Monday, November 1, 2010
Got up at seven-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a dish of Western meal for dinner.
The recent peripheral circumstances of Japan may suggest that even a tortoise-shell cat should put on its own impenetrable armor and hold up its own unbreakable shields, not only beckoning something from outside. Although it's true that attack is the best form of defense, it's hoped that an advantage in technologies will be used to establish its own necessary defense systems only, making up for a weakness of offensive strengths.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal, a rice ball, and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a Japanese one-pot meal for dinner.
Pumping too much water and gases from the ground has gradually caused land subsidence in many cities in the world since the Industrial Revolution until the late twentieth century, as well known. In ports such as Venice and Amsterdam, the problems that have been caused by subsidence of the ground are more serious. Some of these ports sank near sea level and the others became the areas below sea level. Obviously, these cities are very delicate for future rising sea levels due to other reasons, such as the possible climate change.
BTW, the circulating groundwater to utilize geothermal energy will not cause any land subsidence, possibly.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and pieces of California Pizza Kitchen's pizza for dinner.
During a period of rapid economic growth, the division of a company may be beneficial in some cases but not in others. During the period of the comparatively sedate pace of growth in a matured economy, instead, the trend of merger is probably more necessary in order to cut down on wastefulness in management, production developments, and so on. In this period of stagnation, however, the spin-offs in expectation of future mergers among separated companies in the same line of business might be meaningful. In the case of Motorola Inc., it seems that any spin-off has been unnecessary since the year 2000. Indeed, I have never fully endorsed Motorola's spin-off.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Got up at eight forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a BBQ meal for dinner.
It's an undeniable fact that all of the fossil fuels on the earth will be drained in the near future. In broad terms, human beings have to make a choice from two categories of available energy resources, renewable energy resources and nuclear energy resources. Which Hollywood movie you prefer, "Deep Impact" or "Armageddon", may help you make it clear which energy strategy you really prefer, "Renewable Energy" or "Nuclear Energy". As written about one year ago in my diary, small meteors continually showered the earth but most of them burn up in the earth's atmosphere. If a gigantic meteor comes, it won't be burned up in the atmosphere and its impact on the earth could wipe out mankind. Such a very large meteor will hit the earth someday in the distant future though humankind may not be alive there due to other causes until the time comes. In these two Hollywood movies, both of which were released in 1998, a Texas-size meteor comes within months or years. The movie "Deep Impact" gives serious dramas of human relationships in extremely tragic situations. In this movie, most of human being on the earth accepts their fate. On the other hand, the movie "Armageddon" is clamorous and highly entertaining. In the latter movie, a team consisting of elite astronauts from NASA and rough engineers of a drilling firm go to a meteor, break it miraculously, and come to a happy ending.
People who like the movie "Deep Impact" may also like "Renewable Energy Scheme". In this course, human beings have to alternate fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy, such as solar power and wind power, "very slowly" while consuming and exhausting fossil fuels and exploiting and recycling natural resources necessary to gain renewable energy. Here, the possibility that this plan will succeed cannot be assured. The plan may require a human being to reduce its population drastically. The global economy may need to slow down in order to relieve climate change. Indeed, this plan isn't an effective measure against possible global warming. Although at first blush it seems peaceful, the plan may not be so. Some aggressive people prefer this plan because, as they always have done, they can continue to wage wars for a long period of time, without changing the state of the world. The developments in physical sciences and space technologies won't be vigorously pursued after all of the fossil fuels run out because of the non-abundance of energy resources.
People who like the movie "Armageddon" may also like the "Nuclear Energy Scheme". In this course, human beings have to improve the safety and the efficiency of both nuclear fission reactors and breeder reactors ceaselessly and will have also to bring a nuclear fusion reactor to realization in the future. With the development of reactors, more concentrated peacemaking efforts should be made. Until the peacemaking is considerably advanced, the widespread of nuclear reactors among the countries with political instability have to be tightly restricted. Here, the possibility that this plan will succeed depends upon the feasibility of a nuclear fusion reactor. If it has a low degree of practicability, human beings will have to alternate fissional fuels with renewable sources of energy when all fissional fuels are used up in the future millenniums from now. If the D-D fusion reactor comes to pass in the future, human beings will never have to rack their brains over energy problems. The developments in physical sciences and space technologies can be vigorously pursued, especially when a D-D fusion reactor becomes a reality. Human beings may be able to have a defense system to protect Planet Earth against coming meteors in the distant future, for instance by using large amounts of the energy that are released from massive pair-annihilations when ordinary matters and antimatters meet, or something else. However, such dangerous stuff mustn't be developed on the earth. It should be built and stored by the unified nation only at a very clean spot in interplanetary space in the far-off future.
