Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

After 18 days of street protests involving millions of common people, the secular authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak has been abruptly brought down in Egypt. The fact that Egypt of Mubarak, as one of the only major Arab powers to recognize Israeli existence and American power in the region, can be so suddenly brought down with street protest can only be taken a chilling sign of how much doubts the common people have assigned regional stability based on American political controls. Washington has to be feeling uneasy even as it "chose the people over Mubarak." The disappearance of pro-American political control creates a power vacuum open for irrational Egyptian nationalists and even worse, anti-American, anti-Israeli "Islamic fundamentalists" of the Muslim Brotherhood to fill. America, while preparing further aid to help keep the newly born Egyptian democracy stable, must at the same time be fully aware of the possibility for "undesired elements" t

Amidst the continuing doubts of whether English is even necessary in a completely Japanese environment, the English-nization Project in Rakuten is continuing to move forward (albeit with slow speed and high controversy in implementing practically every step). And with even greater difficulty, plenty of individual frustrations, (hidden) resistance , the mental portion of English-nization, i.e. "thinking not exclusively like a Japanese person," is also somehow being pushed forward in small isolated patches. However, while everyone has been focusing on defining this so-called "globalization" in Rakuten and arguing how it is practically implemented in an already established and rather conservative company structure, all are seeming to how divisive even labeling "globalization=good" can be. Just as the company is all the sudden divided into camps of those who can and cannot speak English due to English-nization, "globalization" is bound to put

For a foreigner to live in Japan for many many years as a productive, "regular" (in terms of what he does, a salary-man or Office Lady, for that matter) member of society requires the person to be REALLY emotionally attached to Japan as a society. Just liking "Japanese culture" (as many professes BEFORE they come to Japan, based on their knowledge of Japanese pop culture-based stereotypes) is really not enough for more than few months when that "newness" of being Japan wears off. What is required is a deep bond of friendship with the local people that act as a honest and unobstructed channel of understanding the individual Japanese persons intimately. It is about breaking the "personal barriers" the Japanese put around them against foreigners (and other Japanese as well) to "be nice" toward the others yet prevent others from acquiring too much of a position in their personal lives. All in all, it is about making unconstrained emoti

In philosophy, there is a school of thought known as Absolutism, tracing back to the days of Hegel in its pursuit of absolute ideal standards in all fields of human society. From social structures and economics to governments and moral values, Absolutists held that there is that one elusive yet perfect model for humans of all backgrounds and beliefs to achieve absolute success. Some will discover the model earlier than others, but as knowledge is spread, the entire world and entire human civilization, will eventually converge the exact same application of the exact same model with perhaps a little regional variations. Not surprisingly, the enthusiastic cries of triumph at finding that ideal one-fits-all model has been heard throughout the existence of Absolutist thought. And some, most notably "Western-style democracy" and "free-market capitalism" has been highly justified with increased happiness of common people brought by personal freedoms and materialistic

So, today, I checked the total PV of my blog, and it turns out Japan, for the first time, has surpassed the US as the largest source of viewers of my posts. In other words, the blog has entered the period where more people come to me for understanding what is outside of Japan (more mentally and philosophically than physically, of course) rather than what is inside Japan (socio-culturally and physically). And since I have so far largely played a travelling passive observer role voicing opinions on real situations, perhaps, as many have suggested, becoming more proactive in my suggestions for improvements may serve the blog very well. Of course, as a new grad with rather superficial contact with Japanese people (occasionally drinking would not suffice as truly understanding Japanese culture...), the thing I can probably talk about the most is regarding how Japan can become less self-righteous ("this is Japan, do the Japanese way"), even secretively, when dealing with forei