A divided nation

On November 8, 2016, America voted.

On November 9, 2016, the results came out, and Trump was announced as President-elect.

Even before America took to the polls, there was already division within the country. Even as the two sides debated, attacking each other instead talking about their plans for America. It was an ugly period of campaigning.

Yes, make America great again. That is easy to say, that is easy to understand. But how will Trump go about doing it? Has anyone heard his actual plans to bring jobs back to the US?

And now that the results are out... America remains divided. People have taken to the streets, demonstrating against Trump as President-elect. In my short life, I do not remember seeing demonstrations after the results of the presidential elections in the past.

I just hope that things cool down soon. Because crowds, angry crowds, can soon clash with each other. Small sparks can become big fires. And I don't think we want civil war in the US.

May cooler heads prevail.

New start, again

Another new start.

Yet again.

Hopefully this time, this new road brings me to where I want to go.

To test or to proof?

Some people want to test their hypotheses. Some want to proof their hypotheses.

仮説を検証したい人もいれば、仮説を証明したい人もいる。

The good news is... both options are possible. As long as you know what tools to use and how to use them.

起業家vs経営者

その違いは？

やはり、「リスク」でしょう。

起業家はリスクを負い、ビジネスを行い、リスクを負う分、利益を得る。

経営者は多くの場合、リスクを負うのではなく、（経営）目標に向かってビジネスを行う。

より多く利益を狙うのか、それとも目標を達成すればいいのか？

私はリスクを負う。あなたは？

One more month

One month to go.

Another new start.

Happy Translators' Day

To all translators, Happy Translators' Day.

It is a thankless job, but an important one.

Another year

Wow.

Another year has gone by.

Another year older.

This year is again different. It is my first birthday on another different path.

Another crossroad

At another crossroad in life.

Do I try to push on, knowing that this path may not be suitable for me?

Or do I make a turn now, to walk another unknown path?

Decision-making in uncertainty

Having been in the navy for so many years, I have become very used to making decisions in uncertainty. Being used to drawing my own conclusions from whatever (sparse) information that I may have, assessing the situation based on that understanding, and choosing a course of action that best applies to the uncertain situation.

But as a researcher in Japan, it is kind of like the total opposite. Everything must be based on known facts. Saying anything that is not 100% certain is taking a risk, and should only be spoken if that risk is actually known (quantifiable). This risk-aversion seems to be a cultural thing, I guess. So it will take a bit of taking used to, since I am very used to drawing my own conclusions based on whatever little data I may have.

Let's see how I can make the best out of both worlds.

Your Name 君の名は

The latest movie by Shinkai Makoto, "Your Name" (original Japanese title 君の名は。) is a touching story about two teenagers who switched bodies in their dreams, living each other's lives. The movie has breathtaking scenes of nature and cityscapes, painstakingly detailing places in Japan such as Tokyo station and Shinjuku.

And the story has its own twists and turns that will leave you holding your breath, waiting to see the outcome.

Most of all, it will leave you touched.

And with an important message.
We are all searching for something, but we don't know what it is. But we will know it when we see it.

Have you found what you are looking for?

Linux on Windows 10

It's here!

Now, Windows users can finally run Linux on their computers, without having to dual-boot their systems.

Linux users have Wine to run Windows within Linux, but the other way round did not exist, until now.

As someone who has been using Linux (on and off, sometimes exclusively, sometimes dual-booting with Windows), I must say I am really excited about this new feature. I don't think this will replace a standalone, full Linux install, but it does help when one has to work mainly in Windows, but once in a while pop into Linux to do some work.

Read the announcement by Microsoft here:
Bash on Ubuntu on Windows

And here is how to get Linux running in GUI mode:
How to run GUI Ubuntu Linux in Windows 10

A year

A year since moving to Japan...

Why is it called a "software library"?

I have been picking up programming again as part of work, and making use of a lot of software libraries. Compared to the good old days, there are a lot more libraries now. Back in the good old days, if you needed to do something, chances are you have to come up with the code yourself. Now, a search on Google should likely give you the name of a library that does what you need.

That got me thinking... why is it called a "library" in the first place?

This is something I found.
What's the origin of using the term "library" for software?

If the term "library" really came from back in 1951... then I think it is most likely because back then, programs were probably stored on punch cards. So frequently used subroutines are probably stored and catalogued like books in a library to make them easy to find. So in a way, just like you go to a library to borrow a book, you go to a software library to borrow a subroutine.

Well, another way to look at it, from my own personal (twisted and unofficial) point of view, is that back in the good old days, when the Internet is limited to research institutes and universities and military establishments, people share commonly used subroutines/functions by writing books. Programmers then go to libraries (the physical ones with books) to search for books with subroutines/functions, borrow these books, and use the code in there.

So one goes to a library to borrow books on programming which comes with code inside that can be reused.

And so code that can be reused is thus known as a "library".

And that's my own (unofficial, and probably untrue) view on the origin of the term "library" for software.

;)

Professionalism, knowing your work, and the 80% mark

My new workplace has set me thinking quite a bit about one's attitude towards work.

