I was just talking with someone at karaoke about this very issue. There’s a lot of folks that can sing but only a handful of those individuals have the ability to elicit emotion.

Music can be incredibly powerful, can make grown people cry, laugh and everything in between. If you don’t believe in what you sing, why should anyone else? This holds true for amateurs and pros alike. I love music, everything about it. The instrumentals, the vocals… they all come together to tell a story. They provide a truly unique experience each time you sing.

So don’t hold back! Let your essence become enveloped in song. The release is absolutely wonderful.

This has also come to the forefront because of the 10juku crew on Twitter. (This is a series of daily English lessons held for Japanese natives on Twitter. Search for hash #10juku. Shoutout to @y_hareyama who runs the sessions!) They learn not only American phrases, but ones from other English speaking cultures, which is good. A recent lesson featured a phrase is never heard of: “Spend in youth, spare in age” I think it was… something like that. I’d never heard of this phrase before! It is a British phrase, and while it makes sense, it’s curious to have no knowledge of it. I often wonder if my American is showing (what do you think that means, English students? Ask me if you don’t understand).

When I have to translate something in my head, my brain thinks in shortcuts, so full English doesn’t really happen and that’s a problem when trying to explain to someone why you say one word or phrase over another. We Americans are so deeply entrenched in our slang that it has become standardized language. As you know, language changes from place to place in the United States. “Soda” in the East is “Pop” in the South and Midwest. The same word can have different meanings between English speaking countries too. For instance, “biscuit” means cracker (the hard crunchy one like Ritz) AND the raised quick bread that you bake. These minor differences can distinguish you as being from a particular area even more than an accent can. Words like “metro” vs “subway” give you away.

The same holds true for students who learn “book” English and have no practical experience of the language. The combination of the two is essential. But look, it isn’t something you get overnight unless you’re some sort of savant. You have to speak with people and try things out. It may sound ridiculous at first, but it’s the only way to gain confidence. (I should take my own advice with Japanese!)

I’m gonna try to remember some of the phrases I say all the time and take for granted. It’s THAT troublesome a language. Keep studying!

English natives, what are some crazy phrases that are hard to explain? Speak on it… and follow me on Twitter for more language blurbs and slang thoughts – @chmijo

Someone please explain what is wrong with Japan!! The country has compounding problems that, to date, don’t seem to be getting resolved. Let’s start with number one.

Education: The latest chatter is about getting rid of the JET program. Despite years of English in their curriculum, the general proficiency in English is poor to fair. The school models for teaching the language haven’t been updated to reflect the demand. They’ve let ripoff English specialty schools supplant what should be standard practice in secondary school education. Don’t blame JET for lack of improvement. Take a good look at the methodology -it doesn’t work. The English curriculum needs to be more robust. They should take a page from other systems teaching English as a second language that reflect a higher proficiency rate.

As for their own language, in this hyper technology age, children are having difficulties writing their own characters!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.74f06613ea91a1f1041b96c96477427f.561&show_article=1

All the agony and despair I go through to remember kanji and Japanese students are forgetting it? I’m rather beside myself.

Then there’s…

Economy & politics: These two areas have to be put together, since policy is what drives change economically. Slowdown is expected; it is a global trend right now. But this slowdown has been ongoing now since the 90s with only minor changes over two decades. Until the political landscape calms and concrete decisions are made, nothing is going to happen and the chance for recovery is going to be now and more difficult to attain. Now there’s this article talking about how the yen may fail without intervention:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-27/japan-yen-intervention-may-fail-without-u-s-eu-coordination.html

What fascinates me further is how Japanese citizens perceive this whole political situation. They care, but they only care so much. This is an inherently “Japanese thing”, to expect the government to fix its own messes and that the clean sweep method is the only way to work it out. I’m all for taking responsibility (especially with the corrupt nature of some areas of the Japanese government) and coming up with solutions, but I feel like the government fails to involve and engage the people so that they feel like they are part of the solution. And without that, its all a hands off approach, which will never get the people to feel like they have a voice.