My preference is the middle way between the former and the latter. Human beings should continue to alternate fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy while making efforts for peacemaking and also developing advanced nuclear reactors for the future. Hopefully, a fusion reactor will come true. Neither any nuclear weapon nor a stronger one is necessary on the earth. Any destructive weapon such as nuclear weapons shouldn't be carried in orbit around the earth and into outer space until a unified nation is founded in the future.
Indeed, the majority of people are self-seeking and they aren't interested in either the future tens to hundreds of years from now when the influence of global warming may be actualized, or the far-off future when a gigantic meteor comes into collision with the earth. Most people are interested in the future within their lifetime, especially the near future a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or a few years from now, depending on each personality. Rather disinterested people may care about the future within the lifetimes of their children and grandchildren. It seems that they have little interest in the above-mentioned topics though they may be entertained with those Hollywood movies. One of the government's duties is to educate those people.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
US officials at the White House made a comment as if they would have been encouraging Iran to carry out nuclear testing. A recent chain of events may be interpreted as a sort of allegiance test. Most unfortunately, it seems that there exists a group that wants Iran to follow in the footsteps of North Korea.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Purchased a book under the title, "Decision Points" written by former President Mr. George W. Bush tonight. It goes without saying that my purchasing of this book doesn't imply my support to all the second generations and all the third generations.
Has anyone ever created the antimatter of hydrogen in a solid state? The antiparticles (the positron, the antiproton, the antineutron, etc.) that have the same mass as a given ordinary particle but opposite electric/magnetic properties, and are the elements of the antimatters have been found in cosmic rays and can be created by means of particle accelerators. It means that the pieces of a puzzle are available. Probably, any currently operating particle accelerator doesn't have enough ability to generate such enormous amounts of both the antiproton and the positron. Extraordinary amounts of electricity have to be consumed in order to produce it. Extracting the antiparticles from the particle accelerator and maintaining them in a chamber while preventing them from colliding with their ordinary particles may be rather difficult.
Probably, the antiproton that is an antiparticle of proton and negatively charged can be magnetically confined in a high vacuum chamber in theory. Maintaining a few antiprotons in a chamber doesn't lead to any serious accidents. However, the degree of danger definitely increases in proportion to the increase in the number of antiprotons in a chamber. Therefore, it's difficult to hold a mass of the antimatter of solid-state hydrogen that is composed of the positron and the antiproton at the center of a high vacuum chamber safely, especially on Planet Earth. If a mass of the antimatter of solid-state hydrogen were to be formed and held at the center of a high vacuum chamber at the temperature below its melting point of 14 K, in noncontact with any ordinary matter, somewhere on the earth, it must be very carefully dealt with. As written yesterday, this may be rather safely carried out only in interplanetary space, out of the influence of both the interactions with ordinary matters and the strong gravity of the nearby planets.
Deuterium can be refined out of abundant water on the earth, the moon, the planet Mars, etc. A tank of the Liquid-state Deuterium, which is non-toxic, is transported to a station with a D-D fusion reactor placed in interplanetary space in order to generate electricity and operate a particle accelerator there. The antiprotons are produced through the use of a particle accelerator and then confined in the clean space electromagnetically. A mass of the antiproton that is the nucleus of the antimatter of hydrogen can also be kept as the antimatter of solid-state hydrogen in space. When a gigantic meteor coming toward the earth is found in the far-off future, human beings just need to run either a mass of the antimatter of solid-state hydrogen or a large flux of antiprotons into it. That's all there is to it.