The baseline is always about "working smart and not just working hard." I guess being in Japan, the land of workaholics, everyone seems to be working hard. Long hours are common amongst my colleagues, and working late into the night (and sometimes, overnight) seems to be the badge of honour everyone is looking at getting. Yet it seems that a lot of time is spent on discussing without conclusion. With a culture used to avoiding conflict, I guess that can be expected. But this leads to a lot of time talking, and a lot more time trying to figure out what the conclusion is and how to move forward. More on that later.

I am used to working in a work environment which values professionalism, and knowing your area of work well (because people can get injured, if not killed, if otherwise), and having to pick up knowledge in double quick time. So I can't help but be a bit disturbed that my new colleagues, who have been on the job much longer than me, do not know their work as well as I thought they should. Not having written a program for more than 10 years, it was a steep learning curve having to pick up R and Python in weeks (actually, days). But now, I have reached a level where I can comfortably program in Python (I use R only rarely when I need to visualize data). And a level where I look at the code my colleagues came up with in the past, and seriously wonder what kind of thinking was behind the code (because of the inefficiency... I was taught that programs should not be just able to do the work, they should be written in an easy-to-understand manner yet perform efficiently.)

Okay, back to the working hard part. I do think my colleagues work too hard. They are so caught up in work, they don't have time to plan, and it seems that they are always trying to catch up. It becomes a vicious cycle since not enough planning means the work is not done as efficiently as it could be, leading to less time for the next job, which means no planning again and this just continues.

I shall always remember what one of my ex-bosses told me. One should always work at 80%. There is no such thing as working 120%. 100% is the max, and working at 100% is not sustainable. And working at 100% also means there is no spare capacity left to handle any contingencies/emergencies that may crop up. That 80% pace is a sustainable pace that allows one enough spare capacity to surge to 100% as and when needed.

Well, I guess my new job is a good place for me to learn about the working culture in Japan. It has helped me tremendously in improving my skills for searching up and learning new stuff, and as a revision for my programming skills. Let's see what other insights I can gain as I continue down this road.

Historical day: President Obama visits Hiroshima

Today is a historical day.

President Obama visits Hiroshima.

He is the first serving President of the United States of America to visit Hiroshima ever since the first atomic bomb was dropped there.

Hopefully we are moving towards a world where we can be rid of such fearful weapons.

Another step forward in life.

In life, there will always be changes. I just hope this change is for the better.

Round two cleared.

It was actually quite a good round, talking about what I have been doing and what I have wanted to do. Let's see if I do get a chance to do what I want to do.

Round three coming up.

Round two

Round two of interview coming up in less than two weeks.

I wonder if this is a place where they can accept me as who I am. Especially since it is a research agency, and I am probably the least academically-qualified applicant (no masters or PhD). But I am looking forward to being able to continue research in this field which I once dabbled in. Probably got to brush the dust off my programming skills, though.

Half a year

It's been half a year since I moved to Japan. Most of the time was spent adjusting to a new living environment. Now that half a year is over, it is time to think about how to live, beyond adjusting.

The search continues.

Welcoming the Year of the Monkey

Happy Lunar New Year! It is once again the Year of the Monkey. Hope it will be a good year ahead!

The search for myself

I have more or less adjusted to life in Japan. So the next step is, what do I want to do from here?

I have been doing full-time translation (as a freelancer) for quite a while now. It pays enough to sustain a living, but is that what I really want to do? No doubt I learn a lot on the job, reading widely (yes, translation forces you to read widely so that you can translate accurately) and gaining a lot of knowledge even as I get paid. And I can see myself contributing to society, by allowing more people to read and gain information that they would otherwise not have access to (due to language barriers).

I know I definitely will continue to study up on Japanese labour and administrative laws, as I want to be able to help foreigners in Japan with legal issues. Probably volunteer some time at some NPOs once I get my certifications. But that will be some time in the future; I need to study first, and pass the exams towards the second half of this year.

Do I continue to be a freelancer, contributing in small ways to society, while enjoying the rest of the time doing what I want? Or do I aim for something bigger, to better contribute to society, at the expense of losing some personal time?

Deep down, am "I" more important, or is "society" more important?

With 18 years of serving in the military, I think deep down, my values place society before self.

The question is, what can I do beyond translating to benefit society? I really want to go into research, to find new knowledge that can benefit society. But what field? Maybe I can find something that merges computer simulations with social science, the two fields that most interest me.

And so, the search for myself begins.

Why do people even set up companies?

Some recent articles that got me thinking...

On how English teachers (non-Japanese) are treated in Japan.

On how part-timers are being treated in Japan.

On a recent tour bus crash in Japan that killed 12 students.

On Asahi Kasei's piling scandal.

What is common is that all these are related to companies in Japan. And some of them are big names.

There are laws and regulations in place to protect people from being exploited, as well as to maintain certain standards (of which safety is an important one). We talk about corporate social responsibility and corporate ethics, yet how far are companies going to actually fulfill such responsibilities, beyond what is written in the books, if they even follow the books in the first place?

