcement about credit earnings and a graduation.

I will go to a graduation ceremony next month. And I will have to looking a job. But now It may be said that looking for a job is a severe environmental.

Sashimi over rice bowl

I took my friend to eat in a Japanese restaurant. The restaurant is famous for sashimi over rice bowl. He was satisfied with the taste but an oder is not enough so we went to eat again in another restaurant.

Buruno Murani

I went to Buruno Murani exhibition at Yokosuka museum of art. The works were fun to see.

The museum is located near by sea and it also has a cafe. Please look a picture above. There is something artistic about this picture. 

I enjoyed my time. Moreover the Musée d’Orsay exhibition is taking place in Tokyo. I want to go there.

Kiva

source: Kiva.org

I made 4 loans.
This picture is one of them. The bird attracted a attention to me.

tai yaki（たい焼き）

Recently, It's too hot and the humidity is high in Japan. I dehumidify every day.

Well, I ate a Tai-yaki, fish-shiped cake filled with red bean past, after such a long time. It was good.