Main Management Skills quoted from Rich Dad, Poor Dad

The main management skills needed for success are:

1. The management of cash flow

2. The management of systems (including yourself and time with family).

3. The management of people.

The most important specialized skills are sales and understanding marketing. It is the ability to sell--therefore, to communicate to another human being, be it a customer, employee, boss, spouse or child-that is the base skill of personal success.

It's very interesting and useful.
Selling!! It's really difficult. I was a sales person before, but it was really difficult but a good experience for me. We need to sell something to live through all of our life.
We should think what people need and how we can provide them, but don't get stressed, it's not a selfish work but for establishing win-win relationship.

Design industries are difficult for girls?

http://www.designweek.co.uk/Articles/139157/Female+directors+rare%2c+says+LCC+report+.html

The news is interesting, because I thought design industries were good for female workers.
It might be good for ladies to work as operaters, not exectives.

Switzerland Report03: Rheinfall

Here might be famous but not enough.
I heard It is the largest water fall in Europe, and actually it was really dynamic and powerful.
If you cannot find a good place to visit in Switzerland, I recommend to go there.
The access from Zurich is not bad.



The other reports:
http://a-to-a.blogspot.com/2008/07/switzerland-report02-used-design-shop.html
http://a-to-a.blogspot.com/2008/07/switzerland-report01-freitag.html

Four elements for developing your financial IQ

From Rich Dad, Poor Dad:
No. 1 is accounting.
No. 2 is investing.
No. 3 is understanding markets.
No. 4 is the law.

Incorporate & Grow Rich!

It is just reminder.

Incorporate & Grow Rich!


This book must be interesting, which is recommended in Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

Sudoku, and Kakuro

During our trip in Switzerland, we spent a lot of time in train, so usually I’m not so interested in puzzle games but I tried to do some games on papers.
Sudoku is very popular now. The rule is very simple, but not easy. All we have to do is put numbers from 1 to 9 in 9x9 boxes containing nine 3x3 boxes, avoiding put the same number in one line and one 3x3 box. It looks not difficult if you know the rule, but actually it’s a bit difficult.

Kakuro is more complicated. I think for beginners it should be more difficult than Sudoku, but it has some kind of formula, so if you learn them it should be apparently simpler.

Why aren’t Japanese people interested in politics?

During a party, a friend of mine asked me why Japanese are not interested in politics. I didn’t have a proper answer, but the following was my answer I thought in a very short time:

1. General Japanese attitudes: Generally, Japanese are supposed to be very obedient, so it is the same even about politics.
2. The problems Japan has are too complicated to solve just by political ways: Aging society, huge government bonds and so on.
3. The long political ruling by one party: Japan has been a democratic country, but actually it has been ruled by one party for a long time. Even now, there are two major political parties, but the second largest party has a lot of politician from the first largest party. It means there is no difference in political views between them.

They are just my opinions, and we should be more interested in it as our own problems.

Switzerland Report02: Used Design Shop

I saw a lot of used design shop in Switzerland.
It sells old modern furniture and so on.

It was one of them, which is named "BOGEN33" and located near the FREITAG shop in Zurich.

Some old stuff is really interesting, and gives us some new point of views for daily stuff.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

An important distinction is that rich people buy luxuries last, while the poor
and middle class tend to buy luxuries first.

The lesson should be very useful, too much is not good though.

Shin Azumi, Tomoko Azumi

They are flourished in London as industrial designers.
Their works are generally very simple and sometimes very cute.


Shin Azumi's website:
http://www.shinazumi.com/
Tomoko Azumi's website:
http://www.tnadesignstudio.co.uk/
about more:
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/shin-tomoko-azumi

Switzerland Report_01: FREITAG

I went to Switzerland, mainly Zurich in this weekend.
I would like to introduce what I was interested in there.

A friend of mine in London had a “FREITAG” bag, and the design and quality was very cool. I heard the shop was in Zurich, so I visited there with some friends of mine.

The building itself looked a bit special, which was constructed with stacked containers. It is a clever way to show the brand concept.

Freitag’s main products are bags made with used track tarps, used seat belts, and used inner tubes, and there are many variations, such as wallets, iBook covers and so on.

I think it is very clever as a business. The costs of material are presumably low, but the price of product itself is not low. This brand is very popular at least in Switzerland and I saw a lot of people having them in the cities. It is a good example of how good designs increase a value of things.



FREITAG:
http://www.freitag.ch/shop/FREITAG/page/frontpage/detail.jsf
FREITAG SHOP ZÜRICH
Geroldstrasse 17
CH-8005 Zürich
Switzerland

Is your basement London, Tokyo or anywhere else?