JW Marriott said it best: If you take care of your people, your people will take care of your customers and your business will take care of itself.

But it seems companies cannot resist the temptation of exploiting their employees as one of the means for cutting costs, thereby increasing profits (or maintaining profits when revenue drops). But cutting costs to increase/maintain profit is very short-sighted, I think.

Long long ago, I learnt that the difference between the worker and the entrepreneur is that the entrepreneur bears risk, and profit is the reward for bearing risk. Businesses don't always go as planned, there are market fluctuations and other factors that affect costs and revenues. The entrepreneur bears the risks associated with these factors, and is rewarded by profit for this risk-bearing. Workers don't bear the risk, which is why they get paid a fixed wage, in principle.

Exploitation of workers usually lead to breaches in safety, as people cut corners, take short cuts, or are simply overworked and tired. This spells disaster, in the end, as slips, lapses, and mistakes are made. Some may be financial losses, but some can lead to loss of lives and limbs too.

This is one of the motivations behind me picking up the textbooks and starting to study up on Japanese labour laws. Hopefully, with this knowledge, I can help those being exploited to fight for their rights, especially those in a foreign land who do not understand this foreign language, much less say these foreign laws.

Which brings me back to the main question: why do people even set up companies?

Are companies set up solely for individuals to profit? Or are they set up because they can benefit society more than the sum of their individuals? If companies are set up for the benefits/values they bring to society and not solely for individual profit, then those running companies need to rethink what they are doing to earn profits, to see if they are in a win-win situation with society, or if society is losing at their expense.

For example, are English language schools set up because they can help improve the level of English beyond what individual English teachers can do? I would like to think that this is the case. But the low standard of English among Japanese people and the exploitation of teachers at such English language schools seem to imply not.

Is the construction company there to provide better housing for other people? Is the tour company set up to provide better tours instead of everyone coming up with their own vacation plans? Are they here to make things better? Or to exploit society's needs for their own profits?

I think for a company to survive and prosper, it needs to think long-term. What is its value to society? How does it keep itself valuable (relevant, ready, responsive) so that society continues to want it around? Being too fixated on short-term returns may eventually lead the company towards not having any long-term anyway...

Food for thought for anyone who runs a company, or thinking about setting one up.

First snow this winter

It snowed today! The forecast was for rain, but it turned out to be snow when I woke up this morning. Something unusual since this area rarely snows at all, and even when it snows, it hardly accumulates.

Snow is beautiful, but in an area not used to snow, snow causes lots of problems. Cars slip and trains get delayed. Good thing I wasn't going anywhere today.

Replying too fast

I was once told by my boss that I replied to work emails too quickly.

"Don't reply so fast. People will think you are very free."

Well, I wasn't. But I don't like to keep people waiting. So I always tried my best to give a reply as soon as I could. If I didn't have the full answer, at least give something so that they knew I was working on it.

That habit has carried over even though I am on a new job. Good or bad, I am known as someone who replies to work emails quickly.

The Force has awakened... but who did it wake?

Star Wars Episode VII "The Force Awakens" has been in the movie for weeks now. I managed to catch it on the second day of airing in Japan. The special effects were fantastic. After all, this movie was made with current day state-of-the-art technology. The special effects are of course much much better than those used 30 years ago.

The movie brought back memories (scenes?) from the original series, such as a planet-killing weapon of massive dimension (this time, planet-size); spaceships attacking this massive weapon (such as the X-wing attack on the Death Star); the father-son light-side/dark-side relationship; desert planet; icy planet; and so on.

So how did the movie fare? Did it gain new fans? Or lose old ones? It is probably still too early to say.

For me, I was hoping that Disney would have taken the underlying theme (aka the hero's journey) behind the original Star Wars, and used it to come up with a new story with new twists. Instead of portraying the struggle between light and dark to gain control of Anakin, the prequel trilogy (Episodes I, II, and III) portrayed Anakin in such a way that his fall into darkness was imminent. Episode VII is like reliving an old tale (from Episodes IV, V, and VI) with many similar twists. The hero's journey (or in this case, the heroine's journey) is still there; that theme remains intact. But as a sequel, there are just too many things that remain unclear.

A prequel needs to lead up to the story. A sequel needs to continue that story. Episodes I, II, and III managed to somehow lead up to the story (although not in the best way, see this article). I just hope that Episodes VII, VIII, and IX can somehow bring about something new that is built upon the foundation of the original story. I hope this sequel trilogy doesn't turn out to be one of those "just the same old thing" sequels, or one of those "nothing to do with the original" sequels.

Only time will tell. We shall see in a few years.

Another year... so what's next?

So 2015 has gone and 2016 has arrived.

So what's next?

2015 has been a year of change, leaving a job after 18 years, moving to a different country, taking on a different job. A big leap out of my comfort zone and into the great unknown. A different way of life. New things to learn for the job. New things to learn in order to live in a different country. New rules to follow. New friends. New environment. New rhythm. Lots of new things.

But some things remain the same. I am still the same old me.

So what will 2016 be like? What will 2016 bring?

I look forward to finding out!