And for the love of Pete, if they don’t do something about this overly strong yen situation, I won’t be able to travel there! Yes, I say this for purely selfish reasons. Tourism will suffer because purchasing power is diminished, plain and simple. There is a clear revenue stream there, but the government and related agencies are not banking on this opportunity. The USA has national debt problems, but Japan is not much better off:

http://www.examiner.com/japan-headlines-in-national/japanese-national-debt-surpasses-900-trillion-yen

Lastly (because I could go on and I don’t have all night to write this):

Social Resources: We’ve known for some time that there is a declining youth population in Japan, so much so that there is a concern about the long-term feasibility of the social system to support an aging population. There are many schools of thought on this — women in the workforce have changed the family dynamic and therefore encourages less children, the economic factors currently are forcing people to work longer and harder to support themselves.. you name it, it can be a reason. The bottom line is that without a back-end to support what will be a large elderly population in a generation’s time, Japan will be faced with major problems, those that will affect the fundamentals of the country. They need incentives, they need industry growth… not pipe dreams.

I don’t have any idea what the fighting parties plan to implement, but whatever they do, they better move quickly. The clock is ticking….

What do you think? I’m particularly interested in those folks that have to deal with these concerns on a daily basis, among others. What is affecting you in Japan right now? What can be done to improve it? Shout on it..

I keep this all in mind as I study in my various ways, using old JLPT books, reading manga and the free Japanese newspaper, practicing kanji on my Nintendo DS, listening to music (and singing it at karaoke)… It all goes hand in hand and will help me to be a better speaker and reader.

I hope to do well!!

So what the heck does all this mean? As far as I can see, this is going to become a civil rights issue. This country was founded on some basic tenets, one of which of freedom of religion. To eschew that is to buck all that this country stands for. Likely, they will try to claim this as a real estate matter in order to not allow the building to continue. People are missing the big point and opportunity to show support and respect of a religion like any other and the right for that religion to be practiced. The up in arms mentality is originating from people that feel Islam is a terrorist religion. Seriously? Get over it already. Any religion can be taken out of context, bastardized and misused to forward extremist behavior. It’s not limited to Islam. The things I’ve read in newspapers and blogs are downright scary. Is this nation, in its propaganda modus operandi, turning into a state of cultural and social intolerance? It bodes poorly for us all if we are indeed heading down that road.

What is amazing really is that people have been praying in that spot for some time now. People are afraid of what they don’t know or understand, but I make no excuse for intolerance of any kind. We would be no better than the terrorists of the world that think that their way is the right way and there is no room for anything else.

So politicians, get your act together and focus on the real issues. And people of the USA, while you may think the world revolves around you, think again. The world is more global than ever, and antiquated points of view and biases will holds little water in the world community. Don’t get caught up in the media frenzy of this and endanger our bill of rights in the process.

I got rid of my iphone and switched to an android based mobile.

My latest phone is the Samsung Captivate from AT&T. It is one of several models of their galaxy s line. At first glance, I didn’t think much of it, but when I looked at what this baby could do and how amazingly beautiful it looked and performed, I had to see it in person. I went to the Samsung showcase store in Columbus Circle to test drive it.

My only gripe is the GPS system. It takes forever to find anything, and is rather frustrating when you’re in the road and trying til use it a navigational tool. I how they release a fix for this annoying problem.

The immediate impression is the crystal clear screen and vibrant color. It is amazingly rich. And when I picked it up, I was surprised by how light it was. I’d never used android before, so I was there for a while testing it all out. In the end, my decision was made and I knew I could never consider the iPhone 4, it just wasn’t possible.

A week into using this phone and I have very few complaints on the functionality of the phone. What I wasn’t prepared for was how active the applications are. Everything seems to function simultaneously and draws from online sources regularly. It will be a challenge using this phone internationally. All in all, I am quite pleased. Add to that a nice battery life - my biggest pet peeve with my old phone – and I’m a happy camper. I’d definitely recommend it.

As a result, I ended up writing this short article on “How To Be A Great Administrative Assistant” about a year ago. I am well overdue in putting this out into the world. The concepts apply across broad industries and has to do more with frame of mind. I hope you get something out of it.

HOW TO BE A GREAT ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT (PDF)