Many friends of mine from Tokyo graduated from their course and was about to go back to Japan.
I guess, for Japanese students in London, which London or Tokyo they choose as their basement is really serious choice, because although the situation of Japan is not so good, it still has a large economy and the quality of products are excellent.

A friend of mine, who has stayed in London for about four years and studied fashion, is also going to go back to Japan. He said he wanted his basement to be Tokyo in the future. He has already stayed in London for a long time, so I thought he might well choose to stay more in London, but he said it was easier to get good products for making clothes in Tokyo.

I think I would like to work for a few years in London after graduation, but finally I might go to Tokyo as well. In London I would be just a foreigner, but I would fully take advantage of my career in Tokyo.
One day, a friend of mine in Japan asked me why I don’t choose to work in London because it would be very exciting. When I just came to London, I entirely agreed with him, but now just working in a foreign country is not so exciting for me.
Where I work is not important, what I will achieve is really significant.
World might be really flat. Recently I has really felt it.

UCL Bartlett Exhibition 2008

Some works were really crazy.
I felt as if I saw works of fine art students.






See also AA school Exhibithin Images

Chelsea College Exhibition 2008

Just interior design course's pictures are here.
Actually fine art was very interesting.

AA school Exhibition 2008

Architectural Association School Exhibition 2008.
My impression is that they are really smart. I expected their works were a bit crazy.
Which is better depends on your point of view.

Richard Rogers Exhibition at Design Museum

You can see almost the all his works from early works to works in progress.
I think his great point is that he makes very modernism concepts, which many people had been fed up with, as kind of his identity.
Many architects couldn’t get through, but he did.

The other point I was impressed from this exhibition is that he uses not only robotic structural elements but also color elements for some projects. I just knew very structural works of his.

A Huge Plug

It must supply every electricity in Lonodon.
It's located around Carnaby Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnaby_Street

Hakkasan

One of my tutors in Interior Design course suggested us to go to Hakkasan, a Chinese Restaurant in London, so I went there with some friends of mine.
I heard the owner was Hong Konger, and the interior design looks modern Asian style. I think it is similar to some well-designed restaurants in Japan.

One of the staff was Japanese and told us the restaurant was in a list of the best restaurants in the world.
The mood was really nice, it’s a bit expensive for students though (we just drank one glass of cocktails, but it cost almost 10 pounds a person!!)
If this kinds of Asian style restaurants are successful in London, it might be able to spread all over the world.

Lessons from Dragons’ Den quoted from Short List

It is interesting for people who think to be an entrepreneur.
The steps which are introduced in Short List is:

Know Your Numbers
Research the Market
Make a Robust Plan
Do the Basic Maths
Manage Your Cash Flow
Don’t Fudge or Lie
Presentation is Key
Know Your Audience
Be Realistic

Audition

This Japanese film is really scary!!!
It might be the most horrible film I have ever seen.
It’s really difficult to see the scene of the punishment…but it is very interesting, I can't recommend it to people who don't want horrible films though.

Japan buys ideas from London

In London now is the graduation season, so many friends of mine graduated from school recently. A friend of mine is looking for some internship in London and she told me when she had an interview.

She told me she heard from the interviewer that some company in Japan came to buy their ideas of design. When I heard it, I was really disappointed because I thought Japan should become a country to which foreign companies come to buy their idea. If Japan keeps buying ideas, the future of design industries in Japan will be really dark.

IDSA awards

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) announced their awards' winners.
http://www.idsa.org/

The Diver

I went to see “The Diver”, a play directed by Japanese famous director Noda Hideki, to SoHo theatre, because the play at 3:00 on Thursday was the cheapest one, it just cost 7.50 pounds. Noda also played a main character.
It’s kind of psycho suspense and includes the elements of a Japanese traditional play and a literature.

The stage is in Tokyo of today, but one girl misunderstands herself as the characters of The Tale of Genji, which is a famous Japanese historic literature.

I didn’t expect that it was interesting, but it’s actually very intriguing.
I felt it was a psycho suspense drama so that the message was not so poetic, but the staging and acts were very sophisticated and exciting as a suspense drama.

Lulworth

I went to with Lulworth with some friends of mine. It took about 3 hours to get there from London. It has just one train a hour usually.The beach was beautiful and the waves are not so strong, so it’s not good for surfing but just for enjoying with water it is very nice, the water was very cold though (Nevertheless some brave people entered it…)
You needed to go over a little hill to get the beach, although a taxi driver we used told us he could bring us the closer place.