Anyway, it's a great relief that neither the private sector nor the country can achieve this future plan single-handedly, to my knowledge. Needless to say, at present time, no country can do it. Any antigovernment group will never be able to handle such extraordinary stuff. Although it sounds like an SF novel, this plan isn't so unrealistic.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal, a rice ball and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Started reading "Decision Points". In the first section, the story of his early life is told in a Texan-taste narrative style.
It seems that the pair-annihilations through the collisions between the ordinary particles that dominantly compose our universe and the antiparticles that can be produced by the use of a particle accelerator aren't appropriate for commercial applications to the generation of electricity. This is simply because the consumption the energy for both the production of the antiparticles and their storing may always be larger than that for the gain in the energy from pair-annihilations occurring when the yielded antiparticles meet their particle partners. Probably, the future discovery of antimatter as a natural resource shouldn't be anticipated at least within the spaces of our universe where human beings will be able to reach, since the antimatter is extremely rare in our universe.
Human beings have ever been spending vast amounts of funds for developments in physical sciences and space technologies until now, especially since the middle twentieth century. The spending of the funds for the establishment of a defense system to protect the Planet Earth in interplanetary space against coming large meteors seems to be more meaningful than that for military purposes after the end of the Cold War structure and even for resource development from outer space. In any case, it takes quite a long period of time because before starting the development of such an advanced accelerator or a new device for the purpose of creating the antimatter of solid-state hydrogen, the human being has to realize a D-D fusion reactor and also to build a space station somewhere in interplanetary space.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Read two more sections of "Decision Points". Two episodes about former Texas Lieutenant Governor Mr. Bob Bullock and former US Vice President Mr. Dick Cheney are amusing.
Both a geranium in a flowerpot and a stand in the Greek column style placed at the entrance of my house disappeared today. It seems that a group doesn't like a geranium or a Germanium. Probably, a group also doesn't like either a Greek-style or a Roman-style.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and pieces of Archer Farms' pizza for dinner. Read a section on "Decision Points".
Currently most promising candidate for the coolant of the next-generation Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) is liquid sodium. The other coolants such as the helium-gas and the liquid-lead have also been evaluated, so far. Naturally, all of these coolants don't moderate the fast neutrons emitted from the fission reactions. The uses of both types of liquid metals as the coolant have an advantage in the high heat conduction over the use of the gas. However, the use of liquid sodium has a disadvantage in its explosiveness, and that of liquid lead has a disadvantage in its poisonousness. The use of helium gas as the coolant has an advantage in the safety of others but has a disadvantage in the low heat conduction.
The liquid sodium catches fire in contact with the air and explodes with the water. At least, any accidental explosion associated with the contact between the liquid sodium and the water has to be avoided for mass production. Therefore, it's desirable that the sodium FBR should be built in arid regions. Moreover, for the sodium FBR, the supercritical fluid turbine may replace the steam turbine. In this case, there is far less risk due to the contact with the water. For instance, supercritical CO2 is less reactive in contact with the sodium than the water is. There may exist more suitable supercritical fluid than the supercritical CO2 for the turbine of the sodium FBR. Therefore, the problem of the explosiveness of the liquid-sodium coolant of the sodium FBR may be resolved by the choices of both the location to construct and the type of turbine. There is another benefit to building the reactors only in either arid or desert regions where few forms of life live.
Although the helium gas coolant has a disadvantage in low heat conduction and requires a high-temperature operation, the degree of its safety is most desirable. The helium-gas coolant should be one of the potential options for multiple places.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Got up at nine o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Read two sections of "Decision Points".
The following indicates two figures explaining the unique design of the wind turbine produced jointly by my wife and me. The left figure illustrates a wind turbine in no wind condition and the right figure illustrates a wind turbine when blades are rotating. The purpose of this design of the wind turbine is to protect any bird from the fatal blow by its rotating blades at both a rather slow speed and a high speed of rotation.
