VS Livedoor

I am reading articles about Livedoor on a newspaper everyday. I can learn many things from the news about this IT company's illegal deals in a stock market and untrue accounting. I've never thought that the company's young president is a hero, but I was interested in him because his age was same as me. He has a same generation backgorud with me. That's why his opinion was easy to understand for me. For example, "Creativity is meaningless to earn money. Just follow the successor.", "We should know more about our own value in a market.", and the most famous phrase; there is nothing we can't buy with money.
He corrected his saying later a little, but he seemed to value the power of money more than humanity. Such an opinion is extreme. But he was a millionare. So, I think his style of thinking had a large infuluence on Japanese, especially young people.

I heard that Livedoor's value of stock is 10% now compared with the peak-value. After the president was arrested for his breaking a law. The price of the company's stock decreased rapidly. So, many people lost their money.
Not only individuals but also companies are getting damage by the decreasing. Fuji television Co.Ltd was tried to take over by Livedoor last year. This TV company decided to take an alliance with Livedoor after the battle in a stock market and a court. Now, we know the alliance was a bad choice. Fuji will lose more than ten billion yen. I am not sorry for their bad lack. If they were proud of their job, they didn't have to worry about Livedoor's challange. But, they couldn't have a confidence in their business. So, they escaped from the long fight against the young IT millionare.

The stock of Livedoor is going out of the market soon. It almost means we can't buy and sell the company's stock anywhere. That's why the value of the stock is zero for most people.
At this point, I realised that I can take over Livedoor!
Now the stock's value is zero.
If I say "I can buy your stock by 1 yen.", most people will sell it to me.
And, if I can buy 50% of all Livedoor stocks, my taking over is successful!
I thought this idea is great. And soon, I checked how many stocks of the company there are.

Gash! A billion of stocks!
To take over the company, I need half a billion yen. (= US$ 8.6 million, RNB 69 million, EUR 5 million) Can I save such a big money in my life?

I gave up this plan.
I heard that some Funds have already been thinking about this kind of attempt. Ok. Please buy it if you want. Window shopping is enough for me.

VS Don

Busy days. Non-stop busy days are continuing from the beginning of this year.
Although I can enjoy the situation, I could lose energy recently.
So, I became to want to eat beef suddenly.
Beef and Beer. The double B can make me powerful. I went to a Yakiniku restaurant, DON, which offers us great beef.

Now, Japanese can't eat American beef because of BSE problem. The importing of American beef is inhibitted.
Don gives us one of Japanese beefs, Hida beef. Hida is an area name, which is a mountain area in Japan. So, the cows living in the area must have not only a strong muscle but also great oil in it to protect their body from the coldness. So, the taste is great! It's very juicy.
When I worked in Ebina city before, I sometimes went to the restaurant with my co-workers.
But, now I am working in another city. Five years had passed since I went there last time.

An old woman who was an owner of the restaurant was working there before.
And, when I went there recently, she was still working there.
I didn't think she remembered me, but she actually remembered me. She said soon, "Long time no see! How are you? You looks more matured than before. Do you married?" Machine-gun asking. But it's ok. And, she talked a little about the last conversation between us. It was five years ago! Amazing. When I talked with her, I was surprised at her memory.

When I was eating the good beef there, I was a little nostalgic.
I have eaten Yakiniku many times. I can eat Yakiniku anywhere, anytime. But, the taste at the night was memorial. Maybe, our purpose of eating and drinking is to make a memory.

VS Computing Reviews

I had an business meeting with an American publisher, in Tokyo.
I always talk with foreign friends in English, but I don't have a business conversation in English so much. Thus, the meeting was very taugh for me.
"The pricing policy of this commodity should be...."
"This general agreement means....."
"I think the most useful advertisement is...."

Too serious.
It was very difficult for me to catch up with these themes in English!
Actually, I lost the points we discuss many times. I needed the help of translater in fact.

In addition, the publication was also the difficult one.
It was a journal for computer science. The title is Computing Reviews.
I heard the journal is very popular in America and some Asian countries.
(Of course, the readers are only scientists and engineers.)
The publisher came to Japan, to make the journal popular in Japan.

To be honest, it is a difficult thing to sell English computer books in Japan.
Because, a lot of Japanese computer books are published now. And, English books are translated into Japanese soon. So, nobody have to read difficult English computer books here.

However, the publisher was a nice guy. I heve to help his business.
After the meeting, we went for a drink.
His visit of Tokyo this time was second times, but he didn't know about Japan at all. So, I took him to a typical Japanese Izakaya, and ordered many foods unfamilier for him. Raw horse meat, Milt, Angler's liver and so on. And, of course, I ordered Japanese Sake a lot, for him, and for me. He seemed to be happier and happier during drinking.

