Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

"A magnitude 8.8 quake hit the ocean 80 miles from the Japanese coast, sending 10 meter waves toward the shores..." so read the calm news broadcaster as silence feel across the workplace. Forced smiles of optimism turned into stoic acceptance of reality while the mind of every person remained 100% occupied by mentally preparing for the next aftershock...and the next aftershock came, stopped, and came again....even now, as I write these words. Friday March 11th, 2011: recorded as the most seismically active day in a country known for being one of the most seismically active places on Earth. All trains, ships, and planes come to a halt in a place where public transport is pretty much the norm for everyday life , throwing everyone into the streets, packed with cars and pedestrians in a way reminiscent of my recreational travels in urban China. The power of Mother Earth is once again proven to be unparalleled. And some humans have tried their best to protect Her and keep Her

Perhaps the only thing happening at Rakuten today scarier than having the Tower swaying for more than a minute continuously is a limited exposure of what really happened at Rakuten Books over the past week. For those of you who have not heard, please check this short little bland apology posted on the Books site (sorry, only in Japanese, it seems). It appears that Rakuten Books had a few delayed shipments with movements to new logistics system.

The month of March 2011 officially marks the 6th month of Oct 2010 new grads' entry into Rakuten. Since then, from feeling a slight discomfort from seeing a emotional separation of the Japanese and foreign employees , we have been growing more and more used to seeing the "foreign" being sacrificed to make way for the "Japanese." Yes, it is true: we did take an oath to make a debut as Japanese 社会人, and I guess our bosses are taking our words from some last year quite seriously.

The near civil war conditions of Tripoli cannot be further away from the little train station in Tokyo on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Just myself and the elderly station master staring at that calm cloudless blue sky. The slow train to the ocean slowly pulls into the station, silhouetted by the golden rays of sunlight, and music announces the arrival of that beautiful metallic shine from the bustling yet orderly metropolis to the north... But that poetic sight was nowhere in my mind. Bullets flew, blood splashed, and the fearful yet determined shouts of protesters seemed to echo through the empty platform, bypassing everyone who alighted yet giving me an almost unnatural adrenaline rush that perhaps shifted the usual stares of my fellow passengers from cold and emotionless to puzzled and questioning. Like the cliche goes: the silence in the train was absolutely deafening... My ears felt painful; I was tempted to turn down the silence, but what would I be except an outsider in this