Birds are instinctively afraid of high-contrast coloring (e.g. Black & Yellow, Black & White, etc.) of concentric circles because it probably brings up the image of the eye of its enemy. The influence of this color arrangement on smaller birds is certain, but its influence on larger birds such as raptors and wading birds is uncertain, to our knowledge. This design of the wind turbine may let most birds avoid coming closer to any deadly wind turbine at every rotation speed. Birds can recognize these two-toned concentric circles painted on the blades and the pole of the wind turbine at short to long ranges. The presence of many wind turbines with this design onshore and offshore may cause many birds neurosis but may help protect their lives. For offshore uses, a device that is designed to produce explosively loud noise in order to shoo away sea birds can be attached as an option though it may slightly reduce its efficiency of electricity generation.
The above-mentioned design and option of our bird-friendly wind turbine may increase the cost of a wind turbine by about 0.1 to 0.2%, at most.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Got up at ten-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a Japanese one-pot meal for dinner. Read a section on "Decision Points".
Monday, November 15, 2010
Got up at seven-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal, a Japanese rice ball and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. Read a section on "Decision Points". The 8th section, "IRAQ" expresses a very tense atmosphere those days before a multinational force mainly composed of the US and the UK forces invaded Iraq in order to remove the dictatorial government that had surely possessed and used chemical weapons until 1998 at least, may still have maintained them in its arsenals, possibly with biological weapons, and had always been suspicious of sponsoring terrorist groups.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner. Read three sections of "Decision Points".
A report on the items that were stolen from the entrance of my house last Thursday was filed to a sheriff this afternoon. The partisans that are composed of some sorts of Asians including senior Japanese want to give root to the seniority system among American people interferingly. For some reason or other, they have used intimidation to pressure us in various punk ways, with the assistance of Americans with anti-establishment thoughts and/or Americans with anti-Japanese feelings, unfortunately.
The following letter was also filed with a formal theft report:
Dear Law Enforcement Officers,
On Thursday, November 11, 2010, both a geranium in a flowerpot and a stand in the Greek-column style placed at the entrance of our house disappeared. It seems that an anti-Japanese group with a grudge stole the above-mentioned items from our house. The estimated total prices of the stolen items are about $ 100.00.
The following explains the other threatening incidents that we have ever suffered since 1999.
1) Somebody threw a stone or shot an air gun at a window of my wife's room of our house in June 2009.
2) One of the tires of the pickup truck of mine, which was parked in front of the garage of our house, had a puncture in May 2006. It was found that a nail pierced the tire of my vehicle. Since 1999 until 2006, my pickup truck has several times gotten nails in its tires. It's too often to get them accidentally. Some of these incidents were reported to the local police in 2001. This is one of the reasons why our vehicles have been kept in the garage of our house when we were at home since the summer of 2006. Fortunately, our vehicles have never gotten any puncture since then.
3) Either a large-size pickup truck or SUV hit my wife's Beetle and left the scene of the accident in either June or July 2005. This incident was also reported to the local police.
Sincerely yours,
Yasuhito Shiho
Naoko Shiho
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of cereal and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Read two sections of "Decision Points".
--- According to Page 424 of "Decision Points" tells about the author's conversation with China's former President Mr. Jiang Zemin, "After a few months with no progress, I tried a different argument. In January 2003, I told President Jiang that if North Korea's nuclear weapons program continued, I would not be able to stop Japan – China's historic rival in Asia – from developing its own nuclear weapons. ---
It seems to me that the statement above was only an assumption made in an American-style strategic argument. To my knowledge, no Japanese statesman has ever mentioned any comment ambitious for its own nuclear weapons officially. My memory of this matter may be incorrect.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
I finished reading "Decision Points". The grandfather of the author of this autobiography was a US Senator in Connecticut. His father was the 41st President of the US. The author, Mr. George W. Bush was the 43rd President. Although who is the best, the first, the second, or the third generation is uncertain, number in terms of the outcome of the election campaigns and the terms of services talks that the third generation reached the highest achievement. Probably, only their relatives who well know three of them may be able to tell the answer. It seems to me that the subtleties of politics cannot be easily learned from ordinary textbooks and lectures at schools. The fine points of politics may be only obtained from the parent's education at home and from other people's successes and mistakes in the actual world of politics. Obviously, a person who aims to be in the same profession as a statesman in their previous generation should be more advantageous, and may also be able to inherit the publicity. This autobiography unsparingly touches on many key decision points in the serious political situations that the author had ever faced.