His wife is Greek. I asked him why Greek? He said,"Greek is a cosmopolitan." I see, I see. Also is Turkey. They are the place where West and East meets. All romantist love Greek and Turkey. I thought our preference was very similar. My responsibility of helping him bacame bigger.

I think he had an appointment with a customer next early morning. But, we drunk a lot at the night.
I am not sure that he could get up the day. If he prefered sleepning more to getting up then, he could be a real romantist.

VS British Bar

I went to a british style bar in Machida.
The name is Trafalgar. It is located on a basement on a narrow street.
I heard from the owner that the bar was open two yaers ago, but I didn't know it though I went to Machida everyday to go to my office.
The place was a Cajun food restaurant before. The restaurant was managed by an American owner and the food was so great, but it was closed a few years ago. So, I didn't go to the area where the British bar is located.

The bar offers us real ale. I enjoyed some beer which I've never tasted. One beer was very fruity. Another was very heavy. I saw that the Guiness in the bar was poured by a hand pomp. I heard that it is the authentic way to pour Guiness beer. It makes good creamy bubbles. But, most bar use a microwave to make bubbles.

I like good foods, so I don't eat typical bar food so much, for example Fish and Chips. But, I know TPO (Time, Place, Oppotunity) is important. In this kind of an authentic bar, we have the duty to eat authentic bar foods. So, of course I ordered oily Fish and Chips. Although water and oil can't mix together, beer and oil become a great mixture. It is amazing.

This bar gives us not only british beer but also Japanese local beer. Next time, I will try a beer made in Ngaano. The name is Yona Yona Ale. The meaning could be "the beer for every night". Sounds attractive.

VS Calligraphy

When I was a child, I learned Calligraphy a little, just a day. It was too boring for me. I gave up learning it soon. I couldn't understand the interesting point of just writing letters. Actually, when I was an elementary school student, I used a pencil and a notebook, so I wrote something very much in a class. No more writing was my feeling. So, I couldn't have an interest in Calligraphy then. But, recently I don't use a pen or a pencil. I don't write with them so much. I use a computer and put keys to write something.

I become interested in hand-writing or Calligraphy recently. Maybe it is a reaction of using computer too much for writing. But, anyway, I become to like a beautiful hand-writing. So, I went to Tokyo national Museum, to watch Calligraphy exhibition.

I went to the museum before noon on Sunday. The exhibition shows us a lot of Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy. It was very interesting to compare Chinese writing style and Japanese. Both countries use Kanji character. But, Japanese simplified some of Kanji to make their own character; Hiragana. It looks very soft. So, Japanese Calligraphy looks softer than Chinese.
We can know the historical change of writing in the exhibition. I din't think there are many veriations of writing letters before watching the exhibition. But, Each written letters have an unique character.

To understand Calligraphy, we can't forget the name of Wang Xizhi.
He lived in 7c or 8c. He was a big name in Calligraphy, like Pere in soccer. He established the art of writing letters. Even now, many people study Calligraphy by watching his works.
In the exhibition, a lot of his works were exhibited.
One of my purpose of coming to the museum was to watch them, but too many people were there!
I didn't think so many people come there.
Before noon on Sunday! Why don't they sleep until noon? Which is better, just watching letters written by somebody or sleeping in a comfortable bed till noon? The answer is obvious.
But, many people came to the museum and they stopped in front of the works of Wang Xizhi for a long time. I pushed softly the people in front of me. I jumped among a lot of people. However, I couldn't watch his works enough. Too bad!

This exhibition will move from Tokyo to Shanghai this spring. I heard that the people in Shanghai are interested in these great works too.

VS Earthquake

My long trip to my home was finished. Tonight, Earthquake occured around Tokyo. Therefore all JR trains stopped for a long time tonight. When the earthquake occuerd, I was in my office and ate a conveinence store food for dinner alone. It was a shit dinner.

I didn't think the earthquake was big. But certainly, the shaking time might be long.
After finishing a long shit work, I went to a station and knew all train didn't work!

However, another train company didn't have any problem.
So, I changed my route. I used another line and I could go home fortunately.
But it took more time to go home.

Why is JR train so weak? I can't understand.
After I went home, I knew the magnitude was 4. It was a middle class earthquake.
I happened to see my friend in a station. He told me that JR was so safety that it could stop soon.
Tolerant mind is beautiful.