There seems to be famous for the exposed geological formation.
Anyway it was really good for a easy holiday.

Where is the best place to surf near the UK

When I went back to Japan few weeks ago, I surfed in Japan.
The experience was really amazing, so I would like to do it again near the UK, but I’m not sure where the best place is.

I’m planning to go to Morocco with some friends of mine, but last night when I asked a friend of mine who likes surfing very well he told me it was a good choice if I was interested in the sightseeing as well, but if I just wanted to surf Cornwall might be better because it’s easier to access and the wave is not so difficult if I can choose a proper place.
I checked the websites about Cornwall, and it was very beautiful!!
Now my mind is about to change to Cornwall…

London and Tokyo

When I was in café with a friend of mine, he asked me what the most impressive thing is in London.

Honestly when I came to London I was a bit surprised because the city didn’t look so powerful, but the economy was in a good condition.
My impression of Tokyo was totally different. Tokyo was very energetic, but the condition of the economy was not good.
Actually I had not lived in any other country, so I was not aware of the power of Tokyo, but now thanks to my experience of living in London, I can recognize it.

In my opinion, London is more mature city than Tokyo, and the structure of the economy is to get money from the outside of the city.
Tokyo is getting money inside.
Now is still ok, because Tokyo is still big, but in the future the situation is going to be changing. The population should decrease, and the proportion of elder people is going to get larger.
Tokyo should change like London.
My current dream in my career is to support the change in some way or another.

sleeping mystery

Today, I slet few hours, but not so tired, but sometimes I'm tired when I sleep enough.
It's not unusual, but the reason should be very mysterious.

Shibuya New Station

In Shibuya, one of the biggest stations in Tokyo, new platform was open which was designed by Tadao Ando.
Many media are interested in it.
One of the concenpt of the station is ecology. It is designed to be effiicient ecologically.

http://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/shibuya-station-tokyo/2494

Art School Graduation Ceremony?

Yesterday, our graduation ceremony was held.
Our university was an art school, but everyone looked usual.
In Japan, the ceremony of some art schools are kind of chaos, but it is more natural, isn’t it?
Actually I can’t say anything, because I didn’t attend the ceremony.

Of course, creativity is not the same as things which looks strange, but I guess sometimes it requires crazy power to make fabulous things!!

I remember the difference between AA school and Bartlett.
AA school is cool but statistic, Bartlett is crazy but dynamic.

Applied for part time job in London

Now is holiday until new course starts, so I need to get some part-time job.
I found an ad of a translation job on a Japanese classified and sent a CV. I’m not sure which I should make my CV in Japanese or English, so I made both of them and sent it.

Firstly I didn’t know how to write CV, so I found some formats on the Internet and filled in them. In an English format, there was a space for “summary of qualifications”. I think it is usually not in Japanese CV format because sometimes too much appealing their advantage doesn’t give a good impression in Japan.
I was not sure about my advantage, but I managed to make it up.

Later, I’ve got the reply which told me they will send a trial test of translation from English to Japanese.
I’m looking forward to it coming.

AA school and UCL's exhibition 2008

I went to the exhibition of AA school and Bartlett.
My rough impression is that AA is more architectural and Bartlett is more artistic.

I felt many works in AA tried to show beauty in construction, but Bartlett tried it in how to show it. AA looks smarter, but Bartlett looks more passionate.

My prejudice was different from my actual impression. I thought AA was more passionate, but it was wrong. Some works Bartlett’s students are almost crazy, but very powerful.

Bartlett
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture/events/summer/summer.htm
AA school
http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/default.aspx?entryId=1836&section=eventsArchive

Tanabata

A friend of mine in Taiwan came to Tokyo with her sister, and I guided her in Tokyo a little.
We went to Tokyo tower with them, but surprisingly, in spite of closing time soon, there were many couples, whose girl friends wore Youkata, traditional Japanese wears for summer.
I got the reason soon. That day was 7th July. It was Tanabata, Japanese traditional lovers’ memorial day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata

Jet Lag

I thought the minimum unit of time differences was one hour, but it was wrong.
That of Katmandu is plus 5:45!!
Mmm, I guess the gap of 15 minutes must be very important…

Pirates

I went to Japanese seafood restaurant, called "Pirates" in Japanese, with my aunt.
She has known it for 30 years.
One of the characters and advantages of Japanese food is seafood. There are a lot of ways to cook it as well.
My aunt told me that just only how to cut fish changes the taste!!

http://asoboo.com/places/Tokyo/Kinshi-cho/Kaizoku
(Sorry, the following URL is in Japanese)
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/b040200/