One of the main material sources of the most energetically developed rechargeable batteries so far is the element of lithium. It's fresh in our memory that huge deposits of lithium were recently discovered in Bolivia. Actually, there are many expected applications of the lithium-ion batteries. An excellent rechargeable battery is necessary for the full use of solar (photovoltaic) power generation. It's no exaggeration to say that the success of a coming electric car will depend on the high capacity and low leakage of its rechargeable battery. Most of the mobile devices are going to come with lithium-ion batteries. All of the above-mentioned applications are harmless.
There are many applications of lithium in various fields, other than the battery. Unfortunately, some of them are harmful. Whether it's necessary to control the export of lithium seems to be uncertain because it isn't rare in the earth's crust. Probably, its export control to some limited countries should be inevitable. The arrival of everlasting peace is sincerely hoped, indeed.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Got up at eight-fifteen in the morning. Ate a bowl of rice porridge for lunch, and a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for dinner.
In which manner do you like to express your gratitude, Thanks, Thank you, or Thank you very much? Naturally, "Thanks" is a friendly, "Thank you" is a standard, and "Thank you very much" is a polite way. People may use "Thanks very much" or other ways they prefer.
Thinking back to the past, since about the year 2000, some people had begun to say to me for no particular reason, "Thank you." My reply is "For What?" At some time in those days, they said to me, "Thanks." My reply is "For What?" At other times, they said, "Thank you very much." The strangest aspect of these occurrences is that there weren't any particular reasons to express their gratitude. Probably, they tried to drop some obvious verbal hints to me. Maybe.
Since my attendance at the RNC Presidential Gala in May 2005, people around me had begun to say to me consistently for no reason as usual, in a depressed manner different from a previous manner, "Thanks." One day in summer, a senior woman suggested I say to everybody for an answer, "Thanks." That idea interested me. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. For the next three years, the way of expressing my gratitude was a friendly one, "Thanks."
For the last two years, the way of expressing my gratitude has changed into a standard one, as default, "Thank you." This is because it's getting more and more irksome for me to keep company with such people with an indefinite communication skill. Still, an expression of gratitude for no reason makes me feel weird. The best reply to such fellows seems to be "Thanks for nothing."
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Got up at ten o'clock in the morning. Ate pieces of bread and a half of an apple for lunch. Went out shopping at grocery stores this afternoon. Ate a Japanese one-pot meal for dinner.
The fifth generation of Shogun in the Edo period, Tunayoshi Tokgawa, who was called in the back "the Dog Shogun" in those days, has mostly been notorious in Japan's history. Even in modern times, Shogun Tunayoshi Tokgawa has quite a bad reputation. Today, an edict forbidding cruelty to all living things shall be evaluated from the modern point of view, though the evaluation of a historical figure and its acts by judging on the basis of modern moral and ethical standards isn't reasonable.
The edict forbidding cruelty to all living things, which has gained notoriety, was issued in 1687 and had been valid through Shogun Tunayoshi's death in 1709. This edict for animal welfare originated on the advice of a Buddhist monk. The teachings that lead people to the path of having compassion for all living things should be ideal and valuable. At the present time, the teaching of animal welfare has to be praised more than in the medieval period.
Considering that it was about three hundred years ago, however, it can't be helped that Shogun Tunayoshi's edict was considered to go to extremes. His edict banned both the raising of birds and fish as food and the taking of the lives of domestic animals, especially the lives of dogs. Animal lovers nowadays may like such an edict, but stock raisers lose their livelihood.
