1 Year Anniversary

One year has passed since I opened this weblog. Time flies so fast and I have tried to keep writing my thoughts in many areas of communication. I will continue to pick up interesting news topics and personal point of view on them.

The latest market trends show how the world connects each other. One country cannot solve this fear of markets. That is the way of economy and world.

The Market Turbulence Still Goes On...

Today was another tough day for the market. The stocks declined as same as the level of 26 years ago, 1982. I was a elementary school boy at that time. The investors suffer from this sharp decline so that they seem to hesitate to restart investing other stocks.

I got an email from my friend who lives in Iceland. It is simply good to have friends all over the world because I can understand many things through their insight. Feel close.

I learned that Iceland had been in trouble with British for a few days. The world seems to change in many stages. The relationship with Russia stimulate the situation between Iceland and British, I think. Somebody tries to end the system which we deserve at this moment, and make another one which allows to change the players in world politics.

Stand for the Weak

This week was very tough for me. There were a tons of work to be done within short time, and I needed to research many things related to the stock market. I have once checked the Wall Street Journal, but the terms were difficult enough to translate into easy Japanese.

The Japanese stocks declined sharply today. In a sense, the turbulence generally stimulates the journalists' minds. We can see something new when we face with the unusual things. But today, I have been feeling unhappy because I am thinking of an old lady who purchased stocks with her money savings to use for the rest of her life.

I saw a news program which she was introduced. She seemed unfamiliar with the market. I can guess that the security company just sold some products to her without enough explanation on risks. She said she got so disappointed with recent market movement. It has been secret among family members about this loss.

I am now thinking of the journalism concept, stand for the weak. I just tend to follow what happens in front of me. It takes time to find and understand the weak's voice, but it does not mean it is okay not to do it. I think this is the time to use my imagination in my work.

Thinking of Africa

I joined a symposium on global issues and Africa held in Tokyo on Saturday. I could listen to the speech by Dr. John Hamre, the CEO of CSIS and other intelligent people. The United States seems to have its own strategy in terms of the use of military, morality, and financial business. In addition to the things which Dr. John mentioned, I would say, its attitude toward the environmental issues including foods has not been good. The US seems to get off a position to commit many things as a leader in the world and try to focus on its own direct and short-term interest. The question is, who will design the world? Who will try to perform as a leader?

And I had a chance to listen to Mr. Emile Rwamasirabo, an Ambassador of Rwanda. He said we must know Africa's history to take in consideration today's Africa. I say I am not familiar with what Japanese government has done to support these countries, and the current situation among these. I could learn that they have thought to have a common currency among some African countries. It seems the visions and thoughts of the Western ways have spread there.

Coincidentally, in the midnight, I could watch a movie, Hotel Rwanda. In the genocide, radio had played a role to cause the situation worse. The movie describes how easy people tend to flow the trends, and the importance for people to stand up to difficulties with using their own experience and intelligence. It also describes the strength of love for families, and indifference of developed countries. The people were waiting for the help from the West.

In 1994, I had already started my career. I was concentrated on my problems only. But now, I have learned and can use my imagination with thinking of my African friends lives.

Leeds Alumni Meeting in Tokyo

I had worked for more than 12hours and I thought I should skip today's Leeds Alumni Meeting in Tokyo to save my energy for tomorrow. I need to wake up about 5 hours later now but I want to say it was good to meet people who are related to Leeds in some way. I know some people I have met in Leeds and I could talk to some business people sharing each experiences in Leeds. I felt time flied. I was planning to be there for 30 minutes but I was there for 1 hour and half.

A Couple of Days Off

From last Saturday to today, I took holidays. It was nice to take much sleep and could feel relaxed. Good to be away from job circumstance physically. No pressure, no complaints. I was planning to go to a movie house but I preferred to stay at home. Reading some articles to settle my brain and mind, trying to clean my room, and chat with my parents.

I started to study some foreign languages again, and it is interesting. I have some foreign friends and it is very lucky. I learned some sentences in German, Malay, and French as follows:

Guten Tag! Boleh saya ambil gambar? Pardon?

Knowing the new things restricts me not to be proud of myself too much.

Mission

The Tokyo Market felled sharply again yesterday. The Nikkei 225 Index declined 11% during the hours for buying and selling. I was in charge of reporting it yesterday and so hard to catch up every second. Tried to make no mistake, and tried to show the points of things we need to take in consideration and to understand. As a professional writer, of course, readers does not want to hear any excuses and heartache and I know it, I need to be sensitive to news and accurateness.

TV Asahi, one of the Japanese TV broadcasting company has some news programs in a day. One reported a Japanese life insurance company's failure yesterday, but they misunderstood the name. Why did it happen?

I am thinking of professionalism recently. If you think of your work as just a job for living, it may be difficult to devote your energies. In other words, it is a matter of having a mission in your life.

Reflection

At the end of the day, I cannot remember well what I did in the morning. It seems important for me to look back.

For example, today I woke up at 5:50 am. And left for my company at 6:10 and I missed the train arrived at my station at 6:14. I was listening to a radio to check the New York market. On my way to go to my company, I read a newspaper. I arrived my company at 7:09.

In the morning, I tried to figure out what happened in the US market with eating a cheese cake which was really sweet. It is actually heavy as my breakfast so I did not feel comfortable today's morning. Well, my editor asked me to write one article of analyst's comment on today's Tokyo stock market.

In noon, I went to one Japanese security company to take a short lecture on recent turbulence.
To be honest, I needed to fight the devil which try to make me sleep.

After that, I came back to my desk to understand what to do next. I decided to join one press conference and wrote one feature story within 90 minutes. I finished all works for today at 19:30. I came back to my house at 21:20.

Now it is 23:20. I need to wake up 4:30am tomorrow. I need to learn some tactic to make myself healthy.

Sharp decline again in Tokyo Stock Market

Today's Nikkei 225 index sharply declined about 9% in a day and it is the 3rd worst in history. They say investors are afraid of having volatile assets such as stocks, commodities, high rate country's currencies, and so on. They can just rely on cash which is considered as safe asset. Anyway, I kept watching the movement today and wrote 14 article from 9am to 6pm. I could feel the countries have strong relationship in terms of economy.

Tokyo Stock Decline again

Today is Monday, and the Tokyo stock market was just reflection of the US market last Friday. The main index, Nikkei 225 went down more than 4%. So tired to search the reason why it happened. Pessimism toward the US and Europe financial situation.