The most criticized point of this edict is that it carried very stiff penalties. In one case a criminal was commanded to commit the hara-kiri which is suicide by disembowelment, and in the other case, he was ordered to be exiled on a distant isolated island for a certain period of time with having a hardly-erasable tattoo on his arm. If a proper penalty for disobeying the edict, such as a fine or a whipping, had been established and the ban on the raising of birds and fishes as food had been excluded, it might have been accepted favorably in those days and had been admired in later ages. Anyway, it's sure that the edict was too early for the Japanese in the late 17th century. At the present time, "the Dog Shogun" might be able to obtain popularity comparable with the eighth generation of Shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa (the so-called Maverick Shogun?), who established a complaints box.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Got up at ten-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
By a strange coincidence, during the rule over Japan by Shogun Tunayoshi, bloodshed involving two families flared up in the capital city of Japan, Edo (Tokyo). The lord (daimyo) of a provincial daimyo family got angry at the derision of the instructor for manners, who was the head of an upper-class family, and he stupidly struck his instructor with a sword in 1701. He failed in his attempt. Thereafter, a daimyo of a provincial family was ordered to commit hara-kiri and his daimyo family was deprived of its fiefs as punishment for its incident of bloodshed, by the government. At midnight a few years after the incident, forty-seven samurais, who used to be in the service of a dead daimyo, suddenly got in by stealth a residence of an upper-class family hostile to them and assassinated its head. After the assassination, all forty-seven assassins were arrested and ordered to commit hara-kiri as punishment before the judge. On the other side, an assaulted upper-class family was also broken up, though it was not their fault. In Japan, there used to be a unique custom that when two quarrel, both are to blame. From the Western viewpoint, it sounds unfair. In Japan, such a custom hasn't been contested because the enforcement of it gave the administration convenience.
Unfortunately for the Shogun Tunayoshi, as the result of the influences of many kinds of entertainment fictional dramas based on this true incident, shown repeatedly since then, most of the common Japanese people have ever considered that the Dog Shogun helped dogs loyal to their owner but didn't help retainers loyal to a daimyo. In most of the theatrical performances embroidered to cater to the masses, a story was dramatized as if a dead daimyo had been a victim and his retainers had been heroes. Indeed, this drama setting is interesting as an entertainment show but rather risky, especially for a modern society.
The truth is that forty-seven samurais were faithful only to their lord and honor, and behaved as the samurai code recommends. However, they weren't faithful to the law and order of Japan. Indeed, it's a matter of regret that almost all Japanese people didn't have a clear concept of the nation of Japan until the Meiji Restoration in the 1860s because of its geographical condition and national isolation policy. Judging on the basis of modern standards, both a hasty daimyo and his forty-seven retainers are all guilty. There should have existed some lawful ways to protest against the shame and/or to carry out a reprisal against it. What can be learned from bloodshed trouble is that a short temper doesn't produce success. It can be said that Shogun Tunayoshi and his hangers-on ran to an extreme in animal welfare. The basic concept of the edict forbidding cruelty to all living things is precious. Dogs, except mad dogs, are always innocent.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup and a side dish of salad for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
In a private conversation, the Japanese have a tendency to call the name of a well-known person such as a public figure, a historical figure, or a celebrity without prefixing a title in order to avoid longwindedness. A wiretapper should stop finding fault with everything in our private conversations at home.
In public, however, Japanese prefix a title to the name of any person, as the case may be. With the exception, some male Japanese tend to call the name of a childhood friend without prefixing a title. It seems that those are quite normal.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner.
--- According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, "Bureaucracy" is a system of government in which most of the important decisions are taken by state officials rather than by elected representatives, and "Democracy" is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. ---
There is no necessity for criticizing the bureaucracy and the democracy now because the evaluations of both government systems have already been exhausted long ago though many problems have been left unsolved. In a modern society, the will of the people cannot be publicly overridden though it's often childish and selfish. In most countries in the world today, a democratic system is more favorably accepted than a bureaucratic system. In some countries, however, it's still simply for appearances. There, the will of the people is well controlled by the self-proclaimed ruling elites through education and mass media, and the elected statesmen don't actually take any lead in making important decisions. Ideally, the elected leaders of the elected statesmen should take the initiative in the drafting of the government's internal and international policies and bills predominantly, and the public officials should be actively supportive of the leadership of the statesmen.
In order to grow to be a highly democratized country, higher education of the masses including future statesmen and officials is indispensable. The public officials have to act continuously "on their own judgment" to shift the initiative in the decision-making to the statesmen step-by-step, aiming at an ideal goal of democracy. The shift has to be done because bureaucracy has constitutional problems in inefficiency, inflexibility, absolutism, standardization, troublesomeness, insistence on secrecy, and so on. In some ways, for instance, by taking a survey, public officials may be able to reflect the will of the people, but the touchy questions may be always excluded and the gathered public opinions may be filtered expediently.
The struggles for power between the officials and the statesmen are utterly nonsense. The public officials shouldn't be so afraid of the presences and risings of the elected statesmen who are supported by certain industries and foreign powers, because their terms of services in the positions are limited to years. In the government system, their roles are designed to help each other, needless to say.
On the other hand, in a highly democratized country, what the public officials in a bureaucratic government are afraid of could surface and could damage the country's interests. The officials should moderately control the influences of certain industries and foreign powers on the statesmen. However, there is no need to break them off. In some cases, their influences serve the interests of a country by dealing with domestic stagnation, but in other cases, their influences harm its interests due to various possible causes. In a fully matured democratic country, the good balances between freedom and control in terms of this aspect have to be maintained.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Today is Thanksgiving Day. Got up at eight-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of rice porridge for lunch, and a Western meal for dinner. There was a sudden drop in temperature this morning. It's getting cooler.
"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today". The following is my comment on it:
A brake forbidding the use of condoms for religious reasons was favorably released.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Got up at eleven-thirty in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner. According to a weather forecast, the temperature will drop to a minimum of 25 degrees F (-3.9 degrees C) tomorrow morning.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Got up at nine o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Japanese-Western meal for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Got up at ten forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Stayed at home for the entire day.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Got up at seven forty-five in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese rice porridge for lunch, and a dish of Italian pasta for dinner.
"This is an interesting topic found in the BBC online news today". The following is my comment on it:
By means of magic, food aid turned into several destructive weapons and, subsequently to their tests, energy aid turned into thousands of centrifuges that enabled to mass production of destructive weapons potentially. Hopefully, nuclear fuel will never be enriched up to weapon-grade levels in a recently detected facility.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Got up at eight o'clock in the morning. Ate a bowl of Japanese noodle soup for lunch, and a Japanese meal for dinner. Went out shopping at a grocery store this evening. Sent a personal check for my 2008 Tax Changes to the IRS via the US postal service. Ate pieces of Brie and drank glasses of cider.
In a peaceful society, sometimes, only a tiny number of people run to an extreme because they probably believe that only an extreme act can change the existing sluggish condition. My opinion on extremism is that it's only a way to change out of many. An extreme act may be expected to be effective quickly, but in most cases, it involves various risks to not only an extremist itself but also many others. There always exist other moderate general ways to change the condition though these ways may take some time and may require many supporters. There may be a new sensible way though it cannot be found easily.
Two extremisms in the behavioral principles of humans have been very much in the air these days. One is an obsession with secrecy and the other is an obsession with disclosure. Higher officials and bankers have a tendency to be obsessionally secretive due to the nature of their occupations. Self-protective people tend not to talk candidly. A sort of person may get on smoothly with others only in ambiguous ways of conversation. On the other side, journalists, scientists, and pioneers have a tendency to be communicative. Forward-facing people tend to talk candidly.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both extremisms. In some cases, the insistence on secrecy of sensitive matters may help maintain amicable relations between nations, between groups, and between individuals. However, through excessively secretive ways, many of the important factors that they desire to forget but shouldn't be forgotten for peace may simultaneously be buried in the oblivion of the distant past. There is a strong tendency for corruption, unfairness, scandal, and gossip to prevail more as the degree of secretiveness in a society deepens. In an extremely secretive society, demagogic and tricky people can act as they please. Contrary to the aforesaid, the disclosure of sensitive matters may lead to hostile relations. Overly open communications can naturally contribute to damage to the education of children in terms of various aspects. In a simpler society, however, the rampant corruption and scandal can be suppressed to some extent in due course.
My preference is for a rather unsecretive society. It goes without saying that it should be indispensable to draw the lines between the matters that should be kept classified and those that should be disclosed to the public while considering the needs of the times. In broad outline, the matters of no small concern either for the remote future or in several generations past can be rather safely unveiled.
